How to accurately count calories burned when riding an ebike / pedelec using IOS / Apple Health / Apple Watch

[Donnie797]

true true, it's all about theory vs practice
But i swear... on some days i don't burn the same amount of calories doing exactly the same, then on other days - especially on days that include a cake

Yes that number isn't that big, but those watts (or kcal if you want to convert) coming from the battery are directly (minus motor efficiency) put into the motor and generate forward movement. The calories a rider is burning on the bike are not all transferred into forward movement - the calories burnt by the rider are also used for all the muscles, breathing, brain, etc.. it's really interesting to think about this rider/ebike connection. I guess if you measure the watts on the cranks a rider can output and convert these into kcal, those would be direct compareable to the watts/kcal coming from the battery ?

 

[Tetsugaku]

Given the discrepancies between the watch calories and the power meter calories - something is off. I just wish I knew which was more reliable to trust! Gone with heart for now

 

[NyonAndy]

Given the discrepancies between the watch calories and the power meter calories - something is off. I just wish I knew which was more reliable to trust! Gone with heart for now

This is a fascinating discussion. I ride 23km to and from work each day taking 45mins with an elevation gain of 100m. My Apple Watch records 800kcal if I use outdoor, 500 if I use “other” and 350 if I just let it determine if I am exercising. That is on a stromer ST1x at power 1.
When I use a regular bike (specialized carbon), it records around 1150.
I tend to let the watch decide on the exercise rather than telling it I am going to work out, it still counts the minutes and calories and the total is lower, so to my mind fairer.
I’m doing this to lose weight also, and see the exercise part as cardio fitness as a low level rather than calories which I find are better restricted through diet.

 

[jabi]

Given the discrepancies between the watch calories and the power meter calories - something is off. I just wish I knew which was more reliable to trust! Gone with heart for now

I read earlier discussion quite fast so might be that I missed some details but just interesting thing with humans is that measured power from pedals vs heart rate is that it isn't directly comparable.

I'm also not sure if Strava and/or Apple uses rest consumption and then adds the added consumption from movement.

When doing heart rate based consumption calculation heart rate, weight, height, age, vo2max or other fitness level measurement and method of movement (cycling, running) is used for calculated estimation. How it is calculated will vary a lot. Also some companies also take power estimation from gps data but not necessarily use it for calorie consumption.

In order for mission control to calculate calorie consumption correctly it should have all this data in top of measured power. It is quite possible that the app will presume you are athlete with very high fitness level and experience and it shows low calorie consumption. I'm not sure since I don't have any information how Mission Control works.

Regardless, someone that has been cycling for many years with high fitness level when compared to someone that has not cycled but has comparable fitness level will use more calories to transmit same amount of power to pedals. Then if fitness level is lower than the compared athlete it will start to show gap.

Your best bet is to take the results from all these apps with a grain of salt and just think that reality is somewhere between.

Edit. Anyway the 24K commute you gave did not say how long it took. 327kcal sounds awfully low since with very low effort at 15km/h with road cycling for an hour you should use well over 400kcal anyway (for average male). Unless you literally coasted slowly with boost levels it seems inaccurate.

 

[Evolution Stu]

Great discussion and one that has always interested me.

On a really hard ride where I am sometimes struggling to even think straight and breathe, let alone make progress, I can record over 4000 calories.

I use Suunto Ambit 3 Peak and Suunto HR strap, which are regarded as a couple of the best ever made for the job.

I often think it’s too high, but then it has all my metrics, it knows what I am doing and it has GPS data and it’s own Barometer, so it has more data than most.

He is some data from Sunday’s ride up Helvellyn, just for comparison during discussion.

 

[mark1a]

I track calories in MFP & Garmin Connect - and GC also links to Strava. The Garmin Edge sees the Levo as 3 ANT+ sensors, eBike, Power and Speed/Cadence. The power figure that is being broadcast to the Garmin Edge is rider power in, not bike power out. Therefore I get a reasonably accurate calorie count in Strava/GC/MFP. It's typically 35% of a similar distance & elevation on my non-e road bike so seems about right.