Ionic Incorrect Active Minutes

[Lmrphy08]

I have done spinning with a heart rate over 100 for 30 minutes and only show 7 minutes of Active Minutes.  I track it on my Ionic Spinning exercise with the start & finish. The Ionic shows my resting hesrt rate at 69-70 so with a heart rate over 100 showing I am in the Fat Burning Zone shouldn't I have Active Minutes! I contacted FitBit live chat, he couldn't figure it out & said he would email me but I haven't heard back it's been 2 days.

So I got s reply, didn't answer the question which makes think he didn't read the transcript of my live chat!

Hi Lisa, 

Thanks for waiting for our reply, we appreciate your patience.

I'm part of the Ionic department team and I'll be happy to continue assisting you regarding your Ionic not calculating active minutes. We'd like you to check some information about active minutes in our help article at the following link: http://help.fitbit.com/articles/en_US/Help_article/1379​. Essentially active minutes are a measurement of time spent doing activity that is more intense than regular walking. If after reading the article you want more information on how metabolic equivalents (METs) are calculated, we recommend the wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent. 

Also, I was able to confirm that yesterday your Ionic tracked 21 active minutes during the day.

Please let us know if we can provide additional information.

Sincerely,

Benjamin V. and the Fitbit Team

[WavyDavey]

Hi @Lmrphy08,

The numbers are relative to your particular heart rate zone. For mine, 100 is on the low end of fat burn zone, and doesn't trigger any active minutes. I don't know the exact cut-off when active minutes start in, but both intensity and consistency of effort come into play.

[emili]

what helps me understand tracker behavior is leaving the app open and synched while I am doing a certain activity to see what my stats are through the entire activity. I don't know if that is possible based on the type of bike you use, but if you can, do it. you will see your HR through the entire activity and it may help you answer your question.

[Lmrphy08]

I don't understand because I start and stop the activity on the Ionic screen. I do watch my heart rate to make sure I keep it above 100, most of time it is around 115 & up.  I thought all activities would be counted as Active minutes when using the start and stop on an exercise.

[WavyDavey]

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@Lmrphy08wrote:

 I thought all activities would be counted as Active minutes when using the start and stop on an exercise.

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Sorry, that's not the case.It's possible to have a heart rate elevated enough, but not consistently so.

Could you post a screenshot of the heart rate chart from the activity? It may help us determine what's going on.

[Lmrphy08]

@WavyDavey

[WavyDavey]

Wow, this is a tough one to call. It looks like there is enough exertion there, but the chart is kind of choppy up and down.  I've had some charts that look like that, that didn't award any active minutes.

[Lmrphy08]

@WavyDavey

Above the heart rate graph shows 26 minutes Fat Burning Zone and 4 minutes cardio but the Active Minutes was 7. It is just crazy.

[Lmrphy08]

@WavyDavey

Not to beat a dead horse.  I looked at the links sent to me in the previous mentioned email. I came to the conclusion the code/formula for Spinning is incorrect, several other people have posted they didn't receive Active Minutes either.

 The #'s are METS.

[LPFD16]

I have noticed something similar, though it just started happening.  Up until this week, active minutes shown on my ionic would be a total of my workout minutes (used with the start/stop) and whatever activity I did during the day with exertion.  Starting this week, barely half of my workout time shows as active minutes.  Interested in why there has been a change.

[Colinm39]

The easiest way to see what your Active Minutes aren't doing is to create an Activity Record on the PC and analyze the per minute graphs for calories.  Fitbit make it too complex by quoting METs and all we are looking for is an Active Minute which is a minimum of 3 times your Sleeping/resting calories burn.  Ten 10 continuous minutes at that rate.

My post in this link has it in detail over a week ago and it takes you away from worrying about MET's..

I rarely see MET's mentioned in the forums now. Fitbit was always quoting the CDC guidelines.

[Lmrphy08]

@Colinm39 @LPFD16

My problem is Active Minutes per FitBit should be counted when you are doing low to moderate activity true you don't burn as many calories.  Everyone has different heart rate zones for what counts as Active. Mine is 70bpm resting  (Avg) to 173 (max. 220-47). So 50% is 86bpm, 67 to 70% is 115 to 121bpm. The Ionic and other HR Fitbit devices don't credit active minutes unless you are active at 65% or above which isn't necessarily a bad thing but from the FitBit articles a person should be earning Active Minutes at their 50% HR of their Max.  See attached FitBit explanation. FitBit has my HR range correct so why aren't people earning Active Minutes correctly 

[WavyDavey]

I'm not clear.  Where does it say that every bit of the fat burn zone should be credited as active minutes?

In the end, I think the MET chart was created as a general guideline. Fitbit has our actual heart rates, so it would seem they are able to target more closely what MET 3 looks like in terms of exertion. Active minutes is a concept Fitbit created, so it's difficult to say what exactly it should be.

[Lmrphy08]

@WavyDavey

Thank you for your reply.  Please know I understand FitBit is about living healthy and adding exercise/activity inyour  life. My previous FitBit was an Alta without HR monitor, so I received Active Minutes for doing above normal daily activities. With the Ionic I don't receive Active Minutes so easily, I have to have a HR at 65-67% of of my max HR in order to earn Active Minutes. I thought at 60% I should receive Active Minutes  I agree 50% (86 HR) is to low for active minutes but 60% to 70% is medium intensity? I like reaching my Active Minutes each day & seeing it. From what I have read 3 METs is at the low to medium end of intensity?  It just doesn't seem right at 60% a person doesn't earn Active Minutes.

[WavyDavey]

Hi @Lmrphy08,

How did the Alta calculate your active minutes without a HR monitor? I thoguht HR is the basis for active minutes, I'm not sure how a non-HR Fitbit could do that? (But all my Fitbits are HR-enabled so I don't know).

