how many cals burned cycling with a trailer and 2 kids attac

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tazzy
tazzy Posts: 197
in Fitness and Exercise
Any advice welcome:

I have been substituting my normal exercise routine with riding my bike with a trailer attached with my 2 girls inside
Trailer weight 30lbs
Childrens combined weight 60lbs

I do cycle up and down hills I am sure I get extra cal burn with the weight of the trailer but not sure what. i dont have a heart rate monitor yet. I read on one site somewhere that yo double the cal burn

Any thoughts of people in the know would be great as I think I could be underestimating my cals burned therefore not eating enough.

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  • tazzy
    tazzy Posts: 197
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    Any advice welcome:

    I have been substituting my normal exercise routine with riding my bike with a trailer attached with my 2 girls inside
    Trailer weight 30lbs
    Childrens combined weight 60lbs

    I do cycle up and down hills I am sure I get extra cal burn with the weight of the trailer but not sure what. i dont have a heart rate monitor yet. I read on one site somewhere that yo double the cal burn

    Any thoughts of people in the know would be great as I think I could be underestimating my cals burned therefore not eating enough.
  • NurseMisty
    NurseMisty Posts: 312 Member
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    I don't know what the answer is, I just wanted to say I have the same problem. I incorporate Tae-bo with my recumbent bike AND use hand weights for part of the Tae-bo. It gets tricky trying to figure this all out. Someone in the past recommended a heart monitor so you can see where where your heart rate is at and figure it out that way. I think that's how it went. Hopefully ssomeone more knowledgeable will chime in!
  • jenn_miles
    jenn_miles Posts: 10
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    I know most people burn 500-700 calories alone in a 55 minute cycling class. Every body is different so the calories burned all depend on the individual. I have a polar heart rate monitor and it is programed to my age, height and weight. I love it, I really dont know how I ever worked out without it. It keeps track of all my workouts and tells me how many calories I burn every workout. I push a little harder each time in the gym to burn those few extra calories. I highy recommend getting one, it gives great motivation. :smile:
  • scottc
    scottc Posts: 72
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    How does the polar heart rate monitor calculate calories burned? This is interesting!
  • mrsyac2
    mrsyac2 Posts: 2,784 Member
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    How does the polar heart rate monitor calculate calories burned? This is interesting!

    I have a Polar F4 and its great

    It tracks my heart rate and also counts my calories burned- it even keeps total time of working out and it also gives me my totals for the total time I workout and how many calories total I have burned and how many times I workout it is an awesome tool-

    Its a wrist watch and you wear a chest strap (very comfortable I don't even know its on) I wear it under my bra line- Its the cheaper of the Polars I got it for 89.99 at target online.

    You would be suprised with how many calories you are really burning when you wear a heart rate monitor that tracks not just your heart rate but your calories burned..

    I hate ridining the bike because I don't burn really any kind of calories- I rode the bike Saturday as part of my cardio and rode 7 miles and yet still only burned like 200 calories and I wasn't taking my time.
  • tazzy
    tazzy Posts: 197
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    I know cycling doesnt burn a great many cals but I am cycling for about 2 hours and there is barely any flat roads where I live and anything that burns the way this does is burning way more than ave cycling plus I wont give in a set my sights to the top of the hill and dont stop til I get there despite the burning in my thighs.

    I think I will have to figure this out when I get my hr monitor
    just gotta save up a bit of cash first then I will know for sure I think for now I will be cautious and watch my cals and maybe just allow an extra 100 (1 glass of fat free milk) as extra just to be on the safe side.
  • mrsyac2
    mrsyac2 Posts: 2,784 Member
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    I know cycling doesnt burn a great many cals but I am cycling for about 2 hours and there is barely any flat roads where I live and anything that burns the way this does is burning way more than ave cycling plus I wont give in a set my sights to the top of the hill and dont stop til I get there despite the burning in my thighs.

    I think I will have to figure this out when I get my hr monitor
    just gotta save up a bit of cash first then I will know for sure I think for now I will be cautious and watch my cals and maybe just allow an extra 100 (1 glass of fat free milk) as extra just to be on the safe side.

    The best thing I bought was my Heart Rate Monitor- I have a Polar f4 from target online for 89.00 - It doesn't have all the extra things but it does track my calories burned and my heart rate and tallys up my totals
  • scottc
    scottc Posts: 72
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    Thanks for the info. I :heart: riding my bike with my family. It's one of our favorite things to do in the summer! The time together is worth more than any amount of calories I could ever burn!
  • singfree
    singfree Posts: 1,591 Member
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    Cycling can burn a tremendous amount of cals IF you exert yourself. I average 700+ cals per hour on my bike according to my HRM. My heartrate avg is 150+ BPM. It all depends how hard you work.
  • erica9699
    erica9699 Posts: 53
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    I cycled for the first time with my 35 pound son in the bike trailer, some uphill, some down hill and burned about 150 cals in 45 minutes... I also have a polar f4. So for me it was definetly not an effective workout, but still a fun activity to do with the kids.
  • tazzy
    tazzy Posts: 197
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    Borrowed my friends hr monitor today and went for about an hour and burned 690 cals so not a bad workout I knew I was buring lots cos I I working very very hard so question answered thx to everyone.
  • ohthatbambi
    ohthatbambi Posts: 1,098 Member
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    I wear a polar f6 and I just burned 500 cals in an hour. Someone said that you didn't burn alot a cals cycling, but that is not exactly true. It depends on what you put into it. If you are busting your hump, which I suspect that you are with a trailer and two kids in tow....you are burning some cals. I have no idea how many. I avg'd 13 miles an hour on this ride I did today, which is not my best by any means but I still burned 500 calories. I'd invest in a HRM if you really want to know for sure!
  • tazzy
    tazzy Posts: 197
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    I bought my own polar f6 hr monitor and tested it today doing the same route as a couple of months ago this time with 1 child not 2 and I burned 700 cals in approx 1 hour so quite an effective workout hr was in the 150 - 170 most of the time the few hills that did go downhill hr dropped to about 135 so pretty good workout and effective too and I have sore legs now.

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