How do I log activities and sleep?

[mdj1983]

I know the subject sounds a bit simple, but my question is more specific.

Let's say it's 3:30pm and I am going for a 30-minute walk.  Do I manually add "walk," beginning at 3:30 for a duration of 30 minutes before I go?  Or should I go back after and manually add "walk," beginning and ending at the right times?

To further clarify - when you're logging sleep, there's an option for "begin sleep now."  Is this possible with activity as well?  (I don't always remember the exact time I leave my house and when I get back, but I want to track when I'm explicitly working out rather than just walking around my house or office.)

Thanks!

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

Walking and running are exactly the activities Fitbit will be most accurate on for calories.

Don't manually add anything.

It's not a To-Do or Goal list, it's an activity tracker, what you already did, not plan to do.

Yes you can use the start activity for what you are saying beyond sleep activity - not for purpose of manually logging that because it's already done, but so you can see how you did to compare to later months. Getting faster, burning less since weigh less, ect.

[mdj1983]

Okay.  I used Google's MyTracks today when I went for a jog.  According to that I ran 1.55 miles. According to FitBit I went 1.21 miles.  How does FitBit get those numbers?

Clearly, my GPS-based app is more accurate on distance, but FitBit is more accurate on steps.  How can I get these numbers closer together?

[slysam · Accepted solution]

You can use the sleep timer to create an activity record. Te record shows you what fitbit tracked in that time. Meaning your stats: steps, distance, calorie burn, average pace, minute by minute breackdown. You can label or title it for your own future reference.  It is the same process as using the sleep timer, fitbit just categorizes it based on the movement data.

[Heybales]

---

@mdj1983 wrote:

Okay.  I used Google's MyTracks today when I went for a jog.  According to that I ran 1.55 miles. According to FitBit I went 1.21 miles.  How does FitBit get those numbers?

Clearly, my GPS-based app is more accurate on distance, but FitBit is more accurate on steps.  How can I get these numbers closer together?

---

Fitbit estimates your stride length based on height.

Then based on weight and impact when it senses full length strides, it has a distance to use, and the calorie burn to estimate.

Must be off for you for any number of reasons, mainly average is not you.

Find a track of known distance (wouldn't use GPS for this as smaller distance is more inaccuracy possible).

Walk at normal pace (not race walk, not grocery store shopping walk) a portion of it while counting each right foot landing (you count, don't rely on Fitbit).

Distance / (2 x counted steps) = stride length.

Change settings in your user settings under weight/height.

Same test jogging typical speed. That would adjust as you get lighter and leap farther or stride improves.

[jtm3]

Adjusting your stride length as suggested by Heybales may help but at least with my One, it never tracks my distance or steps very well when it comes to running.  It is very accurate when walking but even though I've adjusted my stride lenght for running too, it just doesn't pick up all my steps.  When I run, I go back and manually input the time and distance based on reading from my Garmin GPS watch.