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How much can Strava’s calorie burn count be trusted?

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  • November 5, 2018 at 7:52 pm #29110
    mikepulsifer

    I did the Four Horsemen route in Zwift yesterday and Strava thinks I burned 2400+ calories.  I know I was drained and needed a quick nap after eating some lunch afterwards, but that seems pretty unbelievable.  How much can I trust that?  I was using a smart trainer w/power meter (CycleOps H2) and had a HR monitor on at the time.

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  • November 6, 2018 at 10:27 pm #930941
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    Jimmy Ray Will
    iso2000 wrote:
    I ignore it. On a ride I may eat 500 calories and when I get home 2 or 300 more than if I had been sedate. But Strava tells me I have burnt 2500 calories on a ride. Wouldn’t such a calorie deficit make me ill or super skinny? I stick to the rule that I burn 400 calories per hour on the bike.

    But doing so, you are knowingly sticking with something that you know is wrong… interesting view point. 400kcals an hour is smashing out ~110watts an hour. that is very sedate for nearly everyone. You will be burning more.

    November 6, 2018 at 12:00 pm #930939
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    Simon E

    I would ignore any such

    I would ignore any such machine / software algorithm, there are too many variables they can’t account for. Also the type of food you eat and when you eat it is more important than the kcal numbers on the packet and anyway they can vary quite a bit from those figures.

    https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/a-calorie-is-not-a-calorie/

    https://www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/how-accurate-is-that-calorie-reading/

    The most reliable indicator is your trouser waistband or belt, that will tell you if you’re losing or gaining weight (or fat).

    November 6, 2018 at 11:28 am #930937
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    iso2000

    I ignore it. On a ride I may

    I ignore it. On a ride I may eat 500 calories and when I get home 2 or 300 more than if I had been sedate. But Strava tells me I have burnt 2500 calories on a ride. Wouldn’t such a calorie deficit make me ill or super skinny? I stick to the rule that I burn 400 calories per hour on the bike.

    November 6, 2018 at 11:13 am #930935
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    fenix

    There is a running calculator

    There is a running calculator I trust that gives about 100 calories per mile run for the averag sized bloke.  So if I’m running then 800-900 calories an hour is believable.

     

    If I’m cycling its got to be a lot less than that.  Some of the strava claims are ridiculously high. You’d not want to use those as part of a dieting regime !

    November 6, 2018 at 10:03 am #930933
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    DoctorFish

    My calorie burn, for a 83kg

    My calorie burn, for a 83kg 43 year old, according to my Wahoo Elment and heart rate monitor comes out at around 900 kCal an hour when I feel I’m pushing myself and 800 kCal an hour when I feel I’m taking it a bit easier.

    This is for riding a road bike on the road, rather than using a trainer.

    It ties in fairly well with values that I’ve found elsewhere such as https://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/lookup 

     

     

    November 6, 2018 at 12:16 am #930931
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    madcarew

    2400 (k)Cal isn’t a huge

    2400 (k)Cal isn’t a huge amount of calories. There’s 2 measures: one is the amount of power (for the duration) used in the activity, and the other is the amount of calories used by the body to produce that power. The second measure is 4.5 times higher than the other.

    On a flat road on a road bike in normal conditions 200w output is +/- 30 kph. 200W is a 200 joules / second which is 47 calories / sec or 171 kcal per hour (kCal is our food ‘calories’). In general, humans are 21 – 23% efficient so to produce 171 kcal of output they burn 750 – 800 kcal per hour.  You can use this as a guideline to figure which measure strava is using. Pros can put out about 300w  for several hours (using 1300 – 1400 kcal / hr) whereas mere (male) mortals are generally going to be in the 180 – 200w for a sportive. Females are typically 75% of that.

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