Jogging in place -- accuracy?

[fougamou]

With some nasty weather preventing me from taking my midday walk, I have found myself jogging in place in the evenings to get my calorie burn up.

Fitbit gives me "miles" credit for this.   Does Fitbit's algorithms know that this is jogging in place and not actually road running? Am I getting the apprpriate calore adjustment?   I THINK I am, but I am not a runner so I don't know what I would be getting if I were to actually go out and run. (FWIW, I have a ONE)

[Ali]

I have found that the accuracy for jogging in place is very good. I am a bit obsessive, comes from being an accountant, and sometimes count my steps for a minute to two then compare. In icy weather I walk inside, recently using the Leslie Samsone videos (YouTube). I have also found my step count to be consistent day to day with the 4 mile workout.

[Dominique]

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@fougamou wrote:

Fitbit gives me "miles" credit for this.

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For Fitbit, "miles" aren't a distance measured from A to B. They are the result of the multiplication number of steps x stride length. Fitbit knows how to count your steps even if you jog in place. It will either use the default stride  length for your height, or the one entered by you in your settings.

[CarolS]

"Your mileage may vary", or at least I'm sure mine does.  I walk, jog, step/jog in place, etc.  My step length varies depending upon whether I'm strolling with the dog, getting pulled by the dog, walking on a smooth sidewalk, walking or jogging on the treadmill, and so forth. 

For me, counting my steps is like comparing apples to apples.  The mileage estimate is interesting and I do keep track of that on my spreadsheet, but my #1 goal is STEPS.  So, I don't really set a mileage goal, but rather a daily step goal.

[Heybales]

I was curious and someone I was helping was willing to test themselves.

She wore a HRM for her 15 min walking in place, and noticed the distance given and calories burned.

They also had a treadmill, so got on there and found the pace that gave the same HR.

So using pace and weight and time, found their calorie count. (Gross option, more accurate than HRM).

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html

Matched the Fitbit within 5% for distance and calorie count.

I was shocked, I thought for sure the impact would have Fitbit thinking longer strides or possibly jogging, and give a bigger calorie count.

Now, she said she did indeed raise the knees up, so no gentle steps in here case. And it got her sweating even in 15 min, just like treadmill did.

So her's matched up well.

Oh yeah, as a shut-in, I found her routine very interesting. About 12 hrs during the day, she would spend 5 min of each hour walking in place like that. Equal to 3 hrs total during the day. She backed off from 10 min because she didn't want to eat that much.

[SunsetRunner]

sorry to bring up an old topic, but I thought it would better than creating a new one

been thinking regarding the accuracy

walking stride is the shortest, with the running stride the longest, but jogging is in the middle

yet fitbit counts it as running, are the calories earnt correct?

not too bothered regarding the miles being incorrect, as I don't do much running, I've now changed the running stride to my jogging stride, so ignore my previous miles, which is a shame, as then the badges for the miles earnt when jogging were not really earnt

but if the fitbit counts it as running, it will then give you calories based on running, jogging is less intensive than running but more intensive than walking

[Heybales]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

sorry to bring up an old topic, but I thought it would better than creating a new one

been thinking regarding the accuracy

walking stride is the shortest, with the running stride the longest, but jogging is in the middle

yet fitbit counts it as running, are the calories earnt correct?

not too bothered regarding the miles being incorrect, as I don't do much running, I've now changed the running stride to my jogging stride, so ignore my previous miles, which is a shame, as then the badges for the miles earnt when jogging were not really earnt

but if the fitbit counts it as running, it will then give you calories based on running, jogging is less intensive than running but more intensive than walking

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There is only walking and running.

Jogging is a form of running - many view it as mental attitude toward the workout.

Running is pushing yourself hard, not about pace.

Jogging is purposely holding pack the effort because it's perhaps longer or recovery run or easy day, ect.

Another way it's been said, runners stand at lights, joggers jog in place.

That being said, you only need 2 divisions - but, each would should represent the middle of the range of possible paces.

Meaning walking stride length shouldn't be exercise pace, then the device won't be able to adjust with as good an accuracy to the grocery store shuffle pace that may be the majority of the day.

Just as running may be from slow jog of 4.5 mph going up steep incline to downhill sprint of 10 mph - those ranges are extreme and rarely done.

So perhaps your normal workout pace is 6 mph, though you'll go a tad faster and slower sometimes.

Workout the stride length for that middle pace - and give the Fitbit the best chance possible of adjusting up and down with accuracy.

It measures the actual impact and hang time and compares with weight and given stride length and estimated impact, to calculate how far off the stat was that actual step you just took.

From that comes pace, with weight comes calories.

