Myfitnesspal and Garmin Connect - Calories
The_Wicker_Man
Posts: 338
Does anyone use Myfitnesspal and Garmin Connect here? I'm on a new diet plan and trying to figure out how many calories I've burned for each ride.
Tonight I was out with my club doing 70 minutes of cycling averaging 18.5mph
Myfitnesspal says I burned 687 calories whilst garmin connect says 895 (quite a difference), so what I want to know is which is more accurate? and Is there a better app/method to calculate calories burnt?
Tonight I was out with my club doing 70 minutes of cycling averaging 18.5mph
Myfitnesspal says I burned 687 calories whilst garmin connect says 895 (quite a difference), so what I want to know is which is more accurate? and Is there a better app/method to calculate calories burnt?
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Both sound a little High to me.
If youd been sitting on youll have burnt less. If you've been on the front you may be about right.
Err on the side of caution maybe?0 -
Neither ... they both work on complete guess work ... there is just too many variables to be accurate0
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Depends how much you weigh and what kind of intensity it was, but my enduro pace burns ~550kJ an hour and today riding sweetspot/tempo it was more like 650 (according to the powermeter). KJ are roughly equal to calories, so I'd say the Garmin Connect number is more likely for 70 min, especially if you have your HR zones dialled in and you're using a HR monitor.0
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With my calorie counting I always go with whatever is lowest (usually whatever Strava says tbh) In my head that means that at worst at least I'm within my limits instead of going over it unknowingly0
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cougie wrote:Both sound a little High to me.
If youd been sitting on youll have burnt less. If you've been on the front you may be about right.
Err on the side of caution maybe?
The other day I did an hour in zone 2 on my turbo, with power meter crank. I burned 670 calories according to the power meter (which works out the kilojoules of work, and then you can apply the assumption that because of the human body's inefficiency each joule of work costs about a calorie of energy). So, according to how hard the OP was working/how much they weigh, how efficient their body is at converting calories to energy, this might be about right. Always going to be an estimate, about 750/hour, roughly the middle of the OP's two figures, might actually be about right.0 -
Was worse yesterday. Was out on a club ride averaging 16.7mph for 2 hours. Garmin said I burned 1639cal and myfitnesspal/strava said 1cal (figured out that my powermeter battery died just after starting, so gave a false reading).
I'm using the lowest calories out of the two but yesterday I have no idea.0 -
topcattim wrote:cougie wrote:Both sound a little High to me.
If youd been sitting on youll have burnt less. If you've been on the front you may be about right.
Err on the side of caution maybe?
The other day I did an hour in zone 2 on my turbo, with power meter crank. I burned 670 calories according to the power meter (which works out the kilojoules of work, and then you can apply the assumption that because of the human body's inefficiency each joule of work costs about a calorie of energy). So, according to how hard the OP was working/how much they weigh, how efficient their body is at converting calories to energy, this might be about right. Always going to be an estimate, about 750/hour, roughly the middle of the OP's two figures, might actually be about right.
Don't forget the OP said he was out with his club - so unless he was on the front all of the time then he'd have been drafting.
I have a powermeter too and on the turbo it's roughy 600 cals per hour - depending on the workout - but it's a lot less outside - talking to people, drafting, traffic lights etc...0 -
If you've got a powermeter then don't even bother with Strava/MFP to estimate calories, just go with kJ, where 1kJ is roughly equal to 1 calorie. That's the best estimate you can get of actual energy used whilst cycling.The_Wicker_Man wrote:Was worse yesterday. Was out on a club ride averaging 16.7mph for 2 hours. Garmin said I burned 1639cal and myfitnesspal/strava said 1cal (figured out that my powermeter battery died just after starting, so gave a false reading).
I'm using the lowest calories out of the two but yesterday I have no idea.0 -
I only have a power meter on my winter bike just now (Stages 105), by other bikes don't have a power meter as they run campag, so usually have to guess via garmin/strava.0