I do understand what you're saying about the apparent discrepancy, and clearly you've thought this through. Does this happen with other modes besides spinning?

[Lmrphy08]

Unfortunately I am unable to do many exercises as I am recovering from a pretty invasive foot surgery done in December. I have done chair cardio in which I don't earn Active Minutes for the entire exercise, again my HR is kept above 103 the max I have noticed is 135 bpm during the exercise. I have not used my FitBit to track the Aerobic session just used auto tracking. I looked back at my exercise & active minutes from when I had just the Alta & earned walking exercise minutes as well as Active minutes by staying moving. An example is 12/5 it shows I took a 17 minute walk & have 40 Active Minutes for the day. I am pretty sure I didn't take a walk but I was very busy cleaning my house in prep for my surgery . That is why I started researching Active Minutes when I realized I wasn't earning any. I found I am not the only one questioning this ithers with a HR Fitbit device have posted about not getting correct active minutes . The algorithm used to calculate Active Minutes obviously knows my HR zones but somewhere it doesn't count 60% as an Activity.  60% is being active?

[Colinm39]

@Lmrphy08The Alta would use the accelerometer and speed of steps (arm movements) and you will get higher active minutes.. I achieve the same with weeding, pruning, shoveling etc with all of my wrist based trackers.  I still achieve that with the Ionic and higher because of the HR.

Fitbit uses your calories as a combination of steps, accelerometer and the HR..

With your post about the 60% fat burning, I cut in at about 56% at an average of 80bpm for that minute to achieve that active minute as per the image, and you can check this by using the Active Record option and I have a Custom Activity for HR. This snapshot is part of the data in this link and the 4 calories bar is arrowed...

I would be interested in how you are achieving your Chair Cardio. If you create a Custom Record for that it will average the calories over time and you probably pickup all of you active minutes.

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@Lmrphy08wrote:

Unfortunately I am unable to do many exercises as I am recovering from a pretty invasive foot surgery done in December. I have done chair cardio in which I don't earn Active Minutes for the entire exercise, again my HR is kept above 103 the max I have noticed is 135 bpm during the exercise. I have not used my FitBit to track the Aerobic session just used auto tracking. I looked back at my exercise & active minutes from when I had just the Alta & earned walking exercise minutes as well as Active minutes by staying moving. An example is 12/5 it shows I took a 17 minute walk & have 40 Active Minutes for the day. I am pretty sure I didn't take a walk but I was very busy cleaning my house in prep for my surgery . That is why I started researching Active Minutes when I realized I wasn't earning any. I found I am not the only one questioning this ithers with a HR Fitbit device have posted about not getting correct active minutes . The algorithm used to calculate Active Minutes obviously knows my HR zones but somewhere it doesn't count 60% as an Activity.  60% is being active?

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[Lmrphy08]

@Colinm39

I can't find how to create a custom activity or the Active Record. I can tell you I don't receive the same amount of Active Minutes that I did on the Alta.

[Colinm39]

@Lmrphy08Thanks for getting back.. The Active Record and the Custom Record can only be created on your PC.. But, once you create the Custom Record it can then be used in your phone via the Exercise Tile and Previous..

I use the Custom Record to show my HR during sleeping or for any other activity that hasn't auto recorded etc.. The down side is that it averages the calories over the time period and you could lose active minutes as well as gain, depending on the effort over that time period.

Let's create the Custom Record.. Now on your PC at the Activity Log

Amazing... When I was creating this and testing for you, if it didn't have the name of the Fitbit wrist type device in the description. After adding the data, I  never got the HR graph... So Ionic at the start, I have tested more since that finding and now it is working with any name.. I get the HR graph...

When you create this type of graph you will get 24 plots/minute in the PC instead of the much coarser and averaged in the phone..  We all learn from these experiences..

Go to this on thje bottom of the Activity Log and ignore the other activities that come up of which some are the Fitbit Manual Activities and they won't give you a HR graph.  I have typed in the description.

Go to your phone now because it's easier to create the data because the phone gives you the calories automatically and once created you will find the created activity is on the PC immediately. (in my case it is just through the 4G network). The Custom Record should be there now on the phone.

In your Fitbit Dashboard tap on your exercise tile, tap on the stop watch, tap log previous, then enter Ionic and tap the Ionic Chair Cardio, fill in the data and you tap each ie date for an older date etc.,.and Log IT

Now an Activity record which is a non destructive copy of your data.. again the Activity Log and go to the Large Stopwatch

Click that and fill in the data. You can edit this record because a common mistake I make is the am/pm and the date.

When you have completed that you then click on the very small stopwatch and get the one minute bar charts..

You can edit the name if you wish opr enter it when you enter the data.

I use this BMR calculator to get an accurate measure of my BMR. It uses the same equations that Fitbit uses.  This calculator is only 5 calories out over 24 hours for me.... .. Divide the result by 1440 to give you your 1 x MET and then x 3 to give you the minimum calories for 1 active minute.

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@Lmrphy08wrote:

@Colinm39

I can't find how to create a custom activity or the Active Record. I can tell you I don't receive the same amount of Active Minutes that I did on the Alta.

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[Colinm39]

@Lmrphy08Thanks for keeping my mind active.. I decided to explore an activity I use while shopping and now, rather than all that work......

When you do your Chair Cardio use the Workout option and you get this result..  You can rename the Workout name but you only get one go at that.  Below is some cleaning up our home and some of it is using a stick Vacuum Cleaner..

The other option I posted is when you haven't recorded an exercise activity..  But it's all here when you use Workout and I'm surprised I only registered 411 steps in 79 minutes. I have the Ionic set to non-dominant, so the short movements on the stick vacuum were hardly detected.. Not the correct arm motion for Fitbit..