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@LexiJRamirez and @SunsetRunner -
For the Ionic and Versa "Family" of Smartwatches and previously for the Charge 4, there have been changes to not only Active Zone Minutes vs Active Minutes but FitBit has also changed the formula for the Heart Rate Zones.
FitBit has apparently rethought its definition of "active".
- It used to be "Is your body active".
- It is now "Is your heart active and how active is it".
FitBit has incorporated what is commonly referred to as the "Heart Rate Reserve" (HRR) formula for defining Heart Rate Zones. When calculated using HRR, they are often referred to as "Training Zones". A FitBit Community Council member whose opinions and support in the boards I happen to admire, pointed me to a New York Times article regarding HRR. But everything in the article seemed to be about athletes in training, including an Olympic hopeful in canoeing, and not your regular John and Jane Doe.
I believe FitBit is doing their members a disservice by not allowing them to opt out of HRR and retain the Traditional Heart Rate Zones formula, and have stated so numerous times.
Just so you understand how the zones changed -
The Heart Rate Zone calculations have moved from the Traditional formula which are straight fixed percentages (50, 70 and 85%) of your Max Heart Rate which is defined as subtracting your age from 220. For me, as a 68 year old male, my Max Heart Rate is 152. Traditional zone values for me are shown in the first data row below.
BTW, there is another tweak to the "traditional" method for women where 88% of the female's age is subtracted from 206 to get their Max HR. So, for a 31-year old female, Max HR would drop from 189 (220 - 31) to 179 (206 - 27). But FitBit apparently does not subscribe to that definition.
As I mentioned earlier, the new formula being used by many FitBit devices, including the Versa 2 as of the latest release, use a value called Heart Rate Reserve. Subtracting your resting heart rate from your max heart rate results in that reserve.
40% of the reserve is added to your resting heart rate to establish the beginning of the Fat Burn Zone.
60% of the reserve is added to your resting heart rate to establish the beginning of the Cardio Zone.
85% of the reserve is added to your resting heart rate to establish the beginning of the Peak Zone.
The new Heart Rate Reserve formula zones for me are shown in the second data row below.
Couple the new zone definitions with the change to heart rate defining "Active" changes things, something you have already observed.
For instance, you take a 30 minute walk without getting your heart rate up to at least Fat Burn.
- In the past you would be awarded 30 active minutes, or close to it. If you were burning more than 3 times your resting calorie burn (BMR) and you don't have to be in Fat Burn to do that.
- Now you will receive zero Active Zone Minutes because you were "below zone" for the whole walk.
Probably not what you wanted to hear, and I'm normally a pretty big cheerleader for the FitBit device/app combination, but to spring this on people with:
- No warning and
- No option to "opt out"
in my mind is unconscionable.
Good luck ladies, and welcome to the boards.
Best Answer
@LexiJRamirez and @SunsetRunner -
For the Ionic and Versa "Family" of Smartwatches and previously for the Charge 4, there have been changes to not only Active Zone Minutes vs Active Minutes but FitBit has also changed the formula for the Heart Rate Zones.
FitBit has apparently rethought its definition of "active".
- It used to be "Is your body active".
- It is now "Is your heart active and how active is it".
FitBit has incorporated what is commonly referred to as the "Heart Rate Reserve" (HRR) formula for defining Heart Rate Zones. When calculated using HRR, they are often referred to as "Training Zones". A FitBit Community Council member whose opinions and support in the boards I happen to admire, pointed me to a New York Times article regarding HRR. But everything in the article seemed to be about athletes in training, including an Olympic hopeful in canoeing, and not your regular John and Jane Doe.
I believe FitBit is doing their members a disservice by not allowing them to opt out of HRR and retain the Traditional Heart Rate Zones formula, and have stated so numerous times.
Just so you understand how the zones changed -
The Heart Rate Zone calculations have moved from the Traditional formula which are straight fixed percentages (50, 70 and 85%) of your Max Heart Rate which is defined as subtracting your age from 220. For me, as a 68 year old male, my Max Heart Rate is 152. Traditional zone values for me are shown in the first data row below.
BTW, there is another tweak to the "traditional" method for women where 88% of the female's age is subtracted from 206 to get their Max HR. So, for a 31-year old female, Max HR would drop from 189 (220 - 31) to 179 (206 - 27). But FitBit apparently does not subscribe to that definition.
As I mentioned earlier, the new formula being used by many FitBit devices, including the Versa 2 as of the latest release, use a value called Heart Rate Reserve. Subtracting your resting heart rate from your max heart rate results in that reserve.
40% of the reserve is added to your resting heart rate to establish the beginning of the Fat Burn Zone.
60% of the reserve is added to your resting heart rate to establish the beginning of the Cardio Zone.
85% of the reserve is added to your resting heart rate to establish the beginning of the Peak Zone.
The new Heart Rate Reserve formula zones for me are shown in the second data row below.
Couple the new zone definitions with the change to heart rate defining "Active" changes things, something you have already observed.
For instance, you take a 30 minute walk without getting your heart rate up to at least Fat Burn.
- In the past you would be awarded 30 active minutes, or close to it. If you were burning more than 3 times your resting calorie burn (BMR) and you don't have to be in Fat Burn to do that.
- Now you will receive zero Active Zone Minutes because you were "below zone" for the whole walk.
Probably not what you wanted to hear, and I'm normally a pretty big cheerleader for the FitBit device/app combination, but to spring this on people with:
- No warning and
- No option to "opt out"
in my mind is unconscionable.
Good luck ladies, and welcome to the boards.
Best Answer@SunsetRunner -
While I do have a back injury dating back to my service as a Marine (way back), I also take Beta Blockers due to a viral attack on my heart in 2017. As such, my heart rate is throttled even during exercise, the Harvard Medical School and more importantly my cardiologist has advices reducing the traditional Max Hr by 20%.
FitBit has not taken either your back injury or my medication into consideration when they forced the "Training Zones" on you and I, as well as I believe, thousands and possibly millions of others when they do not allow for their customers to "opt out" of the new "features".
In the meantime, you do have an alternative. You cannot change from Active Zone Minutes back to Active Minutes, but your can redefine your heart rate zones by overriding your Max HR.
Your cannot perform that action in the mobile apps at this time, but...
You can change it in the Settings page in the Web Dashboard, save the change and sync your device. Of about a dozen people that have tried that when I recommended it, only one individual could not get it to take. Once person had to log out of the app and back in for it to take.
For me, I can offset the effect of the Beta Blockers, by changing my Max HR to 120, as shown below:
And you need to stay on top of it. The FitBit servers routinely reset the Custom Max HR override back to the "default" value of 220 - age. It has happened to me three times in the past 2 weeks.
Good luck.
Best Answer
