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I left mine set low as Apple doesn’t give you a rest day option (not sure how it could be done anyway), if I run a half marathon on Saturday I’m pretty dead on Sunday lol and can’t go all out again so soon but do enough to close all my rings. I run almost everyday and walk on non run days so I’m doing ok I think no matter what I set it to.
 
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900 active calories is a lot in my experience.... I am relatively skinny for my height as well. Just saying. Have you paid any attention to those weekly reminders you get on Monday morning? You could adjust the goal down based on that and what you think is reasonable (I never use the goal it suggests exactly). Even if the other things still bother you at least you'd be closing your rings!
I lowered it to 650 last night. Today I put in an all out hour of boxing, which probably burned about that many calories by itself. I ran errands all day. I freaking danced in place while I fixed my food. 13 hours into my day I’m at... just over half my Move goal. What?

I think 900 is a reasonable goal if you’re active. It must be or I wouldn’t need to eat as much as I do to keep meat on my bones. My AW just isn’t calculating the energy expenditure right.

I don’t get the Monday reminders because I have most of my notifications disabled. Why, what are yours nagging you about?
 
I lowered it to 650 last night. Today I put in an all out hour of boxing, which probably burned about that many calories by itself. I ran errands all day. I freaking danced in place while I fixed my food. 13 hours into my day I’m at... just over half my Move goal. What?

I think 900 is a reasonable goal if you’re active. It must be or I wouldn’t need to eat as much as I do to keep meat on my bones. My AW just isn’t calculating the energy expenditure right.

I don’t get the Monday reminders because I have most of my notifications disabled. Why, what are yours nagging you about?
Okay that does sound off. A notification pops up on Monday morning with the Weekly Summary. It recaps your previous week of activity and suggests a move goal, either the same or different based on your average calories from the prior week. I've been using AW so long I basically ignore it but the purpose seems to be to help people dial in on their move goal.
 
Okay that does sound off. A notification pops up on Monday morning with the Weekly Summary. It recaps your previous week of activity and suggests a move goal, either the same or different based on your average calories from the prior week. I've been using AW so long I basically ignore it but the purpose seems to be to help people dial in on their move goal.

I experimented with (or rather, remembered to...) turn on the workout app this week. Monday I turned on “other” for a CrossFit class. Got credit for 200-something calories, but *doubled* my Move ring (yoga had given me 200+ ad well). Yesterday I turned on “HIIT” before getting in the octagon for 30 minutes of kickboxing rounds (I’d forgotten to have it on for free weights before that). Got credit for 76, and 1/4 of the Move ring.

At this point it’s just a mathematical curiosity as to what the heck the algorithm might be.

Anyway, I’m cleared to run again, so I’ll have nice and pretty, closed rings going forward and my inner gold star neediness will be satisfied...
 
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I experimented with (or rather, remembered to...) turn on the workout app this week. Monday I turned on “other” for a CrossFit class. Got credit for 200-something calories, but *doubled* my Move ring (yoga had given me 200+ ad well). Yesterday I turned on “HIIT” before getting in the octagon for 30 minutes of kickboxing rounds (I’d forgotten to have it on for free weights before that). Got credit for 76, and 1/4 of the Move ring.

At this point it’s just a mathematical curiosity as to what the heck the algorithm might be.

Anyway, I’m cleared to run again, so I’ll have nice and pretty, closed rings going forward and my inner gold star neediness will be satisfied...
Glad you got your issue worked out, as long as you remember to set a workout. Plus you're back up and running just in time for good weather.

As far as the algorithms used by the AW to calculate calories burned, I'd wager a guess that it's a modified version of the METs formula. The AW probably starts with the standard MET for a particular excercise and then modifies it as your HR goes up or down.
 
