I notice the WHOOP app gives me a caloric burn estimate, but I’m not sure how exact those numbers are. Is it using just heart rate data, or does it factor in weight, age, and other personal details? I’m not necessarily trying to lose weight, but it’d be great to know how many calories I’m burning so I can fuel properly and recover better.
WHOOP relies heavily on continuous heart rate monitoring for calorie burn estimates. Higher HR generally correlates with increased calorie burn, but WHOOP will adjust to you over time. If you notice a major change in your calorie burn count, ensure WHOOP is flat on your arm, minimizing movement even during activity for accurate HR tracking.
Additionally, WHOOP also uses factors like age, sex, weight, and height - which all affect basal metabolic rate (BMR, the calories you burn at rest) and energy expenditure and are included in the algorithm.
One thing to keep in mind with calorie burn numbers from ANY wearable device, including WHOOP, is that it is intended as a relative estimate. While WHOOP’s calorie tracking is highly accurate, it is recommended that you utilize the calorie burn data as an estimate rather than a true clinical measure. I would not base fueling entirely on a single calorie burn number, but it can be useful to know days where you are relatively more or less active and may want to consume more/less fuel.
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Do you have a statistical range/variability you can provide? Over/under. You say it’s “highly accurate” but there are a lot of folks (like myself) who want to use this calorie expenditure to make sure we stay in somewhat of a deficit.