August 23, 2024
The Carbohydrate Burn / Intake Balancer on Garmin can show a number of different values, which are configurable by the user. In this article we explain the values and how you can configure which values are shown.
Configuring which values are shown
By default the data field shows four values:
- Avg burn
- Burn
- Avg intake
- Depletion
Below we explain what each value means. If you want to view different values during your ride open the menu (≡) on the data field and select Configuration. Here you can configure which four values you want to view.
Explanation of the values
These are all the values that can be shown on the data field:
Carbohydrate burn:
- Burn: The current carbohydrate burn in g/h, based on the personal profile you can send from the mobile app.
- Avg burn: The average carbohydrate burn in g/h over the whole ride.
- Total burn: The total carbohydrate burn in grams over the whole ride.
Carbohydrate intake:
- Avg intake: The average carbohydrate intake in g/h over the whole ride.
- When you have logged intake this field will also show the text Absorbing. This means that your body is likely to be still absorbing the carbs from your intake. This is based on the estimated absorption rate of the carbohydrates in each product. When all the carbs are likely to be absorbed the text changes into Absorbed.
- Last intake: The number of minutes that have passed since the last recorded intake.
- Total intake: The total carbohydrate intake in grams over the whole ride.
Glycogen depletion:
- Glycogen depletion: How much your glycogen level has decreased since the start of the ride. This is based on the total burn and total intake. It takes into account that it takes time for nutrition products to be absorbed by the body.
- The data field also shows visually if your glycogen level is still optimal (green) or whether you are risking impaired performance (orange) or whether the risk of bonking becomes big (red)
Fluid:
- Fluid intake: The total amount of fluid in liters taken over the whole ride.
- Avg fluid intake: The average amount of fluid in l/h over the whole ride.
- Fluid loss: The amount of fluid lost by sweating. This functionality only works if you have performed sweat rate tests using the EatMyRide app.
Logging food and drink intake
In the data field you can log your food and drink intake. In this article we explain how you can send your nutrition products to the data field. Once you have started your ride the Food and Drink buttons appear at the bottom of the data field. When you tap one of these buttons you can select which product you took. The data field then automatically recalculates how many carbs you have taken during the ride and it will take this into account for the calculation of the glycogen depletion.
Tip: For drinks we advise to log the intake once you start drinking from your bottle. In this way the Carbohydrate Burn / Intake Balancer can take into account that this intake gradually limits your glycogen depletion.
Viewing and adjusting intake
When you tap one of the intake related fields in the data field (e.g. Avg intake) a page is opened that shows a list of all your intake. For each product it shows at which time you took it and to what extent the carbohydrates from the product are already absorbed by the body.
It could be that you took a product in reality a bit earlier then logged in the app. In that case you can tap the 100% absorbed button, so that the app knows that all the carbs from the product will already be absorbed. This influences the calculated glycogen depletion.
If you accidently logged intake that you didn’t take in reality you can also remove a product using the Remove button on this page.
Other settings
Race mode
If you enable Race mode in the menu, logging your intake will take fewer steps. The app will show on the main page of the data field the first four nutrition products, so that you can log them by a single tap on the screen.
Carb-loading
If you have followed a carb loading protocol in the 24 to 48 hours before your ride, your glycogen start level will be higher. If you enable Carb-loading in menu of the data field, the data field will take this into account when calculating the glycogen depletion and glycogen level.
Burning base
The Burning base in the menu tells whether power or heart rate is used to calculate your carbohydrate burn. In general power is more accurate, so if a power meter is used, the data field will automatically choose for power.
