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VA3 double counts calories?

I have noticed that when I run, it counts towards my daily step count. This is fine to me but I think Garmin is double counting the calories since it gives me credit for both calories burned while running and the steps (when the majority of the steps were made while running). Anybody else have this issue? Attached pics show active calories are 411, with 278 of it from jogging. So the rest are from steps. ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1270088.png ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1270089.png
  • I might be wrong but, Garmin calculates calories based on HR. What goes to MFP are calories burned during an activity.
  • In the past, I recall a problem where when an activity from a garmin watch was sent to MFP, it was sent back to GC, and therefore things doubled. It's been a long time (years) since I used MFP, but you may want to see if there's a setting on that end to prevent this. Maybe someone on the MFP end can help.
  • GC sent an activity to MPF, and MFP thought it was a new activity and sent it back to GC, therefore doubling the numbers on GC is what I'm suggesting. This would explain why they look fine in MFP, but double in GC.

    If you disconnect from MFP for a day. the numbers in GC will likely look fine.
  • Oh no it's not doing that. The active calories in Garmin connect from just steps (without the exercises that I have been doing) all look roughly the same before I even started using MFP. What I meant is I think Garmin is using the steps that I have accumulated while already exercising (such as jogging), and counting additional calories from step count. This I think is over calculating calories since most of my steps come from my jogs.
  • Again Garmin calculates calories burned based upon your profile (age, sex weight etc.) along with your heart rate throughout the day. I don't believe the calorie calculator cares if you were in activity or not, it's solely based upon the heart rate for the 24 hour period of time.


    From MFP [h=2]What is the Calorie Adjustment in my Exercise Diary?[/h]
    MyFitnessPal pulls your calorie burn directly from our total daily calorie App Gallery partners. Since partner devices track minute to minute, and our program views the entire day as a whole, we then project forward to the end of the day based on your calorie burn so far. When viewing your adjustment (either by tapping the “i” next to the adjustment in your Exercise Diary on our main website at www.MyFitnessPal.com, or by tapping the adjustment itself in the app), you should see a number directly under the partner, which represents the instant sync, and a number to the right of the partner which represents our projection for the day based on your current sync.

    Because the adjustment value is recalculated every time your device uploads new data, you should expect this value to change over the course of the day. It is also necessary to make sure your partner device and MyFitnessPal are set to the same time zones (time zones can be updated in the main settings). At midnight, the projected sync and your actual sync should then match exactly. Depending on when you last sync, there may be a slight variation between one day and the next as the two values catch up to each other.

    On the calculation page, under the partner totals, you should then see your MyFitnessPal total. The MyFitnessPal total includes not only your daily goals, but also the calories needed to reach the goals you have set within the program, such as lose 1 pound, (we originally deduct these calories when providing your daily goals on MyFitnessPal, they then must be added back in when comparing against your actual total burn from your partner device). Since our program instantly awards calories to your day when exercises are added into the cardiovascular section, to avoid double credit, we also add your cardiovascular totals in with your MyFitnessPal total.

    When your device partner projected total is Greater than your MyFitnessPal total, you will then see a positive adjustment of the difference added to your MyFitnessPal account. If your device partner projected total is Less than your MyFitnessPal total, you will then either see a 0, or if you have opted to turn on Negative adjustments, you will see a deduction of calories. If the adjustment is negative this indicates the partner's reported calorie burn is lower than what MyFitnessPal’s has already provided for you.

    Because the adjustment value is recalculated every time your device uploads new data, you should expect this value to change over the course of the day.

    By default, MyFitnessPal will show you only positive calorie adjustments. To permit negative adjustments, log in to the full MyFitnessPal site at www.MyFitnessPal.com and click the main "Settings" tab, then "Diary Settings." Check the box for "Enable Negative Adjustments" then click "Save Changes.” If you are typically unable to sync your device until late in the day, you may wish to leave negative adjustments "off."

  • OK thank you both for the info. So from what you are saying it is not based on nunber of steps but just HR. I'm guessing the leftover active calories that are not already tracked in my exercises are just excess calories I burned that is somehow higher than the baseline.
  • I've had my Garmin Vivoactive 3 for seven months. Suddenly, yesterday - after a reset - it began doubling my daily active calories. A 7km run that the day before registered as 419 calorie burn is today 896 calories. Same route, same effort. This started happening after I reset my device and removed it from the Connect app, then reconnected it in order to fix an issue I had with downloading new music from Spotify. This is very annoying because it worked perfectly before. I'm loathe to reset again in case something else goes wrong. 

  • Update: this fixed the issue - https://support.garmin.com/en-US/?faq=wXawOFiAPK8cyIqwOEN88A&productID=73207&searchQuery=Activity%20class&tab=topics

    Garmin Support got back to me within two days with this solution.

  • just in case you were as curious as I was ;-) 

  • This is so useful - thanks!