Apple Watch/Total Calories/Active Calories

JennyRATL

I'm sure this has been asked a zillion times, and I did a search on it, but couldn't find what I was looking for.....

Scenario:
Tracking Calories on MFP, goal is 1410
Eat 1375, exercise 51 for 86 remaining
Apple watch gives me 407 active calories, 1707 total calories for the day

So...should I think of my calorie deficit as 86 (MFP) or 332 (1707-1375 from watch)?

Me not good wif maf.

5n00py

....and then when you look at what has been loaded into MFP from Apple Health, there's a negative adjustment figure as well. From what I've been able to glean so far, what you burn (active not passive), is not 1:1 with what your kcal intake is.

5n00py

.....Oh, and ONLY the the stuff that makes the green exercise ring move gets treated as a kcal credit to your daily tally...

sbrandt37

Apple watch is tracking your movement and heart rate. It isn't clear from your description what information MFP is using to determine your exercise.

And is MFP set up for maintenance? A deficit? What is the basis for its 1410 calorie target? If you are trying to lose weight, that is not your total calories for the day, but a target deficit, so your actually calorie deficit will be higher than 86.

JennyRATL

Thanks!
MFP is using my Apple Health Kit for activity tracking. MFP only takes into account any workout I do. My calorie goal is to lose weight--a lb a week, with the goal to lose about 10 lbs. It isn't so much the number on the scale that I want to change, because my current weight is fine for my frame, but I want to burn off flab and tone up.

nxd10

It is annoying and has changed over the last few months. For years both fitbit and then apple watch gave me a few hundred calories a day for my daily 10K steps. They went through an update and now I get like 35. I've been maintaining 5 years. That's a big difference in what I can eat.

JennyRATL

Heck, by the end of an average, non-workout day, Apple tells me I've burned at least 300-400 active calories just walking around. So does that count when I'm looking at my 1410 calories MFP says is my max a day?!? Some days when I'm hungry or about to go over, I'm tempted to say yes! They do!

rileysowner

JennyRATL wrote: »

I'm sure this has been asked a zillion times, and I did a search on it, but couldn't find what I was looking for.....

Scenario:
Tracking Calories on MFP, goal is 1410
Eat 1375, exercise 51 for 86 remaining
Apple watch gives me 407 active calories, 1707 total calories for the day

So...should I think of my calorie deficit as 86 (MFP) or 332 (1707-1375 from watch)?

Me not good wif maf.

I have not read the responses, but unless you have MFP set to maintain, your deficit is built into the calorie goal you have. What the activity calories from the watch do it show how you stated activity level on MFP varies from your actual activity. So based on this, if you are looking to lose weight at one pound per week (a deficit of 500 calories a day) and you ate 86 calories below that goal, you are now at a deficit for the day of 586 calories. It you have 407 calories added to that eating goal because of your activity (assuming Apple Watch is accurate which I have no idea about) your deficit then grows to 993 calories. All this assumes my math is right, but you are basically running a 1000 calorie deficit based on these numbers, assuming your goal is one pound per week. If it is two pounds per week then you are up to about a 1500 calorie deficit for the day.