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2. I do try to remember to select the right workout. Yoga is a gimme, and running always was very accurate. The elliptical - not so much. I do sprint work on it now that I’m injured and I haul a...s on my toes while keeping my pelvis stable to keep from irritating my injury. I’m assuming that AW is responding to my not bopping up and down as one normally would on an elliptical, but I have the HR app on to make sure I’m keeping my HR high, and I keep refreshing it. Again, the algorithm should detect the HR changes, especially since I’ve had the watch for a year now I’d’ve hoped it’d’ve picked up on my HR patterns by now.
It's odd that you're having issues when using the elliptical workout. I've always found the AW to be nearly spot on with what the machine's computer says in terms of calories burned. They're usually only off from each other by 5-20 calories. At least it is when I'm using a machine that makes it easy to hold onto the heart sensors during the workout and I've entered all my info into the machine. The only suggestion I can think of is to try a chest strap monitor that will connect over Bluetooth to your AW. That will provide the watch with more accurate heart rate data than any wrist-worn device will ever be able to provide, and it will pick up on your fluctuations faster. Check out the article I linked below. The section titled "Cardio, Interval Training, and Heart Rate Sensors" provides a good explanation of the benefits of using a chest strap.

https://www.macstories.net/stories/second-life/

3. I’ve never used “Other” for a workout. I don’t usually use “Cross Training” or HIIT either, because I never know what horrors my kickboxing coach will dream up for that day and it may not fit squarely in either category. Plus, I’d have to turn it on before wrapping and gloving my hands, and it feels like cheating if I then end up BS’ing with my coach for 15 minutes or just practicing technique, which really isn’t that cardio-intensive.
I wouldn't worry so much about starting up the workout while taping up your gloves as long as you don't use Other. First, the way you describe the kickboxing sounds a lot like HIIT, even if you aren't doing strict intervals. Second, even when you're just practicing technique you're still doing SOMETHING. I mean, you're not sitting on the couch eating potato chips right? You're moving and your heart rate is going to be elevated when compared to your resting rate, even if it is only slightly elevated. I think it's worth trying it out for a session or two and see if the results make sense.
 
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Plus you're back up and running just in time for good weather.
I’m in the currently overheated and dry Southwest and the Nat’l Forest on the border of which I live just shut down till the monsoons come. It’s dreadmill time, but at least I’m moving...

As far as the algorithms used by the AW to calculate calories burned, I'd wager a guess that it's a modified version of the METs formula. The AW probably starts with the standard MET for a particular excercise and then modifies it as your HR goes up or down.
I agree. I think it’s missing the capability of learning the user’s baseline, though. Low resting HR and the fast reduction rate during HIIT rest periods, for example, should be a factor in the algorithm. It’s also clearly using average US values for RMR and VO2MAX based on age and gender, because it’s calculated mine as a 36 average for this calendar year, and I tested at 71 in a lab just last year. We’re a sedentary, overweight nation, so I don’t really blame Apple, but I wish there were more parameters you could put in to personalize its measurement of your particular performance. I’ve gone in today and entered more data into the Health app (BMI etc), and I’ll be curious to see if the AW-measured values gain accuracy accordingly. When I have time, at some point I’ll look into other fitness apps I can integrate in. Nothing can replace a lab treadmill and oximeter, of course, but I’d like to be able to enter the altitude for my mountain runs, for example, when I’m sprinting uphill at 11K feet. I’ll bet I’ve been getting less “credit” for gym work because my gym sits at around 5K ft and my max HR there reflects that.

For now, it serves the original purpose for which I bought it: music, important texts, SOS if run into a tree or a cougar, handy HR, and accurate distance (though not the altitude gains the native Samsung Health app was impressively accurate with).
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I've always found the AW to be nearly spot on with what the [elliptical’s] computer says in terms of calories burned. They're usually only off from each other by 5-20 calories (...) when I'm using a machine that makes it easy to hold onto the heart sensors during the workout and I've entered all my info into the machine.
I was mystified by the lack of accuracy, too. In the past I had “tested” the AW against my treadmill at home and it was dead on even when I tried to trick it by wildly varying the incline levels or switching between slow jogs and speed walking at the same rate. I really think that it has to do with gait in addition to your HR: whether you’re walking or running or on an elliptical, the AW detects your stride. While I was recovering from hamstring tendinopathy, however, the only way I could do hard cardio on legs was by holding on to the center bars on the elliptical, set it to max level, stand on my toes and haul a...s while keeping my pelvis static. Your quads and calves burn like crazy, you can reach max HR, and still keep from loading your hamstring. Great exercise, but there’s no stride as such for the AW motion sensor to detect.
Check out the article I linked below. The section titled "Cardio, Interval Training, and Heart Rate Sensors" provides a good explanation of the benefits of using a chest strap.
I did read it, thank you. I’d run into the same issues with my AW as in the article when the watch would slide up and down my wrist courtesy of sweat+sunblock. For me, tightening the band did the trick. I’ve been cleared to run now again, so hopefully this is the end of my what’s-my-HR?? woes. When I’m running it’s all about distance and time gains. I’d only got so obsessed w/ HR because staying in marathon-ready cardio shape was tough while being benched after the injury for four. Long. Months...
The way you describe the kickboxing sounds a lot like HIIT.
It definitely is. Technique practice aside, I always get in at least 7 3-min all-out rounds with fun stuff like planks or burpees for my 1-minute “breaks.” As I’d said in an earlier post, it was really just academic curiosity as to the algorithm Apple employs here, really. I did it using the HIIT setting yesterday, and got credit for 153 calories over 30 minutes. My coach is a (lovable) sadist... I’ve seen hard-nosed guys run from that octagon looking for a place to throw up... Yeah, that’s not a 150-calorie 30 minutes...
 
