Why Are Garmin Active Calories So High? Find Out the Surprising Reason

Have you ever wondered why your Garmin active calories are so high, even on days when you don’t feel like you’ve done much? It’s a common question among fitness enthusiasts, and the answer lies in the way that the Garmin calculates active calories.

The Garmin uses a formula that takes your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and your activity level into account to estimate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE).

Why Garmin Active Calories So High?

If you’re like most people, you probably use your Garmin to track your workouts and monitor your fitness level. But have you ever noticed that your Active Calories are always much higher than your Total Calories?

Here’s the reason:

Garmin Active Calories are calculated using a formula that takes your body’s metabolic rate and your activity level into account. The metabolic rate is the number of calories your body burns at rest, and the activity level is the number of calories you burn through exercise.

The problem is that the metabolic rate is often much higher than the activity level, especially for people who are not very active. This means that the Active Calories can be much higher than the Total Calories, even if you’re not exercising much.

To make matters worse, the Active Calories are often displayed as a total number of calories, rather than a daily average. This can make it look like you’re burning a lot of calories even if you’re not exercising much at all.

So, if you’re concerned about your Active Calories being too high, the best thing to do is to check your Total Calories as well. If your Total Calories are much lower than your Active Calories, it’s likely that your Active Calories are being over-reported. You can also try adjusting your activity level in the settings of your Garmin device.

In the end, it’s important to remember that the Active Calories are just a rough estimate of the number of calories you’re burning through exercise. It’s not a perfect measurement, and it can be influenced by factors such as your age, weight, and activity level.

Takeaways

So, why is it that Garmin Active Calories are often so much higher than the calories burned as reported by other apps and devices?

One possible explanation is that Garmin devices are more sensitive to movement and can detect smaller changes in activity levels. This means that they may be more accurate at tracking calories burned during everyday activities, such as walking and standing.

Another possibility is that the algorithms used by Garmin to calculate calories burned may be more sophisticated and take into account more factors than those used by other apps and devices. For example, they may take into account the intensity and duration of activity, as well as the user’s weight and age.