Wear fitbit during exercise or log exercise?

[SunsetRunner]

Hi everyone,

I have a "best practices" question. I do a variety of different kinds of exercise, from lifting weights to running to cardio dance to HIIT to downhill skiing! Should I leave my fitbit (I have a One) on for these and assume it is correctly tracking my activity? Or should I take it off and log them separately? Or should I wear it AND log the activities? It seems obvious when I go for a run, but when I went skiing a few weeks ago, I was out for hours and only recorded 9 very active minutes.

Thanks!

Jen

[ccibif]

I do not wear mine certain workouts, primarily because Fitbit-Flex (as described by Fitbit) is designed to worn in general walking around or daily activities or perhaps power “walks”. When I engage in a workout such as cycling, I have that activity stand on its own and log it in. I believe Fitbit may get “confused” with certain workouts other than walking. As an example, when I weight lift its primary only counting my steps between stations, not the strength training and that calorie burn. But I will wear it for that and others wear I am walking and my strong arm is in motion as part of the workout. I do not wear it for cycling.

[TandemWalker]

@ccibif - That's the best approach, one that we share. In so doing, you don't pollute your true step counts with half-baked steps from non-step activities.

    TW     

[bbluvssuperdrew]

Solved

[Paradise555]

I got a zip and I always leave it on besides the shower and bed.

[Mr_Beren]

Similar questions today having worn my Charge while killing myself on my new Bowflex MX5 and getting almost nothing (800 ish) in terms of steps. I did add an exercise activity, but it seemed to "double up".

[Heybales]

An Activity Record (button press or manually created) is merely a snapshot
of the stats (steps, distance, calories, HR) that Fitbit saw for that block
of time.

It is not added to the daily stats, it's a view from the daily stats.

You could also create a manually logged Workout Record which replaces the
Fitbit stats for that block of time.
And if Activity Record was created first - the picture doesn't change.
The Workout record though changes the stats.

No doubling up. View it on your profile, not your Log Activity section of
Fitbit - you'll see they are put in different areas.

[iMike]

I'm not familiar with the FitBit One, I use a Charge HR.  When I go biking I always turn on the stopwatch/exercise counter so that the FitBit knows I'm not just doing regular walking/steps.  Since I bike a lot I also have a GPS-based app on my iPhone called "Map My Ride."  The calories burned are close enough.

As for HIIT - I do something called Orangetheory Fitness from time to time.  They have you wear a chest-strap with a heart-rate monitor on it.  At first the FitBit heart-rater tracker was WAY off for the HIIT, then I upgraded from a size Large to a size XL.  The extra room and the freedom to move the tracker higher up on my wrist made the heart-rate count VERY close.

[sante10]

"Also, you are viewing it appears an activity record, the result of hitting the button on the device.

That is NOT adding that info to the daily stats - it's viewing for that block of time those stats from the daily stats."

This is a quote from above.  It doesn't make sense.  There is something grammaticaly wrong with your first sentence.  Please be clear and explain.  What does:   "You are viewing it appears an activity record, the result of hitting the button on the device" mean? 

Viewing what?  Hitting which button? 

All I want to know is if I am wearing my Fitbit 24-7, should I manually log in elliptical, stationery bike, water aerobics, dancing?  It seems that Fitbit does pick up these activities as steps, especially dancing and elliptical.  I have been manually inputting them as well because I exert more energy on both of those activities.  I can't seem to find a direct, clear answer to this question.
So what is the direct, clear, yes or no answer?

[Heybales]

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@sante10 wrote:

"Also, you are viewing it appears an activity record, the result of hitting the button on the device.

That is NOT adding that info to the daily stats - it's viewing for that block of time those stats from the daily stats."

This is a quote from above.  It doesn't make sense.  There is something grammaticaly wrong with your first sentence.  Please be clear and explain.  What does:   "You are viewing it appears an activity record, the result of hitting the button on the device" mean? 

Viewing what?  Hitting which button? 

All I want to know is if I am wearing my Fitbit 24-7, should I manually log in elliptical, stationery bike, water aerobics, dancing?  It seems that Fitbit does pick up these activities as steps, especially dancing and elliptical.  I have been manually inputting them as well because I exert more energy on both of those activities.  I can't seem to find a direct, clear answer to this question.
So what is the direct, clear, yes or no answer?

---

It doesn't make sense because you didn't reference what device I was commenting to. If not the same as yours - sure it would be confusing.

And I was not sure from their comment what they were viewing exactly - if they didn't follow up - we will never know.

That would be like trying to tell someone how to set the clock in their car - and then you read the instructions and lo-and-behold - it doesn't match your unnamed car.

You are aware how many Fitbit devices there are right?

HR based and step based.

