calories calc a bit low?

[stefan_l_01]

Hi
I did a training with % over time. Which is equal to power, Watt for time. Direto XR, latest elite app upgrade on windows.
Next to warming up, cooling down and 3 intermediate low power steps, I went 3x for 20min (total 1h) with 220W, 260W and again 220W which equals to 233W Average. The used enerergy (1h) should be 840kJ ( 233x 3600sec).
A rule of thumb is that kj -> kcal factor is approx same as body efficiency creating energy, so I should have burned ~840kcal. However elite app says only 544 Kalorien (kcal) which is quite a difference and imo too low. And 544W does even include the warmup and cooling intervals (>30min!) which should count for some calories too.
I remember doing alpes de swift took me 1.15h with 240W and > 1000cal, for comparison

I did not use a heart beat sensor, but as the program was in power mode nothing should have an influence. There is Watt, there ist time.

BR
Stefan

[william.davey8]

Hi,
Interesting that you raise this topic. I have long argued with Elite, Kinomap and others for an informed calculation of calories consumed but to no avail. They all take the position that since no-one else has complained why should they do anything about it. The fact is that the calories consumed calculation by Elite, and by Kinomap, are completely out of line with published formulae derived from peer reviewed sport research. Both organisations take the easy way out of simply dividing the measured power by an arbitrary efficiency of about 24%. This yields a calorie figure that is roughly 60% of the value one gets by using published formulae. The only company that appears to have a reliable calorie calculation is Polar. Polar's calculation takes account of the type of exercise, gender, age, weight, altitude, heart rate, speed, cadence and, if one has power measuring pedals, it will use this as well. But of course Polar will not reveal its formula as it says this is proprietary.

So all you can do is wait and see if Elite decide to update their calorie calculation, otherwise just ignore it and use one of the websites such as www.shapesense.com for a more reliable estimate.

Will D