Guess How Many Calories I Am Burning?

Alex_Simmons/RST

Soni wrote:

The greatest health benefits for the cardiovascular system and also weight loss/management is Anaerobic respiration/excercise, which i'm sure you are probably aware is achieved by maintaining a heart rate of between 65% (low intensity) and 85% (high intensity) of your maximum heart rate for a period greater than 20 minutes. Anything over 20 minutes is burning fat! FACT!

I would call 65-85% of MHR light to moderate intensity training, not high intensity. It is most certainly aerobic, not anaerobic and you would be using fats a fuel no matter the duration of exercise at the steadier levels. But that's not all that relevant, as it's total calories that matter, not the fuel substrate utilised.

Soni

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

Soni wrote:

The greatest health benefits for the cardiovascular system and also weight loss/management is Anaerobic respiration/excercise, which i'm sure you are probably aware is achieved by maintaining a heart rate of between 65% (low intensity) and 85% (high intensity) of your maximum heart rate for a period greater than 20 minutes. Anything over 20 minutes is burning fat! FACT!

I would call 65-85% of MHR light to moderate intensity training, not high intensity. It is most certainly aerobic, not anaerobic and you would be using fats a fuel no matter the duration of exercise at the steadier levels. But that's not all that relevant, as it's total calories that matter, not the fuel substrate utilised.

Sorry mate, i meant Aerobic - not Anaerobic, typographical error!

I did a Diploma in Fitness years ago when a teenager and remember the 'Aerobic - With Oxygen' and the ATP etc., etc.,

However, 85% of your MHR is considered High Intensity Aerobic excercise, although i have in the past, and i'm sure other have also, i wouldn't like and wouldn't recommend working out for a sustained period anything above 85%......

Soni

robthehungrymonkey wrote:

7 hours of cycling a week is a lot compared to 99% of the population. The fact the cyclists on here might do that in a day is irrelevant to how much weight lost can be achieved by someone nowhere near that level of fitness. Lots of people struggle to do 10 miles on a bike.

My Mum has lost a lot of weight recently, and that has involved going to the gym and jogging for 5 minutes (amoungst other things, but that is the most she can manage running). But she hasn't changed her diet, it's all down to the excercise.

I congratulate you on your weight lost Soni (but i imagine it continue to go down at that rate!).

Hi mate, thanks, a guy came into our office yesterday and looked at me and said 'Have you lost weight?'!

Also, my belt is on the last hole (the smallest measurement) now, whereas it 'was' around 5-6 weeks ago on the first hole (the largest measurement)!

I'm feeling a lot better in myself, no stomach in the way now when i bend forward, and also my resting heart rate has gone to 59bpm, my blood pressure has dropped to 117/77, so all in all i'm really happy with my progress to date.

This morning i've weighed in at 15stone, 12lbs, so another couple of pounds nearly dropped, and looking at the scales and thinking that it was on 18stone 2lbs less than 8 weeks ago sounds to good to be true.

What you were saying about your mum, its all relative, as you say 5 minutes running for your mum is all she can manage, but its 5 minutes she wasn't doing, and also that 5 minutes to her is a real challenge.

As you get fitter, your training zone changes, so these guys on here that may ride 6-7 hours + per day have a completely different training zone than i would, so therefore i will benefit significanly from a 1.5 hr ride at 16mph average, whereas they won't, however maybe in another 6months - 12 months time i will have to step it up a gear and either ride faster or for longer or both.....

MAXTHEDOG

Soni,

My 2p's worth.All you've gotta remember is to lose weight you've gotta eat less calories than you expend.The trouble with takeaways,as has been said previously is that they are prepared with the cheapest ingredients out there.If you make your meals yourself you can check on the packages what carb,protien etc it is made up of and thereby tailor it to how you need it.Also,people eat far too much.I like my food too but I've had to change my entire lifestyle to accomodate my weight loss/fitness and I became aquainted with the packaging and eventually became what is politely known as a 'foody'.
Try not to get too obsessed with what the scales say - you'll know its happening when like you've said your belt is on the last hole! Get used to buying new shirts and pants, I had to!!Also as the fat comes off your muscles will start to take over and they weigh more that fat,plus they demand more calories to exist than fat so get used to feeling hungry every two hours - you are eating small,but regular aren't you
Your missus is correct - fat comes off at the same rate all over the body,it cant be 'targeted'.

Be careful,also if it comes off quick it can go back on quick.

