I've been logging my food on MyFitnessPal for 3 1/2 years and I've utilized Garmin's calorie calculations in all of my daily caloric needs.

Don't trust the Strava number--it grossly overestimates mine by the same percentage. That being said, 1,005 for 2:45 at that intensity is very low.

I burn about 860 kcal/hour at 70%, but my FTP is 362W, so the energy expended is higher.

What is your FTP?

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Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

260

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Yellowfin Endurance Coaching and Bike Fits
USAT Level 1, USAC Level 3

1700-1800

In other words closer to 2000 than 1000 ;-)

Garmin I presume is estimating based on HR? Where Strava is pulling numbers via power output ??

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Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

I get weird numbers for calories across the board depending on what device is reporting it.

Example:

Did an workout yesterday morning on Trainerroad with their Android app on my phone recording everything then uploading to Strava & Garmin Connect. Here is what was reported:

TR: 570kj (cal)
Garmin Connect - 969 calories but still 570kj work (somehow it thought I had an Edge 1000 as my recording device too....found that odd)
Strava 636 calories (I'm assuming the work in kj is the same but I don't pay for premium so it won't let me look at it).

So there you go. If you have a PM then basing the calories burned off of actual work (in kj) is probably the more accurate method (or at least consistent).

Before yesterday I thought Garmin was fairly accurate. After yesterday, I'm not so sure. I've been off the bike for a while. Battery in both the heart rate strap and the Powertap hub dies. I weigh 215. I rode a little less than 19 miles each day with approximately 925 feet of climbing each of the last 2 days. Time was 1:06 each day. Averaged 16.8 each day. My Garmin 510 showed just under 1500 calories yesterday adjust over 1500 today. There is no way I was burning that many calories.

In shape, I'm usually 700--800 cal/hr.

277w / 1hr is roughtly ~1000kJ.

So if you did 70% of 260, or 182w.

182watts is ~ 655kJ/hr.

2.75hr ride = ~1801kJ for your ride, based on perceived effort of 70% FTP.

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Carson Christen
Sport Scientist , Coach
Torden Multisport

I've always been under the impression that the calorie estimates in TrainerRoad are pretty accurate, since they're directly measuring power generated.

Do you know if the calorie consumed is inclusive of your 'sitting down' calories

i.e. is it (say) 700 for 1hr sweet spot work out + 90 for 1hr your body needs just to keep going

or does the 700 include the 'sitting down' calories?

James

I was actually wondering the same thing myself a few days ago... I'm not sure. Maybe someone else knows?

I've tracked my calories for several years too and anecdotally, I have way more faith in the Garmin number than the Strava number. Strava is always higher. I use a power meter. Any calorie number is an estimate but absent a power meter, they are just wild ass guesses.

One thing to check is that you have your weight set the same for both. My Garmin does not seem to sync over to the device from Garmin Connect so make sure your weight (and FTP) is accurate on the head unit itself.

I have mixed results with that too on the Garmin/Strava differences. See below a few more rides (note, I didn't plan this but they all ended up being 75 minute rides/sessions).

Trainer ride this morning netted the following (Trainerroad over under workout):

TR - 683 kj/cal
Garmin - 1252 calories
Strava - 762 calories

Numbers from my last outdoor ride (several months ago):

Garmin - 684 calories (686kj work)
Strava - 764 calories

Here is my last ride before I got a PM for my road bike (outdoor ride a while ago)

Garmin - 983 calories
Strava - 748 calories

This is interesting. For me, Strava and Garmin are pretty close with Calories on the bike. I use a Garmin 935.

On the run however, Strava is ridiculously high. Not just high compared to Garmin, but way out of the norm of real life.

2 Examples:

Last Bike 1 hour - 17mi (No PM - NO idea of FTP)
Garmin - 414 calories
Strava - 471 calories

Last Run 5 Miles - 44 Minutes
Garmin - 396 calories
Strava - 639 calories

This is how pretty much every run/ride looks. Bike matches up. Run is stupid high on Strava

Strava estimation gets an undeserved bad rap IMHO. It's certainly not as accurate as a power meter. It also doesn't know if you're drafting, or riding with/against the wind. So it will be way off for group rides where you're spending time in the draft. You do have to make sure you've entered accurate body weight and bike weight in your Strava profile. But for solo rides that aren't skewed by wind, the Strava estimate will be pretty close. In my experience it will be far closer than any HR-based estimate. The problem with HR is it's not a measure of work. A really fit person's heart rate won't rise as much for a zone 2 ride, for instance, but that doesn't mean they're burning less calories than if they were out of shape and had a higher HR.

I don't trust the garmin data and I have never looked at strava calories...

On my ride today I did 719 KJ, and my garmin said I burned 391 calories. My weight and HR zones are set appropriately on my gamin. If I am to believe that garmin calorie number I must be the most efficient cyclist on the planet.

I consistently see this discrepancy in my cycling calorie counts. This leads me to simply ignore anything garmin spits out for calories for running and swimming. As a general rule, your KJ will equal your calories burned. It is not perfect for everyone, but it is going to be quite close. If strava is estimating your KJ and then calling that calories, I would take that estimate over garmin (which I assume is HR zone, or % of threshold HR, or % of max HR based).

For those using TrainerRoad, using their number should be just fine.. It is hard to give them credit for that number, they are just reporting KJ, calling it calories and calling it a day. I don't understand why garmin over complicates it when someone has a powermeter.

For the run, I just use 100 cal a mile, and for the swim I call it 500 and hour. Neither of those are great estimates, but they work for me when tracking my intake vs expenditure.

Every Garmin device I've used reported kcal = kj. The Garmin estimate will only be inaccurate when it's based of HR, not power data.

Interesting, not sure what my Garmin 500 is doing, but is not kj. Perhaps it is a setting I can change somewhere, but not worth finding because A. I do not really need a calorie estimate and B. when I do I just look at KJ. The point of my post is more that the non-kj based estimate it puts out for cycling is so far off the kj estimate it makes me question the running and swimming numbers.

My 935 started acting weird in run mode back in Nov. I can run 5-6 miles at 8:50/mine with a heart rate around 133 bpm.

Now, my 935 records an average of 150-160 bpm. I thought I had developed a health condition, then put on my chest heart rate monitor. With the chest strap, it records my heart rate accurately.

Don't know what happened but this expensive watch is basically an overpriced pool lap counter.

Close to 2000 calories burned. No way it is only 1000 with a FTP of 260.