This discussion has been locked.
You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion

Garmin Connect active calories doesn't add up

Right now it's 03:30am Saturday for me and since yesterday (0:00 Friday) I have recorded 3 indoor cycling sessions which burned 522 calories in total (manually edited the calories since fenix 5 estimates higher calories than the trainer). Also walked for ~30min on Friday and did miscellaneous daily activities. Garmin Connect says my total active calories since Friday is 297+210=507, even less than my indoor cycling calories. That's probably at least 200kcal too low. Is this related to manually edited activities? Did it fail to count one of my activities?

Top Replies

  • Did it fail to count one of my activities?

    No, the results sound credible. Do not mistake Activity Calories for Active Calories. Whiile Activity Calories show both RMR Calories (Restimg Metabolic…

All Replies

  • Did it fail to count one of my activities?

    No, the results sound credible. Do not mistake Activity Calories for Active Calories. Whiile Activity Calories show both RMR Calories (Restimg Metabolic Rate for the time of the Activity), and the Active Calories, the daily Active Calories are without the RMR part, hence their sum for the day will be lower that the sum of Calories of all activities in given day.

  • I'm not sure if Zwift count resting calories in their calories estimation, if they don't then that might explain why Garmin's estimation is usually noticeably higher. Or maybe Garmin is simply more optimistic.

  • I'm not sure if Zwift count resting calories in their calories estimation

    I do not know Zwift, but if it does not have your gender, age, height, weight, and does not know your activity class, it cannot calculate the RMR. Most likely it only shows the energy you burn on turning the machine. However, when you ride, your body burns more energy - not only for pedalling and for the RMR, but also for the remaining physical and mental activity - and those cannot be measured by any power sensors on the indoor bike, they only can be estimated on the basis of the HR, HRV, and avg RHR.