BTW I was 17st now 14.

Good luck and enjoy your riding on road and with your collies,mine used to love MTB'ing.

fizz

II'm 36, I'm 14 st 9lbs. According to my Polar 50 minutes of cycling covering 13.3 miles, average speed of 15.7 mph, see's me burning 836kcals...

I know its not 100% acurate, but the chap earlier up the thread that said you were burning 800ish calories per ride was about right IMHO.

HTH

Soni

MAXTHEDOG wrote:

Soni,

My 2p's worth.All you've gotta remember is to lose weight you've gotta eat less calories than you expend.The trouble with takeaways,as has been said previously is that they are prepared with the cheapest ingredients out there.If you make your meals yourself you can check on the packages what carb,protien etc it is made up of and thereby tailor it to how you need it.Also,people eat far too much.I like my food too but I've had to change my entire lifestyle to accomodate my weight loss/fitness and I became aquainted with the packaging and eventually became what is politely known as a 'foody'.
Try not to get too obsessed with what the scales say - you'll know its happening when like you've said your belt is on the last hole! Get used to buying new shirts and pants, I had to!!Also as the fat comes off your muscles will start to take over and they weigh more that fat,plus they demand more calories to exist than fat so get used to feeling hungry every two hours - you are eating small,but regular aren't you
Your missus is correct - fat comes off at the same rate all over the body,it cant be 'targeted'.

Be careful,also if it comes off quick it can go back on quick.

BTW I was 17st now 14.

Good luck and enjoy your riding on road and with your collies,mine used to love MTB'ing.

Hi Maxthedog,

I've been speaking to a work mate who says he mates all of his own curries, and he reckons its absolutely beautiful, he's given me the receipe, its a Jalfrezi, hasn't got any coconut oil or cream/yoghurt in it, mainly just spices and onions, so i'm going to tackle this on Thursday evening instead of having the regular takeaway....will be stocking up on the ingredients later on this evening from my local Tesco.

You've done really well getting down to 14 stone from 17, you must feel really good about yourself, i initially set myself a goal of 15.5 stone down from 18.2 stone, as i wanted to set an 'achievable' goal which i knew was within reach, and this is by 16th July, i weighed in this morning at 15st 12lbs, so 'hopefully' this will be reached in about another week, which will then lead me to focus on getting beneath 15stone, and i would be really over the moon if i reach 14.5 stone by 16th July....

I'm riding 12 miles every morning at the moment, apart from weekends when i'm doing a 25miler, however i'm full of energy tonight so might have an evening ride and do the same 12 mile course, which should help to shed a little bit more.

As for my dog, yes i have a Border, his name is Sam, he's a short haired/smooth coated Border, got him from a farm in North Wales, both his mum and dad are working sheepdogs, they work the farmers sheep and cows, he's only 6 months old, got him when he was only 6 weeks old, can't beat Collies, is that another collie you have in your avatar?

I have photos of Sam here:-

http://www.sonifenton-scott.pwp.blueyon ... /MyDog.htm

Sams mum and dad are in the photos if you scroll down the page!

Soni

fizz wrote:

II'm 36, I'm 14 st 9lbs. According to my Polar 50 minutes of cycling covering 13.3 miles, average speed of 15.7 mph, see's me burning 836kcals...

I know its not 100% acurate, but the chap earlier up the thread that said you were burning 800ish calories per ride was about right IMHO.

HTH

Hi mate, that is encouraging, knowing that you've got it electronically stating 836 calories, as you say its not 100%, however its going to be pretty damn close, therefore if i go on another ride tonight, i've nearly worked off my entire calorie intake for the day!

Alex_Simmons/RST

fizz wrote:

II'm 36, I'm 14 st 9lbs. According to my Polar 50 minutes of cycling covering 13.3 miles, average speed of 15.7 mph, see's me burning 836kcals...

I know its not 100% acurate, but the chap earlier up the thread that said you were burning 800ish calories per ride was about right IMHO.

HTH

Not at that speed, I'd suggest closer to 400kcal, maybe more if it's a bit hilly.

Seriously folks, forget the calorie estimates provided by anything other than a calibrated power meter.

DaveyL

For what it's worth (which will be very little) I decided to do a comparison and wore my Polar HRM strap as well as my PowerTap HRM strap when doing a couple of 60 min isopower sessions on the turbo. On the first one, my PowerTap said 919 kJ and the Polar reckoned I'd burned 975 kcal, and the second time the PT said 943 kJ vs the Polar's 1034 kcal.

