Did 40 minutes on the turbo last night and burnt 500 calories – then stupidly ate a box of maltesers that put them straight back in!
So, i decided to wear my HRM all day to see what sort of energy im getting through on a daily basis – not very scientific but anyway…
I cycle to work, 2 miles each way on a SS, work as a machinist so am on my feet all day and moving around.
After cycling each way and working etc ive burnt the lowly total of 1330 calories in 10 hours. Quite sobering when i think back to the box of maltesers at over 500 calories.
Shows how easy it is to put it in, and how much more difficult it is to use them up in daily life.
I wonder though, as my resting heart rate is 45bpm currently, is my low calorie usage to do with me being slightly fitter than the average 46yr old male?

I’m nearing 3500 – to 4000 without a decent ride in the day. But the only time i sit down is when i have crap.

I thought the average calorie burn per 24 hours for the average bloke without any extra exertion ie. no energy loss through work or exercise was around 2500 calories ?

I also thought that calorie burn through exercise is two-fold ie. calories expended during exercise and calories used to replenish whilst resting.

Another slightly more scientific question for the clever people:

Q/ In electrical terms power can be described in kw ie. the power used which includes correction for efficiency aka the power factor, is there a similar corrrection for human power??

Only using a cheap HRM from Lloyds chemist so no idea how accurate it is. Quite surprised at the low figure though considering I’m on my feet all day and cycle everywhere. Wonder if the fact i have the thing set to ‘performance’ for when I’m on the turbo has anything to do with it?
the bpm range on performance for me is 139-165bpm.

I think your 1300 calories will be in addition to the 2000-2500 you’re body is burning just keeping you running without any extra exertion. At least I hope so!

Im not calorie counting ,but have cut out the crap and for the last three weeks its been 3 meals a day and no other calories apart from about 4 beers total .I`m trying to ride a bit more and have started to swim and run twice a week ,So far ive lost 8 pounds in three weeks.I guess im on about 2000 calories a day

I thought the average calorie burn per 24 hours for the average bloke without any extra exertion ie. no energy loss through work or exercise was around 2500 calories ?

This will vary from person to person.

You need to calculate you basal metabolic rate, then add what your daily routine burns on top of that. And then add exercise on top of that again.

And how do you calculate that?

Meh.

Ride bike, eat pie.

Eat many pie, ride lots on bike.

C’est tout.

No idea.

There are very very basic calculators on the web, but I doubt you’d ever really know with any accuracy. Even if you went round wearing an HRM 24/7 you probably still be guessing to some degree.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

According to that scale i have a BMR of 1325.58 calories per day, so…

..I’m none the wiser!

According to that scale i have a BMR of 1325.58 calories per day, so…

Even after you’ve timesed it by the activity factor? Sounds low otherwise 😕

Mine worked out about 1950 if I did sod all (activity factor of 1.2)…yours would be about 1600

5500-6000 daily. Although, Im rowing and weight training for 3 hours minimum every day. Put them all back in with decent and occasionally not-so-decent cals.

45 bpm,you should be in the next olympics i think thats pro athlete level. 🙂

Hah! Pro, that would be something!
think i did forget the activity factor, hang on…

With a moderate activity factor (cycle commuting/3xturbo sessions/weekend ride) i have a figure of 2054 calories.
So, that 1330 calories, is that inclusive or on top of that figure?
I’m 5’2″ and weigh 9 stone although i could be lighter.

Mine with the BMR was 2254.As ive lost 8 pounds in 3 weeks I must be eating sod all

Muddy:

1325 per day with no activity is about 55 per hour.

You use 1330 in 10 hours of activity.
14 hours remaining, so 14*55 = 770

1330 + 770 = 2,100

Which is quite close to the 2054 estimate… Seems to add up?

45 bpm?! Mines nearly double that! 😯

Probably says more about me than you tbf.

Recently got a garmin FR305 with HRM and am using it with interest on runs and rides. A tad shocked to see that my Max HR was 201 yesterday on a run! Got me looking into my zones and so I measured my resting heart rate last night. 44 bpm which was lower than I thought it would be. Athletes are well below that.

My Tanita scale currently says:-

Current Condition

Basal Metabolic Rate = 1644 kcal
The minimum level of energy your body expends when at rest to function effectively including your respiratory and circulatory organs, neural system, liver, kidneys, and other organs.

Metabolic Age = 41 actual age 56
The average age associated with measured Basal Metabolic Rate.

Daily Calorie Intake = 3452 kcal
An estimate of how many calories you can consume within the next 24 hours to maintain your current weight.

Physique Rating = 5
An assessment of your physique according to the ratio of body fat and muscle mass in your body.

Edit: The calculator up the page gives me a BMR of 1527.39 not a million miles away.

Todays short ride according to Garmin, it felt like a lot more than 450 calories to me.

Distance:16.62 mi
Time:1:10:16
Avg Speed:14.2 mph
Elevation Gain:1,860 ft
Calories:458 C
Avg Temperature:47.4 °F

Edit, beaten to it

Ah, cheers for that!
Now today was a non-turbo day so tomorrow I’ll burn approx 500 more than today. Having said that i don’t count my food calories so could well be taking in more than that.

Even with regular exercise its frighteningly easy to eat too much on a regular scale.

Did 40 minutes on the turbo last night and burnt 500 calories – then stupidly ate a box of maltesers that put them straight back in!

Luckily you’re body isn’t an open loop system and adjusts the resting metabolic rate in a closed loop to maintain an approx set weight. If you don’t believe this, the average weight gain of an adult over their lifetime (2-3 stone over say 50 years) averages out at something like 17 calories a day and there’s no way we’re that accurate with our food intake, so something else is compensating. There was a Horizon program about this a couple of years ago where they took a group and made them all eat 7000 calories a day. The group fell into three categories: Group 1, could eat 7000 but their weight stayed the same i.e. their body just burnt it all off without any additional exercise. Group 2 gained weight (but not 7000 calories worth), their feedback system wasn’t so rigid. Group 3 just couldn’t eat that much and mainly threw it all up – that was their feedback mechanism.

The only slight problem is that people can move their feedback set weight up, probably by repeatedly screwing up their insulin levels with excessive sugar intake. Apparently moving it back down is nigh on impossible..

45 bpm is very low although you have some way to go until you reach previous Tour de France winner Indurain’s level of 28!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Indurain

The ave of 2500 is very much a suggested ave of a male based on old research, if you are riding everyday and on your feet a lot then you’ll be burning more and it does depend a fair bit on body size.

45 is only low for a sedentary person. When I raced Sport in the NPS mine was 41-42 and I was no where near Elite! No idea what it is now, as I haven’t touched an HRM in years, but probably a lot more normal e.g. 50-60.

I’m certainly not anywhere near being a poor amateur racing cyclist let alone elite!
Having my break at 10am this morning i idly watched my heart rate drop to 40bpm for a few seconds – as soon as you move a hand it jumps back up though.

Cheers for that Footflaps – didn’t know that about the metabolic rate. Suppose its obvious really, otherwise i’d be the size of a small car by now.
For some reason i thought the HRM would measure the whole calorie burn incl. the background running costs so to speak, as well as the effort-led usage.

60 – 80 is usually considered ‘normal’. How quickly your HR drops after exertion is a good indication of a heart in good nick.

Muddydwarf – the hrm doesnt measure calorie burn. It guesses often wildly and inaccurately.

I was wondering about that – what is the mathematics they use to ‘guess’ the calorie usage based on the heart rate?