Last updated: September 2026
What should my move goal be? Start from the number you already burn on a normal day, then add a stretch that matches what you want. Add about 10% to build a daily habit, 100–220 calories to meet health guidelines, or 200–300 calories (alongside eating a little less) to lose weight. The right goal is one you close on five or six days a week.
Calculate Your Personalised Move Goal
Enter your age, weight, height, activity level and goal (maintain, lose weight or build fitness) to get a specific active calorie target.
Calculate My Move Goal →The Short Answer: Your Move Goal by Goal
Your Move goal is measured in active calories (the energy you burn through movement, not at rest). The right number depends less on a chart and more on two things: what you burn now, and what you want the goal to do for you.
| Your goal | How to set your Move goal | Example (current average: 300 kcal) |
|---|---|---|
| Build a daily habit | Your average + about 10% (at least +25) | 330 kcal |
| Meet health guidelines | Your average + 100–220 kcal | 400–520 kcal |
| Lose weight | Your average + 200–300 kcal, alongside a small cut in food | 500–600 kcal |
| Train for an event | Different goals for training days and rest days | e.g. 600 on run days, 350 on rest days |
How to Set Your Move Goal in 4 Steps
Step 1: Find Your Real Baseline
Wear your watch for seven normal days without trying to hit a target. Then open the Health app on your iPhone, go to Active Energy, and switch to the week view to see your daily average. That average is your baseline, and it’s more useful than any generic number because it already reflects your weight, job and habits. If your week included a holiday or a sick day, use a more typical week.
Step 2: Add the Right Amount for Your Goal
- Building a habit: add about 10% (at least 25 calories). The goal of this stage is closing the ring almost every day, not burning a lot.
- Meeting health guidelines: the World Health Organization recommends 150–300 minutes of moderate activity a week for adults [1]. For an average-sized adult walking briskly, that works out to roughly 100–220 extra Move calories a day. That’s about 20–45 minutes of brisk walking.
- Losing weight: add 200–300 calories and pair it with a modest cut in food. See the weight loss section below for why the Move ring shouldn’t carry the whole deficit.
- Training: use your average on training days as the target for those days, and a lower goal on rest days. Apple Watch lets you schedule a different Move goal for each day of the week [Apple]. Choose Change Daily Goal in the Activity app, then Schedule.
Step 3: Sanity-Check It Against Your Age and Sex
Compare your number with typical ranges for someone your age, sex and activity level. If your baseline-based goal sits far above the “very active” column, you probably measured an unusually active week. If it’s below the “sedentary” column, check that your weight and height are up to date in the Health app.
Step 4: Review It Every Two Weeks
Use two simple rules. If you closed the ring on at least six of seven days for two weeks in a row, raise the goal by 25–50 calories. If you missed it on four or more days in a week, lower it by about 10%. Apple Watch will also suggest changes every Monday based on your previous week [Apple]. Accept them when the week was typical, and ignore them after a holiday or an unusually active week.
What Should My Move Goal Be to Lose Weight?
A common rule of thumb is that one pound of body fat is about 3,500 calories, so losing a pound a week needs a deficit of roughly 500 calories a day. It’s only an approximation, and it tends to overestimate weight loss over time.
It’s tempting to put that whole 500 on your Move goal. Research suggests that’s a mistake. Weight loss from exercise alone is usually smaller than the calorie maths predicts, partly because people tend to eat a bit more and move less at other times of day [2]. A more reliable split:
- Move goal: your baseline + 200–300 calories
- Food: 200–300 calories less than you currently eat
This keeps the Move goal closeable on most days, which matters more for long-term results than an ambitious number you hit twice a week. If you’re new to exercise, start at the habit level for two weeks before adding the weight loss amount. The move goal calculator’s “lose weight” option shows how your chosen weekly rate translates into a daily target.
What Is a Good Move Goal for Apple Watch?
A good Move goal is one you close on five or six days a week with a little intentional effort. In practice, most adults who follow the method above land somewhere between 300 and 700 active calories. People with desk jobs are usually near the lower end, and people who exercise most days are near the upper end. Larger bodies burn more calories for the same movement, so a heavier person’s good goal is higher.