My impression from watching the kcal tick over as I did the session, is that the Polar under-estimates kcal/kJ at low HR and overestimates it at high HR, but that's just a hunch at the moment.

I started doing this comparison because I do a lot of moutnain bike riding but don't have a MTB PowerTap so find myself having to estimate TSS for the MTB rides I do to keep WKO+ up to date, and I thought that if I could correlate kcal from the Polar with an energy measure from the PowerTap, it might help me to estimate TSS better for my MTB rides.

It's all getting a bit too much of a hassle though :-)

Alex_Simmons/RST

There is generally a far higher correlation between HR and power when indoors on a trainer or in a lab ergo than outdoors where the power production is highly variable.

Attempting to use kJ as a proxy for TSS is not a recommended approach, even more so when the kJ estimate is coming from HR data from a highly variable effort level ride.

http://alex-cycle.blogspot.com/2006/12/tss-vs-kj.html

To be frank you're better off simply estimating an overall IF value and going with that.

Soni

Jumped on the scales this morning at 15st 10lbs, 5 ounces, just put a pair of jeans on that i haven't worn for a few weeks and they are slipping down over my hips, i can take them off now whilst they are done up!!!

Whether some call 1500 calories per day and excercising starving or not, i'm over the moon with the results so far and will continue going, as i've said my blood pressure has now dropped through the floor compared to what it was 140ish/90, compared to 117/77 now, and resting heart rate of 59bpm....and my weight has dropped from 18st 2pounds to 15st 10lbs.

Was out riding this morning and thought back to the days when i used to work out in the gym, 10 minutes on the stationary bike (according to the on screen display) burned nearly 100 calories, so those who have suggested 800 i think are smack on....

sampras38

Edwin wrote:

I'm not qualified to estimate how many calories you are using, although 800 sounds like a reasonable figure.
I do however have a radical suggestion, which is to not eat take-aways in the first place, then you could worry less about how many calories you are buring off. Sorry if that sounds sarcastic!

It's about the most obvious thing I would have suggested.

I wonder if the OP knows how many calories are in takeaways...

As for how many calories burned, I'm doing the Dragon 100+ Sportive at the weekend and even for that I doubt I'll burn more than 1000 an hour. More likely between 7-900.

DaSy

For me, the question is - how is this sustainable.

You are learning nothing about how to eat in the future, once you are over this crash diet. Take-aways counter-balanced by a diet bar is not how you will eat in the future, so as soon as you attempt to go back to a normal eating pattern it will all come flooding back.

You should be looking to make improvements in your diet that can be sustained permanently, as you have clearly seen that being lighter is beneficial to your life.

As a society we are too keen to get the instant fix, but this rarely works long term. Aim to build a healthy diet with balanced wholesome foods, take-aways are the devils food.

But congratulations on your acheivements so far...

sampras38

Soni wrote:

Edwin wrote:

I'm not qualified to estimate how many calories you are using, although 800 sounds like a reasonable figure.
I do however have a radical suggestion, which is to not eat take-aways in the first place, then you could worry less about how many calories you are buring off. Sorry if that sounds sarcastic!

Not sarcastic, you are right, however i do like food!

However, since i've been training and eating right (for the most part) i had my first Indian last Thursday which is the first i had for a long time, and i couldn't believe the aftertaste.....my Mrs said it may be where i've been eating clean for a while, as she had the same as me and didn't notice anything wrong with it, and the following morning my stomach felt terrible, and i thought - no more, thats Indian finished with, thats why i went for the Chinese instead on the Friday and Saturday

Part of me thinks you're pulling our chain..

How can you talk about eating 1500 calories in a day, ask advice about weight loss and have takeaways on a Friday and Saturday? That just doesn't make any sense.

Sorry if that sounds agrressive but if you were a mate of mine and asked the same advice, I'd take the mick something rotten..;-)

Soni

DaSy wrote:

For me, the question is - how is this sustainable.

You are learning nothing about how to eat in the future, once you are over this crash diet. Take-aways counter-balanced by a diet bar is not how you will eat in the future, so as soon as you attempt to go back to a normal eating pattern it will all come flooding back.

You should be looking to make improvements in your diet that can be sustained permanently, as you have clearly seen that being lighter is beneficial to your life.

