Apple Watch calorie count with workout mode on vs off

That answer did not even come close to answering the question. If you leave watch on 'Other Work Out' why does it register about 3X the active calories burned. Or vice versa, don't go into work out mode, run 8 miles and it shows 1/3 of the actual calories burned.

I find it odd that I walk 8-10,000 & stand steps a day and stand 10 or more hours it says I burned 300 calories only but if I put it on other activity it says 3,000 and only x amount is active calories plus but it kills my battery to leave it on activity. I have to be burning more then 300 cals a day ! I'm so confused and the answer below didn't help me one bit

I think you've missed the point.

Apple decided to use active calories as it's primary goal metric, but it's system of calculation is wildly inaccurate.

It either factors in an arbitrary value ("brisk walk is not the same for all body types, let alone for New Yorkers and small town mall-walkers) every time the HRM fails to read the heart rate or fails to capture active calories that don't have workouts assigned for them.

You can literally do the exactly same workout 5x a week and get wildly different results based on whether you marked it as other, outdoor walk, indoor cycle or failed to mark it at all.

This renders the metric unusable for either goal metric tracking or basic thermodynamic tracking of calorie in/calorie out.

Hi

To record workouts on your Apple Watch and record the most accurate results (including credits towards your Move (calories) goal), be sure to use the Workout app (or a third-party fitness app) and to choose the activity type that most closely matches your workout.

This enables your Apple Watch to use the most appropriate sensors and data sources when estimating results, including using tailored calorie calculations for certain workouts.

Apple Watch uses different sensors and data sources to track the results of workouts, depending on the activity type. For example, with Apple Watch (first generation) and Series 1 models, the watch can access GPS data from the paired iPhone if it is taken along during outdoor walking, running and cycling workouts. Series 2 has built-in GPS.

During general daily wear and when using the Workout app to record workouts when GPS data is either not relevant or not available (eg Indoor Walk), the Activity app and Workout app track your arm motion (measured by the accelerometer) when estimating results including pace and progress towards the Exercise goal.

For the best results, allow the arm on which you are wearing your watch to swing naturally as you move around during daily wear and to move as expected during workouts.

Estimations also depend, in part, on your personal information. To check that this is accurate - and to update it over time:

On your iPhone, in the Watch app, go to: My Watch (tab) > Health > Edit - tap and adjust items, then tap on Done.

Calibrating your watch can improve the accuracy of estimations made by Activity app and Workout app. More information and instructions for calibrating your watch are available via the link below. The article also includes instructions for resetting existing calibration data and starting afresh. Resetting your calibration data will not erase your Activity history.

For the best performance from the heart rate sensor (data from which is used when estimating calories) during workouts, ensure that you wear your watch snugly on the top of your wrist. Apple suggests that you consider tightening the band before starting a workout and loosening it again afterwards:

Your heart rate. What it means, and where on Apple Watch you’ll find it. - Apple Support

To receive Exercise credit for the full duration of your workouts regardless of their estimated intensity levels, track them via the Workout app using "Other" as the activity type. This credits one minute of Exercise for each full minute of the workout. Active calories are estimated at a rate equivalent to a brisk walk or based on data recorded by the heart rate sensor, whichever is higher.

More information:

Use the Workout app on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Use the Activity app on your Apple Watch - Apple Support

Yes, lounging around the house yields around 300 active calories per hour on "Other" workout.

The technical explanation for it is supposed to be that without a "Workout" engaged, the watch deactivates the heart rate monitor for the majority of the time and only samples once every couple minutes; during a workout it samples every ten seconds or so.

My best guess is that in this process, the upsampled time is assumed to be the resting heart rate and that low number is averaged with the actual readings to calculate the non-workout calorie burn. I would think a more accurate assumption would be to average the two readings and assume your heart rate graduated between the two known states.

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But, I'll take it one further:

1. Put the workout app on "Other: open goal" and walk around the city for an hour;

2. Compare those results with walking around the city for an hour with "Outside Walk: open goal"

What I have found, consistently, is that "Other" yields around 2x the active calorie count as "Outside Walk" even with approximately the same duration, pace, route, weather and heart rate. Theoretically, the difference between the two is the GPS is engaged on the outdoor walk workout, but why that would affect calorie calculation, I don't understand.

The active calorie count on the Apple Watch has always been internally inconsistent and hence, useless. Which is a shame since Apple decided to mandate active calorie burn as their primary goal metric.

well put. brings the whole value and quality of watch into question.

Hi Deebby,

firstly, you don't only burn 300 calories. You burn 300 calories being active. The basal metabolic rate, the calories you would burn just lying in a bed, is not counted into this calculation. And that's a four digit number. So that's what you are eating for ;-) Anyway, you won't get a calory total from your Apple Watch that you could compare to your daily calory intake.

Secondly, Apple Watch really needs to know what you are doing to evaluate your calory consumption. The pulse can be higher or lower for a thousands of reasons. As just the pulse, measured every other minute or so, doesn't suffice to calculate that, the estimations are conservative.

If you tell the Watch how exactly you are doing your workout, it can relate your pulse and movement data to a lot of specific data taken from testing of the exaxt workout type with real people -- and can estimate much more confidently how much energy you are using.

Hope that helped,

Benedikt

All the trackers/such devices calculate the calories based on data gathered using various scenarios, weight, conditions, workouts etc., input from sensors, your provided information (weight, age etc.) etc..
Saying that depending on the workout you choose it will use analysis/algorithm and inputs to report calories.
Similarly if you do not choose any workout, and let's say you go for intense running, it will report the calories based on your heart rate and it will not do data analysis based on type of workout.

Workout "other" has been instructed to
1) compare the calories from the algorithm for brisk walk activity and calories calculation from heart rate &
2) report the higher calories from either one.

So, if you selected "other" and if you just lying in bed doing nothing, it will calculate calories after a min, assuming that you did brisk walking and also calculate the calories using your heart rate. Now if you did nothing, your heart rate will report low and calories from that will be less than the one from brisk walking. It will report the calories from brisk walking in this case.

Hope this explains.

As I hoped to explain in my previous reply, when recording a workout via via the Workout app using "Other" as the activity type, one minute of Exercise is credited for each full minute of the workout and Active calories are estimated at a rate equivalent to a brisk walk or based on data recorded by the heart rate sensor, whichever is higher.

If you would like to send feedback or suggestions to Apple, then you can do so here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/watch.html