active minutes how they work????

[bedamon]

So i just got the fitbit flex for christmas and I understand everything but the active minutes part, because i can walk on the tredmill for an half an hour but it dosnt log as being active could someone please explain how they work

[SunsetRunner]

This help article goes in depth about active minutes.  The gist of it is that FitBit uses METs to determine activity.  1 MET is equivalent to at rest.  In order to be "active" FitBit needs to show an MET level of 3 or above.  So if you are going on a slow walk it may not be active enough to count as "active minutes" by the standards FitBit uses to calculate that.

[josephz2va]

or in simpler language: the more aggressive you are, the more active minutes you gain.

Just walking on the treadmill is not active unless you're wearing a polar strap and going for 130+ BPM. The harder you're exercising over 130 BPM, the more active minutes you gain. The more effort you put into an exercise, the more active minutes you gain.

I generally suggest to people, use the elliptical instead of the treadmill. Treadmill, goes up and down. Only puts pressure on your legs. And doesn't have variable speed difficulty. Elliptical uses your legs, arms, and core to put all the effort to earning a burn. The more resistance the elliptical generates to reach 130-148 BPM, the stronger your core will gain.

The longer you can stay on the elliptical as well, the more core minutes you earn. The maximum most professional ellipticals go is 99 minutes.

[petitchef]

i only use the elliptical and did 30 minutes yesterday. i saw the break down and i want to say a good 90% was fat or cardio levels, yet it only recorded 10 minutes as active. annoyed