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My calorie burn is WAY too high. How can I get this right?

Former Member over 5 years ago

I've recently done two walks with my dog. One was 3.7 miles, the other 4 miles. Garmin calculated my stats on my FR 235 as follows;

3.7m 699 calories 19:27 pace 133 HR

4m 782 calories 19:23 pace 136 HR

All my stats are correct in my device and on Garmin Connect. Can anyone tell me why these calorie burns are so high, please? I run at around 100 calories per mile, so would expect walking calories to be slightly lower.

Thank you for any replies.

0 Carmen_F over 5 years ago

What is your max HR? If that is wrong, the calorie calculations will be wrong.

0 NickMN over 5 years ago

Also body weight - since that along with distance approximates calorie burn quite easily (regardless of heart rate)

100 cal / mile running is a fairly light person

If you are walking at a 135bpm - for me that is easy running heart rate (even with a 195bpm max) .... so Garmin programming is likely thinking, "oh my, this person is really working on this walk"... "must be walking up a bit hill"... or "distance / pace / HR... might be hiking with backpack in sand" etc... thus driving calories up and using a time based approach to calc. ( how many miles could you jog in that length of time... a lot!) Just some food for thought on why its "off"... also if you are getting HR spike errors (common with wrist sensors), it could be thinking extra 'after burn' from having high heart rate occasionally.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago

I have the opposite problem. I can only get to 700 calories with a fast 10 km run. My husband,s calorie count is always double. I weigh 52 kg and he weighs 79 kg.

0 Carmen_F over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Yes, people with higher weight burn more calories.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to Carmen_F

Hi Carmen

My maximum HR is 220 and is set at this.

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to NickMN

My average HR for easy running is around 160bpm, so I'm not sure that Garmin thinks I'm working hard.

I don't get any HR spike errors, either, that could be throwing it out.

Any more ideas?

0 4606367 over 4 years ago

You know what, I just think the device is faulty. I just apparently burned 700 calories in 6000 steps of a leisurely walk..it should be 250. My heart rate was apparently 130, which for me...is a jog. Its Garmin in my opinion, nothing to do with faulty inputs...from your stats, the heart rate is too high

0 4Njord4 over 3 years ago

In any case, heart rate has very little to do with it. Moving a body over a distance requires the same amount of work whether you are at 100 bpm or 200 bpm. Net calories burned per mile running is a simple calculation: 0.63 * weight (lb). Done.

0 4829156 over 3 years ago

I don't trust the Garmin system and instead looked up, "Run Calorie Calculator". I use the info given by my watch such as weight and heartrate and I get a pretty reliable number, more reliable than the watch in my opinion.