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Fenix 3 HR undercalculating resting and active calories

Former Member over 9 years ago

I think this is an extension of a previous problem that ive tried to understand.

My F3HR has dropped 300+ active calories each day. I'm 170 Ibs and 5' 10". For ages it recorded on the App (health stats / calories) as 1,963. I've now dropped to 1,636. I'd previously mentioned this on the forum and was advisee that GC have changed the calculation algorithm and to ask them to correct this. I have done that but can't get any joy from the helpline. I regularly cover 15,000 steps a day minimum. I walk briskly too so get intensity minutes, but have noticed that today after 7,891 steps my active calories are less than 78!! That's a nonsense. Does anyone know what Garmin are doing? These stats are clearly wrong and they are simply ruining what should be a very good high end product. I'm frustrated as accurate calorie count is important to me as is a reasonably reliably HR indicator for training. Help

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

I noticed this too. The other day I walked almost 6000 steps and my calories from steps was something ridiculous like 72.

It was actually 72 calories exactly. Granted that was a slow day with little walking, but still. 72 calories for 6000 steps? No clue what's going on.

0 Former Member over 9 years ago

I actually think their resting calories and active calories might be pretty accurate. I think the issue is they do not factor in TDEE. Assuming resting = BMR and if I use my resting calores according to Garmin, which is 1555, in the TDEE formula BMR * daily activity level I get 1866. which is pretty close to a lot of the different formulas I use to calculate my TDEE. With active calories I think Garmin is using net calories burned not total calories and this is why it may seem a little low. If you read the following article, http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning , they have a nice little formula that you can use to get your actual net calories burned. Garmin seems pretty close for me. Those who dont want to read the article, below is the formula the used for total vs net. So once again I don't think the issue is their resting and active calorie calculations I think it is the fact that they leave out our TDEE factor.

Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile

Running
Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile
.75 x your weight (in lbs.)

Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
.63 x your weight

Walking
Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile
.53 x your weight

Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
.30 x your weight

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I actually think their resting calories and active calories might be pretty accurate. I think the issue is they do not factor in TDEE. Assuming resting = BMR and if I use my resting calores according to Garmin, which is 1555, in the TDEE formula BMR * daily activity level I get 1866. which is pretty close to a lot of the different formulas I use to calculate my TDEE. With active calories I think Garmin is using net calories burned not total calories and this is why it may seem a little low. If you read the following article, http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning , they have a nice little formula that you can use to get your actual net calories burned. Garmin seems pretty close for me. Those who dont want to read the article, below is the formula the used for total vs net. So once again I don't think the issue is their resting and active calorie calculations I think it is the fact that they leave out our TDEE factor.

Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile

Running
Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile
.75 x your weight (in lbs.)

Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
.63 x your weight

Walking
Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile
.53 x your weight

Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
.30 x your weight

Yes, that's exactly the problem..... Resting calories used to be a TDEE multiplier, and your active calories used to be fairly accurate.

Now my resting calories is my baseline BMR, and my active calories are being under estimated. I just ran 6.5 miles at an 8:40 average pace, and the watch says I burned 540 calories. Seems mighty low.