Apple Health: How can I add NEGATIVE calories to apple health / workouts?

Question

Level 2

447 points

Apple Health: How can I add NEGATIVE calories to apple health / workouts?

My Apple Watch keeps ridiculously over-attributing calories when I commute by e-bike. How can I correct this?

Additional detail:

For example, this morning my ride *actually* burned 167 calories (per the power meter on the bike itself), but my Apple Watch credited 418. I would like to just go add a -251 calorie workout to fix this, but the Health app isn't very bright doesn't let me enter a negative number when "adding" an active energy entry.
Why do I care? I try pretty earnestly to close my rings and don't want fake credit (but also don't want *no* credit), and I monitor cumulative time spent in different HR zones. I also use a food tracking app that takes active calories into account and this comes out wrong thanks to Apple Watch's bogus entries. I also track total active calories vs total consumed calories on a weekly basis, and this becomes wrong... and I enjoy being able to look at my total miles ridden each month/location heat maps/etc., etc.
I've tried riding (a) with telling the watch that I'm doing a bike ride (i.e., starting a workout of type "outdoor cycle") and (b) without telling the watch that I'm doing a bike ride. In the former case, the over attribution is a little higher but at least it *appears* to be in one lump sum. In the latter case, it still adds a bunch of extra active calories (but as a trickle rather than one lump entry). I don't want to have to just take the watch off while cycling -- and what a stupid "smart"watch that would make it! -- because then I don't get messages/notifications, I don't get stand credit, I lose the watch, etc.

Please help me find a fix! Apple Watch is otherwise really great, but the embarrassingly bad e-bike handling is ruining it :(

Thanks!

Apple Watch Ultra

Posted on Jan 17, 2025 10:34 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jan 18, 2025 12:22 AM in response to Mike G.

There is no direct way to manually edit the calories (Kcal) recorded in the Health app by various sources, such as an Apple Watch or an iPhone because this data is derived from activity metrics tracked by those devices. These metrics are calculated based on factors such as movement, heart rate, and personal information like age, weight, and height. However, you can fine-tune the data by managing how it is calculated or removing incorrect entries.

To adjust the data, you can prioritize which source is used for calorie calculations. The Health app allows you to set the data sources in order of preference, ensuring the most accurate and trusted source is used. This can be done in the "Health Data Sources" section within the app. Refer to Pic 1 below which is self-explanatory

Pic 1

Additionally, if incorrect or redundant data has been recorded, you can delete specific calorie entries by navigating to the "Show All Data" section under the respective category in the Health app and removing unwanted entries. While these methods don't allow direct editing of recorded calories, they provide ways to refine the data for improved accuracy and consistency. Refer to the pic 2 below which is self-explanatory.

Pic 2

Reply

Answer 2

Mike G. Author

Level 2

447 points

Feb 9, 2025 10:33 AM in response to SravanKrA

Thanks, @SravanKrA , but I'm not sure how the prioritization of sources applies in my case: I don't have multiple sources. The only source writing calorie data to HealthKit in this case is the Apple Watch. (It can do that either as a workout or as a "trickle" of little move calories during the ride, base presumably on heart rate and some motion.) The "true" calorie data I have (based on the power meter in the bike) is not connected to any app that writes to HealthKit.

Regarding deleting the calories, how does this interact with the stored workout history (e.g., a record of my gps track, time in different heart rate zones, etc.)? If I delete my calories in the manner you have illustrated, will all the rest be retained? And how will this interact with my "close your rings" move goal?

Thanks!

Reply