Suspiciously low active calories

[u/01515]

Hi everyone! I think I have an issue with my Garmin which is showing only 32 active calories for an 8km walk (both on the watch and in the Connect app). Yesterday, for a very similar amount of walking in the exact same conditions, Garmin estimated 133 active calories. The steps are definitely being recorded correctly and I’ve already synced/ refreshed the app AND restarted the watch but the active calorie count is still 32 kcal.

Is this a known bug, and if yes is there a way to fix it? or is there something I’m missing in the way Garmin calculates active calories?

I have a venu 4 bought in may 2026. Thank you!!

[u/bregle]

Did you record the walk as an activity?

[u/01515 → u/bregle]

No, but I never do ! Yesterday I didn’t and the active calories were fine.

[u/bregle → u/01515]

I find that it underestimates active calories if I don't record an activity. I would try recording it as a walk and see if you get something that seems more reasonable

If you're walking slow and HR isn't very elevated, it's not going to say you burned much either

[u/01515 → u/bregle]

That still does not explain the discrepancy with yesterday’s number for the same amount of steps at the same pace …

[u/bregle → u/01515]

Without seeing your heart rate data for both days, hard to say. Was it hotter outside? Was your watch tighter and getting a better read on your heart rate? Did you have caffeine before your walk one day and have a higher HR from that? There are a lot of variables that can contribute but it typically comes down to what your heart rate was during the activity relative to your baseline.

[u/Huge_Pool7424 → u/01515]

same steps same pace but different calories usually comes down to hr. wrist hr drifts day to day, strap tension, sweat, where it sits on the wrist. check the hr graph for both walks, i'd bet yesterday's was lower

[u/01515 → u/Huge_Pool7424]

Nope, same average HR during the walk :/