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Galaxy watches and calories burned

(Topic created on: 08-03-2021 08:56 AM)
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Ak4
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Hi all, 

As I noticed there's many forums regarding the calories issue, I received my watch mid Feb and noticed the issue myself towards end of Feb regardless of what I did I'd burn the same amount of calories so I assumed it was preprogrammed. I've DM'd Samsung health and I'd like everyone to see their responses:

Good afternoon! Thanks for reaching out to us. We just want to clear up that they aren't pre-programmed calories that are burnt. Certain workouts, like walking and running for example, will take into account your heart rate, along with the stats given on your Samsung Health Profile. There are some workouts that will not utilise the heart rate, but will take in to account your Samsung Health Profile and Basal Metabolic Rate. So they are tailored to you, providing your profile is accurate, but you are right, some workouts don't use the Heart Rate Monitor.

If there are certain workouts you feel could be improved, we suggest sending in your feedback through Error Reports on our Samsung Members app. That way, this will be sent over to our Research and Development team for review. ^JS

The calorie count displayed does not mean the exact burned calories during exercise, and is not the same as the true burned calorie data. The calorie calculation may increase based on the basal metabolic rate (BMR), even without exercising. This is normal operation. You can find this information on the following page our colleagues have put together: https://t.co/3UPihQt1YO

Also, the new ECG/BP update is not to be used during exercise. You can find more information on it here: https://t.co/tfqPQ2njol ^SH

It is true that is calculates your calories burned live, as the Basal Metabolic Rate fluctuates throughout the day. So it is an estimation of how many calories you have burnt based on this, the type of workout, and your profile. Not all workouts will use this method and will use the heart rate instead.

You are right in the fact that some workouts will churn out a figure from the information you have entered, as that is how it is designed to work. Using your profile, BMR and the parameters of your workout. If you then proceed not to do the workout you have just told your watch that you are doing, then this won't be an accurate, live calorie count.

We are constantly improving our watch software to ensure a great level of accuracy is maintained for our customers. This is the reason we mentioned sending in your error logs about this issue. Then our R&D team can look at improving our software and devices. Contributions like that, helps us to improve all of our products. ^JS

As they've said not all workouts use this method and use heart rate instead I've found that only running/walking use the heart rate to calculate calories and everything else uses your BMR. Hope this helps everyone looking for answers about the calories burned issues. Also if you need a watch to track fitness accurately I suggest trying a different band. 

34 REPLIES 34
AshtabS9Ultra
Mastermind
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mine works fine, as does my partners nothing is preset
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Ak4
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It's tailored to your BMR based on the info you've put into the s health app. It doesn't take into considering your heart rate when working out as confirmed above but it does when using workouts such as running/walking so if you do other workouts and click start but sit down and do nothing you'll burn the same amount as if you did something as it's using BMR. 

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AshtabS9Ultra
Mastermind
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yes that's correct I just make sure I set the watch to exactly what I'm doing to be honest I have never thought smart watches were 100% accurate anyway I just use them as I guide
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Ak4
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I don't think any watch is accurate but from my experience and a few others on the forums I've noticed it my calories burnt are definitely under than what it would be with fitbit or apple unless I switch everything to vigorous but even then it's low so I wouldn't suggest using a Samsung if anyone is fitness tracking

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AshtabS9Ultra
Mastermind
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I have an apple watch so will wear both tomorrow and see what happens
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howdidoo
Journeyman
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This really sucks and is pointless in a fitness watch if you cannot accurately provide burned calories. And they are lying if they claim they are working towards it. This lazy approach of using BMR is well documented in many of the earlier threads here and I have myself reported back in 2018+ when I got my earlier Samsung Galaxy Sport.. They have had more than enough time to match fitness tracking metrics with industry standards of Garmin, Fitbit, or Apple.. They just dont care.

jwilbanks
Apprentice
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I can confirm that selecting "circuit training" (closest I could find to a HIIT option) does not take into consideration your heart rate for calories burned. I wore a chest HR strap in conjunction with the Wahoo app on my phone and Wahoo reported over twice as many calories burned as my Active 2 did. I came from the original Active, which could not keep up with my HIIT workouts, so I have always used the chest strap/Wahoo combination.

If you want to not have your phone with you but still want to use your watch and a chest strap, I recommend the SportyGo app. The app will also allow use of the watch's HR monitor, but I can't speak to the accuracy of it in conjunction with the Active 2, as I haven't had the opportunity to test it.

In my one workout I did with the Active 2 (using "circuit training"), the HR info (but NOT calories burned) DID seem very close to what my chest strap/Wahoo app was reporting, so maybe the extra sensors on the Active 2 have helped with the HR dropout issue that plagued the Active.

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lorraineg57
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Ok.  I also use an external hr strap. Samsung health gives me double the calorie burn as the polar app if I choose boxing or circuit training. So you're saying that walking and running are the only exercises that even consider the hr? Will they use the hr from the external monitor? I did a test just sitting on my porch and polar calories burned is half of Samsung. Any way to adjust SHealth to bring that down? Or should I try using walk/run even though I'm doing neither?

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Ak4
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Theres a way to change the intensity of the workout. I tend to just use other workout - it's not one bit close to what I burn but I change the intenisty by clicking the settings and intensity - from vigorous to moderate which will either increase or decrease the number of calories burnt. Other than that there's no way of getting a reading based on your heart rate - it's set to the information you put in to the s health app. I guess you could try running and walking but every time I tried that it'd stop if I was doing ab workouts etc. 

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