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Different resting calories depending on watch - Forerunner 745 vs. Descent G1 Solar

Jan
5 months ago

Hi forum, 

I have been using the Forerunner 745 for a while and in the Garmin Connect app my resting calories for each day have been calculated (with very few exceptions) to 2198 kcal/day. I understand that these are calculated based on age, weight etc.

However, since I got a Descent G1 solar and defined that as my primary wearable (and synced it and all), my daily resting calories are different: 1995, i.e. almost 200 kcal less!

I checked in the Descent, and all my user profile data is the same as on the Forerunner 745. So why the difference? Are Forerunner users assumed to be more active and therefore have a higher resting calorie value?

Appreciate any input!

Best, Jan

  • 0 5 months ago

    Yes, the formula for Resting Calories was revised on recent models around a year ago (very approximatively). As for the reasons why it was done, we do not really know, because apart of a brief note in the firmware changelogs, no details were published, AFAIK. We can only speculate that it was based on some research or stats.

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to trux

    Thanks for the quick response and the insight! A bit sad that it is this "secretive" - I mean on the one hand it makes sense to keep things updated and align with most recent research (if we assume that to be the reason), but then again why not roll that out on all devices? Especially it is just a function of certain more or less constant values. For me as a user it makes no sense that my resting calories are different, just because I wear a different watch. The watch changes, not my metabolism..

    Do you have a source for the firmware changelogs or a hint as to where I can find them? But it sounds like they don't give away much detail anyway..

    Thanks, Jan

  • 0 5 months ago in reply to Jan
    Jan said:
    but then again why not roll that out on all devices?

    Too much work and too high cost. Each firmware release (even with just a tiny change) costs a lot of development resources, which are already sparse even without updating all discontinued models.

    Jan said:
    Do you have a source for the firmware changelogs

    Check the firmware announcement for previous firmware version on the G1 forum. Someone also compiles a list with changelogs at http://gpsinformation.net/allory/garfeat3.htm#descentg1, but there are only two firmware versions of G1. You can also check the changelogs of Instinct 2, which share a big part of the firmware with G1.