Apple Watch vs. MFP Calorie Burn

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nowine4me
nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
My Apple Watch consistently says I have a much larger burn than MFP. They are synced and the number of steps on both is a very close match. My exercise and steps are pretty consistent day-to-day at about 15k. Today's reading 810 Apple Watch calories vs. 450 MFP calories. I read in the help forums that MFP only reads steps from the Apple Watch. So is the MFP number the correct value to calculate my deficit? Any insight would be appreciated.

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  • KatKat1209
    KatKat1209 Posts: 229 Member
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    To be honest - my exercise calories are always way lower on my watch than on mfp... though I don't track steps. But do you mean the calories it tracks without starting an exercise or the one when starting an exercise?
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    I don't start specific exercise on my watch, I just wear it all the time (except 30 mins a day to charge when I'm in the shower). Today, for example, I ran 5 miles this morning then sat on my butt all day. The Activity rings on my watch say I burned 581 "active calories" whereas MFP shows 398. I think it has to do with MFP counting the steps from my watch, rather then simple syncing calories. Both the watch and MFP have nearly the identical number of steps. Anyone have any answers?
  • Mumu190672
    Mumu190672 Posts: 76 Member
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    I don't have any explanation but I use the Pacer app on my phone to count my steps. Usually mfp gives me the same calories as pacer minus 1 calorie?
  • Paiger816
    Paiger816 Posts: 129 Member
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    I would go with the Apple Watch numbers. I've worn mine with another HRM and the numbers were almost identical. It's supposed to be pretty accurate. MFP estimates have always been crazy off for me. Is your weight set the same on both apps?
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    It is, the watch reads my data from MFP on a daily basis. But that's good to know about the HRM @Paiger816.
  • rcoull75
    rcoull75 Posts: 47 Member
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    I just went for a run with my new apple watch (had it 1 week!) I had my phone with me and my watch.

    MFP showed around 150 calories burned, but the watch showed almost 500!

    I assume that is because the phone app counts the steps, and the watch counts the steps and the heart rate - so the phone app assumes I was walking normally, but the watch with the heart rate knows that I was running fairly hard.

    Not sure what to do about this, though, and how to log this correctly??
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    @rcoull75 There is a feature on the watch called workouts-- I've never actually used it, but your supposed to when the watch is new to calibrate your devices. After a few weeks, the watch "gets to know you". If I ever figure out why there's such a huge variance -- or how to fix it -- I'll let you know.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    nowine4me wrote: »
    @rcoull75 There is a feature on the watch called workouts-- I've never actually used it, but your supposed to when the watch is new to calibrate your devices. After a few weeks, the watch "gets to know you". If I ever figure out why there's such a huge variance -- or how to fix it -- I'll let you know.

    1) Go into the Apple Health app on your iPhone (assuming you use one) and make sure all your personal data is set correctly (height, weight, age, etc.).

    2) As far as I know, the "calibration" feature is more to get your watch in sync with the GPS receiver in your phone so it will track distances more accurately even when you don't have the phone with you (disclaimer - that is for the first edition Apple Watch, which is what I use - if you have the second generation watch with the GPS included, that may or may not still be a thing).

    As to the question in your original post - do you have your Apple Watch linked to MFP? And what is your activity level set at in MFP? If you have your activity level set to anything other than "Sedentary", it would most likely explain the difference. The Apple Watch is giving you a raw figure for your calorie burn, while MFP is subtracting some calories due to your activity level already built into MFP's calculations, to ensure you're not "double dipping" on calories.
  • rcoull75
    rcoull75 Posts: 47 Member
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    All my data is set correctly on the iPhone and my activity level is sedentary (i have a desk job, mon-fri)

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