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default is 330. I never changed mine and I never hit it lol. I somehow walk 5 miles a day at work, but usually hit 310 for calories burned. I need to exercise.

I hit the stand goal, yay me!

edit: I guess defaults could be based on height/weight.
It is absolutely impossible to walk five miles and burn less than 330 calories unless you weigh like 120 pounds. Check your watch it’s really super unlikely. For instance I did 6 miles today and burned almost 900 calories and I weigh about 195
 
It is absolutely impossible to walk five miles and burn less than 330 calories unless you weigh like 120 pounds. Check your watch it’s really super unlikely. For instance I did 6 miles today and burned almost 900 calories and I weigh about 195
Also check your weight in the settings app. Maybe it thinks you weigh 80 pounds.
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Also check your weight in the settings app. Maybe it thinks you weigh 80 pounds.
Sorry, in the Apple Health app
 
It is absolutely impossible to walk five miles and burn less than 330 calories unless you weigh like 120 pounds. Check your watch it’s really super unlikely. For instance I did 6 miles today and burned almost 900 calories and I weigh about 195

I actually hit it now, but just barely. 5’11”/150
 
It is absolutely impossible to walk five miles and burn less than 330 calories unless you weigh like 120 pounds. Check your watch it’s really super unlikely. For instance I did 6 miles today and burned almost 900 calories and I weigh about 195


I'm not sure I agree. There's walking where you're getting exercise as well, and then there's casual strolling. I've been places where I've done tons of walking around, but barely got any move because it was a super slow casual stroll through a trade show or something. If you're out walking, and your Exercise ring is also moving, you get way more credit on the Move ring.
 
I left mine set low as Apple doesn’t give you a rest day option (not sure how it could be done anyway), if I run a half marathon on Saturday I’m pretty dead on Sunday lol and can’t go all out again so soon but do enough to close all my rings. I run almost everyday and walk on non run days so I’m doing ok I think no matter what I set it to.

If I want a rest day I'll set it down to 300 cals for that day and just get by with a little stroll - then it goes back to 600 or 800 depending upon what I'm feeling like at that month. I try to balance it so that making the goal requires decent effort but if I run say 5k on a day I don't double the goal otherwise the challenges go crazy and get meaningless when the double challenges kick in.
 
Personally, I like to keep an eye my movement throughout the day to help keep me on track. This way when 2pm comes around I know whether or not I need to step it up.

The default goal suggested for me was is around 450 calories, but I purposely set my goal to 600. Why?

Well, I use the Analog Activity watch face so I know that every "tick" on the watch face equals 50 calories (600/12). If I see my move is falling behind my stand goal I know I need to burn a quick 50 calories. This makes it easier to be active all throughout the day rather than just trying to crush 100s of JJ to meet my goal.
 
I’m 6’2” and 235lbs and I’ve had my watch for just under 1 month. It defaulted to 660 during setup but I bumped it up to 800 because I wanted a challenge. I’ve hit my goal every day since then, lost 5lbs along the way, and last week bumped it up to 880. Pretty happy with this thing so far!

*edit* This morning my AW just told me I should bump my goal up to 960 based on last weeks average of about 1130 daily calories. Along with my June goal of 141.8 miles, I should lose a few pounds.
 
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