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ditzy

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 28, 2007
1,719
180
I understand that these are estimates only, but there are absolutely zero estimates that anyone would come up with that would suggest anything that would estimate 3424 resting calories for me.

Going off calculations isn't the best way to get a good read, but if you're going to have an in-app calculation, it should at least be vaguely reasonable. This is not.

Absolutely, I'm not taking notice of the resting calories, but if I did, I'd put on a lot of weight very quickly, and in an app which is supposed help improve health this is really bad. Something Apple shouldn't have got wrong.
 

ashley8bit

macrumors member
Sep 14, 2013
31
3
Also spoke to Apple support. The guy wanted me to speak to local support so am going to call in the week. Not quite sure he understood fully.
 

ElctrcJellyfish

macrumors member
Apr 20, 2015
68
13
Also spoke to Apple support. The guy wanted me to speak to local support so am going to call in the week. Not quite sure he understood fully.

Heh. I had to explain three times what I was calling about. "The resting calories listed in the Activity App when you go down to the Move panel and swipe over are wrong. No, not the calories counted on the Watch. No, not the Active Calories. The resting calories, which are the basal metabolic rate, which appear to be calculated based on a formula since I have the same number displayed every day. No, this does not show up on the Watch itself. It's a number that appears to be calculated by the Activity App. I'm pretty sure your formula is incorrect. Yes, my watch has been in contact with my skin the whole time--but I'm pretty sure that your resting calories are being calculated by formula, and your formula is incorrect."
 

mobutt

macrumors 6502
Jun 22, 2010
477
67
Edit: mine seems to be off by about 1000 calories as well.
 
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x-evil-x

macrumors 603
Jul 13, 2008
5,597
3,281
I understand that these are estimates only, but there are absolutely zero estimates that anyone would come up with that would suggest anything that would estimate 3424 resting calories for me.

Going off calculations isn't the best way to get a good read, but if you're going to have an in-app calculation, it should at least be vaguely reasonable. This is not.

can you change this in the watch manually if you know where your maintenance calories are at?
 

ElctrcJellyfish

macrumors member
Apr 20, 2015
68
13
can you change this in the watch manually if you know where your maintenance calories are at?

As far as I can tell, no. This doesn't seem to be drawing off the HealthKit resting calories or adding data in there, strangely enough. I don't know whether entering a data point there will make a difference. Let me test that.
 

dhy8386

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2008
826
21
Resting Calories completely off

Guys I think it's probably calculating your EER vs true resting BMR. I'm guessing here but the initial set up pulls in your stats used in the equation (not sure which Apple is using but I think the Harris Benedict is most common). Then perhaps it's going to adjust over time as it calculates whether you are sedentary, mildy active, very active, etc. all those equations have a factor by which you multiply the BMR depending on your activity level. So comparatively to my fitbit which used to estimate 2498 my AW estimates 2519. Not sure if your move goal you set at start impacts the initial calculation but I suspect this may be what's happening. Easy way to check is multiple BMR by 1.2 for sedentary and 1.375 for lightly active and see if it's close to the AW resting #
 

ElctrcJellyfish

macrumors member
Apr 20, 2015
68
13
Guys I think it's probably calculating your EER vs true resting BMR. I'm guessing here but the initial set up pulls in your stats used in the equation (not sure which Apple is using but I think the Harris Benedict is most common). Then perhaps it's going to adjust over time as it calculates whether you are sedentary, mildy active, very active, etc. all those equations have a factor by which you multiply the BMR depending on your activity level. So comparatively to my fitbit which used to estimate 2498 my AW estimates 2519. Not sure if your move goal you set at start impacts the initial calculation but I suspect this may be what's happening. Easy way to check is multiple BMR by 1.2 for sedentary and 1.375 for lightly active and see if it's close to the AW resting #

No, this explanation does not explain.

Depending on algorithm used, I get a BMR of 1847 (from here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm) and a resting metabolic rate of 2049 (from here: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/resting-metabolic-rate-calculator.aspx).

My resting calories as displayed by the Apple Watch are 3424. So that's giving me a multiplier of 1.67 to 1.85--which makes absolutely no sense.

Furthermore, if they're calculating EER instead of resting calories, it's still buggy--the app clearly shows them adding active calories to their resting calories to show a total calorie burn. EER already takes into account active calories.

tumblr_inline_nnfjgolbAh1qkcc6m_1280.png


This is what I'm seeing. This is wrong. It's clearly wrong.
 

slears

macrumors regular
Apr 21, 2015
109
50
Warrington,UK
Indeed, annoying.
I can cycle to work, be walking and moving around quite a lot all day for 8 hours. and cycle home and I still have to eat way under 2000 calories to hold my weight.

And I'm eating super healthy, fish, chicken, veg, fruit, low fat dairy.
Part of this, is due to dieting, and I think due to eating a little, my body is making the most of what it gets, if you know what I mean.

The only thing I'm not doing would be heavy/vigorous gym type exercise.
Any hints at how I can speed up my metabolism if it's slowed down due to dieting?