Two warning signs that a number isn’t good for you: you close it without doing anything different (too low), or you regularly have to walk around the house late at night to close it (too high).
Three Worked Examples
1. Desk worker building a habit. A 34-year-old woman who works from home averages 230 Move calories on weekdays. She sets 260 (+10%, rounded up), closes it every day for two weeks, then goes to 300. Once she’s ready to meet health guidelines, she adds a 25-minute brisk walk (about 110 calories at her size) and moves to 340.
2. Losing weight. A 45-year-old man weighing 210 lb (95 kg) averages 380 Move calories. To aim for about a pound a week, he sets his Move goal to 630 (+250) and eats about 250 calories less per day. At his weight, a brisk walk burns about 5.5 active calories per minute, so the extra 250 is roughly 45 minutes of walking, or a shorter gym session.
3. Runner with training days and rest days. A 28-year-old woman runs four days a week. She averages about 650 Move calories on run days and 300 on rest days. Instead of one goal that’s either impossible on rest days or too easy on run days, she schedules 600 for run days and 300 for the other three.
Signs Your Move Goal Is Too High or Too Low
Too high: you miss the ring on four or more days a week, you dread checking it, or you only close it with late-night laps of the kitchen. A goal you keep missing tends to make you stop paying attention to the ring altogether. Lower it by about 10% and rebuild.
Too low: the ring closes before lunch without any planned activity, week after week. A target that needs no effort gives you no reason to move more. Raise it by 25–50 calories.
Related Reading
How to Change Activity Goals on Apple Watch (Step-by-Step) →How Accurate Is the Move Ring?
Treat your Move calories as a consistent estimate, not an exact measurement. In a Stanford study that compared seven wrist-worn devices with lab measurements, none estimated energy expenditure with less than 20% error. Error was highest during walking and lowest during cycling. The Apple Watch had the lowest overall error of the devices tested [3]. That’s why the baseline method works well: your goal and your progress are measured by the same watch, so a systematic error largely cancels out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I keep the Move goal Apple suggests?
Use it as a starting point. Apple Watch suggests goals based on your recent activity, so the suggestion is reasonable when your recent weeks were typical. After a holiday, illness or an unusually active week, it can be too high or too low. Check it against your own seven-day average before accepting it.
What should my Move goal be if I sit at a desk all day?
Start from your real average, which for many desk workers is roughly 100–300 active calories, and add about 10%. Once you close that consistently, add a daily brisk walk of 20–30 minutes. That moves you toward health guidelines and typically lifts a desk worker’s goal into the 300–450 range.
How much should I increase my Move goal?
Raise it by 25–50 calories after two weeks of closing the ring on at least six of seven days. Smaller steps keep the goal closeable while your fitness catches up. If you miss the goal on four or more days in a week after an increase, go back to the previous number for another two weeks.
Should my Move goal be lower on rest days?
Yes, if you train on set days. A single goal that suits training days makes rest days a struggle and encourages skipping recovery. Apple Watch lets you schedule a different Move goal for each day of the week. Set your training-day average for workout days and your rest-day average for the others.
What Move goal do I need to lose 1 pound a week?
A pound a week needs roughly a 500-calorie daily deficit by the usual rule of thumb. Rather than adding all 500 to your Move goal, add 200–300 calories to your baseline and eat 200–300 fewer. Exercise-only deficits usually produce less weight loss than predicted, so splitting it is more reliable.
Get a Move Goal Built for You
Choose maintain, lose weight or build fitness, and the calculator turns your age, weight, height and activity level into a daily Move target.
Calculate My Move Goal →Sources: [1] Bull FC, et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Br J Sports Med. 2020. [2] Thomas DM, et al. Why do individuals not lose more weight from an exercise intervention at a defined dose? An energy balance analysis. Obes Rev. 2012. [3] Shcherbina A, et al. Accuracy in wrist-worn, sensor-based measurements of heart rate and energy expenditure in a diverse cohort. J Pers Med. 2017. Apple Support: Adjust your Activity ring goals on Apple Watch.
