Think your Apple Watch is telling you how many calories you’re really burning? In this episode of StrongHer Collective, we break down how energy expenditure is actually measured — and why your smartwatch might be giving you the wrong idea.

You’ll learn:
✅ What a calorie really is and where the concept came from
✅ How scientists measure calorie burn using indirect calorimetry
✅ How fitness trackers (like the Apple Watch and others) estimate energy expenditure
✅ Why smartwatches can drastically miscalculate calories burned — especially during strength training
✅ Why relying on your watch to guide how much you eat can backfire
✅ What to focus on instead if your goal is sustainable fat loss, strength, or weight maintenance

Whether you're lifting heavy, walking more, or just trying to better understand your body, this episode gives you science-backed insights and practical strategies to stop obsessing over your smartwatch and start trusting your progress.

Research:

• 2017 Article from the Journal of Personalized Medicine "Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort"
• 1894 Farmer's Bulletin Publication by W.O. Atwater "Foods: Nutritive Value and Cost"

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro
1:35 What is a calorie?
1:55 Origin of the calorie applied to nutrition
4:58 How do scientists accurately measure energy expenditure (calories burned)?
5:38 Indirect calorimetry
7:43 How do smartwatches actually estimate calories burned during exercise?
13:05 What specifically is your Apple Watch doing to estimate calories burned?
16:00 Are these systems accurate? (Spoiler: NO!)
18:42 Given that smartwatches are so poor at tracking calories, what should we do?!

Connect with me on Instagram! I'm @strongher.collective.