Calories burned on the bike?!

I had 3 bike rides since i got my new road bike.

I am 6'6" at about 235lbs.

Ride 1:

59:30 minutes ; 12.92 miles; 13.0 mp/h -> 739 Cal (57Cal/Mile)

Ride 2:

42:01 minutes ; 10.62 miles; 15.2 mp/h -> 660 Cal (62Cal/Mile)

Ride 3:

38:57 minutes ; 10.33 miles; 15.9 mp/h -> 580 Cal (56Cal/Mile)

As you can see, I am about 60 Calories per mile. So your ride of 16 miles with ~900 Cal does seem realistic.

I have seen these calculation vary quite drastically.  Bevie, you and I are almost the exact same size.  Last year I had several rides in the 20 mile long range at about 18 MPH and according to my Garmin Forerunner 305 I was in the 1800 calorie range (seems way too high to me.  Yesterday I rode 26.2 miles at 17.4 MPH and my new Garmin Edge 500 said I burned 673 calories (seems pretty low)  Whatever you are using to calculate calories seems pretty close to what I would expect so in my opinion run with it.

70.3 or bust!!!

With this success, who cares what the calculators say.  Well done.

+1 !! Awesome! I generally find "calorie calculators" on machines to be quite inaccurate and inconsistent but that's just my experience.

As weight goes down I turn more towards what performance is doing.

No....that's why YOU care....I still don't.

I'm not counting calories....ever.  I work out somewhere between 6 and 15 hours per week depending on what I'm working toward and I eat when I'm hungry.  I don't eat any processed food, drink soda, or eat white breads....that's all the thought I put into it. 

Oh....and beer.....beer is food.

Most site overestimate calories on the bike. If you have a power meter it makes it easier to make a close estimation based on the work (kJ) performed.  I will explain some assumptions you can make and also give you numbers based on what you report.

First converting kJ in kCal takes a bit of math, but there is assumption you can make which provides a 1-1 answer. There is a concept of Gross Mechanical Efficiency (I wont muddy the waters here) but it ranges from ~20-25% and is influenced by the type of muscle fiber in your legs. (eg w/ 600kj)

1 kcal = 4.186 kJ

kCal = 600/4.186/.239 = ~600 so this shows if you use an estimation of 23.9% for GME it is a 1:1

The range for 20-25% is 573-716 kCals

how do you estimate kJ?

if you know your power then it is: your average power for the ride (AP) times time in seconds divided by 1000.

1 watt is 1J/s, so it is a simple converstion.

an example of 166 watts for 1 hr is: 166*3600/1000 = 597.6kJ

in your case 900kJ in 66 minutes would be  900*1000/3960 = 227 watts average power. This does not equate to 14.5mph unless it is uphill or a massive headwind the whole way.

So if you don't have a power meter, but have done an FTP test and roughly (with some accuracy) equate you RPE to a power number (a % of FTP) you can get a close estimate

Just to add to this as someone who has lost 30lbs in the last 8month:

While you try to have a deficit of calories, you want to ensure the deficit is between 3,500cal and 5,250cal (1 - 1.5lbs). If it is less, you don't loose enough wheight, if it is too high your risk of injury goes up dramatically as your body lacks the resource to repair the "damage" you do to an untrained body.

At the same time you can't just up training, as the training amount needs to be built up slow and steady to avoid injury.

Let's face it, most people can't afford (timewise or financially) to train as much as on biggest looser with the permanent top-notch medical attention.

I find calorie counting to be one big guesstimate as a whole.

I don' think there is an alternative for me if I want to loose wheight.

Honestly in my case, I did not eat bad. But I did eat too much. My portions where out of control and I would always eat just a bit ore, because it was so delicous. At the same time I did not work out at all.

By counting calories I have a simple logicall expressable system of how much I should or should not eat.