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Kcal count seems to low and numbers on watch do not match those in the Garmin app.... Do you face the same issue?

Former Member
Former Member over 5 years ago

Since I've bought the F945 kcal count is off. Today, for example, I run and swam and in of course went to work, etc. The watch total kcal burnt actively is 783, but the app alone shows 493 for the run and 450 for the swim. How is it even possible that the numbers within the same ecosystem are different?

  • Former Member
    +1 Former Member over 5 years ago

    Because your calories burned during the activity are TOTAL calories that also include your BMR calories.  When you set up your watch, Garmin gave you your BMR daily calories based on age, gender, height, weight and activity class.  These are the calories your body burns just to sustain life. Garmin show these calories as resting calories in Garmin Connect. Let's just say your BMI is 2400 calories. You're burning 100 an hour doing absolutely nothing other than breathing, digesting food, processing waste and pumping blood. Let's also say your run was exactly an hour.  You burned 493 TOTAL  calories. 393 were ACTIVE calories and 100 were BMI calories. When Garmin displays ACTIVE calories, these are the calories you burned during the activity, but don't include BMR calories. There's a lot of math involved, but the numbers actually make sense. 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Yeah kinda make sense. If we follow the math than it should be:

    1] Garmin shows that I burnt 1754 resting kcal from midnight till now 10 pm, which would mean I burnt 79 kcal per hour on top of the activities. 

    2] run 493-79=414 active

    3] swim 450 - 79 = 361 active

    Total 793 from the activities, this would mean that 53 kcal were attributed to i.e. walking. I am just surprised as I had previously owned Fenix 3 and 5, and the kcal calculation was usually higher, hence my question. Anyhow need to watch my kcal intake more from now:) Thanks

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Just remember, if you're hourly BMR is indeed 79 calories, you can only subtract 79 from the workout's total calorie amount if that activity lasted exactly an hour. Most of our workouts usually don't go exactly an hour and that's where all the math comes in. As long as you haven't recently changed any of your personal stats, (weight or age) you can look at the calories tab in your mobile app. When you scroll back the days you'll notice your resting calories will be the same every day. Divide that number by 24 and you'll have your hourly BMR. 

  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

    I have the same issue and the reply here does not clarify.  think there's something odd with the adjusted goal number not matching the Cal number on the watch. 

    For example, for today in the app my cal dashboard shows: 1200(base) +801(active) = 2002 (adjusted goal).  2002 (total) - 1858 (consumed) = 144 (remaining). Watch display is showing 2564 Cal burned and it does not match any of the numbers in the app... So, what does the number on the display mean and how it relates to other values inside the app. 

    Thank you