Active minutes aren't exercise?

[Heather3879]

I'm trying to learn how to use my new Fitbit Charge. It appears that my "active minutes," even when in over my goal of 30 for the day, don't count as "exercise" toward my three workouts a week. Is this correct? Will it be remedied if I use the timer next time?

[NCaggie88]

I can definitely relate to that....I often have hard workouts and get no credit...I've done 60 minutes active minutes on a treadmill many times and it never moves...I always have to manually add it...I shouldn't have to do that...I feel if I am continuously moving on a treadmill for several minutes...active minutes should be automatic...Fitbit keeps me accountable and that is mainly why I like it...but its not always accurate most of the time....you report it and they give gibberish responses and never resolve the concern...I work hard and just want credit for it and fitbit doesn't always do it...It is FRUSTRATING!!!

[Lilon]

Exactly! What’s super frustrating is the fact that it use to do it 😑 guess I’d better try to figure out how to do it manually. Thanks! Glad I’m not alone

Thank you,
Lilon Baughman

[NCaggie88]

To manually add exercises...go to your dashboard...click on the "+" icon...and add your exercises...I almost always have to do it after a treadmill workout...active means movement...I'm running on the treadmill continuously...active minutes stuck on ZERO...hence my frustration...but I still keep working out!!!

Good Luck and Be Blessed...

[Nikkijj]

I know how to add them manually, but then it's adding all the steps in top so I'm putting in a few thousand false steps if I do it like that

Sent from my iPhone

[Lilon]

Thanks! You inspire 🙏🏼

Thank you,
Lilon Baughman

[Sydvh]

Sooo essentially if I complete a strength training workout at the gym, it won't be tracked as a day of exercise like my other workouts because I'm not moving around that much? I feel like that's a pretty flawed system for tracking something as general as days of "exercise". Really helpful to know though and I trust that Fitbit will update this at one point 🙂 

[Gator1212]

I'm also having this issue. Is there a solution?

[Lilon]

Nothing has worked for me😔 sorry. It’s been his or miss. Sorry

Thank you,
Lilon Baughman

[Nikkijj]

I think maybe I’ll write to fitbit and see if there’s a way to fix this, i would have thought that when you gain your active minutes, your heart rate would make it register as exercise but clearly I’m wrong, it’s really frustrating and demotivating 😞

Sent from my iPhone

[Lilon]

Let me know if you get a response, I’m addicted to my steps 😐

Thank you,
Lilon Baughman

[straighttalk44]

The only thing you can trust is that Fitbit won't fix it. This problem has existed for a long time. It's just a flawed system.

[schoapst]

I agree. I took those frustrating things out of the web page. I mostly use the Fitbit for steps and don’t pay any attention to active minutes any more. It is definitely flawed and non- rewarding as an exercise tracking system.
Schoapst

Sent from my iPhone

[Lilon]

Lol

Thank you,
Lilon Baughman

[Kymb]

The recommended guidelines are 30+ active minutes a day so this is one of my main goals. Despite increasing my exercise my active minutes don't reflect this. My Fitbit HR automatically recorded my outdoor cycle just under an hour of moderate to high cycling but it didn't show in active minutes. As its alteady recording this activity why wouldn't it be included?

I had the same issue. Nearly an hour of outdoor cycling automatically recorded but no active minutes to show for it.

Moderator edit: merged reply

[schoapst]

Good Question!
The answer is Fitbit’s programming. I am disgusted that Fitbit by some esoteric reason, does not fix this annoying issue.
Stephanie

[Lilon]

😞

Thank you,
Lilon Baughman

[CubbyBear14]

I totally agree. Why would exercise recorded and "Active Minutes" be mutually exclusive? FitBit needs to change their algorithm so that any exercise you log is not used to reduce the number of active minutes recorded. What is the point in that? I agree with other users that this is frustrating and stupid.

[Lilon]

So frustrating, it wasn’t an inexpensive item and it’s not fair to buy another 😞 pretty sure that’s their goal money hungry companies.

Thank you,
Lilon Baughman

[marisaross]

Hi @RobertoME, is the Exercise Mode feature also available on the Alta HR. I can't find it and my workouts are broken up into little bits of exercise, e.g my 30 min workout is broken up into 14 min, 7 min and 9 minutes for instance. The problem with this is that I need continuous 30 min of exercise at least to earn points for my medical aid. I've thus not received any points for my training this week as my fitbit did not record my 30 min run or the workout (run was only recorded for 29 minutes). Is there any way to rather record this manually. I've already reset my Alta yesterday to try and solve the problem.

[Jtev]

I just noticed this yesterday, I had a total of 30 active minutes in a day however when I check my weekly excercise I have 2x 28 minute walks done and I manually entered a 45 minute strength and weight lifting class all for that day. When I finished my class I had logged 61 minutes of AM but I checked the app again before I went to bed and my AM had gone back down to 30 minutes??