How to Change Calorie Goals on Your Apple Watch

The fitness capabilities of the Apple Watch are one of the main reasons they’re so popular. Closing the Activity Rings can be incredibly satisfying, but what can you do if you find the daily goal set by the watch too easy or too difficult?

The good news is that you can easily change the calorie goals directly on the Apple Watch. You don’t need to use your phone to change calorie goals.

Here’s how to change calorie goals on your Apple Watch.

1. Open the Activity app on your Apple Watch.
2. If the Activity rings are not in view, swipe up or across to get to them.
3. Force press on the Activity Rings.
4. On the next screen, tap “Change Move Goal”.
5. Adjust the goal by tapping plus or minus and then tap “Update”.

While you can’t dictate or type a new number for your Move goal, you can also rotate the Digital Crown to adjust your goal.  

Related: Best Health & Fitness Apps for the Apple Watch

How to know which calorie goal is right for you

The Apple Watch Activity app or the Health App on your iPhone don’t specifically tell users which calorie count goal is best for them. Instead, they calculate the goal based on the initial information you provide when setting up your watch, such as your age and height, for example.

After you use the Apple Watch for more than 180 days, a chart of activity trends will become available, which can help you set a more realistic goal based on your actual levels of activity.

Here’s how you can access your charts.

1. Launch the Activity app on your iPhone.
2. Tap “Trends”.
3. Tap “OK” to close the information screen.
4. Here you’ll see a “Keep It Going” section that tells you what you’re doing right and another one, called “Worth a Look,” which has advice on what you should improve. 
5. If your current move goal is located in the “Keep It Going” section, you can stick with the number you already have. However, if you see it under the “Worth a Look” section, you can set a new goal by following the advice for a recommended increase.

How Accurate is Calorie Count on an Apple Watch?

Just like any other fitness tracker, the Apple Watch doesn’t measure calories incredibly accurately, but the calculations are still based on health standards and can give you a good idea about your calorie expenditure. 

The watch calculates calories by tracking your heart rate and movement and using your personal information such as weight and height. The tracker is based on your metabolic rate, which refers to how quickly your body expends the calories you ingest through food.

Since every individual has a unique metabolic rate, the watch can predict the metabolic rate quite accurately simply based on gender, height, and weight.

Next: How to add your friends to share your activity goals.