Stationary Bike or Cycling & calorie count

Chipmonkadidooda
Chipmonkadidooda Posts: 1 Member
edited November 9 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi,

Whilst new to MFP and am using it just to track my food calorie count, I am big road cyclist and when I'm not on the road I'm racking up the miles indoors on my Tacx Turbo Trainer. I have been putting down the exercises on my Cardiovascular training in MFP as 'Stationary Bike - vigorous' as I am averaging 20+ mph, but have noticed if I put it down as 'Cycling - vigorous' it uses more calories.

My question is this. As the Tacx trainer fully replicates being on a bike on the road (I am after all using an actual road bike with varying degrees of resistance throughout the 'ride' on the trainer, should I not be putting it down as 'actual' cycling and not 'stationary bike' which to be fair is much less vigorous.

Must admit though that the Garmin Edge 605 on my actual road bike when out on the road shows me using even more calories than either of these options.

Replies

  • jason_moore
    jason_moore Posts: 3
    You are not dealing with the elements (wind mostly) on the trainer so you calorie count will be lower. And raising the resistance on the trainer is not the same as climbing either. Get a heart rate monitor and use those numbers instead. They are certainly more accurate than any online estimator.

    Don't sweat the numbers though. Just hit the trainer for an hour or whatever and be done with it. It's all good, regardless of the final calorie count.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Get a heart rate monitor and use those numbers instead. They are certainly more accurate than any online estimator.

    What he said.
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