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.

[neoscaler]

After resetting again because Fitbit support told me this is necessary, as
my last reset was already 7 days ago, my calorie calculations are
completely broken.

Increased massively from 19 to 27 kcal per 15 min during sleep.

Thanks for nothing.

[Halo1979]

I think I might know how it's calculated and why the calories are higher reported then what we actually see.. i did a 6.6 km walk today had the Apple watch on and the Pixel watch on.. both recorded different amounts the Apple watch showed that I burnt 581 calories in 1.5 hours. The Pixel Watch using the Fitbit application said I burnt 826 calories in the same amount of time. Of course 300 sounds crazy and illogical. But I was looking closer into the data on the Apple Watch. It recorded active calories as 581 but we also burn calories with our BMR and we have "Active Calories" and Total Calories. Looking at the recorded data the Apple Watch then showed me a Total Calorie count which consisted of 786 calories.. so maybe the calories that are being reported consists of the Active and BMR calories added to it being a Total Calorie count in its Fitbit calculated way..

If that's the case maybe they should tell us how Calories calculated are.. Are we seeing an Active calorie count or a Total Calorie count

[t.parker]

@Halo1979 about that you are right. Fitbit shows total of active+BMR calories for activities. It doesn't separate it.

[Halo1979]

Thanks T. They should probably put it as active calories cause it does cause confusion and even thou I understand it now, it seems very unintuitive. Like if you use a different app with exercises that seem to use active calories as a baseline for what's being exterterd.. and if you use two forms of methods like a Garmin or Apple watch or Galaxy watch the calories show massive amounts difference.. they should spread it up on the data with Active burnt and Total burnt.. that way it be easier to understand with a report structure. 

[t.parker]

@Halo1979 there were some requests to separate active calories from BMR the way Fitbit works is pretty much set in stone. It's same as counting steps for non-step based activities. Fitbit works that way and nothing will change it.

[whilke]

That's not what's going on. All fitness/calorie trackers include BMR in the cal burned for an activity (workout, walk, whatever). Your apple watch results of 581cal included your BMR. If you were to do that walk again, but take 3 hours instead of 1.5 hours.. you'd have burned even more calories (even thought you didn't walk further, or take more steps) since it includes your BMR. How trackers calculate calorie usage, there's no way to really remove your BMR. 

The pixel watch with fitbit is just over estimating calorie usage past BMR (even after rebooting)

[t.parker]

@whilke this is true and isn't. For example, Garmin shows daily calories separated in two parts: resting and active. The calories counting depends on the data source. It's measured differently when using ie. power meter as this will only report active calories and BMR has to be added. For other activities I always get breakdown like this (my morning run):

So then there is no doubt what is my total energy expenditure. Too much to ask Fitbit to make data as clear 🙄

[neoscaler]

Okay now something changed for me.

I did a 8 km run today and beside that only working from home with 2000 steps.

Daily Calorie consumption is now at 2500 kcal and will be end at about 3000. That's imho a plausible consumption and similar to what I measured with Garmin before.

And the run itself gets accounted with 695 kcal vs 701 (Strava) and 650 (Garmin). Seems on spot.

Seems like it's fixed, at least for me 🙂

[Greggiewho]

For me it's not an issue of inaccurate 15-minute measurements. That breakdown graph on the app seems accurate. It's that the total is not accurate. Of I manually total each 15 minute interval it's accurate. 

[Halo1979]

It's really starting to align up for me . Did a workout with Apple fitness with my Apple watch on one wrist and the pixel watch on the other. 30 minutes thou the Apple watch was showing me active calories and the pixel watch was showing much more.. But looking into the data on Apple health they lined up both came to a Total of 333 calorie

 

[Halo1979]

 Apple watch recorded data and on the pixel watch it had shown it to be 333 calories is post it but it's not letting me

 

[Beaver35]

Mine does appear to be doing the same which is weird as there hasn't been an update. I came from a fitbit sense to the pixel watch so was judging the over estimation of calories on fitbits model anyway. Yesterday's do seem to be there or there abouts what I would have burnt using the sense so hopefully this is fixed. 

[whilke]

Yesterday looked good to me too, but I didn't work out.

There was a fitbit update yesterday 

[flavinator]

The reboot seems to have worked for me. I now end my days with 3 to 4000 calories burned, instead of 8 or 9. This seems reasonable for me considering my height and weight. I'm a heavy set guy. 

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi everyone.

Thanks for adding your comments and feedback about this inconvenience with your calories burned. I understand where your concern is coming from. And I'm glad to know some of you are already getting the correct data on your watch and Fitbit app.

In order to keep investigating this, I'd like to confirm this information with you:

• Please check if the Fitbit app and phone is running the latest version. Visit the Google Play Store here. Android Fitbit app 3.69 is now available.
• After restarting your watch sync with the Fitbit app and confirm your personal settings, such as height, weight as well. Your calories burned data should begin tracking correctly within 24 hours after performing the restart. Sorry about this but historical calories burned can't be changed by performing those steps. 
• Confirm if you're using a third party app linked to the Fitbit app to track your activities.

We really appreciate your input on this and thank you for your patience while we work on solving this situation.

See you around. 

[whilke]

I have the latest version installed on watch and phone (for a couple of days now).

My calorie burn yesterday was about 1000cal higher then it should have been (it was even 1000cal higher then the previous day, and I did the same actives on both days (no workouts on either)).

That alone should tell you there is a major problem somewhere. Even knowing calorie usage is just a statistical model estimate, a 25% swing of 1000 calories is crazy

I do sync healthmate scale data (just weight/body fat) to fitbit, and that information is correct in fitbit (along with the rest of my data).

[Greggiewho]

I confirmed all the specifications in your message and restarted my watch
and phone. For me the erroneous calories burned are only listed on the
historical burned calories page. My daily tracker is correct, but it then
logs the day at like 8,000kcal when really it was 2-3,000kcal.

[YojanaFitbit]

@whilke and @Greggiewho Thanks for confirming this information. We hope this gets resolved soon for you too. Thank you for your understanding. 

See you around the forums.

[lexter99]

Any update on this? I'm on 3.69 and restarted over 24 hours ago. My height/weight/age/etc are all correct. Did a 25 min walk, 1.49km, and its saying 202kcal. If I use a calculator like I've linked below, with the same parameters, its saying no more than 100kcal. Even adding in BMR its way off!

https://keisan.casio.com/exec/system/1350891527

[ayaashpaw]

Similar issue. Charge 5 I feel was more accurate than the Pixel Watch. Hope they fix it soon with an update.

But need the altimeter for the floor count and pixel watch experience is far superior with the Pixel 6 Pro & Pixel Buds Pro combined.