What Should I Set My Apple Watch Move Goal To? (2024)

Your Apple Watch tracks how many active calories you burn each day through the Move goal.

The Move goal shows how much you move around throughout the day by doing things like walking, exercising, climbing stairs, or doing chores.

When you want to lose weight, setting the right daily Move goal on your Apple Watch can help. But how do you know what number to aim for? Here are some tips.

Understand How Many Calories You Need

First, figure out how many calories your body uses every day. This is called your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. Your TDEE includes:

– Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): How many calories you burn just by living and breathing.

– Physical Activity: How many extra calories you burn by moving around.

You can use an online TDEE calculator to estimate your number. Enter details like your age, gender, height, weight and activity level.

The calculator will give you a calorie amount. To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than your TDEE. A common goal is to cut 500-1000 calories from your TDEE each day to lose about 1-2 pounds per week.

Set Your Apple Watch Move Goal

Once you know your TDEE, you can set your Apple Watch Move goal. The Move goal should be the amount of active calories you aim to burn daily through movement.

As an example:

– Your TDEE is 2,000 calories per day
– You cut 500 calories to lose 1 pound a week
– So you will eat 1,500 calories per day
– You set your Move goal to 500 calories to burn the other 500 deficit through activity

In this case, 500 calories would be an appropriate Move goal for weight loss.

You'll need to burn 3500 calories more than you eat to lose 1 pound. So with this 500 calorie daily Move goal, you would lose about 1 pound each week.

Adjust Your Goal Over Time

Check your progress after a couple weeks. If you are losing weight as expected with your current Move goal, keep it the same.

But if you want to lose weight faster, increase your goal by another 100-200 calories. If you find the goal too hard to reach, try decreasing it by 100 calories.

The key is finding a Move goal that challenges you enough to burn more calories, but is still realistic for your fitness level.

Tips to Reach Your Move Goal

Here are some tips to help you successfully reach your Move goal each day for weight loss:

– Turn on notifications to remind you to get up and move.
– Start your day with exercise like a walk or using the Workout app.
– Take activity breaks every hour at work.
– Do house chores like vacuuming, sweeping or mopping.
– Pace while on phone calls.
– Take the stairs whenever you can.
– Park farther away and walk more.
– Go on an evening walk with family or friends.

The more minutes and movement you fit into your daily routine, the more likely you will be to hit your Move goal. Stay motivated by tracking your activity trends and seeing your weight on the scale drop!