As a society we are too keen to get the instant fix, but this rarely works long term. Aim to build a healthy diet with balanced wholesome foods, take-aways are the devils food.

But congratulations on your acheivements so far...

Hi mate, let me start by telling you what my normal days diet 'used' to be like.....

07:30 out of bed and a bowl of Co-Co Pops
11:30 Sandwich, Cake, fizzy drink from sandwich van at work
13:00 Lunchtime, Ice Cream, Packet of biscuits, another fizzy drink - or if i'm near a McDonalds, i would have a Large Big Mac Meal, Diet Coke, and MacFlurry,
18:00 Dinner at home, which i would specifically request my wife (she was very reluctant to provide) something which i then considered nice, like sausage beans & chips, home made curry with naan breads, followed by a massive and i mean massive bowl of ice cream
Then for the remainder of the evening i would eat biscuits, kit kats, penguins etc.,

Now

05:00 - out of bed
05:15 At least one hours cycling, sometimes 1.5 hours if i have time
07:30 Glass of Tropicana orange juice and multi-vitamin - approximately 120 calories
08:00 Slimfast Shake - 210 calories
13:00 Pasta and Chicken Salad from Tesco - 765 Calories
18:00 Slimfast meal bar - 210 calories

In the evening and mid morning i will have either have a couple of pieces of fruit or a packet of Slimfast Prezils - 95 calories each packet.

I only drink water now, and only once or twice a week will have Diet Coke.

So, as you can see, i have altered my diet considerably from what i was eating, and i'm loosing weight really quickly.

I shall continue as above until 16th July for my holiday, i'm going for 2 weeks all inclusive, when i return i shall use the above method again to get back down to what i was before i went on holiday, however will then go back onto normal healthy food, however will limit my calories to around 2000 calories per day at least, but from all good food and no junk....

Soni

sampras38 wrote:

Soni wrote:

Edwin wrote:

I'm not qualified to estimate how many calories you are using, although 800 sounds like a reasonable figure.
I do however have a radical suggestion, which is to not eat take-aways in the first place, then you could worry less about how many calories you are buring off. Sorry if that sounds sarcastic!

Not sarcastic, you are right, however i do like food!

However, since i've been training and eating right (for the most part) i had my first Indian last Thursday which is the first i had for a long time, and i couldn't believe the aftertaste.....my Mrs said it may be where i've been eating clean for a while, as she had the same as me and didn't notice anything wrong with it, and the following morning my stomach felt terrible, and i thought - no more, thats Indian finished with, thats why i went for the Chinese instead on the Friday and Saturday

Part of me thinks you're pulling our chain..

How can you talk about eating 1500 calories in a day, ask advice about weight loss and have takeaways on a Friday and Saturday? That just doesn't make any sense.

Sorry if that sounds agrressive but if you were a mate of mine and asked the same advice, I'd take the mick something rotten..;-)

Hi mate, not pulling anybodies chain , i honestly am loosing weight as stated above, however i'm also giving into temptation and having something nice every know and again.

However, whereas before i would try a diet, and then a couple of days later, or sometimes the same day as i started, i would fall off the wagon and pig out on junk food like McDonalds, and then never get back on the diet, if i have a takeaway now, then the very next day i do double the riding and get straight back on the diet, and this may last 5-7 days of hard dieting and cycling (for me) until i have another takeaway. I still seem to be loosing weight even though i may have the odd takeaway here and there.

Soni

I have decided to not have a takeaway this week, i was driving along the A23 into Croydon today and went past a Chinese Cash & Carry. Went inside, purchased some jars of sauce and bag of prawns and chicken from Tesco, and made a stir fry this evening which consisted of Sweet & Sour Chicken, and Rice Noodles....

I feel really bad for eating it, however i ate it at 18:00hrs, which is early, so i'm just about to go out for an evening ride, so this will be 24 miles riding i've done today, and i won't be eating anything else this evening.

