Training & Nutrition - Calorie Burn

Ok, I have seen a few posts mention burning 4-500 cal/hour while on a ride. I started commuting to work to loose weight (I LOVE IT!); however, I have come up with different numbers. I searched the internet, and found this page: http://www.frontier.iarc.uaf.edu:8080/~cswingle/misc/exercise.phtml

If I run his numbers, my 30 min mtn bike ride to work at an avg speed of 16.7 mph (I weigh 230 lbs) makes my body burn 600ish Cal. My 1 hr ride yesterday at an average speed of 14.9 mph consumed over 1000 Cal. This guys measurements are all in kcal (note the small c. 1000 cal = 1 Kcal = 1 Cal. a food Cal. has a capital C), so it is 1 to 1 with food cal. What do you think? Is he way off?

It depends on terrain, age, wind, your wind resistance, your weight, your speed, distance, your bike, your tires, etc., etc., most of which are left out of this guys chart.

There are a number of calorie counters on the inet, but I can't find any of the good ones right now. The one I liked in my "favorites/bookmarks" has disappeared.

I generally very roughly figure 35 calories per mile for me and the kind of riding I do.

This guys measurements are all in kcal (note the small c. 1000 cal = 1 Kcal = 1 Cal. a food Cal. has a capital C), so it is 1 to 1 with food cal. What do you think? Is he way off?

Yes, the calories listed on food labels are actually kilo calories.

I use a calorie estimate on my training log spreadsheet. I believe I did a curve fit formula from a table in bicycling magazine several years ago. These estimates are about 10-15% lower than the numbers I have, but I wouldn't doubt if these formulas are more accurate.

On a side note, several years ago, I noted the total calories burned well into the season. Out of curiosity, I grabbed a can of ravioli from the kitchen and determined I had burned my weight in ravioli that year :D :D

FWIW, My training log shows I've burned 87,000 kcal this year on my bike (75,000 with this guys estimates).

-murray

FWIW, My training log shows I've burned 87,000 kcal this year on my bike (75,000 with this guys estimates).


Hmm. I did the math, and that works out to only 300ish Cal/day so far (I estimated...Jan-July = 210 days + 21 in Aug = 231. Then, I divded 87000 by 231 = 376). How much do you ride? My estimates say 400-500 each way on my commute. As for the type of riding I do, I would say to work is mostly downhill, and from work--the reverse--is mostly uphill. Of course, there are a few small hills thrown in, etc...., but for the most part, I figure if I estimate flat ground, the return trip makes up for the downhill.

I know people say don't worry and the weightloss will come (I agree, but only if I don't eat it up). Since the primary purpose of riding is to loose weight, I don't want to over adjust in the eating and eat it all up.

Because you're a big guy, riding a mountain bike, those calorie numbers aren't unreasonable. If your mountain bike has slick tires, or if you mostly ride in a lower aero position (as opposed to upright), they might be a bit high.

I ran your info through the Calorie Calculator in my CycliStats ride log program ( http://www.CycliStats.com ). Assuming "Rolling" terrain, a 22 lb bike, a 230 lb rider, an 8.35 mile ride in 30 minutes (=16.7 mph):

With mountain bike tires, and an "upright" body position: 540 calories.

With slick tires and an upright body position: 434 calories

With slick tires, and a "semi-aero" body position: 409 calories.

Ok, I have seen a few posts mention burning 4-500 cal/hour while on a ride. I started commuting to work to loose weight (I LOVE IT!); however, I have come up with different numbers.

Using http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.html , this can be used as a relatively precise guide to finding out how many calories you lose.

Enter your height, weight and age and select 1 hr 0 minutes to find out calories burned per hour. Then look at the list of activities (under B for Bicycling), and it will give you 6 categories of bicycling. This is how to interpret these categories (as speed can change).

Bicycling - under 16.1 km/h (warm-up)
Bicycling - 16.1-19.2 km/h (zone 1)
Bicycling - 19.3-22.4 km/h (zone 2)
Bicycling - 22.5-25.6 km/h (zone 3)
Bicycling - 25.7-30.6 km/h (zone 4)
Bicycling - over 32.2 km/h (zone 5)
(the site calls these zones Leisure (WarmUp), Light (Zone 1), Moderate (Zone 2), Vigorous (Zone 3), Very Vigorous (Zone 4), Racing(Zone 5) ~ ignore the speeds shown as speed varies between riders)

The Heart Rate Intensity Zones are divided as follows: (Max HR = approx. 220 - age)
 Zone 1 ~ 65% of MHR (recovery rides)
 Zone 2 ~ 65-72% of MHR (endurance events)
 Zone 3 ~ 73-80% of MHR (high level aerobic activity)
 Zone 4 ~ 84-90% of MHR (lactate threshold(LT,AT); time trialing)
 Zone 5 ~ 91-100% of MHR (sprints and anaerobic training)

Check your heart rate on the bike. You'll find some rides you ride at Zone 3, other days you ride at Zone 4. You burn more calories per hour on the days you ride harder (i.e. Zone 4).

