The Apple Watch is a powerful little device. It not only tracks your activity and fitness but also monitors your heart rate and records other metrics such as resting heart rate. As an added bonus, it even measures the number of calories you burn while doing various activities throughout the day. How exactly does it do that? And how can you trust that the calorie count is accurate? Let’s take a look at how the Apple Watch calculates calories and what that means for you as a user.
How Does The Apple Watch Calculate Calories?
The Apple Watch uses a proprietary algorithm to estimate the number of calories you burn throughout the day. The watch uses data from your workouts, heart rate, and external sensors like your iPhone and Wi-Fi connection to estimate how many calories you’ve burned.
What’s In A Calorie?
If you want to track your caloric intake, the first thing you need to know is what a calorie is. A calorie is a unit of energy found in all types of food. The human body uses calories for energy, so when we consume calories, our bodies break them down to provide us with the energy needed to function each day.
How Does The Apple Watch Calculate Calories?
1. It tracks your heart rate throughout the day.
The Apple Watch measures your heart rate to determine how active you are during the day. If you’re sitting on the couch all day, it doesn’t matter how many steps you take, you won’t burn any calories (or raise your HR). But if your heart rate is elevated on an exercise bike or treadmill, it will count those as calories burned. Your HR is measured by a built-in sensor that measures your heartbeat throughout the day and at rest at night. A green dot appears on the watch’s face when it detects a pulse; this light will turn red when there’s no pulse detected for 10 seconds or longer.
2. It counts walking and stand-up desk time as activities.
The watch also uses data from your iPhone to track how much time you spend walking and standing up throughout the day, which can be used to calculate how many calories you’re burning.
3. The Apple Watch calculates calories based on your heart rate, activity, and weight.
The watch uses data from these three sources to determine the number of calories you’ve burned throughout the day:
Activity – The watch uses the accelerometer and gyroscope in your iPhone to track how active you are during the day. Activity is measured by the amount of time you spend walking, running, or doing other physical activities throughout the day (standing up while talking on the phone, for example). Stand-up desk time – Your iPhone knows when you’re standing up from sitting down at work or school all day long. When you stand up at work or school all day long, it counts as an activity (running upstairs to get a drink of water is counted as an activity). HR – Your Apple Watch tracks your heart rate all day long using a built-in sensor. Your heart rate is measured by a green dot nativity). Your HR – Your Apple Watch knows when you’re resting or sleeping during the day. When you’re sleeping, it doesn’t count as being active. The watch also uses data from your iPhone to track how much time you spend walking and standing up throughout the day, which can be used to calculate how many calories you’re burning.
4. The watch calculates calories based on your weight and height.
The watch uses data from these two sources to calculate how many calories you burn:
Weight – The Apple Watch tracks your weight by using a built-in accelerometer that measures your weight throughout the day. Heart rate – The Apple Watch uses a built-in heart rate sensor to measure your heart rate throughout the day and at rest at night. Heart rate is measured by a green dot that appears on the watch’s face when it detects a pulse; this light will turn red when there’s no pulse detect dirty). Heart rate – The watch uses your heartbeat to estimate the number of calories you’ve burned throughout the day.
5. The Apple Watch calculates calories based on heart rate and activity.
The watch uses data from these two sources to determine how many calories you’ve burned throughout the day: Heart rate – It uses your heart rate to calculate how many calories you’ve burned throughout the day. Activity – It uses your activity level (steps, running, or walking) and weight to calculate how many calories you’ve burned throughout the day. Weight – It determines whether or not an activity is counted as a calorie burn by comparing it to a user-settable baseline weight (the weight that was saved when the watch was first paired with an iPhone). If your weight changes dramatically over time — for example, if you gain or lose significant amounts of weight due to diet or exercise changes — then this baseline will change over time as-vacation, for example). Heart rate – The watch uses your heartbeat to determine how active you are throughout the day. A green dot appears on the watch’s face when it detects a pulse; this light will turn red when there’s no pulse detected for 10 seconds or longer.
6. The Apple Watch calculates calories based on your weight and activity level.
The Apple Watch uses data from these two sources to determine how many calories you’ve burned throughout the day: Activity level – At the end of each day, the watch can estimate what activity you’ve done by looking at data from your iPhone and combining that with your calorie burn estimates. Your weight – Your weight is used to calculate what percentage of calories you burn during the day based on your height and weight (see below).
Disadvantages Of Using The Apple Watch To Measure Calories
- The Apple Watch does not provide accurate information.
- The Apple Watch is not a safe method of measuring your daily Calorie intake.
- It is very easy to lose track of the number of calories you have consumed during the day (especially when you are exercising).
- The Apple Watch can be complicated to use.
- For some people, the Apple Watch is simply too bulky and uncomfortable.
- The Apple Watch does not provide you with a Calorie count for the exercise you have done that day (it only counts your Calorie intake).
- You can’t measure your Calorie intake during the night or if you are in a different time zone from where you normally are (this is one of my favorite features! You can use it to find out how many calories you would consume if you were in California at 3:00 am instead of at 3:00 pm).
- You can’t measure your Calorie intake after you have eaten (this is a big disadvantage for many people).
- The Apple Watch does not provide accurate information for those on low-calorie diets (it does not show accurate information for those on high-calorie diets).
- The Apple Watch is not a safe method of measuring your daily Calorie intake.
- The Apple Watch does not provide you with accurate information for those exercising to lose weight (the Apple Watch calculates calories based on the amount of exercise you have done).
- The Apple Watch does not provide accurate information for those who are consuming high-calorie foods and/or who are eating more than they would normally (it does not show accurate information for those eating less than they would normally).
Final Words
As you’ve seen, the Apple Watch can track calories, but it’s important to note that it doesn’t take everything into account. The watch only tracks movement and your heart rate to calculate the number of calories you burn throughout the day. This means that you still need to be careful about the number of calories you consume. If you want to make sure you’re on track with your health goals, track your calories with the Apple Watch.
