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Apple Watch Calories are way off

My moving calories are way under the accurate amount every day.


For example I worked out very hard on a stair master for 45 minutes With an average heart rate of 150. I entered my height and weight on the machine and it calculated 550 calories. My watch said 276, despite me starting the indoor stairs in my “workout.”


I have calibrated with a 20 minute run as instructed. I have my accurate height and weight in. I have my locations on.


I am VERY active, working out 6 days/week, and standing the majority of my day at my job. I am fit and lean. I still am only getting about 550 moving calories/day on my watch???


is my watch defective?

Apple Watch Series 5, watchOS 6

Posted on Jul 30, 2020 11:52 AM

Reply
3 replies

Aug 4, 2020 8:00 PM in response to Blankenship721

If you are sure you have followed the "Make sure that you earn Move and Exercise credit" section in:

Get the most accurate measurements using your Apple Watch - Apple Support

and you made sure your watch is calibrated:

Calibrating your Apple Watch for improved Workout and Activity accuracy - Apple Support


Then the first (and simplest) thing to try if something isn’t working right is to restart your Apple Watch and its paired iPhone. If necessary (device not responding), try a forced restart. Both methods can be found here:

How to restart your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Restart your iPhone - Apple Support


If that doesn't help, the next steps would be to unpair and pair your watch again and restore from the backup. This deletes all temp and corrupted files and re-indexes the file system.

Unpair and erase your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Set up your Apple Watch - Apple Support


Jul 30, 2020 12:39 PM in response to Blankenship721

Are you sure the machine is not giving you total calories?

Your watch is showing Active calories.


If you are not getting the proper numbers on your watch make sure that your information is correct.

Sex, age, height and weight.

It is all in the health app.


One day I mis-entered my weight (inverted 2 digits) but that error had me scratching my head and thinking my watch was broken. It recorded just over 1/2 of my active calories until I corrected my weight.

Aug 4, 2020 7:00 PM in response to Randy-12

The calories on the machine with my correct weight had to all be moving because my legs literally didn’t stop moving. The machine stayed 550, my watch stated 237 moving calories.


I made sure my weight is correct. I calibrated a 20 minute run and 20 minute walk. I tightened my watch, and I’m still completely off. I am trying not to obsess, but a $600 investment should be closer to accurate, I would assume?


Today, for example, I did weight training this morning for 40 minutes. I worked 8 hours (remaining on my feet), I cooked and cleaned and took the dog for a walk. I’m 5’8”, 135, and it has my total moving calories at 409. There is no way.


Maybe it’s because my resting heart rate is so low? In the 50s?


Thank you for your help!!! Any other ideas? Just replace the watch?

Apple Watch Calories are way off

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