Why are my S Health on S5 calculaitons VERY inaccurate when measuring calories burned?

[Thiscrapsucks35]

"S Health" on S5 - VERY inaccurate when measuring calories burned

Is it just me, or is SHealth amazingly inaccurate when it comes to calculating how many calories I burn in a day? So far today (it's 4pm), from 1411 steps taken (calculated by Gear Fit), SHealth says I've only burned 51 calories today. WTF??? I don't run, but I am in decent shape, move around the office regularly, work out 4-5 days a week, take the stairs, ride the stationary bike, etc. I'm not a couch potato and lead a decent healthy lifestyle.

I've been using SHealth and the Gear Fit for a while and this is a regular event with this program. By contrast, when I used Fitbit products, I would regularly burn somewhere in the 2000cal range daily. That seemed normal for me and for many people. I've NEVER seen SHealth tell me that I've burned anywhere close to 1000+ calories in a day.

Anyone else having this issue?

 

[SpookDroid]

Re: "S Health" on S5 - VERY inaccurate when measuring calories burned

That actually sounds about right. You're asking a device that only tracks steps to do a full-on calorie conversion. In average, most people burn around 0.04 calories per step. Yes, those are two decimal places. So, having burnt 51 calories with only 1411 steps seems about right. Remember that your FitBit is designed for fitness tracking and it accounts for so much more than just counting steps as it also counts vigorous activities and the level of stress they might require out of you. Your phone depends on a simple step counter and the info YOU input into it (or have a third party fitness accessory that will feed the extra info into S-Health).

 

[Nexushowler76]

Sorry but yes. It is completely wrong and inaccurate. I walked, juggled a soccer ball for exercise(35 minutes worth) Played in the park with a Cub Scout troop, Walked off 5.0 mile eggs + a 2.0 egg. Am a 255 lb man at 5' 10' (90lbs over weight. Was 100lbs overweight before PokemonGo) and walked an outdoor mall to refill poke balls and hatch those eggs. All in 90% degree heat but that doesn't coutn because it is not measurable via SHealth.

Mind you. SHealth when set up DOES measure walk/jog/running, jumping activity while you are your age group, weight group, and height.
Looking at my phone right now with this info; 15,332 steps taken of my 10k target goal. Calories burned. 664. <-----Completely and utterly wrong. by any standard of calorie burn measurement. Now if all it did was measure one foot in front of the other(Uh, why?) it would be a really poor app not even worth using. However. Now seeing that it's telling me based on my weight Vs Steps alone that this is completely inaccurate. No way will anyone even fit and one of target weight will burn ONLY 600 calories walking 7 miles. If someone had only a 1k calorie diet. (Very small calorie intake) It would mean they would gain weight at a pound every 12 days. Meaning in 1 year they would be 30 lbs over weight.

Now clearly there is more to everyone's day to day other than walking. But at let's say a 2k calorie diet. (Still small and very average and very hard to maintain in this day and age.) 600 calories burned by me at a hard paced, brisk walking and playing at a park for 3 hours at my weight plus the 6 hours of walking through out the day. If i kept a 2k calorie diet. I burned less than 1/3 of the daily calorie intake. Meaning SHealth is telling me all the sitting down i did, picking stuff up, moved to grab my wallet, twisting my back to reach for something, driving, talking in betwen all the vigorous walking and playing. I burned 3 times more calories just....living. Complete nonsense.

 

[akbullseye47]

Sorry but yes. It is completely wrong and inaccurate. I walked, juggled a soccer ball for exercise(35 minutes worth) Played in the park with a Cub Scout troop, Walked off 5.0 mile eggs + a 2.0 egg. Am a 255 lb man at 5' 10' (90lbs over weight. Was 100lbs overweight before PokemonGo) and walked an outdoor mall to refill poke balls and hatch those eggs. All in 90% degree heat but that doesn't coutn because it is not measurable via SHealth.

Mind you. SHealth when set up DOES measure walk/jog/running, jumping activity while you are your age group, weight group, and height.
Looking at my phone right now with this info; 15,332 steps taken of my 10k target goal. Calories burned. 664. <-----Completely and utterly wrong. by any standard of calorie burn measurement. Now if all it did was measure one foot in front of the other(Uh, why?) it would be a really poor app not even worth using. However. Now seeing that it's telling me based on my weight Vs Steps alone that this is completely inaccurate. No way will anyone even fit and one of target weight will burn ONLY 600 calories walking 7 miles. If someone had only a 1k calorie diet. (Very small calorie intake) It would mean they would gain weight at a pound every 12 days. Meaning in 1 year they would be 30 lbs over weight.

Now clearly there is more to everyone's day to day other than walking. But at let's say a 2k calorie diet. (Still small and very average and very hard to maintain in this day and age.) 600 calories burned by me at a hard paced, brisk walking and playing at a park for 3 hours at my weight plus the 6 hours of walking through out the day. If i kept a 2k calorie diet. I burned less than 1/3 of the daily calorie intake. Meaning SHealth is telling me all the sitting down i did, picking stuff up, moved to grab my wallet, twisting my back to reach for something, driving, talking in betwen all the vigorous walking and playing. I burned 3 times more calories just....living. Complete nonsense.

Your making a mistake in how you interpretate the data Samsung health is giving you. You burned 600 calories from the walk you did IN ADDITION to the calories your body burns just to keep you alive, conscious and your organs working.

For example, if your age is 35, your height 5'10 and your weight 255 pounds then you have a BMR of 2100 calories.. That is the number of calories your body burns to keep you alive at a resting state. Any physical activity is in addition to that 2100 calories. So, your 7 mile walk that burned 600 calories actually gets your daily total to 2100+600= 2700.

Your BMR of 2100 calories is only the requirement to keep you alive at rest... All movement, food digestion, even concentration burns additional calories.

 

[Rukbat]

In addition to which, Samsung Health counts steps, so running up a steep flight of steps or taking the same number of steps, slowly and leisurely, on level concrete shows the same "number of calories being burned", and that's not even close to reality.