Apple watch resting calories seem far too high

Resting Calories is a complete joke --- as of now 2205 BST, 467 active calories, perhaps a little generous and 2293 resting calories, total of calories 'used so far today' = 2760, about 600 too high.

Something is very wrong and could cause you to gain pounds when using as a guide on how much to eat.

Data taken from the MOVE section of the Activity App.

I have the same problem. The resting calories is over a 1000 calories more than any other counter out there!

I've got a support call in to Apple for this and they seem to be trying to trouble shoot, since the support guy has called me for more information on my iPhone model, the iOS version I'm on, what my settings are in the Health app are, etc. I did tell them that this is a common problem so it's not a unique problem specific to me, and they need to figure it out. The Engineering folks are, apparently, going to try to figure it out and I'll follow up with a post here if I get a solution.

I'm a 52 year old, 5'4" female and assure you that my daily resting calorie burn is NOT 2745 calories per day, the number the Activity app is using. It's about 1200 calories too high. The usual BMR calculation of around 1500 calories per day, with a total calorie burn of 1800 on a sedentary day and 2300 average on a workout day is more realistic and tends to be the ballpark I get with just about any other fitness device (I've used the Body Media Fit, a Fitbit, and an UP wristband in the past). I'm a biologist but also moonlight as a group fitness instructor and am certain that my ability to hit 2745 in TOTAL calorie burn (not resting) requires at least two hours of strenuous aerobics classes or one class and a lot of time with more moderate activities (housework, long shopping excursions, dog walks, etc.).

I also opened up a case with apple about my resting calories. I am a 55 year old woman and 5 foot 7 and it also gave me a resting calorie number of 2700.

Additionally I wear a Polar heart rate monitor when exercising. Recently I paired my watch to my Polar HRM and the apple app tracker gave me 128 calories for a 50 minute spin and for my "other " workout (the category you must pick on your watch for anything like cross-training) it gave me a calorie count of 225. I usually use the digit App on my iPhone and pair with my polar HRM and routinely burn over 400 in spin class and about 200 to 250 in cross training.

It is really funny that now on the days I work out apple watch gives me over 3000 calories of burn. I feel like going out to the donut shop and eating my way through!

Basically unless Apple fixes the tracker and calories it will render their watch useless as a tracker and it certainly does not add helpful data to their Health app.

I think I've got to the bottom of this...

When you first set up the watch you will come to a section where it asks what your activity level is. Light 360 calories, etc. but what it does is add on whatever you've selected onto your resting calories, but then adds it on again in the form of active calories throughout the day.

If you deduct in your mind whatever you selected at the very start it will more than likely come out at a figure that matches what you think should be your resting calories.

However, you have to select something on that screen, so until a fix is released (hopefully!) the best thing to do in the meantime (if you havent already) is to start over again and select the lightest activity option.

Changing the move goal does not make any difference to this issue.

I made my own solution.. I pulled my weight down by 30 pounds and it gave me the correct resting calories! 😁 My settings were already on sedentary and the resting calories were ridiculously high.

So I would recommend changing your weight in your settings so that your resting calories are lowered.

I had the same thought - I wonder if apple is considering body weight as "lean body mass" (i.e. as if it's all muscle, no fat). This would mean calculations would be more accurate for people who are more lean (lower body fat %), and less accurate for people with more fat. Based on what I've seen, that doesn't seem to be the case, but it's hard to tell.

I'm M/30y.o./6'3"/223lbs, and Activity app says my resting calories are 3141, which is impossible. I think my body fat % is in the 25-30 range.

Hi all ... I too noticed the same issue. Have reported it.

But just had a thought ... I wonder if the app uses kg and cm instead of pounds and inches? I've plugged my data into the formula substituting kg for lbs and cm for inches and guess what !! I get a figure close to that of Apple ! Could it be such a simple mistake ?

Sorry for going off topic, but I can't check this myself as I don't have my watch at the moment (this is probably a stupid question!)...

When you do a dedicated workout with the workouts app, does it fill the exercise and move rings at the same time?

So change the weight by 30 lbs? Really Apple still needs to fix this problem immediately. I was getting this watch for fitness reasons rather than having to wear so many other gadgets. Its pretty disappointing of Apple. Have always been an die hard Apple fan.

I spoke to an incredibly helpful senior applecare+ rep who escalated the resting calories "issue" to apple engineers. He received a response back that "they are aware of the issue and it has been reported from several people. The issue will require a fix that will be forthcoming in an update". He said this almost always means a software update (although not sure what other kind there is but...). So I guess it is indeed an error and we will have to wait.

Thank you, this was very helpful of you. Hope this gets resolved soon!

Can someone help with my question above?

I was wondering if the doing a workout with the workout app fill the move and exercise rings at the same time?

Thanks

yes, it does.

Amounting to the same thing, that Apple will need to fix, but here is a similar thread...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1873354