poolmanrob

Q: apple watch workout is way off on calories

I've used the apple watch workout app and the approximate calories burned is way off from what it should be. Is there any way to calibrate it so it will be more accurate? It shows only about half the calories burned that I know it should be.

Posted on Apr 28, 2015 11:25 PM

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Q: apple watch workout is way off on calories

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  • by nick101,

    nick101 nick101 Aug 17, 2015 11:23 PM in response to Kristalneubauer5
    Level 5 (5,103 points)
    Aug 17, 2015 11:23 PM in response to Kristalneubauer5

    Can you report this to Apple at http://www.apple.com/feedback - these are user forums and there's no Apple presence here usually. The more data Apple gets on this kind of issue, the more likely there is to be a fix. Thanks

  • by SirSatish,

    SirSatish SirSatish Aug 18, 2015 5:28 AM in response to nick101
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 18, 2015 5:28 AM in response to nick101

    Done.  Good suggestion! Thanks

  • by answers_all,

    answers_all answers_all Aug 18, 2015 6:22 AM in response to poolmanrob
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 18, 2015 6:22 AM in response to poolmanrob

    Confused by the calorie counted by the Apple Watch, I used the Apple Watch and Fitbit Charge HR (which I used almost exclusively prior to the Apple Watch purchase) to measure one full day of activity, including a series of fairly intensive gym circuit training including treadmill, spinning and elliptical. I should mention that all personal statistics are correctly entered into the Watch (as well as fitbit) so there is no room for error on that front. Key conclusions:

     

    - Apple Watch total calorie burn was higher than Fitbit by about 250 calories. 3200 cals in the case of the Watch and a (much more realistic) 2925 in Fitbit's case. This is very significant.

     

    - I have long suspected (and a number of people have commented on this in these forums) that Apple's definition of Resting Calories is non-standard i.e. they don't count only the MMR calories as Resting calories. My formula based MMR calculation is 1650 which is very close to what the Fitbit estimates as Resting Calories (i.e. one it assigns to me if I don't wear it at all). However, the Watch's Resting Calories in my case is 2458 which cannot be MMR calories alone. I suspect they include MMR + moderate activity calories in this (see next point) but Apple should clarify this point.

     

    - The difference in Resting Calories is somewhat made up in Activity calories where for almost every workout, Watch would have a lower total calorie (and active calorie count) than the Fitbit's calorie count. For example, a 22 min indoor run showed 285 calories on the Fitbit and 234 Total (and 195 Active) on the Watch.

     

    - The step count is pretty consistent and both measured very similar steps. 10,040 in the Watch's case and 10,232 in Fitbit's case.

     

    Net net, the active/resting definitions need to be addressed by Apple but I am worried about the total calorie measurement. If the Watch is over-stating calorie burn by 8%-10%, that is a very significant error.

  • by nick101,

    nick101 nick101 Aug 18, 2015 6:52 AM in response to answers_all
    Level 5 (5,103 points)
    Aug 18, 2015 6:52 AM in response to answers_all

    Some interesting points there, thanks - especially the question of how Apple calculates resting calories. In my case, the Apple number (average 1440/day) is lower than the calculated BMR (1660/day), which supports the view that Apple calculates differently, but not that some activity energy is added in.

     

    Active calculation is reasonable (100-110 calories per outdoor running mile, varying a bit with speed and terrain). I don't really place much faith in what's recorded for weight training - I don't believe the watch handles that well at all.

  • by Kristalneubauer5,

    Kristalneubauer5 Kristalneubauer5 Aug 18, 2015 6:52 AM in response to nick101
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 18, 2015 6:52 AM in response to nick101

    Thank you so much I just reported my problem

  • by cigarkurtz,

    cigarkurtz cigarkurtz Aug 18, 2015 7:59 AM in response to poolmanrob
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 18, 2015 7:59 AM in response to poolmanrob

    While I do not understand much about how Apple appears to be separating the calories that it calculates, I do see that there is no way they are accurate.  My wife has had the watch for about 3 weeks now.  She is extremely active and splits her time between spin (teaching), CrossFit, Olympic Lifting, and doing HIIT training.  She immediately wanted to see how well the watch would calculate not only heart rate but also calories burned.  While wearing the watch she continued to use her Polar H7 bluetooth strap that transmitted to both her Polar watch and also to her Endomondo app on her iPhone.  The heart rate was close....when it actually calculated it, but the active calories were way off base.  We took the watch to the Genius Bar (they ran diagnostics and re-paired the watch and phone), and basically we were told that they are hoping with the new update that things will work better.  Not really the answer that I was looking to get.  She recently decided to join a friend while we were out of town at Orange Theory Fitness.  From what I can tell, this place uses their own proprietary software and their own bluetooth heart rate straps that communicates with only their equipment/systems.  On both days, the calories burned based on the Orange Theory email showed that during her active 53 minute workout that her calories burned were on average just over 2 times more than what the watch showed.  Her friend also had just purchased a new watch the day before their first workout last week and it showed a large deficiency in calories burned (actually even slightly more than my wife's watch) for the 53 minute workout.  After talking with Apple reps, Genius Bar (again), and even the salespeople at Apple Retail...if you are doing anything other than casual working out then you need to use an external heart rate strap and sync it to your Health App on your phone.