Do you reckon the above will effect my weight loss much? :? :evil:

ThreeLionsBrian

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Takis61

Soni, first of all, congratulations for taking the bull by the horns & doing something positive to change your life & reduce your weight. It takes guts & willpower.
I also want to congratulate you on doing the exercise - any amount is better than none, as one previous post stated some of the guys here do incredible mileage weekly, something the average mortal with job & family cannot compete with - I certainly can't.
But I also totally agree that you have to seriously look at your nutrition - everyone enjoys a curry or chinese, but 3 in a week, complete madness IMHO - you need to look at saturated fat, salt content, calorie content, etc. - have a look at the calorie counter books for an idea.
And seriously - fresh vegetables, fruit, honey, milk, "good" fats etc. - you are getting some vitamins from the shake, but not as nature intended. "It's Life, Jim, but not as we know it !"
It would be a real shame if you lose all the weight but give yourself other potential health problems as a result of not looking at your long-term nutrition - you can't live on the shakes forever.
Please take this positively, you probably feel a bit like a dartboard after some of the posts here.

Soni

Takis61 wrote:

Soni, first of all, congratulations for taking the bull by the horns & doing something positive to change your life & reduce your weight. It takes guts & willpower.
I also want to congratulate you on doing the exercise - any amount is better than none, as one previous post stated some of the guys here do incredible mileage weekly, something the average mortal with job & family cannot compete with - I certainly can't.
But I also totally agree that you have to seriously look at your nutrition - everyone enjoys a curry or chinese, but 3 in a week, complete madness IMHO - you need to look at saturated fat, salt content, calorie content, etc. - have a look at the calorie counter books for an idea.
And seriously - fresh vegetables, fruit, honey, milk, "good" fats etc. - you are getting some vitamins from the shake, but not as nature intended. "It's Life, Jim, but not as we know it !"
It would be a real shame if you lose all the weight but give yourself other potential health problems as a result of not looking at your long-term nutrition - you can't live on the shakes forever.
Please take this positively, you probably feel a bit like a dartboard after some of the posts here.

Hi Takis, thanks for your post, i'm still quite a big boy so can take all the darts they want to throw at me!

I agree with what your saying, thats why i started taking MultiVitamins and drinking the glass of Orange Juice (not from concentrate) every morning, and as you say the shakes have vitamins in them to......as i said once i come back from holiday and get back to the weight i was before i went (as i'm expecting to put some on whilst on holiday as its all inclusive!) then i shall go back onto normal food (good food without the takeaways) but will make sure my calories don't go through the roof like they did initially, hense the reason for the weight gain in the first place!

Soni

Soni

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Excellent, 2100 calories is VERY encouraging!

I shall make sure i get in 90 minutes in the morning, just been out and done another ride this evening, only a short ride though of about 8-9 miles, as was with my 8 year old, but still hill climbing and still probably burnt a couple of hundred calories, and as they say 'every little helps!'

Alex_Simmons/RST

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Toss that HRM, it's telling you a load of rubbish.

2100 Cal over 90 min means you were averaging around 380-400 watts. Which is about what pro rider would average over a long TT.

even taking into account your mass and size and riding a bike with slow tyres in an upright position, you would be going an awful lot faster than 16mph at that power. More like 23-24 mph.

Unless of course for the whole 90-minutes you were going up a 3% incline.

In fact I estimate you probably burned less than half of what your HRM suggests.

Infamous

Soni wrote:

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Excellent, 2100 calories is VERY encouraging!

Your question has been answered about 5 times already, with most agreeing on the rough estimate of 600 calories per hour, why are you saying "excellent" ? because you want to believe you're burning more? it looks like you're after an ego stroke.

As I said before it's down to what you're not eating. The vast vast majority of people would struggle to only eat what you eat for one day, let alone every day for a month (we know this because of how many fat people there are, if it was truly that easy, everyone would do it). You are lucky that you don't feel hungry and that you find it easy, and it's clearly working... but you are NOT burning loads from cycling. Get over it.

DaSy

Soni wrote:

05:00 - out of bed
05:15 At least one hours cycling, sometimes 1.5 hours if i have time
07:30 Glass of Tropicana orange juice and multi-vitamin - approximately 120 calories
08:00 Slimfast Shake - 210 calories
13:00 Pasta and Chicken Salad from Tesco - 765 Calories
18:00 Slimfast meal bar - 210 calories

I can see you have changed your diet dramaticaly, but I still don't think this is the way to do it. Once you decide to stop this regime and start eating normaly, you have no reference point, as you have either massively over-eaten or now massively under-eat.

You need to start making the healthy and sustainable choices now. A good breakfast of some rolled oats and banana etc, a peice of fruit mid morning, a light salad or soup (500cals kind of size) for lunch, handful of nuts mid afternoon and then a balanced evening meal (salad, baked sweet potatoe and peice of fish kind of thing).

