1 calorie a minute cycling?!

[sarahw12]

Hi.

My Surge seemed to be giving low calorie readings for bike rides (circa 200 cals/hour, but getting lower (not from improved fitness- my routine is unchanged for several months)). Reading around, it seemed HR readings aren't all that accurate during cycling, so I'm trying tracking my rides with HR turned off.

Tracking with GPS and times, Fitbit then calculates I'm burning 1 calorie a minute (so today, 82 cals for a 14.77 mile ride at 12mph).

If I enter the same time/distance data as a *logged* ride, it calculates around 500 cals (vs MapMyRide at around 1100). I think 500 is probably fair, but I'd like to be able to get that sort of value on a tracked ride.  

Does anyone have suggestions? Thank-you!

[YojanaFitbit · Accepted solution]

It's great to see that you've visited the Fitbit Community @sarahw12! Welcome. 

I'm glad you're doing your research about how Fitbit trackers work when tracking HR during biking. Just to have a little of background I wanted to clarify some points about it. Our PurePulse heart rate tracking is the only heart rate technology to offer automatic, continuous wrist based tracking for all-day health insights and workout intensity. It is uniquely designed to measure heart rate all day, with using optical heart rate sensors. 

That being said, I think that using the Multi-Sport option using GPS on your Surge to track your Bike activities is the best option to get a accurate information, since it combines all the features from this tracker (Heart Rate, GPS tracking to bring the mileage and Calories burned calculation using your BMR). Since this is using the 3-axis implementation which allows the accelerometer to measure your motion in any way that you move, will make its activity measurements more precise than older, single-axis pedometers. Also it uses the hear rate information to calculate the intensity of your workouts.

The option to log manually activities was created to help trackers with no HR on it, so they can calculate data using provided information by customer. In your case it's best to use all the readings from your Surge

I'm not an expert in Biking, but after doing some research on how many calories you burned while biking; I found out that the amount of calories you burn biking in 20 minutes for example, depends on how much you weigh and how fast you cycle. There are some examples:

• "A leisurely bike ride of 10 mph or less will burn fewer calories than cycling faster in a 20-minute period.
• A 150-lb. person biking at less than 10 mph will burn 90 calories in 20 minutes, according to the Calories Burned Biking website. By increasing the speed to 12 to 14 mph, that person will burn 198 calories in 20 minutes.
• A 200-lb. person will burn 120 calories with a leisurely bike ride, but traveling between 12 and 14 mph will burn 264 calories in 20 minutes.
• A 240-lb. person will burn 144 calories in 20 minutes, while more vigorous biking will burn 317 calories." 

You can track your next Bikes using this option, and test how many calories you burned depending on the intensity of the activity. Make sure all your Profile information is accurate since your Fitbit Surge will use it to calculate your calories for all your activities. Please note, that you're comparing different Apps and different trackers, you wont get the same reading since they work in a different way. For more information about accuracy of our trackers you will find information in this help article.

Hope this helps, I'll be around in case you have questions! 

[sarahw12]

Thanks Yojana.  Using the data you give, and the fact that I weigh 180lbs, and cycle at 12 to 13 miles an hour, you will see that I would be expected to burn around 600 calories in an hour, rather than the 60 which the Fitbit calculates without the HR tracking; or even the 200-300 it gives with HR tracking.

The HR tracking gives a very similar reading during cycling as it does during walking (whereas it gives a much higher reading during karate, running, or rock climbing).  I am therefore reasonably confident that the HR reading is inaccurate during cycling, for me- probably because of the unavoidable flexion of the wrist.  *Therefore* I'd prefer to use a method of tracking the ride which excludes the HR data.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @sarahw12! Thanks a million for responding! I would like to see the overall and details that you're getting in your Fitbit Dashboard, would you mind posting a screenshot the activity? I'm very interested in understand how you're getting those calories. Is your HR reflecting when you change the intensity of your workouts? 

We can check that information and see, if we need to troubleshoot your Fitbit Surge.

I'll be waiting for your response! 

[sarahw12]

Here is a slower ride from today (it was very windy!)

....and a walk from a couple of days ago, showing that the HR it logs for walking is higher than for cycling....

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @sarahw12! Thanks for your prompt reply, those pictures were of great help! I'm intrigue about this issue. I look really carefully the information on the graphs, for some reason HR data is giving that low reading. The strange thing is that is not happening for all the exercises. So, I'd like you try some steps that might help to solve this issue:

1. On the Fitbit Surge, swipe to get the Settings, to turn "Off" the Heart Rate monitor
2. Restart your Surge a couple of times 
3. Sync your Surge with your Fitbit Account
4. Then go back to Settings on the Surge, to turn it "On". (not Auto)
5. Sync your Surge with your Fitbit Account once again

Test your Surge for your bike activities choosing "Bike" and other using the "Walk" option. I'd also make sure to wear it in the correct way, in this post you will find some tips. This will help me to determine if it is something regarding the Fitbit App or the Surge hardware. If you can send both screenshots, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your kind cooperation! 

[sarahw12]

Hi Yojana!  Here are today's screenshots. The HR for the bike ride IS higher than sometimes, but still considerably lower than for the walk.  I don't know whether it might be relevant, but all my walks are auto-detected, and my bike rides are done via the Exercise menu?  However, the HR for running seems accurate, and that's also through the exercise menu.

Again, not sure if it's relevant (And it doesn't matter at all, if not, because I don't care AT all how many times I've been upstairs), but I think that often when I'm cycling it will think that I've gone up a looot of stairs during the ride.

[ProfFarnsworth]

I know this is an old post, but I had a similar issue with the Surge. It was solved by placing the armband a little higher up on my wrist. If you are still having this issue (or if others have the same one), just try shifting the watch after you've been riding for a little while (you may need to loosen it a bit). See if that causes a sudden "increase" in heart rate registered by the Surge. If so, then that was very likely the issue for the low calorie count. I automatically shift my watch at the beginning of every ride, now, and it seems to work just fine.

[YojanaFitbit]

Hi @ProfFarnsworth, thanks for coming to the Forums to share your experience with Fitbit. Welcome!

Actually, that's a really good advise most of the people doesn't know that we need to follow this suggestions to properly wear the Fitbit trackers. Thanks a million for sharing and please keep posting your comments around this helps other users with similar issues.

See you around.