Active minutes vs minutes you actually walked/worked out/...

[natacha.willems]

Yesterday I had my new cardiotest in the gym, before I started I started up my bike programme on my Fitbit Blaze. Everything got registered perfectly: I was on the hometrainer for 49 min on a very high heartrate. But when I looked at the main screen of my Fitbit app it said I was only active for 19 min.

Today I went for a slow walk of 106 minutes, again I started the walking programme, everything got registered perfectly. But in the main screen of the app it says I was active for only 35 min.

Can someone explain to me why this is? Because this happens to me every time, whatever exercise I do...

[wmchapman]

Here's the how @natacha.willems -- METs

The why is because it takes a while to get rev'd up into that active zone. The more fit you are the longer it will take.

I worked (hard) putting in a planter yesterday 25 bags of top & potting soil, took 6 hours; but maybe only half was registered as "Active", HR is an important factor in calculating Active Minutes.

[natacha.willems]

I understand this, but I would have thought that the higher your heartrate is, the more active minutes would get registered... So I was a bit surprised... I did my cardiotest starting with a heartrate of 96 (which is already in my fatburning zone according to my Fitbit) and ending with a heartrate of 160, yet I was only 19 minutes active according to my Fitbit.

Today I walked at a really slow pace and I have more active minutes then the day before.

I have my Blaze almost a year now and never understood these active minutes 😁

[wmchapman]

Exactly, once in "the zone" stay in the zone for more active minutes. It takes longer this year than last year for me to get in it; but once I'm there I find myself walking in circles to keep the blood pumping.  I like staying in the 88-98 bpm area, find myself glancing down to see if I need to pick up or slow down the pace once everything's humming. Love my fitbit, was all mysterious to me when I was a youngling.

[Rich_Laue]

Usially the calories burnt chart will help explain the active minutes. This 8s what they are calculated from.

[natacha.willems]

I found this article: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1379/?q=Active+minutes&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

So it has to do with your MET's... I get it now... I will need to do a lot of I want to get my 30 minutes a day 😁

[ps3]

I also see inaccuracies in the blaze records. I don't do actual workouts in the gym, but I do stay active throughout the day. I question whether or not the blaze is actually capturing steps I take when on my treadmill, Keiser indoor bike, or when I'm carrying things, like bags of bird and dog food, potting soil, groceries, laundry, grandkids, pets, etc. I'm usually on the go, constantly, but if I'm not swinging my arms as I'm moving, I don't feel like I'm seeing that activity being captured. I think every one of us want credit for being active and it's discouraging when it appears only a portion is being recorded.  I thought I could use my fitbit recordings to help my doctor see how active I've been. As it turns out, the blaze isn't a reliable source. That is disappointing to me. I used to wear a Charge HR and that, in my opinion was more accurate, although, I did see some of the same issues with it. Just not as bad.

Another problem I have with the Blaze vs the Charge HR is that when the battery on the Charge ran down it still was able to record my steps (don't ask me how but it did), whereas once the battery dies on the Blaze, so does my record of movement! Very disappointing!

[wmchapman]

I like to show the doc my weekly chart of HR, conveniently shows minutes spent (in total bars) fat burn, cardio and, of course, "normal".  If you hover over the gradients it has plenty of detail. (computer dashboard).

[bbarrera]

@natacha.willems

Something sounds wrong. For the 49 minute ride were you going hard most of the ride? Can you post a screenshot of your HR for the activity?

within a minute or two of starting on the spin bike or road bike I'm already above 3 METs, and it stays above that for the whole ride even on easy rides. So for me, and the way I ride, a 49 minute spin should be 47-48 active minutes. Outside over the last month I'm averaging 190 miles a week at 18-20mph, I'm in very good shape. 

[Colinm39]

@natacha.willemsNow that you have METs... Active Minutes kicks in at 10 minutes of continuous activity for at least 3 times your sleeping/resting BMR/body at rest... (Basal Metabolic Rate). Because Fitbit round up their graphs using this BMR Calculator will give you the same answer. Fitbit use the same equations.  Divide the answer by 1,440 for your per minute calories then x 3 for your minimum to hit a minute of Active Minutes.

If you want to analyse the effort you create an Active record on your PC which is a direct copy of your data and then you can analyse the graph in the per minute format.

From your Activity Log, click on the large stopwatch at the bottom of the view, enter the times etc and log. Then click on the very small stopwatch next to the description and you will see this graph  when you click on Calories.  I have kept the green line in the graph because you can then see the variation between AM and VAM.

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@natacha.willems wrote:

I found this article: https://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1379/?q=Active+minutes&l=en_US&fs=Search&pn=1

So it has to do with your MET's... I get it now... I will need to do a lot of I want to get my 30 minutes a day 😁

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[natacha.willems]

@bbarrera

I was... It was a cardiotest in my gym to see if I was ready to go to the next level... My HR started at 96 and I quit at about 160. I kept a steady pace all the time... I never use the hometrainer or spinning bike in the gym, so I don't know how the terms are called, but I had to stay between 70-80, while the intensity slowly went up

[natacha.willems]

@Colinm39

It has to do with your sleep as well???? Now that explains a LOT! I have chronic fatigue... There are days I sleep more then I am awake 😞 

Starting to get the picture now... Need to go sleepwalking to get my minutes 😁 

Thank you all so much for your help! I learned a lot! You are all awesome!

[Colinm39]

@natacha.willems Glad we can be part of your team. I'm enjoying using my RHR as a guide to my body and effectiveness of sleep, exercise and the environment.

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@natacha.willems wrote:

@Colinm39

It has to do with your sleep as well???? Now that explains a LOT! I have chronic fatigue... There are days I sleep more then I am awake 😞 

Starting to get the picture now... Need to go sleepwalking to get my minutes 😁 

Thank you all so much for your help! I learned a lot! You are all awesome!

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