Is my Apple watch calculating insane calories or what?

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Losingthedamnweight
Losingthedamnweight Posts: 535 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been using Fitbit for awhile and I find it tends to lowball my calories burned but I'm cool with that. Now that I have my Apple watch, the calories are all over the place. All I did today was go for a short walk and get about 4,000 steps the entire day. My Fitbit app says I burned about 2100 calories. My Apple watch? About 3000. And that was a few hours ago at like 8pm or something. Now it's actually up to like 3400

And just for reference, I'm a 31 year old guy that weighs 230lbs at 5'8.

The top is the Fitbit calculation and the bottom is my Apple watch. Wow.

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Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    looks insane to me

    I'd go with the fitbit if you've had it a while and your settings are correct

    I assume they both extrapolate to the end of the day and fitbit has already learned your patterns .. perhaps that is part of it?

    I really do have concerns with 24 hour wearable HRMs .. I just don't see the point if you don't need to track your HR due to some kind of heart condition .. there is no way the calorie calculation can be any more accurate than a standard step tracker .. apart from during steady-state cardio
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I don't know...you are young, a bit taller than me...a guy and a lot heavier than me...my maintenance without cardio and averaging about 8k steps a day is 2000 (give or take)

    My husband is around your age but taller and slimmer maintenance is 3000 a day....

    Best way to find out is to check your intake against lbs lost over a period of 3 weeks to tell for sure.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    I don't know...you are young, a bit taller than me...a guy and a lot heavier than me...my maintenance without cardio and averaging about 8k steps a day is 2000 (give or take)

    My husband is around your age but taller and slimmer maintenance is 3000 a day....

    Best way to find out is to check your intake against lbs lost over a period of 3 weeks to tell for sure.

    actually she makes a good point

    I'm 5'8, older, 160lbs and my TDEE is around 2300
  • isulo_kura
    isulo_kura Posts: 818 Member
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    I did read somewhere the HRM on the apple watch can have issues with moisture or people with darker skin or tattoos over the sensor area. You would have thought they would have sorted that out on such an expensive thing.
  • Jennikitten
    Jennikitten Posts: 142 Member
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    It sounds as though it is going what my garmin vivosmart does and is including your BMR in the calculation so the 2100 would be what you are burning total for the day. when I link it to MFP it only gives be back a tiny proportion of this (about 500kcal for about 15k steps)
  • scottkjar
    scottkjar Posts: 346 Member
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    2094 looks way too low. A quick calculation looks like 2300 - 2500 calories TDEE. So when you add steps, your total burn goes higher.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Jennikitten wrote: »
    It sounds as though it is going what my garmin vivosmart does and is including your BMR in the calculation so the 2100 would be what you are burning total for the day. when I link it to MFP it only gives be back a tiny proportion of this (about 500kcal for about 15k steps)

    I'm pretty sure they are all on TDEE (including BMR)
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    Your Fitbit reading seems v. low given your stats. Have you checked the set up - weight, height, etc. - is correct?
  • Docbanana2002
    Docbanana2002 Posts: 357 Member
    edited May 2015
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    Fitbit doesn't do a whole day projection on the dashboard. It is an estimate of calories burned as of now and will update until midnight. Does Apple do a whole day projection? That might explain the difference.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    edited May 2015
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.
  • alliesgettinghealthy
    alliesgettinghealthy Posts: 87 Member
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    I would actually go with the Apple watch on this one. My fitbit underestimates my calories by about 250 a day as well. I'm a 5'4" female so I could definitely see a larger underestimation for you.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.

    I am 6'5" 215 lbs and my maintenance is about 2400, maybe 2500.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    edited May 2015
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.

    I am 6'5" 215 lbs and my maintenance is about 2400, maybe 2500.

    How do you know for sure you don't weigh your food so that is a guess...my maintenance is 2400-2500 during the summer and that is as close to fact as you can get as I weigh my food and use my own data for accuracy.

    Total calories consumed+(lbs lost x 3500)/#days (I typically use 3-4 weeks)

    again 5 ft 7 150lbs..

    ETA: and do you exercise regularly? get in at least 10k steps pre exercise?
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.

    I am 6'5" 215 lbs and my maintenance is about 2400, maybe 2500.

    How do you know for sure you don't weigh your food so that is a guess...my maintenance is 2400-2500 during the summer and that is as close to fact as you can get as I weigh my food and use my own data for accuracy.

    Total calories consumed+(lbs lost x 3500)/#days (I typically use 3-4 weeks)

    again 5 ft 7 150lbs..

    ETA: and do you exercise regularly? get in at least 10k steps pre exercise?

    Yes, I exercise regularly, but I didn't mention that because the OP said that he only had 5000 steps. If you add my exercise back in, maintenance would then be over 3000. How much over? I don't know, because I don't really trust the 1360 calories the calorie burn estimators are giving me.

    And no, the fact that I don't weigh my food doesn't make it a guess. During the weeks that I wasn't able to exercise, my weight loss was very close to what is expected for my calorie deficit. As long as the end result comes out right, how we measured our portion sizes doesn't matter.
  • NobodyPutsAmyInTheCorner
    NobodyPutsAmyInTheCorner Posts: 1,018 Member
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    I'm 5ft2 153lbs at present and I burn 2000 (On a lazy day) and anything up to 2400 on a normal day with just walking exercise. So it could be fairly accurate from your apple watch. I have a Fitbit and like I say get average values like above.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    isulo_kura wrote: »
    I did read somewhere the HRM on the apple watch can have issues with moisture or people with darker skin or tattoos over the sensor area. You would have thought they would have sorted that out on such an expensive thing.

    Wouldn't you expect that to cause it to give a lower number instead of a high one? It seems to split calories between active and inactive. During periods of activity, it would use the HRM to tell how active a person was, but the rest of the time, I expect it would just use one of the formulas for calculating BMR and then multiply that by some factor.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited May 2015
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.

    I am 6'5" 215 lbs and my maintenance is about 2400, maybe 2500.

    I'm female, 9" shorter, 55lbs lighter, probably older and my maintenance is about 2300

    Unless you are completely sedentary I'm pretty sure that you're underestimating yours
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
    edited May 2015
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.

    I am 6'5" 215 lbs and my maintenance is about 2400, maybe 2500.

    I find that hard to believe considering I'm 40 and 5'11" and 190 Lbs and my maintenance is right around 3000, more if I'm training and slightly less if it's winter and I'm moving a little less.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.

    I am 6'5" 215 lbs and my maintenance is about 2400, maybe 2500.

    I'm female, 9" shorter, 55lbs lighter, probably older and my maintenance is about 2300

    Unless you are completely sedentary I'm pretty sure that you're underestimating yours
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    TimothyFish wrote: »
    3400 calories sounds ridiculously high, even as much as 1000 calories off.


    for a man who is 31 and 230lbs and 5ft 8...I don't think so.

    My own husband is 33, 185lbs and 5ft 11 his maintenance is 3000-3300 depending on if he goes for a walk with me or not.

    My son 21 240 and 6 ft 4 TDEE is around 4200...


    ETA: imagine my grocery bill.

    I am 6'5" 215 lbs and my maintenance is about 2400, maybe 2500.

    I find that hard to believe considering I'm 40 and 5'11" and 190 Lbs and my maintenance is right around 3000, more if I'm training and slightly less if it's winter and I'm moving a little less.

    As I said, that doesn't include exercise. When you add an hour per day of exercise back into it, it goes up.

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