Fitbit logs 30 minutes of sport after 1,5 hour of roller derby practice

[Marww]

Hi there!

I've had my fitbit Inspire HR for about a week now, so I'm still figuring things out. So far: I like it!
However: I was wondering about it recognizing my excercise, how to log it manualy and how the calories are calculated.

If I've been cycling (to work) it logs cycling for the correct amount of time.
However, on Friday after a 1,5 hour roller derby practice, it logged 'sports' for 45 minutes.
On monday I had another roller derby practice and it logged 30 minutes of 'sports'.

Now, I realise it doens't recognise my obscure sport but I find it odd that it only recognises 30/45 minutes when I'm moving around with a high heart rate for way longer.
So my first question is: why could this be and can I solve that?

If I can't solve this I want to log it manually. But I was wondering if there was a list of all the activities I can log. Roller derby isn't one of them and rollerskating doesn't really cover what I do.

And lastly: how are the calories calculated. Is this based on my heart rate (and weight/height/age), or does fitbit have some sort of standart list for calories burnt per activity?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity. 

[AndreaFitbit]

Thanks for getting back to us @Marww. I´ll be glad to assist you with your exercise inquiry. 

Fitbit devices are not designed to register the type of activity you are performing and that´s why you don't get the total time when practicing it. 

The calorie burn estimate that Fitbit provides takes into account your BMR (basal metabolic rate, that is the rate at which you burn calories at rest just to maintain vital body functions like breathing, heartbeat, and brain activity. Your BMR usually accounts for at least half of the calories you burn in a day and is estimated based on the physical data you entered when you set up your account: sex, age, height, and weight), the activity recorded by your tracker, and any activities you log manually.

To manually log an activity:

1. Tap the Today tab 
2. On the Exercise tile, tap the + icon > Log Previous. 
3. Tap a recent activity, or search for an exercise type.
4. Enter the activity details, and tap Log It.

There's a list of activities and you can create a custom activity on the online dashboard:

Please let me know if you have more questions. 

[Marww]

Hi! Thanks for you answer. It doesn't answer my question completely though.

Can you tell me which types of excercise I can search for? I see 'bike' and 'outdoor bike', but what are the others?

Also: if I look at my activity, I see the amount of calories burnt per 15 minutes. When I'm sleeping these are lower (if I do some quick calculating this rate would be my BMR), and when I'm active these are higher, which is logical: it's my BMR + whatever activity I'm doing, right? If I were to log an activity, would the calories burnt match with this graph? Or would the amount of calories depend on the activity I log?

[AndreaFitbit]

Thanks for getting back to us @Marww. I´ll be glad to continue assisting you. 

Where do you want to search for these type of exercises? On your device or on the app?

What you mentioned is correct. BMR + activity.

Which graph are you talking about when you´re talking about the calories? Burned calories depend of the activities you log. 

I´ll be waiting for your response.

[Marww]

Okay, so this is my calorie chart from yesterday

I've skated to my roller derby practice, and back. My fitbit recognized this as around 30 minutes of walking. I changed the activity to roller skating (on my computer). It didn't change the graph or the calories burned.

In the time between skating to and from practice, I had a (bit slow, relaxed) practice for 1,5 hours. Fitbit thought I was doing 'sport' for 12 minutes. Again: it's not a problem that fitbit doesn't recognise this as Roller Derby. But when I wanted to log the practice manually it actually changes the graph, lowering the amount of calories burnt.

Why does this happen?
I thought fitbit calculates the calories burnt according to weight/height/fatpercentage and most of all: heart rate. But this seems that the type of excercise logged changes the calories burnt.


I want to see which types of exercises are available. On the app or website, doesn't really matter.