That way you keep you hunger at bay, eat regularly so keep a more even blood sugar level which stops the cravings to pig out, and have a natural source of minerals and vitamins you require.

Whilst you are on point at the moment you are able to control your cravings, but you won't be able to do that for the rest of your life on your current diet. My point is that you should start as you mean to go on, learn how to eat a healthy balanced diet that you can just adjust to maintain or lose weight with. Otherwise you are destined for the archetypal yo-yo diet syndrome.

sampras38

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Calorie readings from HRM's are always on the generous side and I hate to say it but there's no way are you burning 2100 calories at that speed in 90 mins. More like 500-600 per hour.

robthehungrymonkey

sampras38 wrote:

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Calorie readings from HRM's are always on the generous side and I hate to say it but there's no way are you burning 2100 calories at that speed in 90 mins. More like 500-600 per hour.

I understand that the calorie readings aren't accurate, but I don't see what speed or power has to do with it. Fitness varies so much, and the effort required for one unfit person to do 16mph over a flat course could burn the same as it takes Lance Armstrong to get up Alpe D'heuz!

sampras38

robthehungrymonkey wrote:

sampras38 wrote:

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Calorie readings from HRM's are always on the generous side and I hate to say it but there's no way are you burning 2100 calories at that speed in 90 mins. More like 500-600 per hour.

I understand that the calorie readings aren't accurate, but I don't see what speed or power has to do with it. Fitness varies so much, and the effort required for one unfit person to do 16mph over a flat course could burn the same as it takes Lance Armstrong to get up Alpe D'heuz!

Yes, that's fair enough but 2100 in 90 mins...

no way...;-)

Alex_Simmons/RST

robthehungrymonkey wrote:

I understand that the calorie readings aren't accurate, but I don't see what speed or power has to do with it. Fitness varies so much, and the effort required for one unfit person to do 16mph over a flat course could burn the same as it takes Lance Armstrong to get up Alpe D'heuz!

It has nothing to do with fitness.

It's all about power and time.

energy cannot be created nor destroyed, merely moved about...

Hence when we ride we a convert the energy stored in our bodies (fats and glycogen) into mechanical energy (the muscles driving the bike) and heat as well as a bit to drive the other functions of the body. When riding, a bit less than 1/4 of the energy we convert goes toward turning the cranks, the vast majority of the balance is converted to heat.

IOW, how much total energy is converted from stored fuels is directly proportional to the power at which we are riding and the duration. Energy = power x time.

And of course the faster we ride, the more power is required to ride at that higher speed.

Fitness only dictates how hard/fast we can ride and for how long.

but two riders putting out 200 watts will burn about the same amount of energy over the same time irrespective of their fitness. I say "about" as the exact amount depends on individual rider's efficiency levels, however that is not related to fitness. It is well documented that efficiency levels for the untrained is, on average, the same as for trained cyclists.

robthehungrymonkey

Alex_Simmons/RST wrote:

but two riders putting out 200 watts will burn about the same amount of energy over the same time irrespective of their fitness. I say "about" as the exact amount depends on individual rider's efficiency levels, however that is not related to fitness. It is well documented that efficiency levels for the untrained is, on average, the same as for trained cyclists.

That's very interesting. I imagined that the efficiency would be a major factor.
And on an excercise bike the power is directly comparable to the energy used? Why aren't they really accurate? (or are they?)

Soni

Infamous wrote:

Soni wrote:

ThreeLionsBrian wrote:

Soni,

According to my HRM i burn around 2100 calories @ 16MPH over a 90 min trip i did it when i weighed 16 stone plus so somewhere in that region i would think.

Excellent, 2100 calories is VERY encouraging!

Your question has been answered about 5 times already, with most agreeing on the rough estimate of 600 calories per hour, why are you saying "excellent" ? because you want to believe you're burning more? it looks like you're after an ego stroke.

As I said before it's down to what you're not eating. The vast vast majority of people would struggle to only eat what you eat for one day, let alone every day for a month (we know this because of how many fat people there are, if it was truly that easy, everyone would do it). You are lucky that you don't feel hungry and that you find it easy, and it's clearly working... but you are NOT burning loads from cycling. Get over it.

Why don't you go get off your high horse and save your rude comments for a real life situation instead of being a keyboard warrior....

I don't need my ego stroked by anybody thank you very much, i've got myself to do that....

If you haven't got anything beneficial to add to the thread then don't bother posting - simple!