Apple Watch calorie burn estimate for walking is way off

[blizaine]

Hi everyone,
With the pandemic & working from home, I got a desk treadmill several months ago. I thought I was doing really great and was in a good caloric deficit because my apple watch's Active & Rest calories were significantly higher than my consumption after slow walking (~1.7mph) for about 4 hours a day. After weeks of being in a deficit and not losing much if any weight, I went and got a metabolic test to see what my true RMR/BMR rates are. It's where you breathe into a thing for an hour while resting. Turns out my Apple Watch estimates for daily non-actively energy expenditure are actually pretty accurate. Where it gets crazy is the estimate for my active calorie burn while walking. I started digging into research studies that use breathing machines to measure O2 & CO2 to get accurate calorie burns and then checked what the averages were for similar size males as myself and there's a huge discrepancy in what Apple is estimating.

Basically a slow 4hr walk at 1.7mph, Apple as me at 1920 total calories (Rest + Active). That equals 480kcals/hr or 8kcals/min Based on several studies that measure calorie burn in adult males, my size, it should really be half that ~960, or 240kcals/hr or 4kcals/min. Telling people they are burning ~1000 more a day than they actually are, could be problematic.

Is everyone else's this far off? I've confirmed all my stats in the apple health app are correct and I've done several outdoor walks so it could calibrate to me of the years on owning apple watches.

Thanks!

 

[JamieLannister]

Hi everyone,
With the pandemic & working from home, I got a desk treadmill several months ago. I thought I was doing really great and was in a good caloric deficit because my apple watch's Active & Rest calories were significantly higher than my consumption after slow walking (~1.7mph) for about 4 hours a day. After weeks of being in a deficit and not losing much if any weight, I went and got a metabolic test to see what my true RMR/BMR rates are. It's where you breathe into a thing for an hour while resting. Turns out my Apple Watch estimates for daily non-actively energy expenditure are actually pretty accurate. Where it gets crazy is the estimate for my active calorie burn while walking. I started digging into research studies that use breathing machines to measure O2 & CO2 to get accurate calorie burns and then checked what the averages were for similar size males as myself and there's a huge discrepancy in what Apple is estimating.

Basically a slow 4hr walk at 1.7mph, Apple as me at 1920 total calories (Rest + Active). That equals 480kcals/hr or 8kcals/min Based on several studies that measure calorie burn in adult males, my size, it should really be half that ~960, or 240kcals/hr or 4kcals/min. Telling people they are burning ~1000 more a day than they actually are, could be problematic.

Is everyone else's this far off? I've confirmed all my stats in the apple health app are correct and I've done several outdoor walks so it could calibrate to me of the years on owning apple watches.

Thanks!

I believe a major factor in calorie burn is the body weight and age of a person as well. The watch is not a medical device and for me personally i treat it as a fun exercise motivational toy. What’s important isn’t the actual numbers but the fact you are actually moving around a lot to keep the numbers looking high. Another factor you should look at is your diet that could be keeping your weight loss at a minimal.

folks this watch is nothing more than a gadget to help you move around since America has become fat and brain dead.

 

[deeddawg]

Is everyone else's this far off? I've confirmed all my stats in the apple health app are correct and I've done several outdoor walks so it could calibrate to me of the years on owning apple watches.

Thanks!

I typically see ~120-125 kcal per mile whether outdoor walking or outdoor running - and this has been consistent over the years across multiple Apple Watches and multiple Garmin running watches.