Google Pixel Watch overestimating calories

[ArdenRuns]

The pixel watch is massively overestimating my calorie burn.  I've changed from a charge 4 to the pixel watch and my Kj burned due to exercise has tripled for the same amount of steps.  A 5 km run at a ~30min pace with the charge 4 was about 400kj and with the pixel watch is over 900. Yesterday the watch said I burnt 5900 cal, despite walking only 7000 steps and not doing a workout.  Compared to last week using the charge 4 I had a day with over 25000 steps and 3 hours of workouts, and the calorie calculation was 4900.  I know from counting calories and seeing my weight change that the charge 4 was close to accurate.  So far today i've taken less that 600 steps and done absolutly no excercise, but according to the watch i've burned an additional 2297kj due to excercise.  

Moderator edit: Subject for clarity.

[Pelmichr]

It's in the heart rate section, not the zones section. Go to heart rate
then click the gear

[robneville73]

@whilke "it shouldn't change your BMR" not in reality, you're right and I agree - but in the app it all depends on how they're figuring energy expenditure at rest. Are they just doing a TDEE calculation and figuring out a baseline # of calories per unit of time as long as you're not in a higher HR zone...OR are they trying to do something fancier with respect to your current HR as a % of max - even at rest? If the max HR is off by enough and my resting HR is by extension a higher % of that false max HR, then it's plausible that the app would determine that I'm expending more energy than normal.

I'll keep an eye on it for the next 24 hours now that I've made the adjustment and let everyone know what I find.

[RodrigoMFitbit · Accepted solution]

Hello everyone. 

I welcome all the newcomers in the forums. Thanks for reaching out regarding the estimated calorie burn with the Google Pixel Watch.

It seems to be a situation affecting many users. According to what I have read on the thread, restart has helped many users get the calculation back to "normal". It is also advised to check the personal settings, such as height, weight, etc. Since these influence the BMR. However, I understand most of you did not change any setting prior upgrading to the Pixel watch, so this would not be a major factor in the miscalculation. 

I suggest you try restarting the device according to the instructions in the following article: Restart your watch - click here. It seems to have helped many users. 

I can confirm that this situation has already been reported. As soon as I learn more about this, I will come back and let you all know. I greatly appreciate your patience. 

Have a nice day!

[Glade82]

Since I changed my max HR yesterday evening, my calories per 15mins overnight has gone from 26 last night, to 21 tonight. So I expect total to be lower today.

However at the moment, watch face says 375 Cal's, but app reports 491... So there is still some unusual discrepancy!

[Pelmichr]

A reset to the watch before sleep has lowered my sleep calories. But I'm skeptical at the moment, because several of the 'fixes' I've tried have only worked briefly.

[Surface129]

I am trying out the reset one and the max hr myself. I didn't realize the app had mine set to 192 even though I have never seen my HR get that high.

[Kabnine]

So I set up my Fitbit Account prior to getting my Pixel Watch. Before I started wearing it (receiving it), my 15min burn was what is should be, about 21 per 15mins. In the history, this spikes to 30 per 15mins from the time I put the watch on.

I removed the watch to cook last night (it was very messy), and during that time it also dropped back to the 20 per 15mins.

I've restarted the watch multiple times since having it, and at no point has this dropped it back to what it should be.

NB I don't excercise all the above numbers are based on sleeping/sitting.

[robneville73]

So restarting and resetting did nothing for me.

After nearly a day with the max HR changed however has had an effect. The calories burned is much more reasonable (albeit I think still a bit high but within an acceptable margin of error).

So for those struggling with this, make sure your age height and weight are right and double check the max HR isn't too low. Raising mine 9 BPM is what did it (your number will be different of course...I knew roughly from past evidence what my max HR likely was and had direct evidence that the calculated HR was too low)

[Kabnine]

I deleted the upper heart rate setting completely and removed all mention of my Fat%, and it didn't help. I restarted AFTER I had done this and its been reporting correctly at 20/15mins for the last couple of hours. (I had performed restarts before deleting those two items and that hadn't changed anything)

[flavinator]

In my case, this really messes up my food tracking and eating because by the end of the day, I'll eat like 2000 to 2500 calorie, but the app says I can afford to eat another ~3000 calories or so. I don't think I can eat that much in a day. Lol

[BrunoRDSz]

Why is this issue marked as closed? I just payed $400 dollars for a fitness tracker that does not accurately track calorie expenditure? I would expect this from Samsung or OnePlus ,but not Google. Yesterday I went out for a 22min regular intensity walk and I saw a it reported as 450cal. I then did a 36min endurance spinning session and saw that reported at 510cal.... This makes no sense. Impossible to use this watch for dieting and calorie restriction diets. This is NOT solved. It should not be marked as such 

[flavinator]

So, I rebooted my watch and it has seemed to normalize a little bit. Yesterday it said I was under by only a 1000 calories or so, instead of >3000. I'm not sure if the watch will stay accurate long term or go back to over estimating calories. I'll keep an eye on it. 

[Beaver35]

This is rediculous and makes the watch completely pointless as a health tracker. Will be returning if this doesn't get resolved quickly 

[neoscaler]

Indeed it's ridiculous. And Fitbit support is really still sending out
reboot and reset instructions, ignoring that there are now articles about
this problem on every bigger publication like The Verge or Android Police.

They should simply confirm the problem and tell when it will be fixed.

[Brunords]

Agreed, I think they need to put out a statement. It's pretty embarrassing for them not to have field tested this well (or at all). 

[jst1986]

Agreed, a proper statement is required. The restart did fix mine, and its been right for about 4 or 5 days now, but I've still got no confidence it won't go wrong again at some point... 

[Brunords]

Tom's Guide: Google Pixel Watch has two big problems — here's what we know.
https://www.tomsguide.com/news/google-pixel-watch-has-two-big-problems-heres-what-we-know

They are apparently aware of it... Quietly working on a fix. But it would be nice if a support rep came on here to confirm that instead of closing the issue/thread.

[Brunords]

Could this thread please be unmarked as "ANSWERED" I fear it's makings a still present problem less visible.

[Halo1979]

I have given up on the Fitbit exercise application on my pixel watch. I just use Google Fit. I did a HIIT training session with it and I KNOW it’s not the watch.. it’s the Fitbit App double counting. For instance I did one training session on day 1 used Fitbit and it recorded in 30 minutes nearly 600 calories.. the 2nd day I did the same training outcome using Google Fit and it was 389 calories. So its not the watch heart rate was well recorded and Google Fit calories was nearly in perfect alignment with my Apple Watch

[Gforce100]

Agree. There seems to be a calculation issue here for sure. When doing a walk I track heart rate against my chest strap device. While the watch isn't as accurate, it's usually within 2-5bmp - so, accurate enough to track a walk. Cals at the end however are very different! 

I do leave some space for fitbit to use a different forumla to determine calories burnt.... but this degree of variation is not right.