Move calorie count increasing without moving?

[MichaelMcDonald]

I've had my Apple Watch (42mm) for a month now. I've been slowly raising my daily move calorie goal each week. Suddenly yesterday my watch started giving me move calories without any work. Today same thing. During a 3-hour car ride where I didn't move at all, the watch said I'd burned lots of calories - later I even laid it on the couch for a while and the calories still increased by one, all by itself! Something is definitely off...

The only thing I can think of is that I rode on a 4-wheeler a bit yesterday, not very fast and not for a long time (15 mins). But can't see how that would suddenly make the watch start over-counting move calories? Surely the watch should be able to withstand that? I have restarted the watch and the Activity app, but it's still 'giving' calories without any work (while seated, etc.). Before yesterday, I definitely had to earn those move calories, so I'm baffled at this new problem.

Any ideas how to go about troubleshooting this? Anyone else experiencing similar issues?

 

[Nell]

Mine sometimes clicks up a calorie or two while I'm sitting down but usually I think it's just catching up with itself after I've done something more active.

I've not had the earning loads of calories while in the car thing though; that doesn't sound good.

 

[friedmud]

Any movement will cause it to go up. Even sitting on the couch you move your arms some (even to just grab your drink or change positions, etc.)... 1 calorie is not much. Even when you think you're sitting still your arms are still moving slightly...

Similarly, any movement in a car, train, or on a 4-wheeler is going to trigger some amount of movement calorie counting. It definitely tries to filter out movement it doesn't think is caused by you... but it can only do so much.

The thing is not magic! It's connected to your arm and has an accelerometer in it. It's detecting "movement" and then using a formula based on your current heart rate to increase calories.

 

[Newtons Apple]

You burn calories even while motionless. The watch takes your HR and weight and attempts to estimate your calorie burn. Most of a human's burnt calories are for just maintaining body temp. Your brain can take the energy of a 75 watt bulb to take care of all the things it needs to do for you.

I do not think your watch all of a sudden started doing this I think you just noticed.

 

[Julien]

You burn calories even while motionless. The watch takes your HR and weight and attempts to estimate your calorie burn. Most of a human's burnt calories are for just maintaining body temp. Your brain can take the energy of a 75 watt bulb to take care of all the things it needs to do for you....

These are actually BMR calories which Apple calls Resting Calories. Apple segregates (unusual since most Apps/devices don't) BMR Calories from Activity Calories. If sitting or resting you should burn a minimal amount of Active Calories.