Exercise Days Confusion

[Kathylynn103]

Why would certain days not show up as Exercise Days when I actually did do 6k+ steps those days?  Did I not hit a certain number of active zone minutes or something??  Shows Exercise Days for Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday but not Wednesday and Thursday. 

[JohnnyRow]

It is a day with a workout. A workout is either an auto-recognized activity for at least the minimum time for that activity, or any activity recorded with the Exercise App.

It has nothing to do with number of steps or zone minutes, though with high step count or zone minutes you are more likely to have had a workout.  'Exercise Days' were started many years ago and are perhaps not the greatest metric today for everyone, and seem to be misunderstood now with other metrics around, but there they still are for use (or misuse) by those who want to use them.

[Kathylynn103]

Okay, I think I understand!  On those 2 days, I was raking (not a recognized activity), so even though I got 6k+ steps, Fitbit won't call it an Exercise Day.  Thank you for your help!Sent from my T-Mobile 5G Device

[JohnnyRow]

But if you had used the Exercise App on your Charge 5  to record it, it would have counted.  If not sure what to call it, "Workout" is always a good option, Start when you begin and End when you are done, and it would have counted as a Workout and an exercise day.

I find walks are generally auto-recognized as workouts quite well, but other activities are iffy, and some are never recognized. It is trying to recognize what you are doing just from the movement pattern of your wrist.  But the Exercise App is sure-fire, though perhaps a few more steps.  But either way, daily step count and calorie burn should be the same.