Frequently Asked Questions about the Apple Watch 3

macgurlnet

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

Here is thread where they only talk about using "step data" which is different from the Total Calories figure.

https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/questions/16766306-how-do-i-get-apple-activity-which-is-on-the-iphone-and-the-apple-watch-to-sync-with-mfp-

Not that you're necessarily wrong on the sync issue, but that post is from December 2016, well before the Watch 3 was released, and I can confirm that at least one part is out of date (syncing "other" exercises works fine now).

I don't have time to dig into the total calories vs. step sync right now, but I am curious about it. MFP is certainly getting workouts from the Activity App, so they're talking somehow. It wouldn't surprise me if they were only adjusting based on steps less logged activities, though, which you're right is a drag, but at least it's probably mainly erring on the side of underestimating calories burned.

That doesn't explain why adjustments for someone like me who does just walking - and I'm not talking about a dedicated activity, just movement throughout the day - is seeing a less than 50 calorie adjustment for 11k+ steps. With Fitbit, I would see 300 or more. And the projections aren't right, either. The Activity app on my phone will be on par with what Fitbit would report, but the MFP adjusted estimation is off by hundreds of calories.

Maybe I've got a setting wrong along the way? I'll include some screenshots from a while back for reference. My watch is set as first source for Step data in the Health app - is there something else I should be looking at, too?

ETA: I do have a custom calorie goal with exercise adjustments turned off, but that shouldn't affect the reported numbers, right?

~Lyssa

DawnOfTheDead_Lift

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

Here is thread where they only talk about using "step data" which is different from the Total Calories figure.

https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/questions/16766306-how-do-i-get-apple-activity-which-is-on-the-iphone-and-the-apple-watch-to-sync-with-mfp-

Not that you're necessarily wrong on the sync issue, but that post is from December 2016, well before the Watch 3 was released, and I can confirm that at least one part is out of date (syncing "other" exercises works fine now). I don't think that "answer" is doing anything other than copying the FAQ, and doesn't directly address the steps vs. activity question.

I don't have time to dig into it right now, but I am curious. MFP is certainly getting workouts from the Activity App, so they're talking somehow. It wouldn't shock me if they were only adjusting based on steps less logged activities, though, which you're right is a drag, but at least it's probably mainly erring on the side of underestimating calories burned.

See the post I edited into my original post where they flat out say they don't read the calorie data from the app but they would update that thread as new functionality is added.

You can see for yourself if you go into the health app > sources > Allow "MyFintesspal" to Read Data section you can see workouts, steps, and distance can be read but not active energy and resting energy.

If you compare that to the lose it app source read data you can see MFP is not ingesting the neccessary info needed to use the apple watch in any significant way for excercise adjustments other than a basic calculation based on your personal stats and number of steps. You can also use the watch to track your workouts and have them sync over without having to manually add them.

MegaMooseEsq

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

Here is thread where they only talk about using "step data" which is different from the Total Calories figure.

https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/questions/16766306-how-do-i-get-apple-activity-which-is-on-the-iphone-and-the-apple-watch-to-sync-with-mfp-

Not that you're necessarily wrong on the sync issue, but that post is from December 2016, well before the Watch 3 was released, and I can confirm that at least one part is out of date (syncing "other" exercises works fine now). I don't think that "answer" is doing anything other than copying the FAQ, and doesn't directly address the steps vs. activity question.

I don't have time to dig into it right now, but I am curious. MFP is certainly getting workouts from the Activity App, so they're talking somehow. It wouldn't shock me if they were only adjusting based on steps less logged activities, though, which you're right is a drag, but at least it's probably mainly erring on the side of underestimating calories burned.

See the post I edited into my original post where they flat out say they don't read the calorie data from the app but they would update that thread as new functionality is added.

You can see for yourself if you go into the health app > sources > Allow "MyFintesspal" to Read Data section you can see workouts, steps, and distance can be read but not active energy and resting energy.

If you compare that to the lose it app source read data you can see MFP is not ingesting the neccessary info needed to use the apple watch in any significant way for excercise adjustments other than a basic calculation based on your personal stats and number of steps. You can also use the watch to track your workouts and have them sync over without having to manually add them.

The second link you added is from mid-2015, so I'm not sure it addresses the "out of date" problem from the first link. That said, you're totally right that active and resting energy doesn't show up on that read data list. I wonder if that's because there's no way for the watch itself to actually read "energy" - it's only extrapolating based on steps and heart-rate and so on. It makes sense that the estimates don't line up perfectly, because there's no actual data point as active and resting energy so there's no specific data set the programs can share. As far as I know, the only way to actually directly measure caloric burn is by putting someone in a special room - everything else is just a guess.

DawnOfTheDead_Lift

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

Here is thread where they only talk about using "step data" which is different from the Total Calories figure.

https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/questions/16766306-how-do-i-get-apple-activity-which-is-on-the-iphone-and-the-apple-watch-to-sync-with-mfp-

Not that you're necessarily wrong on the sync issue, but that post is from December 2016, well before the Watch 3 was released, and I can confirm that at least one part is out of date (syncing "other" exercises works fine now). I don't think that "answer" is doing anything other than copying the FAQ, and doesn't directly address the steps vs. activity question.

