Activities

[kujyjyyftdjkugf]

This fitbit has not a clue what Contra Syncing or how to fit it in as an activity, likewise hauling and stacking hay, shoveling manure... How do I log these activities?

Nick

[Odyssey13]

@kujyjyyftdjkugf   You can log some things as an activity - click to learn how

[kujyjyyftdjkugf]

I've tried to log activities manually.  Enter the activity, the time, and hit enter...STOP..  It wnat me to fabricate some number for calories burned. 

What do I need this for?  Why doesn't  it recognize the activity Im trying to log?

If it wants me to enter calories then it has to lead me somewhere to where I can find that information.

[Odyssey13]

@kujyjyyftdjkugf  You must have been trying to put in a custom activity. The ones that have pictures by them, calories are optional.

There are a lot of sites that help you with knowing the number of calories burned during an activity. Here is one I like from Webmd - click to see it

Type in the search area the activity you did. Select the one you want and input your weight and how long you did the activity. Click on calculate and it will tell you the numbers of calories you burned.

[kujyjyyftdjkugf]

I didn't see what was "custom" about Contra Dancing.  I do it twice a week usually.  And feeding, cleaning uup after the barn is a daily chore.  None of the items Fitbit lists are "usual" to my life.

I looked at your recommendedd site for finding calories burned.  It differs from another site >http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc< that I found.  Seems nobody agrees...

[Heybales]

It's a reference to the activity you selected, or created.

If you select one from the database, either the picture or by selecting from list - calories is optional to enter, the website says this in the field.

If the activity has an intensity level, that is used to help calculate calories.

If not, it's pretty general then.

Is there something special about Contra Dancing compared to dancing in the database?

Just type in dancing and see what exists, otherwise might need a specific type of dance.

Farm chores just isn't going to have a nice option.

Fitbit has reduced the number of entries in the database.

This is the same database here, with the missing entries present. And an easier way to scan it and perhaps find one that's close.

http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/calculat.htm

I'd use 1 min as the time, with current weight, and then just notice what the cal burn per minute is for when you really do it, incase the duration changes daily.

[_daniel_ · Accepted solution]

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@kujyjyyftdjkugf wrote:

This fitbit has not a clue what Contra Syncing or how to fit it in as an activity, likewise hauling and stacking hay, shoveling manure... How do I log these activities?

Nick

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It doesn't have a clue because it doesn' t have any artificial intelligence. It's a primarily a step counter. 

[229]

I would like to know what happened to the pre-loaded activities such as walking, jogging and housework. They were very handy for the common things and then I could load my own custom activities. Not having the pre-loaded activities makes it necessary to recreate the wheel.  Am I missing something or are they really gone?

[Heybales]

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@229 wrote:

I would like to know what happened to the pre-loaded activities such as walking, jogging and housework. They were very handy for the common things and then I could load my own custom activities. Not having the pre-loaded activities makes it necessary to recreate the wheel.  Am I missing something or are they really gone?

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You are missing something - they are still there.

But why in the world would you be adding exactly the type of activity that Fitbit is designed to estimate a best calorie burn on?

Walking/running/daily movement.

Even housework that may be a lot of arm movement but no steps during those moments, is still more walking around. Unless cleaning houses 8 hrs daily, don't worry about it.

[229]

I'm not interested in adding the things that are already there. I just can't find them. I was able in the past to type in "jog" and it would give me a couple of options such as walk and jog or jog slow or faster.  Now when I type in jog it asks me to create a custom activity.   If I can find the defaults I'll be happy. As it is, I don't think there is cross country motorcycle riding, or moto-cross listed there and I'm content to make those.

[229]

Also, I have been able to use the walk/jog activity because it was my most frequently used activity and it's in my recent/most used lists. But I can't find snow shoveling and I would hope that's there somewhere

[Dominique]

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@229 wrote:

But I can't find snow shoveling and I would hope that's there somewhere

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Just pick up the relevant option from the Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide:

[Heybales]

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@229 wrote:

I'm not interested in adding the things that are already there. I just can't find them. I was able in the past to type in "jog" and it would give me a couple of options such as walk and jog or jog slow or faster.  Now when I type in jog it asks me to create a custom activity.   If I can find the defaults I'll be happy. As it is, I don't think there is cross country motorcycle riding, or moto-cross listed there and I'm content to make those.