You failed to mention which device you have - therefore a clear answer can't be given.

The fact you seem to not know about a button suggests an older device, non-HR-based. But I could be wrong and you just haven't discovered the way to start an activity.

Which device you have must be known before commenting on those workouts you mention - some of which are non-step based and should be manually logged if you have a step-based device, unless you have a HR-based device, in which case no need to manually log.

[sante10]

Hi, Sorry I forgot to mention, I have the Fitbit Flex.

Just got it about a month ago.  It is not HR based.

[Heybales]

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@sante10 wrote:

Hi, Sorry I forgot to mention, I have the Fitbit Flex.

Just got it about a month ago.  It is not HR based.

---

So no button to manually start an activity record (which is just a snapshot of the stats for that block of time) unless you use the sleep function manually, and then online/in-app manually change it to a workout from sleep.

This would allow you to view the stats for that chunk of time rather than being buried in the daily stats.

The only way to compare a current against prior workouts as far as steps or calorie burn.

Except -

Any non-step based workouts - elleptical, rowing, biking, swimming obviously, lifting, ect - need to be manually logged anyway if they were of decent time and good intensity, if you want good calorie burn calculation with it.

This manually created Workout Record is going to replace the Fitbit calorie burn for that chunk of time except steps/distance anyway.

So if you are curious about potentially inaccurate steps and meaningless distance say doing Spin class - you'd have to manually create an Activity Record in-app or online, by noting the start and finish time of the workout. Probably not worth the effort and potential confusion.

Then after you get that snapshot, you'd have to create a Workout Record to replace the calorie count with something more accurate. (this replaces the calories in the daily stats, but not the snapshot in the Activity Record if you created one.

To illustrate - you have a team at work you are getting a photo of, while someone is videoing the whole process.

You get the picture, and then realize Ted didn't belong in there, Bob did. The video continued and it showed Bob, then you get another picture, correct.

Still got a picture with Ted, but another with Bob, and Bob is in the video till the end.

Your other workouts - walking, running, dancing, aerobic classes (unless weight lifting based) - are all step based. No need to add a Workout Record to correct anything.

If curious about the steps and distance and calories for that workout, to compare later - then create an Activity Record - you'll need start and finish times to do that manually after the fact. Within 5 min is close enough.

[sante10]

Sent from my iPhone

[NancyPat]

The only activites I do and track manually are ones which involve getting wet (FitBit Flex is not waterproof). So swimming, canoe paddling, dragon boat racing, and running in the rain.  I prefer having FitBit track steps - because that's why I love it - it keeps me honest!  For the manually entries I do, I look up the calorie burn based on googling the activity and calorie trackers vary on line.  Many of the activity groups I belong to don't like to take into consideration manual entry activities because they can be inflated so easily.  Unfortunately, there are not to many fitness trackers (affordable) which track swimming laps or water sports.  All things considered, living an active life isn't all about being good for your body. It feeds the heart and soul.  And makes life more rich and rewarding in other ways.  Keep on FitBitting 🙂

[sante10]

Thanks for the explanations everyone.

I appreciate it.

[RichGee]

I asked Fitbit help and they say it DOES double the steps if you wear a Fitbit AND log manually. Then again Fitbit help is a bit of a misnomer in my experience

[Heybales]

It absolutely does NOT double your steps, and only a few manually entered workout types even replace the steps Fitbit actually saw with the steps calculated from your manually entered distance and the stride length setting (walking and running for example). Most workout types don't have steps, so whatever Fitbit saw is left, only the calories is replaced, steps and distance is left. Check out my wall for Bike entries - bogus steps and distance remains for those workouts - calories corrected. But my manually entered Jog/Walk intervals compared to the record of pre-change shows what happens there - it's not a walk or run Fitbit workout, so the steps remains.

[RichGee]

Was that in English? Anyway I'm just saying what a Fitbit help rep. told me. I did say as well that their help desk is not very good 😊

Richard Gibson

[kcfit]

I was wondering the same. Wear it and log it in?

[Heybales]

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@RichGee wrote:
Was that in English? Anyway I'm just saying what a Fitbit help rep. told me. I did say as well that their help desk is not very good 😊

Richard Gibson

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I know you said a Fitbit rep told you that, and you said not very good support.

And before more incorrect info gets passed on and confuses people I wanted to correct the thing being said.

Keep using the Fitbit more and logging things - and you'll understand the other parts I'm talking about if you don't right now.

Others will, or will discover it too.

[RichGee]

Fair enough, I'll go with consensus. Actually what I was asking the help desk was about manually logging an activity. It may well be that if you use the phone app it will overwrite if you wear the tracker. Sorry for confusion. And apologies to Fitbit help if that is the case.