Steps and calories issue

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matt30in30
matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
I have been using the app for quite some time, I recently got an Apple Watch and am using that to track steps, I have two questions, from the image it looks like my phone is tracking steps and not my watch even though when I click on steps in the menu it says tracked my Apple Watch,

My second question is what are the calories so low for that many steps ?

zh1nojl5x15v.png

Replies

  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
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    for the second question - what activity level did you select?
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    edited June 2019
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    What makes you think that calorie amount is low? It looks about right to me.

    (I'm set to sedentary (desk job) and input my exercise data manually; I have a step tracker that doesn't link to MFP. I find that for me, 10,000 steps is equivalent to about 170 calories.)
  • matt30in30
    matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
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    Well I used to have a Garmin Watch and the calories were double that for a similar amount of steps,
  • matt30in30
    matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
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    Also the Apple Watch shows my daily calorie burn to be around 1000 calories as I’m pretty active but MyFitnessPal only gives me those calories from those steps, is there any way to import my apple fitness stats into the app so that it’s accurate between Burn and consume ?
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
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    matt30in30 wrote: »
    Also the Apple Watch shows my daily calorie burn to be around 1000 calories as I’m pretty active but MyFitnessPal only gives me those calories from those steps, is there any way to import my apple fitness stats into the app so that it’s accurate between Burn and consume ?

    When you say your 'daily calorie burn', I assume that that includes your BMR (the calories you burn just by existing)? There's absolutely no way that you burn 1000 calories through exercise just by being 'pretty active' :)

    If so, there's no need to import those 1000 calories as MFP already knows your BMR.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    What makes you think that calorie amount is low? It looks about right to me.

    (I'm set to sedentary (desk job) and input my exercise data manually; I have a step tracker that doesn't link to MFP. I find that for me, 10,000 steps is equivalent to about 170 calories.)

    Yup, me too.
  • matt30in30
    matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    matt30in30 wrote: »
    Also the Apple Watch shows my daily calorie burn to be around 1000 calories as I’m pretty active but MyFitnessPal only gives me those calories from those steps, is there any way to import my apple fitness stats into the app so that it’s accurate between Burn and consume ?

    When you say your 'daily calorie burn', I assume that that includes your BMR (the calories you burn just by existing)? There's absolutely no way that you burn 1000 calories through exercise just by being 'pretty active' :)

    If so, there's no need to import those 1000 calories as MFP already knows your BMR.
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    matt30in30 wrote: »
    Also the Apple Watch shows my daily calorie burn to be around 1000 calories as I’m pretty active but MyFitnessPal only gives me those calories from those steps, is there any way to import my apple fitness stats into the app so that it’s accurate between Burn and consume ?

    When you say your 'daily calorie burn', I assume that that includes your BMR (the calories you burn just by existing)? There's absolutely no way that you burn 1000 calories through exercise just by being 'pretty active' :)

    If so, there's no need to import those 1000 calories as MFP already knows your BMR.

    No I actually mean my active calorie burn, my bmr averages 1600 a day and I regularly burn 1000 a day from exercise and being very active with my job

    w9vb1mvn6azj.png

    Perhaps my version of pretty active would not be the same as others, I do a hiit session each evening and some lifting work but I don’t class it as excessive but to some maybe it is.

  • matt30in30
    matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    What makes you think that calorie amount is low? It looks about right to me.

    (I'm set to sedentary (desk job) and input my exercise data manually; I have a step tracker that doesn't link to MFP. I find that for me, 10,000 steps is equivalent to about 170 calories.)

    Yup, me too.


    According to a bit of research on google the average person that does 10000 steps a day burns around 400 calories doing those steps.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
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    matt30in30 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    What makes you think that calorie amount is low? It looks about right to me.

    (I'm set to sedentary (desk job) and input my exercise data manually; I have a step tracker that doesn't link to MFP. I find that for me, 10,000 steps is equivalent to about 170 calories.)

    Yup, me too.


    According to a bit of research on google the average person that does 10000 steps a day burns around 400 calories doing those steps.

    And how heavy are you compared to the average person?

    Also, your 1000 calories for HIIT and some lifting looks like an overestimate to me. Heart rate monitors aren’t as accurate as the advertising, and don’t deal well with strength work.

