Calories Burned - Stationary Bike

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  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    The only other ride I have using my FitBit shows a similar phenomena, only has changing calorie burn rates for the last 30-45 minutes of the ride.

    I wonder if it estimates those values for large blocks of time before the last say 30 or so minutes?

    That ride has a big 5cal/minute flat line before the varied graph at the end.

    Goofy.

    Swerving back to the OP's question, it seems the accuracy of this stuff is suspect indeed. Which confirms my suspicions about eating back exercise calories for those seeking to lose weight.

    I'd say don't! Or at the very least, start with only 1/4 to 1/2 and see what happens.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    edited May 2018
    The OP is using a bike with a power meter. The fact that Fitbit makes goofy estimates had no relevance here.
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
    Who's OP? What's s a power meter? Can we get back to taking about me, please?
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    NorthCascades wrote: »
    The OP is using a bike with a power meter. The fact that Fitbit makes goofy estimates had no relevance here.

    I agree - of course the question is, has the power meter on the bike been calibrated recently (or at all - though if it hasn't been recently it wouldn't matter)? Shane Miller did an interesting review of the ELITE Arion Digital Smart B+ Rollers (stay with me - this becomes relevant quickly). While he calibrated them the first time he didn't on his second ride on them (which was a few weeks later) when he was testing them on Alpe du Zwift and comparing the power readings with his Favero Assioma pedals (which are dual sided power meters). Needless to say, at one point the rollers were reporting that he was putting out 80 watts more than the pedals were saying. His previous test (in which he calibrated the rollers correctly) showed readings that were much closer together, even with the rollers warm.

    Alpe du Zwift is an extreme test given the limitations of those specific rollers, but even when the rollers weren't really hot, there were large differences in the power reported. Significantly larger differences than when the rollers had been calibrated correctly.
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
    edited May 2018
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    aeloine wrote: »
    Good afternoon!

    I go to spin class and it gives me kcal and kj burned but I don't input my height/gender/weight.

    My question is, are those burn numbers absolute or are they weight relative? For reference, I'm roughly 220 lbs and I've been "burning" around 300 kcal/hour which seems a little low.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not putting out very high watts yet (there's been a lot of improvement in my averages over the last couple of months in terms of watts/miles "ridden" per hour) but if 1 mile run/jog is ~100 calories and I can do 4+/hour, and I feel like I'm exerting significantly more weight effort on the bike, shouldn't my burn be higher?

    I guess I'm hoping that I'm burning more due to my (relatively) higher mass. Plus, my little HR enabled FitBit is giving me higher calorie burns. FitBit has always overestimated, but rarely triples what any other "calories out" meters estimate.

    Thanks in advance!

    My goodness, OP, we've come far - very far, indeed - from your original question!

    ;)

    @AnnPT77 I know! Honestly, I got an answer for my original question and never thought twice that this post would get additional comments! I'm still on the forums, I just didn't check back on "My Discussions"!

    A lot of interesting information is coming out of here, though. Mine are "Stages" bikes -- someone mentioned that they could be quite reliable. I think they're actually very new, and they have been recalibrated within the last three months. I'm not sure if they're recalibrated more frequently, though.

    It does make sense that my weight wouldn't matter too much, but we do spend quite a bit of time standing up during the "boppier" classes. Some are quite a bit more technical and actually use the different stages with watt/rpm goals at different point, but other classes don't require the read outs to even be turned on. I just do it for my own information.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    For what it's worth, Stages PMs are slightly less accurate than some others. Because they use accelerometers instead of reed switches to measure cadence (RPMs). Which makes them slightly slower to respond to change, like in a standing start.

    Stages PMs do a better job of holding their calibration though.

    At the end of the day, they have a maximum error of 2%. There's really no point in sections guessing what it said without a good reason to.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,598 Member
    I've wondered about that too. The calorie burn it gives is so freaking low lol. I can get almost double that in the same amount of time on the elliptical; therefore I use the elliptical instead unless there is something crappy going on with my elbows or wrists. All I can say is, it is better than nothing, and does at least get your heart beating faster.
  • KattyOk
    KattyOk Posts: 7 Member
    SeaG1ant wrote: »
    I would recommend that you believe your feelings, because measuring devices can fail. If we talk about me, I recently started training on a spin bike that I ordered here https://spinbikeexpert.net/. And I felt as if I was doing something wrong and my legs were greatly enlarged in volume. I already wanted to return the simulator back to the seller , but decided to consult with a specialist first. And he told me that I didn't train correctly and showed me where to find information about training on a spinbike. It turns out that it's very important to know exactly what to do. Because otherwise you can harm yourself and your health.

    Do these guys provide discounts?

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