To find out how much calories you burn on your ride:

If you commute (example) for 30 minutes at Zone 3, check out how much Calories are burned for 30 minutes for the activity "Bicycling - 22.5-25.6 km/h (Vigorous)".

I hope this helps. This is how I determine how many calories I burn during my training rides.

The thing that has always confused me is when you look up "1 hr of cycling" and they give you X amount of calories, are they accouting for coasting, or an hour of solid cycling? Because I'd say at least 1/4 of the time is spent coasting. Right?

Okay guys, loose is what you do with arrows. Lose is what you do when you cross the line second.

The thing that has always confused me is when you look up "1 hr of cycling" and they give you X amount of calories, are they accouting for coasting, or an hour of solid cycling? Because I'd say at least 1/4 of the time is spent coasting. Right?

I figure that when I'm on a training ride, I hit (example) zone 4 and can hold it for a long time (many many kilometers). Even when I coast, I make sure my heartrate doesn't go down too much. So even if you spend 10% of your ride coasting (more realistic figure), you drop maybe only a few heartbeats and calories burned, maybe you will only burn 99.5 % total calories as opposed to pedaling constantly. If you ride at 150 BPM, then while coasting (not too long) you will drop to maybe 140 : not a big difference in calories burned, especially if you only lose 10 BPM for 10 % of your ride.

Okay guys, loose is what you do with arrows. Lose is what you do when you cross the line second.

Thanks. Drives me nuts, too!

Lose the loose!

Hmm. I did the math, and that works out to only 300ish Cal/day so far (I estimated...Jan-July = 210 days + 21 in Aug = 231. Then, I divded 87000 by 231 = 376). How much do you ride?

I live in Wisconsin, so I didn’t get my bike out until the end of Feb. I usually ride 3-5 days a week between 20-60 miles a ride. I’ve got ~2700 miles for the year at ~18.5 mph.

FWIW, I dropped 16 lbs (147-131) this spring over about 2 months. While packing for a trip to Florida in early March, my wife suggested trying on my shorts. None of them fit :eek:

To lose the weight, I packed a light lunch (turkey sandwich & carrots) instead of Subway or McDonald’s. I didn’t do anything different for breakfast or dinner other than not stuff myself with big portions. I’m riding a bit more than the last few years, but cutting the calories was key IMHO. Now my shorts are LOOSE :)

-murray

Get yourself a good heart rate monitor that will tell you how many calories you burn. Please don't tell me they aren't accurate...I sure like my results thus far!!

yeah, I think I have my polar pretty well setup for my wt, ht, and activity level. It gives me different results from the calculations you folks have presented. btw- whats the difference between KCal and kcal?

Me:
6'0 Male
169lbs
high activity

25miles last night
1326KCal
1160ft climbing
18.6avg

I figure that when I'm on a training ride, I hit (example) zone 4 and can hold it for a long time (many many kilometers). Even when I coast, I make sure my heartrate doesn't go down too much. So even if you spend 10% of your ride coasting (more realistic figure), you drop maybe only a few heartbeats and calories burned, maybe you will only burn 99.5 % total calories as opposed to pedaling constantly. If you ride at 150 BPM, then while coasting (not too long) you will drop to maybe 140 : not a big difference in calories burned, especially if you only lose 10 BPM for 10 % of your ride.


Ah, well if that's true, then I have been drastically underestimating my calories. I went for a 3.5 hour ride, and figured I burned maybe 800 cals, but maybe it was much more. :D

I had a lovely heart rate monitor, but I left the strap part at the gym, someone made off with it, and there went my monitor and $50 down the drain after only one use!! :mad: However, after using it in a 1 hour spinning class, I only burned about 450 cals (w. bpm ranging from the 140s to the 160s) so that was one of the reasons I made the coasting assumption.

yeah, I think I have my polar pretty well setup for my wt, ht, and activity level. It gives me different results from the calculations you folks have presented. btw- whats the difference between KCal and kcal?

Me:
6'0 Male
169lbs
high activity

25miles last night
1326KCal
1160ft climbing
18.6avg

Tha 1160 feet of climbing adds calories fast!

tjmaxx: On your original question, I suspect the 600 calories for a 30 min ride is a high number. If you go to

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/6434/CalCalcApplet.html

they use an algorithm published in the May 1989 issue of Bicycling magazine. This calculator gives 280 calories for your 30 min ride, or 560 cal/hr.

I lost 40 lbs 1 1/2 years ago commuting 4 days/week. What I found is that even if you spend 600 cal a day on the bike, you still have to keep a lid on food and diet. Got my best results with steady weight loss by aiming for 1900-2000 cal/day food intake, which left me with approx 500 cal/day deficit, AND throwing in one long ride per week of 2 to 3 hours. It's the long ride that really gets you in shape and burns the fat, IMHO.