And actually from the viewpoint you are looking at it - the calories per mile is about the same across walking to running, tad more with running, and really about the same jogging to running.

So if distance was semi-correct, calorie burn is correct.

Now, calories per time is obviously different as you can go farther in same time if pace is faster.

[Dominique]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

yet fitbit counts it as running, are the calories earnt correct?

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Calories burned, as reported by Fitbit, are an estimate anyway. There’s a neat infographic that shows the error margins of "calories out" estimated by fitness trackers (it even mentions two Fitbit models) and other methods:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/problem-with-calorie-counting-calories-out

Part one ("calories in") is also interesting:

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/problem-with-calorie-counting-calories-in

Bottom line: both "calories in" (even when meticulously logged with MyFitnessPal) and "calories out" (obtained by wearing the fanciest Fitbit) are estimates.

[SunsetRunner]

add to that walking at a fast pace

walked 2 reservoirs today, Fewston and Swinsty Reservoir

now strangely enough, all the iphone were pretty close, the app Moves, GPS? however, not 100% as I didn't look at the phone at all, but I'm sure there was no signal being in the middle of no-where, I suppose it could have been the accelerometer

steps done were similar to what the fitbit says, distance done in the app Moves is similar to what the actual distance done is, but the FitBit was over 1 mile off

2 parties, one at a fast pace, the other at normal leisurely pace

the only reason I can think of is that Fitbit registered those steps as walking, despite walking at a faster than normal pace, slightly slower than the people jogging there, according to Moves, just under 6.5 miles in just over 2 hours

which means if I walk faster than normal, it will be wrong, just like joggers who do some running/spinting, or runners who do some jogging/sprinting

I need Fitbit to update the firmware to have normal walking pace, fast walking pace, jogging and running 😉 and for others sprinting?

I presume it shouldn't really be that hard? measure the time between the steps to determine the pace? the shorter the time between the steps, the faster the pace

[Heybales]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:

add to that walking at a fast pace

walked 2 reservoirs today, Fewston and Swinsty Reservoir

now strangely enough, all the iphone were pretty close, the app Moves, GPS? however, not 100% as I didn't look at the phone at all, but I'm sure there was no signal being in the middle of no-where, I suppose it could have been the accelerometer

steps done were similar to what the fitbit says, distance done in the app Moves is similar to what the actual distance done is, but the FitBit was over 1 mile off

2 parties, one at a fast pace, the other at normal leisurely pace

the only reason I can think of is that Fitbit registered those steps as walking, despite walking at a faster than normal pace, slightly slower than the people jogging there, according to Moves, just under 6.5 miles in just over 2 hours

which means if I walk faster than normal, it will be wrong, just like joggers who do some running/spinting, or runners who do some jogging/sprinting

I need Fitbit to update the firmware to have normal walking pace, fast walking pace, jogging and running 😉 and for others sprinting?

I presume it shouldn't really be that hard? measure the time between the steps to determine the pace? the shorter the time between the steps, the faster the pace

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It actually is harder than you think. Hang time is not the major part of the calculation.

Actually, even with running, going up and down a hill seem to report from the accelerometer the opposite of what is happening.

Up a hill is shorter hang time and less impact - that would appear to mean shorter dynamic stride therefore shorter distance and less calories.

But the opposite is true for calorie burn.

Down a hill is longer hang time and more impact - that would appear to mean longer dynamic stride therefore longer distance and more calories.

But the opposite is true for calorie burn.

And distance is wrong in both cases. And sadly if you run up and down near the normal form efficiency - they do not balance each other out.

You have a lot of curves in your route?

How do you know the app Moves is accurate.

Shoot, GPS with good signal isn't accurate depending on amount of turns and speed.

Plot the app's route against a map and see.

[SunsetRunner]

lets say for example for walking they have set 3 seconds, running 1 second, so for jogging they set 2 seconds

As it is, I have changed my stride length etc for running to jogging as I don't run

But like you said it is just as guess, it does not take into account the slope, temperature etc

[SunsetRunner]

The reservoir themselves tell you the distance of the walks

[brianjohnson]

I have had surgery on my knee so use jogging on the spot as a major form of exercise. Fitbit's calculation is far too high. Relied on it and consumed more calories and started to gain weight.

[Dominique]

If you think you know better than Fitbit about your energy expenditure for any given activity, there’s a mechanism in Fitbit for overriding its "inaccurate" calories: manual logging of said activity. 

[brianjohnson]

Sigh! It's exactly what I am doing.

[cmanninen]

I noticed the same thing they over estitmate how much you burn and way over compensate how much you should be eating to even stay on track somehow. Same issue with the food calorie thing. I am sticking to my myfitnesspal for logging of food and ignoring their food charts.