Charge 3 is losing active minutes

[Optom76]

I had 46 active minutes today, 24 from a swim.  At my latest sync they have dropped to 18.  The swim still shows as giving me 24, but where have they (and the others) gone.  I have tried resetting the fitbit by holding down the button

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[MarreFitbit]

Welcome on board @Optom76, it's nice to see you here! Thanks for already restarting your Charge 3 in order to sort this out, nice way to go!

Fitbit devices calculate active minutes using metabolic equivalents (METs). METs help measure the energy expenditure of various activities. Because they do so in a comparable way among persons of different weights, METs are widely used as indicators for exercise intensity. For example, a MET of 1 indicates a body at rest. Fitbit devices estimate your MET value in any given minute by calculating the intensity of your activity.

You earn active minutes for activities at or above about 3 METs.  Minutes are only awarded after 10 minutes of continuous moderate-to-intense activity. You can view the CDC’s recommendations on the CDC website. 

If the same activity gives you active minutes one day and fewer active minutes the next day, remember that the intensity of exercise is key. Often what seems like the exact same amount of effort over the same distance in fact differs slightly enough to change your active minutes total.

Essentially active minutes are a measurement of time spent doing activity that is more intense than regular walking. If you want more information on how metabolic equivalents (METs) are calculated, I recommend the wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_equivalent. 

Additionally, I'd recommend taking a look at this post of mine to get more information about Active Minutes.

[Kristahaws]

 This post was not helpful. We are aware of how active minutes are calculated, that is not the problem.  The problem is That there ARE recorded active minutes and then all of the sudden, on the same day, the active minutes are no longer showing on the Fitbit! For mine, it originally said 13  Active minutes and then went down to zero and stayed that way all day long, despite all of my activity. 

[DiJ]

I have experienced the same thing. I originally registered >30 active minutes but when I Logged a specific exercise at a certain time and added the length of time, my active minutes have disappeared from the main dashboard and now say 0. The exercise tile has picked up my heart rate during the time but no active mins there either, even after a reset.

[AutumnGirl]

I am having this same problem and, as of now, it seems to be exclusive to swimming.  Last night, made a screenshot of my minutes and today most of those minutes are gone.

[AutumnGirl]

I just noticed that my minutes are in the full-size computer application.  So the exercise minutes in the full-size app are higher than the those showing in the mobile application.

[Baltoscott]

@AutumnGirl -- It may just be a refresh issue on your phone app.  What mobile app are you using? 

When I just tried to recreate your issue, I noticed after a sync that the active minutes on the fitbit app for my iPhone did not immediately update on the dashboard screen.  However, when it clicked through to active minutes detail screen (where you see active minutes for each day of the week), the total there was the same as shown on my CH3 and on the computer web app.  After going to the detail screen and then back to the main screen on my iPhone, the main screen also showed the same number of active minutes as on were on the computer, the watch and the detail screen.

[Baltoscott]

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@DiJ wrote:

I have experienced the same thing. I originally registered >30 active minutes but when I Logged a specific exercise at a certain time and added the length of time, my active minutes have disappeared from the main dashboard and now say 0. The exercise tile has picked up my heart rate during the time but no active mins there either, even after a reset.

@DiJ  - when you log a manual activity, that activity will overwrite any active minutes your fitbit recorded for the time period of the manual activity.  Depending on what you put in for the manual activity, you might wind up with more, less, or the same number of active minutes.  If you log a step-based manual activity, (walk, run, hike, etc) you will also overwrite the steps your fitbit recorded during that time period.  Instead, fitbit will calculate steps based on the distance you put in for the activity divided by the stride-length fitbit has in your personal info settings.  

[AutumnGirl]

I'm using the blue Fitbit app with the 13 white dots. 

Within the iPhone App Dashboard:

- When I go to the active minute detail on the (the circle with the lighting bolt), it does not have my swimming minutes. 

- I did discover that when I click on weekly exercise in the app (the runner), that detail does have my swimming minutes.

So the minutes shown in the Fitbit app Dashboard for "Active Minutes" detail and for the "weekly exercise" detail inconsistent when swimming is included.  Swimming is not showing under "Active Minutes".

I tried these two actions and they had no impact:

- I restarted the Fitbit.

- I deleted the app from my phone and downloaded it again. 

[AlliB84]

Why does logging it after the fact, overwrite the recording of the active minutes etc that it actually picked up during that period? I'm not understanding your response @Baltoscott. All of the data should still be the same other than the time period is now recorded as a specific activity? Otherwise, what is the point of even logging activity??

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@Baltoscott wrote:

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@DiJ  - when you log a manual activity, that activity will overwrite any active minutes your fitbit recorded for the time period of the manual activity.  Depending on what you put in for the manual activity, you might wind up with more, less, or the same number of active minutes.  If you log a step-based manual activity, (walk, run, hike, etc) you will also overwrite the steps your fitbit recorded during that time period.  Instead, fitbit will calculate steps based on the distance you put in for the activity divided by the stride-length fitbit has in your personal info settings.  

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[Baltoscott]

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@AlliB84 wrote:

Why does logging it after the fact, overwrite the recording of the active minutes etc that it actually picked up during that period? I'm not understanding your response @Baltoscott. All of the data should still be the same other than the time period is now recorded as a specific activity? Otherwise, what is the point of even logging activity??

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@Baltoscott wrote:

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@DiJ  - when you log a manual activity, that activity ...

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@AlliB84 — why?  It is just how it works.  By manually logging an activity after the fact you are telling Fitbit not to use the data it recorded for that time period because you think it is inaccurate and that you think a different activity would be more accurate.  People sometimes log activities manually because they forgot to wear their Fitbit or had to take it off for some reason.  Or because because they feel it wasn’t getting an accurate hr or movement reading to reflect an accurate calorie burn (yoga, for example)

If if all you want to do is change the label of an activity without affecting the active minutes recorded, you could start a general activity (workout) from the device and then change the name of that activity (select that actual record and change the name) after the fact.  Just don’t overwrite  it by manually picking an exercise from the pick list and then manually entering time and distance.  

As as an aside, if you enter a manual activity and don’t like how it changes your daily stats, just delete it and Fitbit will recalculate active minutes etc based on the movement and HR recorded by the device.

I hope that’s a bit clearer.  

[d.plante]

My fitbit has been doing the same.  It will read my active minutes and then they will vanish which is frustrating to say the least.  This week I had 7 days of active cardio and now it's down to 3 days! 

[sheen084]

Me too! I had five days of exercise this week this morning and tonight, all of a sudden, it’s only shoeing three. The exec use activities have disappeared both in the app and the full online log and thus is the second time exercise activities have just disappeared for me. So annoying!

[Vonnib816]

My Fitbit charge 3 just wiped out 17 minutes of logged exercise from earlier in the day.  I believe it occurred after washing hands and getting the device wet, but I immediately dried it off.   This is so frustrating, the charge 3 is supposed to be water proof to a certain degree.