Can I make Active Minutes my main goal for Sense?

[leduck]

On prior Fitbit devices (Charges 2 and 3) I was able to make number of minutes active my main goal. It doesn't appear that this is an option for the Sense? Why not? This is the kind of goal in line with US physical activity guidelines and with better research support than step goals.

Does Fitbit have plans to add steps as a main activity goal for Sense?

Moderator Edit: Clarified subject

[NexusOne]

 

[Hadden8176]

So you can get activity minutes doing a very slow walk.  While you do burn basic calories you might not be in the targeted heart rate zone for your age, gender, and weight in order to be able to increase weight loss, lower your resting heart rate, and lower blood pressure. The goal now has changed by the American Heart Association. Fitbit usually tries to incorporate any new heart health guidelines from the Amerian heart Association into its programs and devices. You can read more about the newest active heart zone guidelines from the AHA here https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/fitness/fitness-basics/target-heart-rates

[bobby2478]

If you are referring to not getting credit for all activity under Active Minutes, To @Hadden8176 point, Active Minutes has been replaced by Active Zone Minutes. Active Zone Minutes uses heart rate, and you have to be in the "Fat Burn" heart rate zone or higher to get credit.

For example, I took a leisurely walk for an hour yesterday and only got 4 Active Zone Minutes. That's because the majority of the time my heart rate was below the 119 BPM threshold for being in the Fat Burn Zone

[Hadden8176]

 Yes. YOu can revert your device back to active minutes in your settings if you want. There has been alot of debate here on the board about which is better active minutes vs active zone minutes

[bobby2478]

I can see the value of Active Zone Minutes, the part that's weird however is if your heart rate doesn't get high enough you get ZERO credit even if you are up and moving. They should incorporate this, perhaps giving you 0.5X point credit towards your goal. For example, if you were active for 30 minutes but below the threshold for Fat Burn, if it were 0.5X you'd get 15 mins credit towards Active Zone Minutes. Or they could reduce it even further to like 0.25X or something.

I can see that by getting your heart pumping faster it's better for your heart and you should get credit for that, but it seems odd to say moving even at a leisurely pace is no better than sitting and not doing anything at all; the fact you are up and moving should count for something. They should find a way to merge the Active Minutes and Active Zone Minutes together to account for this. Moving at all should give you at least partial credit towards your activity goal even if it isn't as strenuous of an activity.

[bobby2478]

@Hadden8176 you mention you can revert back to Active Minutes instead of Active Zone Minutes. I look under the Sense Settings as well as Fitbit app (Android) and don't find the option for this anywhere. How do we select whether we'd like to use Active Zone or Active Minutes?

[Hadden8176]

I did it on my versa 2 but I guess for the Sense there is no option. Maybe call customer support and they might be able to help.

[Hadden8176]

So I don't think it's possible to change the goal on the Sence like you could on the versa 2. There is a new watch face for the Sense that shows both active minutes and active zone minutes. The watch face name is Digital Globe. It's not one of the prettier or fun watch faces but it will show both active options. I hope this helps.