Accuracy of calories burned while biking

[emily_in_nc]

Linda, have you tried taking your pulse manually while wearing the Garmin to see if the numbers are close? For example, stopping at the top of a hill when you feel that your heart is pounding or beating fast and taking your pulse at your wrist or neck while the Garmin is also taking it? You could try this at rest too. It's a simple test but may point out a discrepancy.

When I used to wear a Polar HRM, my max HR was usually around 180 or 190 and average HR around 150+ on a ride, and my calories burned about 400 per hour, and I'm little (<105 lbs). My DH, who weighs in the 150s, always burned a lot more calories than me on the same ride, according to his Polar, even tho his average HR was quite a bit lower than mine.

I agree with others, your numbers seem very low, though the calorie number is low b/c of the HR being low, so that's why I suggested verifying the unit is measuring your HR correctly. If it is, then you are very, very fit!

[OakLeaf]

Comparing your stopwatch pulse is a really good idea.

Do you have the new "premium" soft strap? Those are notorious ...

[nscrbug]

Comparing your stopwatch pulse is a really good idea.

Do you have the new "premium" soft strap? Those are notorious ...

Yes..it is the premium soft strap...which means what exactly? Are these straps known to cause inaccurate readings?

[OakLeaf]

Yes..it is the premium soft strap...which means what exactly? Are these straps known to cause inaccurate readings?

Yep. Known to lose contact if you're too wet, too dry, wearing the wrong kind of fabric ... I've got the old hard strap so I don't really know the ins and outs and whether there's much you can do short of replacing it, but take a look at the Garmin user forums.

[DarcyInOregon]

Linda, if you don't solve the problem, you can ask your question at the Garmin Forums: https://forums.garmin.com/

When I was new to using the Garmin some years ago, I got low heart rate readings over a ride when I didn't check my heart rate before starting out to make sure the chest strap was transmitting correctly. I learned to always check the heart rate before putting the Garmin on my bike, and that solved the problem. Sometimes the chest strap was too loose. Othertimes, the bra band bumped out the chest strap, which interfered with transmission. When you are checking your heart rate after turning on the Garmin, the heart rate should be about the same as if you are at home washing dishes, i.e. standing up and doing a bit of body movement, not sitting or sleeping. If fussing with the strap and clothing isn't effective, then put a new battery in the chest strap, and if that doesn't work, then try asking in the Garmin Forums.

Once you get the Garmin to working for you, you will love it. Just about every cyclist in the two training groups in which I participate have a Garmin and there are zero complaints as to accuracy.

[bellissima]

nscrbug, The new Garmin uses Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise testing as one of the parameters to calculate your calories, make sure that your "Activity Class" is set up correctly on your device profile, also the gender, age, weight and height values have to be correct as this would cause a low or high calorie values depending on the activity class setting. You may have to change the Activity Class settings in order to get more accurate calorie count reading.

[nscrbug]

nscrbug, The new Garmin uses Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise testing as one of the parameters to calculate your calories, make sure that your "Activity Class" is set up correctly on your device profile, also the gender, age, weight and height values have to be correct as this would cause a low or high calorie values depending on the activity class setting. You may have to change the Activity Class settings in order to get more accurate calorie count reading.

Hmmm...okay, since I don't actually have my Garmin right in front of me...can anyone tell me what the different "activity classes" are? And how would one determine which class is the correct one? I'm sure I entered a value in for this field, but at the moment I can't remember what it was. Can anyone help?

Linda

[nscrbug]

Darcy...I've been perusing the Garmin forums for the past 2 days. I've found several threads discussing the "low calorie burn" issue, but haven't really come across a solution for it. So...my plan of action is to test the unit against my own pulse rate before I ride, and then change the battery in the HR strap to see if that helps. I've only had it for a little over a month, so I'm guessing it's not a low battery issue...but for $5, I'll give it a shot. I'm also going to buy a bottle of HR gel to use on the contacts. I'm fairly certain that my bra is not the cause, because I position the HR strap underneath the bottom band of my bra and it generally doesn't budge at all. IF, after all these attempts, I'm still not getting any love...then I will contact Garmin about getting a replacement strap...maybe I got a bum one.

[MollyJ]

I have a Polar FT 7, which is pretty basic. I came into HRM's and more aggressive bicycling through weight loss. I lost and have kept off for more than a year about 47 pounds.

Here's the news: As you become more conditioned,your calorie burn falls. Just ain't fair. But if I understand the physiology correctly, being more physically active kicks up your basal metabolic burn somewhat. You benefit from being more active and less sendentary.

I used the weight loss web site Calorie King and they have estimators for exercise (you can eat back calories burned with exercise). The commonly accepted scuttlebutt was that the estimates were high and the numbers you got with an HRM are "more accurate" and uniformly lower than the estimates. This has tended to be my experience also.

But they are really scientific best guesses, though I think they are not all wrong.

With exercise I have seen my resting heart rate drop. I did an estimation of body fat at my local YMCA (not the gold standard,which is an immersion test).

But with my new bike (did I mention I have new Trek Madone?) my plan is to work on cadence and then I will be interested to see if this kicks up my calorie burn.

Try not to focus on one number. Look at a constellation of data. There is no doubt that the "king" of calorie burn exercise is running. But I like biking. And that beats being a couch potato any day.

[shootingstar]

What do people do after they have lost weight and measured calories during the weight loss process? Do you still do it this carefully?

Hopefully some people reach a point that they know instinctively how much and what to eat works for them in accordance to a rough guessestimate of their exercising activity.

[azfiddle]

For me, it's still a guessing game- I stayed even for a while, gained a few pounds, dropped all but one and stayed there for a couple months, but the next time I seem I went up, I seem to have found an equilibrium that is 3 lbs above my goal. So I'm riding 100 miles a week but can't seem to get these 3 lbs off. It's all about counting and tracking and I think I haven't been as good at that.

Interesting how the Garmin gave a more realistic result w/o the HRM.

nscrbug - did you ever try contacting Garmin to ask them about the discrepancy? My DH did not have any other ideas...