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Underestimating calories by quite a bit

MrDenis
over 3 years ago

Hi everyone,

First off, I've seen a couple people with a similar issue but they had no answers on their posts. Secondly, I am fully aware that calorie burn is an estimation and I don't expect an extreme precision. That said, I moved from a Vivoactive 3 to a Venu 2 last week, and I noticed a HUGE drop in my calorie burn. For similarly active days, in the range of 300-500 calories less! Obviously, all my data stayed the same since I'm using the same account and whatnot. 

During certain activities, say runs or treadmill jogs, the count is lower but not by too much. During normal day to day stuff though I was floored by how little calories this watch estimates. I went back and in very similar days (level of stress, activity, steps etc) my Vivo would give me around 500 active calories, whereas the Venu gave me a measly 150! 

I also noticed other strangeness, such as the calories dance telling me I need to do a 15 minute activity to make it accurate, except I did that a few times and it still says that. Also, I went for a walk today, nothing fancy just walking the dog around the neighbourhood. The activity itself scored 154 calories, which is actually just a hair higher than I saw with the Vivo. But what broke my mind - and maybe I'm missing something - is that my one activity gave me 154 active calories, yet my entire day only gave me 110 or so!? I mean, shouldn't my active calories be AT LEAST the same as what I did while being active?? And I'm not even talking of the wonky MFP integration...

I really like the watch but this is beyond strange. I follow a strict-ish CICO regiment and this has thrown me off some fierce! At first I figured the Venu 2 was more accurate, and I was just overeating all the time (I was constantly hitting under budget) but I'm hungry. A lot. There is no way I'm not burning more calories than this is telling me...

I'm a bit concerned this (quite expensive) watch might not accurate, and that would really such because I kind of like it! Any help welcome.

Thanks

  • 0 over 3 years ago

    I improved this on my venu 2 by switching on auto activity start, setting a lower activity class and for some bizarre reason switching the watch off when I'm in the shower in the morning then switching it back on!  Must be a bug. 

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to che66

    Ok I already do most of that but I'll give resetting them a try. Thanks

  • 0 over 3 years ago in reply to MrDenis

    Good luck, only other thing is I no longer have the watch connected to my phone, in case the bug was to do with Garmin Connect.

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    The calories on your activity's page is not active energy but active + resting energy. And plus 110 Cal for walking your dog seems correct, I would even say it's overestimating if you walk less than 15 min.

    About your daily active calories that's where it gets tricky...Venu 2 has more sensors and I would say a better hear rate sensor, so technically speaking Venu 2 would give you a better estimate.150 would be correct if you stayed sedantary for the most of your day. If you did housework, pick up mails + walked your dog at that day I would say it's 200-400 depending on your sex and body composition 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I have the exact same issue! I went from a vivoactive 3 to the Venu 2s. I have noticed the same calorie difference and have the same problem with calories in/calories out (CICO). Also, I own the vivosmart 4 and it is more like the vivoactive 3 as far as calories burned. So if two other Garmin watches are showing me burning more than the Venu 2s, something is amiss with the Venu 2s! 

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to SweatNSuz

    Same here... less caloric count between Vivosmart and Venu 2.  Could you resolve the issue???

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 5607218

    No, I have not.  I have tried changing my activity class.  I did lower it for a couple days and it didn't help.  So I changed it back to the more correct activity class.  I should have tried the lower class for a longer period of time. 

    Also,  given how I keep track of the total amount of calories in,  and seeing the total calories burned for a day according to the Venu2s, I should not have lost weight but perhaps even gained weight over a months time.

    I've also noticed that the Venu is strictly using math for its resting calorie and active calorie totals.  So forget EPOC, muscle gained etc from your workouts. With my old vivoactive 3, I noticed that when I got on a workout schedule my resting metabolism would go up slightly.   As the saying goes,  "A body at rest, stays at rest.  A body in motion, stays in motion."  

    I do like the watch,  just wish calories burned were more than just a math equation based on my gender, height, weight, and activity class.

    My apologies for a lengthy response to a simple "no" answer. 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I am having the same problem.  The calories are a lot less than my Fitbit and a lot less than my treadmill. I get up at 5:00 am and it's 8:45 pm right now, I have 21,781 steps (I did 6 miles with an elevation of 9 on the treadmill) and I have only burned 1684 calories according to my Venu. 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    I have the same problem: I used to have a fitbit and the only matching calorie count is when I record an activity. If I don't do any recording, the daily calorie burned are totally off....they are basically always the same, whether I am active or not. With the fitbit I learned that after an activity my body would be burning more. Moreover, When doing jobs in the house the calorie count wopuld go up. With the Venu2s the total calorie count is always basically the same. I like this watch a lot but this is a BIG issue to me and I am ready to return it. I just want to understand, is this an issue for the Venu2s only? If I get a Vivosmart is the calorie count more accurate?

    I alreday talked to technical support, did some twitches (like chanhe heart rate zones), but that didn't solve my problem.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to 9713054

    I have a few Garmin devices and although there is slight differences between them they are basically the same. I am active throughout the day and there has been a thousand calorie difference between my Fitbit and my Garmin, unless I start an all day activity on the Garmin which then reduces the deficit to a couple of hundred.