    However, that’s something you can adjust once the data’s in MFP - unfortunately I know nothing about that aspect of things!
  • matt30in30
    matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
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    ceiswyn wrote: »
    matt30in30 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    What makes you think that calorie amount is low? It looks about right to me.

    (I'm set to sedentary (desk job) and input my exercise data manually; I have a step tracker that doesn't link to MFP. I find that for me, 10,000 steps is equivalent to about 170 calories.)

    Yup, me too.


    According to a bit of research on google the average person that does 10000 steps a day burns around 400 calories doing those steps.

    And how heavy are you compared to the average person?

    Also, your 1000 calories for HIIT and some lifting looks like an overestimate to me. Heart rate monitors aren’t as accurate as the advertising, and don’t deal well with strength work.

    However, that’s something you can adjust once the data’s in MFP - unfortunately I know nothing about that aspect of things!

    I have used many trackers over the years and I would say that my estimation is pretty accurate to be fair, my hiit classes burn around 350 calories for a 40 minute session and I tend to do two a day.

    I’m a avid runner and have been hooked up to many machines from many professionals and they have all come up with a similar figure so I think to dismiss it as not accurate is not correct,
  • Aalps
    Aalps Posts: 20 Member
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    Really difficult to tell as we don't have your stats but If you were a 30 year old male, 5'10'', weighing a "healthy" bmi of 12 stone 7 then your BMR should be around 1700 calories for the day. You have your target set at 1200 which is pretty low considering you are very active which would mean an extra 1000 calories or so on top. Maybe something is wrong with your setup on MFP and Apple? It might be worth checking your stats and goals as something is not adding up right (but impossible to say what without knowing stats!) If you are then adding more exercise on top of a very active lifestyle 1200 calories is nowhere near enough!! Good luck with sorting it :)
  • matt30in30
    matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
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    Aalps wrote: »
    Really difficult to tell as we don't have your stats but If you were a 30 year old male, 5'10'', weighing a "healthy" bmi of 12 stone 7 then your BMR should be around 1700 calories for the day. You have your target set at 1200 which is pretty low considering you are very active which would mean an extra 1000 calories or so on top. Maybe something is wrong with your setup on MFP and Apple? It might be worth checking your stats and goals as something is not adding up right (but impossible to say what without knowing stats!) If you are then adding more exercise on top of a very active lifestyle 1200 calories is nowhere near enough!! Good luck with sorting it :)

    Thank you for your reply, my main issue is that I don’t think mfp is using my Apple Watch to track my steps and also incorporate my heart rate, if I walk 10000 steps I get the same calorie burn as if I was to run 10000 steps which should not be as my heart rate is much more elavated so I should be burning more.

    Nobody seems to be able to tell me how to fix this though
  • Aalps
    Aalps Posts: 20 Member
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    matt30in30 wrote: »
    Thank you for your reply, my main issue is that I don’t think mfp is using my Apple Watch to track my steps and also incorporate my heart rate, if I walk 10000 steps I get the same calorie burn as if I was to run 10000 steps which should not be as my heart rate is much more elavated so I should be burning more.

    Nobody seems to be able to tell me how to fix this though

    Does MFP actually sync calories burned from the Apple watch? reading the help forums it seems that at one point it only pulled steps not calories burned or heart rate. This would partly explain the issue? I don't use an Apple watch so not sure if this is still the case.
  • matt30in30
    matt30in30 Posts: 13 Member
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    Aalps wrote: »
    matt30in30 wrote: »
    Thank you for your reply, my main issue is that I don’t think mfp is using my Apple Watch to track my steps and also incorporate my heart rate, if I walk 10000 steps I get the same calorie burn as if I was to run 10000 steps which should not be as my heart rate is much more elavated so I should be burning more.

    Nobody seems to be able to tell me how to fix this though

    Does MFP actually sync calories burned from the Apple watch? reading the help forums it seems that at one point it only pulled steps not calories burned or heart rate. This would partly explain the issue? I don't use an Apple watch so not sure if this is still the case.

