Feeling some frustration, but found a potential answer online...

SPUF worked me out this morning & then an hour later I rode 11.5 miles for 56 minutes and burned 503 calories.  The route was pretty flat, so I determined that I was going to increase my resistance by staying in 28th gear the whole time.  It was pretty brutal as I would not have been able to carry on a conversation 3/4 of the time I was biking.  My legs were very sore, but I know there will be no stopping for sore legs in Dec/Jan!!  I was also riding into the wind on the way back.  At the end I was very frustrated because I thought I my average heart rate would have been higher (it was 127) and thus would have burned more calories.

A friend suggested that I go to a website called www.caloriecontrol.org & use their "get moving calculator" to see if their estimate was different than the calorie estimate on my heart rate monitor.  They have a very long list of activities to choose from (including different intensity levels) and then you enter your exercise time & weight & they calculate an calories burned estimate.  I chose the outdoor bicycling; my avg speed would have classified me as "moderate effort", but it certainly was a "vigorous effort" for me!  With their "moderate effort", I burned 895 calories; "vigorous effort" was 1118.  I will take the 895!!

I find myself confused & frustrated once again...what do I rely on to estimate the calories burned?  I really don't want to get too hung on the numbers.  After all, ANY EXERCISE IS BETTER THAN NONE!!  Even so, I really don't care about beating a certain time or trying for a certain avg mph...all I care about is burning calories & thus burning fat!  Once again, any amount of exercise I do prior to Dec/Jan will help...but I will still be beaten to a pulp once I get there!  Guess I just need to keep working out for longer amounts of time because once I am there, I will be working out for 6-7 hours/day!