Also, I have been able to use the walk/jog activity because it was my most frequently used activity and it's in my recent/most used lists. But I can't find snow shoveling and I would hope that's there somewhere

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They appear to have simplified the database as far as words are concerned, and removed some activities.

Dominique's suggestion is excellent, as that comes from the database they were using anyway.

Jog is now Run.

Of course, if through the browser, there's the actual icon for walking and running that you click on.

But if you wear the Fitbit while running, at least semi-flat - you shouldn't manually log it anyway, you are replacing likely more accurate calorie burn.

Just wondering if you misunderstood how the device and calorie count works, and doing more work than needed, or you have a plan. Like I did manually log running, because I do hills, which don't count nearly as high plus the distance is totally off along with calories. Badly. So it needed correctly with my much more accurate estimate.

[229]

I was hoping you might tell me where I might find this list of preloaded exercises. Since I have no way of knowing what's in the list and what I need to create myself.

Additionally is there link to instructions for creating custom exercises? I understand that I need to know the activity's basic caloric information, but I created an exercise yesterday (snow shoveling). I looked up the calories burned I created an entry with one minute for the base calorie burn.  It worked fine yesterday. Then numbers came out right when I added my sessions of shoveling.  Today, on the other hand, it posted less than half of the expected calories -and- it showed no steps and it showed no active minutes.  I shouldn't need to tell it how many steps were involved, that's it's job. If active minutes are minutes where you burn 3x as your resting rate, I'm pretty sure I got that covered.

Is there a link that explains exactly how the activities record and logging works, and how to use it properly?

[Heybales]

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@229 wrote:

I was hoping you might tell me where I might find this list of preloaded exercises. Since I have no way of knowing what's in the list and what I need to create myself.

Additionally is there link to instructions for creating custom exercises? I understand that I need to know the activity's basic caloric information, but I created an exercise yesterday (snow shoveling). I looked up the calories burned I created an entry with one minute for the base calorie burn.  It worked fine yesterday. Then numbers came out right when I added my sessions of shoveling.  Today, on the other hand, it posted less than half of the expected calories -and- it showed no steps and it showed no active minutes.  I shouldn't need to tell it how many steps were involved, that's it's job. If active minutes are minutes where you burn 3x as your resting rate, I'm pretty sure I got that covered.

Is there a link that explains exactly how the activities record and logging works, and how to use it properly?

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I've not seen Fitbit offer a way to scroll through their list of exercises. It sure would be useful sometimes when you might not be using the right words, or just want to see if another exercise jumps out to you as the one to use.

Don't try to help the site with doing 1 min when that's not true, it'll do the math for the entry to be used next time correctly with math done on calorie burn for different times.

Just put down time and duration and calorie burn.

When you use the entry again, new time and duration, other fields are optional. Calorie burn will be calculated on what you started with.

Now this is on web account it makes it easier I think. No instructions on the page, though an "i" to click on for more info.

Unless there is a glitch in using custom activities, it should not have deleted steps and distance by using it.

You can delete the activity and if steps appear, that's what happened. In which case report the bug.

[Dominique]

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@229 wrote:

I was hoping you might tell me where I might find this list of preloaded exercises. Since I have no way of knowing what's in the list and what I need to create myself.

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You cannot browse through the complete list. What you can do, however, is type a few letters of the activity you have in mind in the search field. You will then be shown what matches:

Note that Fitbit is currently revamping the whole activity list, and in its current form, it's not always very helpful. For instance, if you enter "weights", you will be shown two identical options. I believe one is for moderate effort and the other for intense effort, but you have no way to tell which is which.

[Jake70115]

My activities have not changed materially but my active minutes have been reduced significantly since last week. Example is 10 to 12k steps range daily but active minutes showing from 55 to 8. Anybody else have this issue?