    No it does not seem to be syncing calories burned just a generic figure for steps calories, I’m guessing the two are not compatible so I may just have to cancel me premium on mfp if it’s not going to work
  • Aalps
    Aalps Posts: 20 Member
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    I think this thread may be of use to you @matt30in30 (amazing what you can find with a 2 minute search ;) )

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10745399/apple-watch-users-does-this-sound-about-right
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    edited June 2019
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    matt30in30 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    What makes you think that calorie amount is low? It looks about right to me.

    (I'm set to sedentary (desk job) and input my exercise data manually; I have a step tracker that doesn't link to MFP. I find that for me, 10,000 steps is equivalent to about 170 calories.)

    Yup, me too.


    According to a bit of research on google the average person that does 10000 steps a day burns around 400 calories doing those steps.

    but depending on activivty level 4,000-10,000 steps would already be accounted for in your activity level, which would already be part of NEAT and your 1200 cal goal
    What activity level did you choose on MFP?
    What did you choose as your weekly weight loss goal?
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
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    matt30in30 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    matt30in30 wrote: »
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    What makes you think that calorie amount is low? It looks about right to me.

    (I'm set to sedentary (desk job) and input my exercise data manually; I have a step tracker that doesn't link to MFP. I find that for me, 10,000 steps is equivalent to about 170 calories.)

    Yup, me too.


    According to a bit of research on google the average person that does 10000 steps a day burns around 400 calories doing those steps.

    And how heavy are you compared to the average person?

    Also, your 1000 calories for HIIT and some lifting looks like an overestimate to me. Heart rate monitors aren’t as accurate as the advertising, and don’t deal well with strength work.

    However, that’s something you can adjust once the data’s in MFP - unfortunately I know nothing about that aspect of things!

    I have used many trackers over the years and I would say that my estimation is pretty accurate to be fair, my hiit classes burn around 350 calories for a 40 minute session and I tend to do two a day.

    I’m a avid runner and have been hooked up to many machines from many professionals and they have all come up with a similar figure so I think to dismiss it as not accurate is not correct,

    I take it back, if you're doing two HIIT classes a day as well as walking and lifting, the 1,000 figure is more plausible than I assumed! That's pretty darn active :)
  • Redordeadhead
    Redordeadhead Posts: 1,188 Member
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    matt30in30 wrote: »

    if I walk 10000 steps I get the same calorie burn as if I was to run 10000 steps which should not be as my heart rate is much more elavated so I should be burning more.

    I agree it would be useful to know the activity level you selected in MFP, as well as your height and weight.

    Also be careful here as the difference may not be as much as you think. High heart rate doesn't necessarily = more calorie burn (think watching a scary movie or sitting in a car with someone driving too fast).
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Forget syncing the Apple Watch account directly and MFP having accurate figures.

    Apple fails to send the required info - namely Total Daily Calories burned - that MFP API's say are supposed to be sent.
    Instead they send a figure that is about sedentary.

    They do NOT send anything about all the extra calories above sedentary that your steps may cause.

    They do send workouts - but that makes it worse on MFP math because it's not contained in that Total Calories Burned.

    Forget the figures - useless.
    The more active you are, the more workouts you do - the worse the effect going the wrong direction for adjustments.

    You'll need to have like Pacer sync with MFP and Apple both. It passed the correct info to MFP that almost all other trackers do correctly and are stated in the API's to send.
  • Kathryn247
    Kathryn247 Posts: 570 Member
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    I just switched from FitBit to Apple Watch a couple of weeks ago. I've had the same problem with my step count from Apple Watch not matching MFP, and the calorie credits being uneven. I'd get no credit for 10k steps and maybe 50 for 8k steps?? MFP tech support says the step count not matching is a known issue and they're trying to come up with a fix. They said something about the reasoning for the calorie estimates that didn't make sense based on my activity levels for those days.

    I downloaded Pacer to see if that would help. I synced Pacer to Apple Health, but I'm not able to sync it to MFP - MFP just sends me to Pacer's web page. Meanwhile, the step count in Pacer doesn't match my Apple Watch OR MFP.

    I'm deleting Pacer, and suppose I will just just have to live with my exercise calorie estimates not being right. My FitBit wasn't very accurate, either, but it was usually more generous than it should have been which was frankly more fun. :)

    I have no answers, just saying that it's been unreliable for me, too.