Ride safe.

Yesterday, I went to a sports nutritionist. I have gained 10lbs over the past year, ironically most of it since February when I first started watching my diet and indoor training in anticipation of taking up cycling. (I am new to cycling, have done 6 rides so far, love it, and my max ride was 45 miles so far).

I can't understand where this weight is coming from, because I used to be able to eat tonnes and although I'd gain, it would all go away again with a little cutting back. Now it is so stubborn! I wonder if it's a slowing metabolism? I am 33. Anyway, I LOVE to eat. When I am on vacation or just being very bad, I can down 3-4000 cals a day!!!

The nutritionist has told me never to go below my base calories of 1400, but to lose weight I have to eat 1500 cals a day INCLUDING my riding snacks. To maintain, I should be around 2000. While this makes perfect sense to me when not exercising, it seems a bit drastic if it includes cycling snacks. This is based however on my 1.5-2 hour rides, 2 or 3 times a week. I just know that if I go on this 1500 a day diet I am going to STARVE!!!!

Yesterday, I went to a sports nutritionist. I have gained 10lbs over the past year, ironically most of it since February when I first started watching my diet and indoor training in anticipation of taking up cycling. (I am new to cycling, have done 6 rides so far, love it, and my max ride was 45 miles so far).

I can't understand where this weight is coming from, because I used to be able to eat tonnes and although I'd gain, it would all go away again with a little cutting back. Now it is so stubborn! I wonder if it's a slowing metabolism? I am 33. Anyway, I LOVE to eat. When I am on vacation or just being very bad, I can down 3-4000 cals a day!!!

The nutritionist has told me never to go below my base calories of 1400, but to lose weight I have to eat 1500 cals a day INCLUDING my riding snacks. To maintain, I should be around 2000. While this makes perfect sense to me when not exercising, it seems a bit drastic if it includes cycling snacks. This is based however on my 1.5-2 hour rides, 2 or 3 times a week. I just know that if I go on this 1500 a day diet I am going to STARVE!!!!

It's all about balancing calories in vs. calories out. You've gained those 10 lbs over the last year because you consumed 100 calories per day more than your body was burning (roughly equal to 2/3rds of a can of soda). To lose the weight, you need to consume less calories than you burn. You can do this either with exercise, or with diet, or (ideally) with some of both.

For most folks, the diet is more important than exercise. This is true because most exercise burns a depressingly small number of calories, compared to what you can consume with a single trip to the fast food place (or, that carton of Haagen-Daaz!). Cycling is actually one of the more efficient calorie burners, assuming you push the pace, but diet is still critical. It's fairly easy to subvert an exercise program with overeating, because you tend to get hungry after a ride, and also feel like you've "earned" that extra helping of food. But, for weight loss, you need to control what you eat (no sodas!), and the portion sizes (most are way too large).

As for the 1500 calories recommended by your nutritionist - what daily calorie deficit does that yield? The standard for weight loss is 500 calories per day, which should yield 1 lb of weight loss per week. But, this can be difficult to achieve, especially if you're trying to exercise at intensity.

The good news is that even lower daily calorie deficits can result in significant weight loss over time. There's a table on this web page that shows what you can expect at different levels of calorie deficit: http://www.shastasoftware.com/WeightWare/dailyenergydeficit.htm .

Best of luck!

Thank you for your reply! I presume she means a deficit of 500, because I told her I had to lose this weight by Nov 7 (I have an important belly dancing gig!) and that's a little over 1lb per week. She also said that to maintain I should be around 2000 a day. The depresing thing is that this # (ie base calories) goes down after you lose weight, so you are punished for your success! *sigh*

Anyway, I just think that if I am eating 1500 a day, and if I go for a ride that burns 600 cals, I end up with 900 left...it seems like not much, but I guess she must know what she's doing....

Ahhh! That makes a bit more sense, I guess. Since it's a short-term weight loss plan, you may just have to get comfortable with feeling somewhat hungry from time to time. It's not really a bad thing to feel hungry once in a while (assuming you're eating enough to get your vitamins and minerals, and have sufficient energy for the bike and your other activities).

Most of us eat without thinking about it whenver we feel even the slightest degree of hunger. But, that's also one of the reasons why we're mostly overweight!

This is true! :) And in my typical fashion, I will put all of this off until AFTER the Labour Day weekend stuffathon ;) and start next week after she gives me the meal plan she is crafting....

Not that it really matters as this thread has died down, but I just got back from my follow up app't with the nutritionist. Apparently she slightly underestimated my calories AND I misunderstood her. The riding snacks and post-ride recovery food are in ADDITION to the basic food so I am THRILLED! :D

She gave me a great personalized plan, and suggestions of water/energy drink/gel/bar combinations and timings to eat...it was money well spent. :)