Website dashboard question on calories

[grncab]

1. What do the colors mean on the dashboard calories expended?
2. When I ride or run at a high pace the calorie count tops off and the graph shows a straight line of how many calories I expended.  So for a 10:45 am to 3:40pm bike ride yesterday, the line is yellow and it tops off at 16 calories/5 min for the duration.  Then a few minutes later the calorie count is 20 calories.  I can't believe I consistently expended 16 cal per 5 min period for 5 hours.  Why does it cut off at 16 cal?

[JohnnyRow]

1.  When you move you mouse over the chart, you should see a key below the chart:

orange/yellow - light; red - moderate; green - intense.

2.  Check the time interval again;  on mine it is 15 minutes, not 5 minutes.

16 calories per 15 minutes could be your BMR; check if you see that steady overnight when sleeping.

You don't say what tracker you are using - if it is one that tracks heart rate.  If no heart rate, and not tracking steps when on bike, then it could have you at close to BMR.

Look at you charts for heart rate and steps during the time period in question.  Your heart rate determines calorie burn so you can generally figure out calorie burn questions from looking at that.

[MrMarv · Accepted solution]

@grncab -

First off, "cutting off at 16 calories per 5 minute period"? If the ride was a leisurely tour around the country, or around town, that doesn't sound like a cap, but a true representation of calorie burn. You only mention the time length of the ride and not the length of the ride nor the type of terrain.

I have to, to some degree, agree with @JohnnyRow as far as the granularity as it applies to the Main Dashboard with totals at 15 minute intervals. The activity page shows calorie burn totals at 5 minute granularity. The individual exercise records show average calories per minute at somewhere between 3 and 5 second intervals (it varies) for one hour exercise records.

I cannot attest to the granularity at exercise lengths longer that one hour as I do not go off for five hour bike rides, but I can show you what I mean when it comes to one-hour treadmill sessions at a pace between 2.7 and 3.0 mph.

Main Dashboard calorie burn displays totals at a 15-minute granularity:

 And, as @JohnnyRow stated, the color legend is on the chart.

Activities page calorie burn totals at a five-minute granularity:

And while the color legend is not shown, it is the same as the main dashboard.

The treadmill record for the period in question and the 4 second granularity average calorie burn:

Like I said, I don't have five-hour exercise records to share. But I can say that the shorter records, say under 20 minutes in length give averages at two-second intervals and under 10 minutes at one-second intervals.

This next image with show how the exercise record for your bike record will allow you to have a better idea of calorie burn during separate stages of your ride as you should be able to see calories burn increases where your route takes a longer section of uphill versus level or downhill as shown on the map of the ride. An example of a level walk that shows where I was at a particular time during the walk and the average calorie burn at that point in time. At 0.41 miles into my 1.37 mile walk, at a timestamp of 08:28, I was at a calorie burn rate of 7.1 calories per minute for that three-second period of time. My pace was just under three mph which is a lot more effort than a leisurely bike ride, if indeed that is the type of ride your were referencing earlier.

Look a little closer at the data your are being presented in the individual exercise record. Maybe it will make more sense to you.

[grncab]

Thank you both for your replies and I've attached my graph from two days ago regarding this.  The increments are 5 min not 15 min as you two described.  I captured a description of one of the bars to show you.  The ride was 15 miles for the first hour, then a leisure 17 miles with a friend at probably about 3 hours of stop and go followed by another 15 miles at about 15mph.  I normally average 100 miles/week on my bike at about 15mph so heart rate doesn't get too high cycling but I just find it odd that every time I ride, the calorie count seems to be a plateau.

[grncab]

MrMarv,   I did a little hilly 27 miler today and captured the graphs associated with the ride.  My calorie count doesn't seem to change at all during the ride per the graph.  I use a Versa Lite which does measure the heartrate:

Thanks again to both of you for your help.

[MrMarv]

@grncab -

It is not the first time I have seen issues like this in exercise apps on FitBit devices. Most of my observations have been in the area of wild variances in heart rates being reported. Treadmill sessions where my reported heart rate drops to 25 bpm below resting heart rate and sustained heart rates above 140 bpm for five minutes, topping out at 156 bpm, when the BETA Blockers I take will not let my heart rate surpass an estimated 120 bpm according to my Cardiologist. And when I manually take my pulse - - - 94 bpm.

And you are cleanly documenting the original issue, which wasn't so clear to me in your original post.

And the calorie burn is indeed flat in the exercise record, as well, where we would expect fluctuations matching the changes in your heart rate, as we saw in my walk record - higher heart rate with a slightly higher calorie burn with the burn being reduced as my heart rate got lower. You had enough variations that it would seem the calorie burn would vary as well.

Interesting that the Versa Lite is having this issue when my Versa 2 does not. And the firmware update from Summer/Fall while keyed to the individual devices, you would think would be very similar - even the release numbers were the same with the exception of a modifier at the beginnig of the number, My Versa 2 firmware starts with "35" showing it is for the Versa 2 - the full firmware id is 35.71.6.19.

And people wonder why I just ordered a Series 6.