I don't have time to dig into it right now, but I am curious. MFP is certainly getting workouts from the Activity App, so they're talking somehow. It wouldn't shock me if they were only adjusting based on steps less logged activities, though, which you're right is a drag, but at least it's probably mainly erring on the side of underestimating calories burned.

See the post I edited into my original post where they flat out say they don't read the calorie data from the app but they would update that thread as new functionality is added.

You can see for yourself if you go into the health app > sources > Allow "MyFintesspal" to Read Data section you can see workouts, steps, and distance can be read but not active energy and resting energy.

If you compare that to the lose it app source read data you can see MFP is not ingesting the neccessary info needed to use the apple watch in any significant way for excercise adjustments other than a basic calculation based on your personal stats and number of steps. You can also use the watch to track your workouts and have them sync over without having to manually add them.

The second link you added is from mid-2015, so I'm not sure it addresses the "out of date" problem from the first link. That said, you're totally right that active and resting energy doesn't show up on that read data list. I wonder if that's because there's no way for the watch itself to actually read "energy" - it's only extrapolating based on steps and heart-rate and so on. It makes sense that the estimates don't line up perfectly, because there's no actual data point as active and resting energy so there's no specific data set the programs can share. As far as I know, the only way to actually directly measure caloric burn is by putting someone in a special room - everything else is just a guess.

The total calories the apple watch gives is actually a very simple Active Energy + Resting Energy Calculation. Yes they are estimates but that is the formula. There are other apps, the Lose It app that I know of, that read that data directly from the health/activity app API's. As a result at the end of the day it lines up perfect with the apple activity app calories burned numbers. MFP, for reasons unknown, has just never integrated that functionality.

MegaMooseEsq

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

Here is thread where they only talk about using "step data" which is different from the Total Calories figure.

https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/questions/16766306-how-do-i-get-apple-activity-which-is-on-the-iphone-and-the-apple-watch-to-sync-with-mfp-

Not that you're necessarily wrong on the sync issue, but that post is from December 2016, well before the Watch 3 was released, and I can confirm that at least one part is out of date (syncing "other" exercises works fine now). I don't think that "answer" is doing anything other than copying the FAQ, and doesn't directly address the steps vs. activity question.

I don't have time to dig into it right now, but I am curious. MFP is certainly getting workouts from the Activity App, so they're talking somehow. It wouldn't shock me if they were only adjusting based on steps less logged activities, though, which you're right is a drag, but at least it's probably mainly erring on the side of underestimating calories burned.

See the post I edited into my original post where they flat out say they don't read the calorie data from the app but they would update that thread as new functionality is added.

You can see for yourself if you go into the health app > sources > Allow "MyFintesspal" to Read Data section you can see workouts, steps, and distance can be read but not active energy and resting energy.

If you compare that to the lose it app source read data you can see MFP is not ingesting the neccessary info needed to use the apple watch in any significant way for excercise adjustments other than a basic calculation based on your personal stats and number of steps. You can also use the watch to track your workouts and have them sync over without having to manually add them.

The second link you added is from mid-2015, so I'm not sure it addresses the "out of date" problem from the first link. That said, you're totally right that active and resting energy doesn't show up on that read data list. I wonder if that's because there's no way for the watch itself to actually read "energy" - it's only extrapolating based on steps and heart-rate and so on. It makes sense that the estimates don't line up perfectly, because there's no actual data point as active and resting energy so there's no specific data set the programs can share. As far as I know, the only way to actually directly measure caloric burn is by putting someone in a special room - everything else is just a guess.

The total calories the apple watch gives is actually a very simple Active Energy + Resting Energy Calculation. Yes they are estimates but that is the formula. There are other apps, the Lose It app that I know of, that read that data directly from the health/activity app API's. As a result at the end of the day it lines up perfect with the apple activity app calories burned numbers. MFP, for reasons unknown, has just never integrated that functionality.

That’s a good point. I meant more that there’s no reason to think that Apple’s algorithm for calculating total energy is more or less accurate than MFP’s, and they’d be using the same data. I know for me, it seems to come out in the wash over time. I looked at s couple of weeks of data, and although some days the difference between MFP and Apple was a couple hundred calories or more, it averaged out to -7 over the couple of weeks.

fougamou

DawnOfTheDead_Lift wrote: »

For those with the apple watch 3. Apple Health does not sync the Total Calories figure over thats why you see the discrepancy. What is does is take your number of steps and calculates your estimated calories. It does not read the calorie data from the Apple Activity app. It sucks. You can sync your workouts and use it that way but the adjustment feature is garbage. I'll try to find the help desk thread where they confirmed this.

The lose it app does read that data and it works splendid on it but I prefer the food database on MFP.

ETA:
Below is the link where they confirm they don't read the calorie data. All they read is step data and then calculate an estimate based on steps. It is ridiculous.
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/portal/questions/15921444-myfitnesspal-and-apple-watch-calories-don-t-match

This is making sense, at least for some of my confusion.

KMH29197

The Pilates Activity in the Apple Watch does not sync with the app.