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Believe Strava or MapMyRide for exercise calories?

batorkin
batorkin Posts: 281 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been biking a lot (over 300 miles last week). On my longest run, I went 80.3 miles with an average speed of 12.4 MPH (6hr 27 minutes active time). For reference, I weigh 157 pounds and my bike weighs 25 pounds. Mostly flat ground, ~750ft elevation.

Strava tells me I burnt 2372 calories during that ride. MapMyRide tells me 3481. This is a huge difference! Both apps are factoring in my overall weight, but every ride has MMR telling me I burnt much more. I'm inclined to believe Strava because MMR regularly tells me I burnt ~800 calories on only ~18 mile rides which seems really high for 12.5MPH average and the effort it takes me.

Any ideas?

Replies

  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,573 Member
    edited September 2018
    I haven't looked at BOTH but Strava has a dedicated group of cyclists and elite athletes many of who own power meters and also takes terrain into account.

    Short of your own power meter, I don't know that there will be much better estimates for cycling than what Strava has to offer.

    Of course what you burn is not all that matters. Your results also depend on how well you account for your intake and on whether you are close to the population averages or an outlier.

    Your trending weight results over a period of a few weeks will tell you how closely your logging reflects reality...
  • batorkin
    batorkin Posts: 281 Member
    edited September 2018
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    I haven't looked at BOTH but Strava has a dedicated group of cyclists and elite athletes many of who own power meters and also takes terrain into account.

    Short of your own power meter, I don't know that there will be much better guessing for cycling than what Strava has to offer.

    Of course what you burn is not all that matters. Your results also depend on how well you account for your intake and on whether you are close to the population averages or an outlier.

    Your trending weight results over a period of a few weeks will tell you how closely your logging reflects reality...

    Thanks, that's basically what I figured. Since I ramped up biking I've lost 3 pounds this week, and I'm not trying to lose weight that fast. I eat what feels like a LOT of food due to how many calories i'm burning on these 60-80 mile daily bike rides (3000-3500 calories consumed a day). I am not sure I can eat much more than that without eating very dirty. I've been logging everything accurately (lost 98 pounds in the last year, know the ropes), so Strava might be under estimating some. I guess i'll need to wait a few more weeks to see if that weight loss continues.
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
    edited September 2018
    Are you wearing an HRM? For me, that seems to produce the best cycling and running numbers. Barring that, if your age and weight stats are loaded in Strava I'd definitely trust that over MapmyRide.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,055 Member
    I use MapMyHike for fun, but MFP for calories because MapMyHike's calories are way more than MFP's, which people already consider to be inflated.

    So in your case, my vote is for Strava.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,573 Member
    Hmmm.... I personally consider energy balance to be primary and, assuming certain base+ nutritional requirements are met or exceeded, I don't worry too much about washing the rest of my food :wink:

    Don't under-eat to the point where your energy levels plummet. Also, especially if you've been doing this for a while (and I seem to remember your name), you may want to check out the re-feeds and diet breaks thread.

    If you're getting significantly leaner the occasional carb heavy re-feed may prove of benefit (though it may play havoc with your scale if you're a low carber)!
  • thisPGHlife
    thisPGHlife Posts: 440 Member
    I've noticed that for me all of the MapMy products seem to give me an extremely high number. I'm assuming it is going not only what your burned for the activity but also what you would have burned anyway. I am not sure about Strava. My Fitbit seems to be relatively accurate for me and is usually within 50 or so calories of MFP. Going by my expected and actual weight loss, I am losing as expected. Maybe see what MFP would have given you.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Whenever MapMy products are mentioned and examples of burns are given they appear very exaggerated. Even for walking and running where accurate/reasonable estimates are really easy to come by - that can't be accidental by MapMy, it's a deliberate marketing choice. So inflated it's not just the difference between estimating net and gross calories. (* - see below)

    I've used Strava for many years and the calorie burns work out to be entirely reasonable and believable for me. Perhaps someone with better aerodynamics or who did most of their riding in a peloton might find them a little high. (Aero isn't that significant at lower speeds though.)
    The estimates also compare well to my Garmin Edge estimates.

    As a cyclist then picking the premier cycling app would appear sensible.


    (* - It's not unique to MapMy, I use a high end indoor trainer with power meter which measures power very accurately and the standard formula for converting power to net calories is well known. But they use a bizarre algorithm which gives over-inflated calorie numbers.)
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    crazyravr wrote: »
    tyrindor wrote: »
    I've been biking a lot (over 300 miles last week). On my longest run, I went 80.3 miles with an average speed of 12.4 MPH (6hr 27 minutes active time). For reference, I weigh 157 pounds and my bike weighs 25 pounds. Mostly flat ground, ~750ft elevation.

    Strava tells me I burnt 2372 calories during that ride. MapMyRide tells me 3481. This is a huge difference! Both apps are factoring in my overall weight, but every ride has MMR telling me I burnt much more. I'm inclined to believe Strava because MMR regularly tells me I burnt ~800 calories on only ~18 mile rides which seems really high for 12.5MPH average and the effort it takes me.

    Any ideas?

    Get a HRM and use that connected with garmin. Thats pretty accurate. Anything else you are estimating.

    Garmin with a HRM is still estimating and HR isn't any guarantee of calorie accuracy for an individual.
    If OP wants training and navigation devices then they would be good choices, but unnecessary otherwise.
  • blobby10
    blobby10 Posts: 357 Member
    I cycle at between 14-16mph and burn around 30-35 calories per mile which would be in line with what Strava told you that you had burned. I use a HRM so mine is fairly accurate. Mind you, as others have said, nothing is going to give you a bang on accurate reading !
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    A direct force power meter will get you within 5% of the truth.

    Strava is unique in the way they estimates calories from cycling. They know what you and the bike weigh, they use standard assumptions for your aerobic and tires, they calculate the power required to move at the speed you did given the hills you did. It works pretty well unless you're drafting or there was serious wind, or your wheel is so out of true it rubs the brakes.

    HRM is likely to be less accurate.
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