what determines an active minute?

[brianaaron]

What determines an active minute? I actually went to the gym and it registered none. I did lifting. please advise

[nickp]

I am also kinda having some trouble with that. So far i just found that you have to manually enter it in

[mlint007]

I actually worked out on my elliptical for about an hour and it only registered 20 minutes as active???

[karan]

Active Minutes are tricky with these devices. Lifting weights wont help you acquire Active Minutes. 

Active Minutes are based on your walking and the speed at which you step. The workings of this device calculate how many steps and how fast. Fitbit's are made more for walking/cardio lifestyles than lifting and gaining muscle. 

[shawni]

Hi Karan. Thanks for your sharing on how the active minutes works in fitbit. You mentioned that Active Minutes are based on your walking and the speed at which you step. For example, if I walked about 6000 steps per day, but only showing 2 or 3 minutes in Active Minutes... what do this means? My maximum Active Minutes so far is 14 minutes where by I hit 7,636 steps, 5.45 km distance, 1,797 calories burned. I am still new to fitbit and not much of my friends are using it. So, no one to seek for more information until I found this discussion group and on such topic. Thanks!  

[karan]

Hi Shawni, 

Active Minutes are dependent more on your speed than how many steps you take. Fitbit calculates these Active Minutes based on MET (metabolic equivalents). These units are used to notice the high-intensity activities you do where your body needs more oxygen. So the number of Active Minutes increases when you exert more energy than usual (walk at faster pace, jog, run). For example : If you walk 6000 steps in a day but only have 4 Active Minutes, this means that for those 4 minutes you walked faster then the rest of the day. Lets say that in 1 of those 4 minutes you walked 150 steps but a 'Non-Active Minutes' minute you walked 100 steps. That would be the difference between Active and Non-Active minutes. Further, if you were to walk 6000 steps in an hour compared to a person who walks 6000 steps throughout the day, the first person could  possobly have all 1 hour as Active Minutes. 

To put it simply, walk at a brisk pace or jog/run in order to gather more Active Minutes. 

Walking = Increase in step count 

Faster walk/jog/run = increase in steps and increase in Active Minutes. 

If any persons is wanting to lose weight or become fit, it may not always be better to take more steps. Active Minutes is important as you are exerting more energy which will burn fat more easily than more steps. 

Sorry for the long explanation but hopefully this helps. 

Do let me know if there is anything else I can help with as I am very happy to do so. 

[NativeSFGirl]

I agree about walking vs. running/jogging.  I am a fast walker by nature but I never get active minutes for my walking.  When I run at lunch I get the active minutes.  I am not a fast runner mind you (10:30 or 11 minute mile) but those minutes do always show up as active.  I also do weight lifting as well and that never shows up as active, although my heart rate does increase quite a bit.

[karan]

Hi NativeSFGirl, 

Ive heard many people point out that they do weight lifting but never get the minutes for it. But you have to keep in mind that Fitbit devices are meant to count walking/jogging/running type activities. Every counting aspect (# of steps, Active Minutes, Floors, Distance) are based on walking/jogging/running activities. 

These devices are made to be both a Pedometer (step counter) and Gyroscope (maintain orientation based on angular momentum). Since it has properties similar to a Gyroscope, the device can help to count the Active Minutes. 

So although a person may do weight lifting or anything of the sort it will not be counted. 

I believe though that the website has space where you can enter in activities like that. 

I always use the Fitbit device as solely motivation. It is a good way to compete with others too that you may have friended. Yes these devices are awesome and have helped many people, but I believe it shouldnt be fully relied on as a weight loss/getting fit tool. 

Keep up the good work. 

[NativeSFGirl]

Thanks Karan. 

I totally agree and use it as a gage of my overall movement in a day for sure, not taking it all too seriously right now.   I am excited though for when they come out with an accurate fitness monitor with a HRM built in.  I think this would solve the issue of weightlifting as it would pick up the increase in heart rate and add in the calories burned more effectively.  Do you agree?  Hoping Fitbit is working on this technology now (hint hint, wink wink FITBIT). I know it exists in sport watches and the such, but those are way out of budget at the moment for me at least.

[Nekton]

I notice when I work out on the treadmill that when I am walking at 3.0 mph or less (warmup/cooldown) it isn't an active minute, but when I am above 3.3mph (roughly), then that counts. So, if I work out for 20 minutes, maybe 16 of those minutes register as "active". 

[Mary]

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@Nekton wrote:

I notice when I work out on the treadmill that when I am walking at 3.0 mph or less (warmup/cooldown) it isn't an active minute, but when I am above 3.3mph (roughly), then that counts. So, if I work out for 20 minutes, maybe 16 of those minutes register as "active". 

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@Nekton  You are 6' tall and get active minutes at 3.3mph?  I would love to know how they pick the cut-off for people.  I am 5'4" and get them at around 3.7mph.  I notice some of the men here need to go over 4mph.  I figured it was height/stride based but apparently not.  When I had my stride set much higher, I had to go over 4mph to get them.  

Maybe it's a calories per minute value, so your weight and age matter, too?  It looks like I got them today for a 6 calorie/minute span of exercise.  

[Nekton]

Maybe I am taking shorter, quicker steps at 3.3mph vs 3.0mph? No idea. The Fitbit estimation based on height (.413*72") is pretty close to my measured stride length (29.7" for Fitbit, ~28.5" for measured) so I have left it at the default setting.

[Mary]

Mine is at default, too, and it's close for me, too.  

For a span of very active minutes, what are your calories per minute (burned) or per 15 minutes segment?  I think one of the guys said his VAM starts at 7 calories per minute.  That's pretty close to my 6.  

[karan]

I believe the Fitbit devices do take the age, height and weight numbers you put in upon creation and factor it in to how the device calculates the Active Minutes. 

This would explain why there are differences in how different people are able to acquire Active Minutes. 

Also the placement of the Fitbit device on the persons body will make a difference. I feel like the best position to have it is on a belt, pant side pockets or anywhere else near the waist line. 

[karan]

Hi NativeSFGirl, 

Its awesome to see your enthusiasm on these things. I believe that the HRM idea would infact solve the issue. 

If Fitbit doesnt do it than we should invent one for people on a budget 🙂  We could make some good money haha. 

[Nekton]

I am not sure of the time units (it looks like every 5 minutes), but on the Dashboard "calories burned" histogram, my sendentary burn is 7.6 calories, the bars turn yellow around 20-22 calories, and they're green (very active) starting at around 48 calories, so that's about 9 calories/minute. 

[Mary]

Thanks!  It looks like for us both we get VAM at around 6 times our sedentary rate.  

Though if Fitbit uses METs to estimate calories it doesn't make much sense because a 6 MET is 4.45mph, regardless of who you are.

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