Mind you I am doing excellent with my diet. 161 lbs 6ft 5" Not lost 1lb over the past 3 weeks though, despite under 1500 cals a day

The best way is to slightly increase your calorie intake with protein ideally by say another 100 calories and stick to this for a week or so, then drop down slightly to break through a plateau. Whilst doing this, I would recommend lifting weights as this will enable you to keep loosing weight.

If you cannot get to a gym, bodyweight exercises will do fine but you need to get your muscles working in order to burn more calories.

Worked for me and a bunch of people I know.
 

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,182
4,112
The best way is to slightly increase your calorie intake with protein ideally by say another 100 calories and stick to this for a week or so, then drop down slightly to break through a plateau. Whilst doing this, I would recommend lifting weights as this will enable you to keep loosing weight.

If you cannot get to a gym, bodyweight exercises will do fine but you need to get your muscles working in order to burn more calories.

Worked for me and a bunch of people I know.

Thank you very much for this advice.
I think some of the items I have been eating have not been taken into account or amounts have grown a little. 75g of oats as opposed to 50g of oats.

I am going to do some working out, to get this more accurate.
Also, do as recommended and eat most of my calories in the start and mid day and less of them for the evening meal.
 

MH01

Suspended
Feb 11, 2008
12,107
9,297
Well I have been up for 2 hours and have used 34 calories moving........ I think the software needs a bit of work...
 

slears

macrumors regular
Apr 21, 2015
109
50
Warrington,UK
Thank you very much for this advice.
I think some of the items I have been eating have not been taken into account or amounts have grown a little. 75g of oats as opposed to 50g of oats.

I am going to do some working out, to get this more accurate.
Also, do as recommended and eat most of my calories in the start and mid day and less of them for the evening meal.

No problem, yes portion control is a big part of it :)

I generally eat protein and fats during the day and then carbs after a workout at night, sounds counter productive but the change in body is noticeable after only a couple of days!

Eat whenever you are hungry as long as you stick within your calorie goal, I found that bigger meals in the morning and lighter meals at night don't make much difference to be honest, if your hungry at night, don't scrimp :)

But muscle mass will make the most noticeable difference, help you break through that plateau and your body will burn more calories when at rest with more muscle.

Good luck.
 

dhy8386

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2008
826
21
No, this explanation does not explain.

Depending on algorithm used, I get a BMR of 1847 (from here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bmr_calculator.htm) and a resting metabolic rate of 2049 (from here: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/resting-metabolic-rate-calculator.aspx).

My resting calories as displayed by the Apple Watch are 3424. So that's giving me a multiplier of 1.67 to 1.85--which makes absolutely no sense.

Furthermore, if they're calculating EER instead of resting calories, it's still buggy--the app clearly shows them adding active calories to their resting calories to show a total calorie burn. EER already takes into account active calories.

Image

This is what I'm seeing. This is wrong. It's clearly wrong.

I am pretty sure this is the definition of resting calories for AW. I just watched the guided tour and when you set up Activity on your watch, it allows you to choose your "active" level which is the multiplier as you say to calculate TEE. However, i set mine up on the phone and it never gave me the option (must have defaulted to the Moderate) to choose an activity level. When i go an calculate the AW resting # based on the implied multipliers Apple is using (which i took from the guided tour) i get exactly the resting calories it was originally showing me.

Did everyone set up on watch and manually choose this setting? And if so, resting calorie counts are still off?

The active calories Apple is using in the Move app is "excluding" the additional calories from the multiplier which assumes you will burn those calories as part of your daily routine vs over and above. Not saying this is correct assumption but we also do not know if Apple is taking this into account and thus your Active calorie count does not climb as high because its being adjusted for in the algorithm. Compared to my fitbit and using Steps as the comparative measure, Apple active calories assumption is definitely above fitbit when the steps are less than 10K but they converge at higher step counts.

PS. One additional observation. When you do a workout, the total calorie burn is broken down into active and resting. Most of the calories are attributed to active but some to resting. The amounts that are added in the move ring above are just the active so in fact it is carving out some of what it says is your total calorie for the workout burn and attributing it towards your modified BMR -- which is what it should do.
 
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x-evil-x

macrumors 603
Jul 13, 2008
5,597
3,281
Thank you very much for this advice.
I think some of the items I have been eating have not been taken into account or amounts have grown a little. 75g of oats as opposed to 50g of oats.

I am going to do some working out, to get this more accurate.
Also, do as recommended and eat most of my calories in the start and mid day and less of them for the evening meal.
how are you calculating your food? do you weigh out everything? Its easy to be off by a few hundred especially if you aren't tracking fats.
If you are trying to get lower and have been dieting for 2 months its good to go on a diet break of two weeks and eat at (known maintenance). This is not a chart you can figure out online and you have to play with this to know for sure.
After the two weeks go back into the cutting diet and depending on where you are refeeds will help pass sticking points in a diet. Lots of people are scared by them and won't do them but most people don't understand how to get very very lean and the fighting it takes to get that low. If your not under 12% body fat i wouldn't worry about refeeds.
 

