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Resting Calories completely off

ditzy

ditzy

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 28, 2007
1,719
180
I don't think I've done anything wrong in the set up, I've put in my correct height, and what I weighed on Monday. (only weigh myself once a week.) The watch is telling me that I use 2300 resting calories. It is closer to 1300. I'm 4 foot 11. Is there a way for me to alter this?
 
2300, maybe a little bit high, but I don't think it is that far off. My Fitbit used to say 2100 calories for a non active day. There are various formulas for working it out if you do a search, all are much higher than 1300.
 
Where on the watch does it display resting calories? I can only find active calories...
 
ditzy said:
I don't think I've done anything wrong in the set up, I've put in my correct height, and what I weighed on Monday. (only weigh myself once a week.) The watch is telling me that I use 2300 resting calories. It is closer to 1300. I'm 4 foot 11. Is there a way for me to alter this?
Click to expand...

Resting calories are more based on your weight, not height. At least that's how we calculated it in a college nutrition class. Don't remember the formula though. If you're a little over 100lbs it's way off, but if you're closer to 200lbs, it's probably a lot closer to being right.
 
lewisd25 said:
Where on the watch does it display resting calories? I can only find active calories...
Click to expand...

It is in the iPhone Activity app. Shows active, resting and total calories

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ditzy said:
I don't think I've done anything wrong in the set up, I've put in my correct height, and what I weighed on Monday. (only weigh myself once a week.) The watch is telling me that I use 2300 resting calories. It is closer to 1300. I'm 4 foot 11. Is there a way for me to alter this?
Click to expand...

If you change your weight in the health section of the Apple Watch app it will change your resting calories in the Activity iPhone app. I have not played around with age or height to see what impact they have.
 
Formula is:

Body weight (in KG) x 21.6 + 370 x activity factor

Activity factor is a number that's determined by how active (or not active) you are. Generally a sedentary person would use 1.25, someone who works out with moderate intensity 3-5 days a week would use 1.55, and someone who works out intensely 6-7 days a week would use 1.725.

To calculate one's weight in KG from pounds, divide number of pounds by 2.2. As someone said earlier, it's determined by weight, not height.

EDIT: This is the amount of calories you burn the entire day including active time, sorry about that.
 
Last edited:
BMR calculator (posted above) gives me 1807. Whereas the Activity app gives me 2356 for resting calories (at 9 ish in the evening - it's going up as time passes).

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shandyman said:
I'm in the Activity app on the iPhone and it shows nothing of the sort....
Click to expand...

You have to swipe on the Move graph.
 
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Kpaul0707 said:
What's your activity level at? If you lower it it should cut down on your resting calories
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how you set activity level. I'm 4'11" and weigh 165lb and female. Fitbit gives me resting calories of 1325.
 
ditzy said:
I'm not sure how you set activity level. I'm 4'11" and weigh 165lb and female. Fitbit gives me resting calories of 1325.
Click to expand...

The Fitbit is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very incorrect. Check it again.
 
Mine seems very off too. Weighing 11 stone 7 and a height of 5 foot 5 male. I can't have a resting rate of 2246 can I?

The only thing I can think as to why it doesn't match the calculation is the heart rate monitor. They did do extreme health testing so maybe it's more accurate.
 
ashley8bit said:
Mine seems very off too. Weighing 11 stone 7 and a height of 5 foot 5 male. I can't have a resting rate of 2246 can I?

The only thing I can think as to why it doesn't match the calculation is the heart rate monitor. They did do extreme health testing so maybe it's more accurate.
Click to expand...

You could have a 2246 resting burn. If you do a search, there are various equations on how it is worked out. A very basic one is your weight in pounds times 11, which would make yours 1848. Other equations take height and age into it as well.

I don't worry about calories burned per device. Measuring calories eaten or burned is far from an exact science, so just worry about what it says per device. If it says you burned 400 calories today from your exercise based on heart rate, try to burn 500 calories tomorrow according to that device.
 
lol...

If you really think your BMR is 1300, you're way off. Your watch is likely correct unless you literally lie in bed not moving all day every day

The average male burns over 2000 calories a day just breathing

I burn on average around 3000 calories a day on my rest days, on my weight training days, around 3500
 
Steedie86 said:
lol...

If you really think your BMR is 1300, you're way off. Your watch is likely correct unless you literally lie in bed not moving all day every day

The average male burns over 2000 calories a day just breathing

I burn on average around 3000 calories a day on my rest days, on my weight training days, around 3500
Click to expand...

I know the watch isn't correct because if I ate 2300 calories a day I'd put on a pound a week, unless I was doing my 10000 steps a day. That's when I would burn about that amount. I suspect that my resting calorie rate is probably higher than 1300 but I know I only get 2300 on a active day.
 
ditzy said:
...unless I was doing my 10000 steps a day. That's when I would burn about that amount.
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I don't know, 10,000 steps at what speed? There is so much more to burning calories than these numbers would have us believe at first glance.
 
Steedie86 said:
No you wouldn't
Click to expand...

Wow, I've been living with my body for 36 years. Over half of that as an adult, I assure you unless I was deliberately being more active than I naterally am, if I ate 2300 calories, I would put on a pound a week.

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Leeabe said:
I don't know, 10,000 steps at what speed? There is so much more to burning calories than these numbers would have us believe at first glance.
Click to expand...

I have no idea how fast I walk the 10,000 steps, I'd guess it takes about two hours.

Added information My fitness pal recommends that I eat 1740 kcal if I want to maintain my weight. That seems about right in my estimation.
 
You either have some kind of thyroid issue or your body is just ****ed :p 1lb a week at 2,300 calories would put your BMR at 1.9k, that's crazy low for an adult male.

Actually, I've just seen that you're 4'11 so that might explain it
 
ditzy said:
I have no idea how fast I walk the 10,000 steps, I'd guess it takes about two hours.

Added information My fitness pal recommends that I eat 1740 kcal if I want to maintain my weight. That seems about right in my estimation.
Click to expand...

I don't know ditzy, just go by the idea that the quicker/more you move, the better. It doesn't matter what the watch says, just try to beat the number it gives. It's all relative to the device you use. Just make it your goal to beat what the Apple Watch says and adjust according to success or lack thereof.
 
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