How Calories Are Calculated in Fitness Devices

The science behind calories burned

1. BMR (Base Metabolic Rate): This is the amount of calories required by your body to maintain it’s optimum functionality.

2. Active calorie burn: This is the amount of calories your body burns while doing physical activity like exercising, swimming, dancing, etc.

The estimated calorie burned is determined by integrating complex formulas and different factors by fitness trackers.

Factors that affect calories burned

1. Height

2. Weight

3. Age

4. Heart Rate

5. Gender

6. Activity Level

Sensors involved in tracking

1. Accelerometer: Fitness trackers use accelerometers to track the speed and direction of the moving body. These movements are calculated into steps, and in turn the calorie burned is determined.

2. Heart rate monitor: Measuring heart rate is also an essential part of calorie tracking; many such devices use optical sensors to detect the flow of blood in your nerve to find out the heart rate.

3. GPS tracking: Many smart modern devices use GPS tracking to keep track of distance travelled by the cyclist, runner, etc. to get the exact distance and estimated calorie count.

Limitations and room for errors

It might seem that smartwatches and fitness trackers are way more sophisticated these days and will return correct data on average, but there is always a chance of error in reading, error in sensors, or the assumptions that are taken into account in the algorithm.

Some external factors might also play a big role in errors in calculation. As for people living a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle, their calorie consumption might look the same as the average healthy person with a good metabolism, but in reality it may vary, as it is observed in these cases that people with sedentary lifestyles have low metabolism rates.