Activity Levels under Fitbit Trainer

[Valerian]

At 59, I am routinely in higher percentiles (80-89%) of activity for my age group, and this corresponds with my daily experience when compared with others my age. I don't drive and live in a city where I do a great deal of walking, and I work out 3-5 times per week. 

Because of this, I've been turned off by the Fitbit Trainer report which assesses me as "lightly active", accompanied by a description which simply is not congruent with my actual activity level. It's very discouraging and doesn't encourage me to use the Trainer app.

Fitbit, should you not align your Trainer activity level assessments with your other measures ie. make them relative to age and more congruent with the activity level percentiles on your site ? I appreciate that percentiles reflect averages rather than ideals, but when someone engages in a healthy lifestyle involving significant amounts of exercise, "lightly active" just isn't accurate.

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[Mary]

Under Premium, Benchmark, Single Demographic, you can set the chart/info to have you relative to a gender, age range and body type, right?  

I've only begun to glance at the Premium stuff but I too found it discouraging to see myself classified as 'sedentary' and told I'm in the 17th percentile for activity for women my age and overweight.  It says I burn around 550 calories/day in activity and the average for that segment is over 840, which may be, I don't know.  It doesn't sound right since if you go to any online calories estimator if you put in you're 'sedentary' it multiplies your BMR by 20%.  My Fitbit estimate of 550 is like 40% over my BMR and would usually call me 'lightly active' at least.  I average 8000-10000 steps a day lately.  I know it's not 'active' but 'sedentary' is demoralizing.  

[slysam]

Weird! I haven't been paying attention lately. But when I was averaging 10k steps a day and logging my non-step workouts using my HRM calorie burn (and exercising 6 days a week--at least half of it non-step activity), I was classed as "lightly active" by trainer. I don't see how 8,000-10,000 steps can be considered sedentary unless all those steps happen in a workout and then one is inactive the rest of the day. I though trainer had more to do with activity calories so that can skew the results if one if not logging non-step activities or if one is logging inflated calorie burns. But maybe it is comparing us to other fitbit premium users? That might raise the bar if so. I can't really look at my recent stats since I've taken a break from wearing fibit the past week and no doubt am now completely sedentary on trainer.

[Mary]

I'm going to consider it wrong.  10,000 steps a day plus 6 non-step workouts a week isn't 'lightly active' in my book.  

[Colinm39]

The Trainer activity levels are measured within ourselves. I have included my last 2 x 12 week periods.

1. The 1st ending October 2013 shows I'm Lightly Active because I dropped my Trainer Goal.

2. The 2nd shows I have gone up to Active just based on this 12 week period with the fixed aTrainer Goal.

3. The weekly report ending Saturday March 15th 2013 still shows me Active.

It will be intersting when I finish this 12 week period in a couple of weeks to see what I'm judged at. I'm averaging around 9,000 steps/week, but meeting my weekly calorie goals.

[Mary]

"The Trainer activity levels are measured within ourselves."

What does that mean, Colin?  Mine is definitely comparing me to people besides myself.  

[Colinm39]

@Mary Apologies. I meant the actual Trainer and Activity reports are rated against yourself,  but what constitutes the activity levels.is definitely hard to quantify.  It has taken me nearly 2 years to have a stabilised result.

 The Benchmark is measured against the Fitbit population over the current 9 months which is an improvement on what we had and of course we don't know what that population is, at least it is updated every month. 

[Colinm39]

@MaryTrainer calories are supposed to be activity calories only, outside of BMR. So your 550 maybe close. I say maybe because, there is an error the way Fitbit calculate Trainer Calorie Burn because it does include some BMR and it shouldn't.  

I have reported this a few times and hopefully the new Premium product team are correcting that. 

[Valerian]

Colinm39, it's a good thing that you've found a way to make sufficient sense of Fitbit's activity level measurements to make use of them. I'm afraid their approach doesn't make a lot of sense to me, especially given the emphasis on activity calories. In building my health I have no interest in calories as a unit of measure, only in activity in all of its forms. Thank you for your effort to explain but I'll skip the Trainer !

[Mary]

Thanks, Colin!  I don't mind 'activity calories' as a measure of focus but I don't find a lot of use in being compared to Fitbitters in general as long as there are ones that put theirs on their Jack Russell Terrier (yes, I do know of one in my age group) or even ones that legitimately rack up 30k+ steps a day because they believe that 4 hours of treadmill a day must be ok if Jillian and Bob and Chris Powell have people do it on TV to lose weight. 

