How To Change Your Calorie Goal on the iPhone

The Apple Watch Activity app makes it quite easy for you to keep tabs on the calories you burn every day. It automatically moves goals every week, helping you shed off extra calories. Reaching the designated goal is sure to fill you with pride, but there are users who find it hard to keep up with the pace dictated by this app.

In some cases, the target number of calories might double from one week to the other. This is an extra motivation if you are on a strict diet and exercise regime. But it’s not achievable for everybody. Setting overly ambitious goals may backfire and put you off using the app altogether.

Luckily, adjusting the calorie goals to your preference is straightforward. Keep reading to find out how to take full advantage of this app’s features.

Changing the Calorie Goals

The Activity app allows you to change only the Move goals, while the Stand and Exercises one stay as they are. The Move goals ring (the red one) indicates the number of calories you’ve burned up to a certain point in a day. The counter shows active calories, meaning the ones you shed off by moving around.

To change the daily goal, launch the Activity app (on iWatch), select the rings, press onto the screen and select Change Move Goal. Tap on the plus or minus icons to decrease or increase the target number of your Move goal. Hit Update once you are comfortable with the number. That’s all – you’ve changed the goal.

Note: This applies to daily goals, not the weekly ones, though the weekly number reflects the changes.

Track Your Achievements

Within the Activity app, you get to preview your achievements and see how close you are to the goal. This feature is available both on your iWatch and iPhone. The iPhone app is somewhat superior because it allows you to see your monthly progress. Here’s how you access the stats:

iWatch

Tap to open the Activity app and swipe down with your finger or the iWatch crown. The windows show your progress for each activity. You can see the percentage, the calories, or – in the case of the Exercise and Stand goals – the minutes and hours. The menus also display the peak activity hours and it’s all color-coordinated: red for Move, green for Exercise, and blue for Stand.

The iWatch also features weekly summaries on Mondays. This lets you check how far you’ve gone the previous week and the feature is accessible in a few taps (to be precise, you need tap, press, and tap). After launching the Activity app, press onto the screen to get into the menu and select Weekly Summary.

iPhone

As said, you can see a full month’s progress on your iPhone. Just open the Activity app and select History (lower left side of the window). To get more details about each day, tap on the date within the calendar. If you’ve worked out on any given day, a small green dot appears next to it.

With this in mind, you can also get extra stats about your exercise routine from the Workouts tab. These stats differ based on your routine. For example, the route will be displayed if you run, hike, cycle, or swim in open waters.

Notification and Reminders

Remembering to stand up can be a challenge on a busy day. The Activity app is there to nudge you to get off the chair every hour. It also informs you if you’re falling behind on a goal.

Launch the Apple Watch app, select My Watch, and hit Activity. You get to set a few types of reminders and notifications. With Stand Reminders, you get a notification if you sit for more than 50 minutes. Daily Coaching helps you meet the activity goals and challenges. Finally, Goal Completions award your efforts once you meet a goal.

Viewing Awards and Sharing

Taking a glimpse at your current Activity app awards can do wonders for your motivation. On your iPhone, tap the Activity app and select the star icon at the bottom to access the Awards tab. Now you can hit any of the Awards symbols to see what it represents. The achieved awards are in color, while the ones you are yet to achieve are black and grey.

Meeting and extending your goals gives you some bragging rights. You get to save the image from the Activity app (on the iPhone) and then share it on social media. Take the following path to do it:

Activity App > History > Select a Day > Share button > Save Image

Run, Forrest, Run

Chances are that you spend most of the work week in a sedentary position. This doesn’t do your health any good, and things become worse if you don’t exercise regularly.

In all honesty, finding the motivation to get up and about can be a challenge. But a buzz from you iWatch might be enough to prompt you to stand up and at least move around the office a little. You never know, you could get hooked and start pursuing the Activity app awards.

Just remember to set the calorie goal to your preferences. When you customize the app to fit your needs, you’ll be less likely to give up on your great new habits.