  • by G3gator,

    G3gator G3gator Aug 18, 2015 8:14 AM in response to cigarkurtz
    Level 3 (571 points)
    Aug 18, 2015 8:14 AM in response to cigarkurtz

    "if you are doing anything other than casual working out then you need to use an external heart rate strap and sync it to your Health App on your phone."


    It is my impression (and experience) that the AW heart-rate monitor is accurate. Consumer Reports did some testing and found it to be accurate. The problem, I think, is in the calorie burn calculations. I expect that this will be fixed soon, hopefully OS 2 in the next month or so.


    George

  • by Kristalneubauer5,

    Kristalneubauer5 Kristalneubauer5 Aug 18, 2015 1:36 PM in response to G3gator
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 18, 2015 1:36 PM in response to G3gator

    I to have noticed the heart rate is correct.  I wore a chest strap and the monitor on the watch has the right heart rate for me.  The calculation of calories burned are way off with the watch so i to hope this gets fixed with an update.

  • by nikInChina,

    nikInChina nikInChina Sep 9, 2015 2:57 AM in response to arsook
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 9, 2015 2:57 AM in response to arsook

    I have been using it with a lot of varied exercise etc for 3+ months now

    Done hiking, biking, running....and compared to results from other measuring devices.  The Apple Watch is WAY OFF!

     

    <Link Edited by Host>

  • by WildRunningTiger,

    WildRunningTiger WildRunningTiger Sep 15, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Ozilios
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 15, 2015 12:00 PM in response to Ozilios

    I have felt that my calorie burn is incorrect, so I went out for a 24km mountainous walk with my husband, who also has the sport watch,and we disabled the heart rate monitors on both watches,and I entered my sex, weight, height etc. as if I was him.  Our distance, steps and active time  results were almost identical, but my calories burnt were a third of what he burnt .  Since then, on the advice of Apple, I have rebooted my watch, but it has made no difference.  Upsetting as we are competitive! 

  • by arsook,

    arsook arsook Sep 23, 2015 9:48 PM in response to WildRunningTiger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 23, 2015 9:48 PM in response to WildRunningTiger

    Okay so I updated to watch OS2.  I have been somewhat inactive and not doing more than 2000 steps this week... Thus far my calorie count has gone from over 3000 calories to about 17 to 1800 calories.

     

    I would be curious to know what others have experienced.  It is still over 200 calories more than my fitbit calories (with about the same steps).  I had the fitbit over 3 years and can still check on my history.

     

    I would really like to know everyone else's experience so far.

  • by answers_all,

    answers_all answers_all Sep 24, 2015 9:42 AM in response to poolmanrob
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 24, 2015 9:42 AM in response to poolmanrob

    As reported by a few other users, calorie counting seems to have dramatical improved with OS2. My calorie burn on a slow-moderate activity day (with about 500 Move calories) is now in the 2200-2300 range whereas previously it was 2800+. This is in line with my experience with Fitbit.

     

    However, I've experienced some weird HR measurements with the AW measuring in mid 50s in the middle of a power yoga session.

     

    Overall still, much improved.

  • by Osinq,

    Osinq Osinq Mar 3, 2016 4:28 PM in response to gmizzell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2016 4:28 PM in response to gmizzell

    I agree that the calorie count is way off.  I went for a 2 hour, very strenuous hike in the mountains today and I only got credit for 2 minutes of exercise and 58 calories,  I get more credit when I walk around Target for 20 minutes.  Makes no sense and makes me frustrated. I have calibrated the phone and my height/weight is correct.  I'm starting to think getting the watch was a mistake.

  • by julie78787,

    julie78787 julie78787 May 7, 2016 7:18 AM in response to answers_all
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apple Watch
    May 7, 2016 7:18 AM in response to answers_all

    As far as I can tell the super-low values are either 1/2 or 1/3 the actual value. Most likely this is related to the Nyquist-Shannon Sampling Theorem (google that - fun stuff) and under-sampling the skin perfusion information which is used to determine when a heart beat has happened. Every now and again the heart rate may even show up as double, which is loads of fun -- my maximum reported heart rate is 208, and at age 54 I suspect I'd be dead if that were accurate.

     

    If you navigate your Watch to the "Heart Rate" screen and just leave it there during a workout (it's the last screen, all the way to the right), you should see (whenever the screen is displaying data) the current / most recently measured heart rate. You can also navigate to the heart rate using "Glances", but this mostly happens during high intensity workouts. From time to time, instead of seeing a "beating heart" you'll see a heart-shaped icon that is partially grayed-out and "Measuring". That seems to happen when the Watch loses track of your heart rate and that seems to be when these 1/2-off reading happen. I do HIIT most of the time (... when I'm not walking or running to make up my "Move" goal ...) and when I shift from "low" to "high" is when the Watch loses it's mind and thinks I'm in a coma. Or dead.

     

    Some of these errors can be fixed by wearing the watch as snug as you can stand during workouts. Sadly, that causes the rubber band to stretch, and as luck would have it I've just about stretched my current band to where I need a new one.

  • by Chris J Davies,

    Chris J Davies Chris J Davies May 17, 2016 5:13 AM in response to julie78787
    Level 2 (198 points)
    Apple Watch
    May 17, 2016 5:13 AM in response to julie78787

    I Have noticed that when I use the 'other' workout type that a 90 minute yoga class, a 90 minute weightlifting session and 90 minutes of sitting watching tv all report a similar level of calories burnt. Not too confident in the watch right now.

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