Charge 2 band issue

[SheRai]

Hi All, I have recently purchased Fitbit Charge 2 and have been using it since 4 days. I am observing that it counts steps on sleeping and I also end up burning more than 600 calories while sleeping. Further, smallest of hand movements like combing hair and driving car means that the band captures 100 to 200 steps additionally. Is this a common issue in FITBIT?

[BruceBu]

Yes, all wrist based trackers will pick up (some) excessive wrist movements and count them as steps. Generally not a big problem, except for those that choose to 'take advantage'. The calories reported by fitbit is the sum of your exercise calories and your base metabolic rate (BMR, how many calories you burn just staying alive without physical activity) - those BMR calories are what you get when sleeping.

[LZeeW]

@SheRai  If the situation I am about to describe fits your situation, you might be able to reduce, but not eliminate some extra steps.  If you wear your tracker on your non-dominant wrist, change the setting on the tracker to Dominant -- even though it is on your non-dominant wrist.  Changing the setting changes the sensitivity of the tracker.  Changing the setting might also reduce your steps while sleeping -- or maybe you are a seriously restless sleeper!

No wrist tracker is perfect.  Mostly, we have to learn where we get the extra steps and see what the overall impact is on our day.  Some users who have a lot of arm movement in daily life -- my hair stylist, for example -- give up on wrist trackers.

And @BruceBu is right about the calories burned while sleeping.  Those are your basal metabolic rate calories -- the ones you burn just staying alive.

[emili]

@SheRai I have the charge 2 as well and it tends to pick up extra steps when I am clapping or vigorously shaking salt on popcorn. Otherwise it is pretty accurate. I would for sure follow the advice regarding changing the setting so it is less sensitive to your arm movements. Let us know how you make out...