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,182
4,112
how are you calculating your food? do you weigh out everything? Its easy to be off by a few hundred especially if you aren't tracking fats.
If you are trying to get lower and have been dieting for 2 months its good to go on a diet break of two weeks and eat at (known maintenance). This is not a chart you can figure out online and you have to play with this to know for sure.
After the two weeks go back into the cutting diet and depending on where you are refeeds will help pass sticking points in a diet. Lots of people are scared by them and won't do them but most people don't understand how to get very very lean and the fighting it takes to get that low. If your not under 12% body fat i wouldn't worry about refeeds.

Two days ago I did a full calorie count of everything I ate and drank (what I was) and I can be very regular and controlled at eating same things at same times (work helps with that of course)

I was hitting getting towards 1900 calories taking into account all food and drink over an entire day.

That was higher than I though, I though I was more around the 1200 - 1300 range. (1000 is very very low and hard to do realistically)

I've moved foods around, and substituted low cal soup for a meal, and cut out a mid morning sandwich, and I've probably wiped 500 to 600 cals off that 1900.

Give it till past the weekend and see how it does. Eating protein vs carbs (same calorie value) is a question.

Body fat wise, well I have two electronic gadgets that are supposed to calculate body fat but they are wildly different to each other and I know it's a rubbish way to work it out. I need to order some of the body fat calipers as they seem to be reasonably recommended for a fairly good idea
 

RyanG

macrumors 6502a
Sep 18, 2007
503
40
Actually..... :)

Using the BMI scale

stopped reading right there. the scale is entirely outdated and using it even as a guideline or reference in any manner is wrong.

I normally don't comment on people's weight but I'm not sure how healthy 6'5" @ 161lbs is. I'm around 200 @ 6'3" and sit in the 8-10% bf level.

Just sayin' you should eat some steaks here and there :rolleyes:
 

dhy8386

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2008
826
21
Where it the app does it ask you to set your height and weight?

In the companion app on the phone under Activity. But it doesn't let you set your activity level (light, moderate,etc). That seems to be only possible upon initial set up on watch. This is important in that it looks like this is what is used to calculate your resting calories baseline.
 

phirstube

macrumors regular
Aug 20, 2011
245
6
Ohio
In the companion app on the phone under Activity. But it doesn't let you set your activity level (light, moderate,etc). That seems to be only possible upon initial set up on watch. This is important in that it looks like this is what is used to calculate your resting calories baseline.

Does it tell you how to quantify your activity level? I just ran a full marathon but I only do that 2 times a year. Other than that I run about 30 miles a week, I would say that is moderate compared to people who run 125 miles a week.
 

dhy8386

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2008
826
21
Does it tell you how to quantify your activity level? I just ran a full marathon but I only do that 2 times a year. Other than that I run about 30 miles a week, I would say that is moderate compared to people who run 125 miles a week.


As I said, you can't edit the activity level in the companion app. Only place I saw it was initial setup on watch. I'm a newbie when it comes to this stuff but i think for people trying to track calorie burn and calories consumed via an app like MyfitnessPal or Losesit, may be best to only choose the light activity setting (which is actually more like moderate based on what I can tell vs the sedentary setting other apps let you choose). This way the AW is not giving you credit for additional activity it thinks you are doing outside of what it tracks. At least this way you would theoretically be slightly understating your calorie burn. All that running should be tracked separately as a workout so it's more accurate and again so apps like MFP make sure to account for it separately.

If you go to this site, it gives you a decent description of How to think about your TEE

http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee
 

Piggie

macrumors G3
Feb 23, 2010
9,182
4,112
stopped reading right there. the scale is entirely outdated and using it even as a guideline or reference in any manner is wrong.

I normally don't comment on people's weight but I'm not sure how healthy 6'5" @ 161lbs is. I'm around 200 @ 6'3" and sit in the 8-10% bf level.

Just sayin' you should eat some steaks here and there :rolleyes:

Not sure I'd really agree with you about the BMI scale.
I agree it's not perfect, and if your body type is non typical then it won't be right for you, but I'd still say, for most normal typical people, it's not a bad general guide for a starting point.

Myself if I went to the point where is says I'm underweight then yes, I would look think to almost anyone.
If I went to the point it was saying I'm overweight, then yes, you could see my stomach and sides were starting to overlap my trouser belt a bit.

Perhaps this upsets people as so many people there days who think they are ok, are actually overweight.
 

bigdog5142

macrumors 6502a
Jul 13, 2008
687
279
MI
My resting calories are WAY off as well. I'm a big guy losing weight...and my BMR is around 3000...that's the calories I use to simply be alive. The Apple Watch is saying every day that it's 5200. WAY too high. I have a case with Apple Support that I'll be calling in the next couple of days after giving the watch a week.
 

kitkat2

macrumors member
Aug 29, 2010
72
54
Yeah, Apple really needs to either adjust or explain what they're doing here. My BMR should be about 1327 Apple's calculating my resting calories at 2012.
 
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