I’ve been trying to reduce weight by starting with 10,000 steps per day. I frequently use my Samsung watch to track my calorie intake. But when it comes to calculating the calorie deficit, I’m not sure which data from my Samsung watch to utilise. On my smartwatch, it displays “activity calories” and “total burned calories.” I’m curious what data you use to determine whether I’m in a calorie deficit for that day.
Samsung Health calculates calories burned using a metric known as the Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET). The MET value is a measure of the energy cost of a certain activity, with one MET representing the cost of sitting quietly. The MET value of an activity is used to measure how many calories are expended while performing that activity.
Calculating the number of calories you burn each day requires two steps: first, calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), and then adjust that number based on your activity level to obtain your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Here’s an easy method to accomplish it.
Calculate your BMR, which is the quantity of calories your body requires to conduct fundamental tasks such as breathing and maintaining body temperature. There are several equations for calculating BMR, however the Mifflin-St. Jeor equation is considered one of the most accurate:
Depends on your lifestyle and activity.
For me, (10k steps virtually every day, plus I do low-level cardio a few of times a week, but otherwise largely sit at home and at work), the daily predicted total calorie expenditure is excessive. I’d say Samsung Health’s actual sports and training calorie intake is generally enough, but it does not fair well if you either live a sedentary lifestyle or mostly walk for recreation.
The Fitbit measures calories based on heart rate. The Samsung health app tracks it using a regular calories-per-hour rate (access this by accessing the exercise widget in the Samsung health app, selecting am exercise, clicking the three car dots in the upper right, and clicking enter data).
It’s completely inaccurate. And the calories burned in Samsung Health are not excessive; they are actually rather low. At least, that has been my experience.
Two days ago, I spent more than 8 hours unloading a truck, lifting big boxes and carrying several of them up stairs.
Samsung only credited me for 753 activity calories burned. I do not think so. My muscles ached in protest.
If you have a device with heart rate tracking, the app can use that data to deliver more precise calorie burn estimations, particularly during severe activities. Higher heart rates often suggest increased calorie expenditure.
The app takes into account personal information such as age, weight, height, gender, and level of fitness. This data serves as a baseline for estimating basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).
It only uses heart rate for running and walking. Everything else is based on an algorithm that takes into account height, weight, and other factors. Your BMR.
Including all exercises except walking and running. It is not a decent calorie expenditure tracker. It’s a hypothesis based on those parameters. If you choose aerobics and walk at a turtle pace, it will report you burned 500 calories in an hour.
Personally, I believe it overestimates and underestimates workout calorie burn depending on the activity you chose. I’ve started selecting “walk” and “workout” to compare.
Samsung Health also takes into account your entire daily activity level, including moves that may not be logged as formal exercise, when calculating your total daily calorie expenditure.