Active vs total calories

mrsgoodart

When I'm tracking a workout, should I track active calories or total calories? Apple Watch gives me both numbers. When I track using MFP, it seems like it's probably total calories because their number is always much higher than Apple Watch's active calories. The treadmill/elliptical always gives me a much higher number too...

alyssagb1

My understanding: total calories = calories you burn via work outs + regular day-to-day calories burned.

If you're trying to log workouts, you want the active calories, as these are the ones burned by intentional exercise.

Hope this helps, good luck!