[slysam]

I don't think activity calories are a bad measure if done right. The reason is that you will burn more from more vigorous activity than less vigorous activity in the same duration. You can meet a variety of health and fitness goals either with relatively fewer vigorous minutes or a lot of light/moderate activity. The CDC exercise guidelines sort of address this as their suggestions are a certain (lower) amount of vigorous minutes, a certain (higher) amount of moderate activity minutes or an equivalent combination of the two. Even if not counting calories in diet, an approximation of activity calories can be useful. And it is really the only way it can factor in non-step activity. I do think there is something wrong with the formula fitbit uses so I only follow my trainer goals when it suits me and don't worry too much about it anymore.

[CJY75]

Well I'm pleased to know that I am not the only person who finds the Trainer not reflective of my perception of my activities. I am 75yrs old. I walk between 2 and three miles daily. I do housework and laundry every day. I market and walk. I live in Florida (it's flat here) and in a house with no stairs, so I have to go looking for steps. I have met my 10K step goal more than 50 % of the time and when I didn't, I was working or in the midst of a family crisis. To be called sedetary and overweight is snarky, to say the least. I got the Fitbit to help me stay active, and it's doing that. I resisted the "trainer" option until today, but truly did not expect to be insulted by it. Get a Grip, Fitbit. Not everyone who uses the product is a 25yr-old hardbody wanna-be.

[Valerian]

I agree 100 % - I tried to vote for your post but my browser isn't displaying the plus sign, so this is it ! I'm 59 and hope to be as active as you are now - the Trainer should reinforce and encourage us.

[CJY75]

Right. I expected encouragement and instead got called fat and lazy by a "device." Sounds to me as if you're working out as you should and the Trainer should take into account the activities that real people do on a day-to-day basis. When the trainer does six loads of laundry, dishes three times a day, takes out the trash, washes toilets and scrubs floors, I would like to hear that this is a sedentary lifestyle. One of the only things that gets my fitbit to say "active minutes" is winding yarn on my ball winder, so obviously it has something to do with arm movement.

[CJY75]

Oh, and another thing. The trainer tells me to be more active, but makes no suggestions about what to do, how to get more active, things I might try.

[TandemWalker]

@CJY75 

@Valerian 

@Mary 

I'd like to join the consensus - it's not ideal, but it does work as an incentive. That little bit added every week over a 12-week plan does work. But the criticism we're voicing here is well founded and I have every reason to believe that the fitibit team is working on a lot of enhancements to the Premium functionality and attributes. Let's hope that the new paradigm will be more aligned to various age groups.

[CJY75]

And to various sexes!!! I am convinced that the "trainer" is a guy whose mom or wife does the housework/childcare.

[shaokid]

I agree. Does not seem worth paying for premium until this is sorted out. I too am in the 90-percentiles and am told I am "lightly active". People half my age think I'm nuts doing the things I do! 

[willpl03]

I am also classified as 'lightly active' most weeks, despite typically doing at least 2 grueling weight training sessions and getting at least 6500 - 7000 steps in each day. Seems like someone would have to exercise at least 60 - 90 mins per day to get to active status.  A bit demoralizing, but I suppose a bit motivating as well. 

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@shaokid wrote:

I agree. Does not seem worth paying for premium until this is sorted out. I too am in the 90-percentiles and am told I am "lightly active". People half my age think I'm nuts doing the things I do! 

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[Colinm39]

@willpl03 From my experience with using Premium for over 5 years it is all about "effort and resulting calories". Since I have been using the wrist type Fitbits I have moved into the Active area. While I was using the Ultra and the One I was consistently, lightly active.

But I have found with my age at 77 my fatburning HR starts at 72 which pushes my calorie burn up. My RHR averages 52. I'm overweight, but stable for the last 12 months and my lifetime step average has dropped to 9,300/day from 10,500/day. 

Hiit, heavy gardening activities, walking up gradients definitely pushes up my active calories and keeps me in the Active area of Premium.

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@willpl03 wrote:

I am also classified as 'lightly active' most weeks, despite typically doing at least 2 grueling weight training sessions and getting at least 6500 - 7000 steps in each day. Seems like someone would have to exercise at least 60 - 90 mins per day to get to active status.  A bit demoralizing, but I suppose a bit motivating as well. 

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@shaokid wrote:

I agree. Does not seem worth paying for premium until this is sorted out. I too am in the 90-percentiles and am told I am "lightly active". People half my age think I'm nuts doing the things I do! 

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