Which hand is more accurate

[Alicia11789]

I am I groomer, there for a scissor dogs with my right hand for a straight 8- 12 hours aday maybe 5 5min breaks a day in between and for a portion of my day maybe 1/2 - hour a day I spent doing harder labor, brushing bathing hand drying dogs which my fit bit often records as exercise only when worn on my dominant hand.... I have about a 500 - 800 calories a day difference from wearing it on my right hand compared to left and average about 8-10,000 more steps.... which is correct?   They are just so drastically different for a similar days work. 

[SantiR]

@Alicia11789 Welcome to the Fitbit forums! I moved your post to the iOS Board as there are more chances for you to receive an answer to your inquiry here.

By any chance, are you changing the dominant hand setting? If you are changing your tracker from wrist, you need to change the setting as well for it to be accurate:

• Open the Fitbit app.
• Tap the tracker tile on the top left corner.
• Tap "Wrist".
• Change it accordingly.

1. The dominant wrist setting decreases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any over counting of steps when your body is not moving.
2. The non-dominant wrist setting increases the sensitivity of step counting and should reduce any under counting of steps. Non-dominant is the default.

Try that out and let me know how it goes! 

[Alicia11789]

Thank you yes as I change it back and forth  I switch the settings, I'm just thinking because I use my right hand so vigorously for 8-12 hours a day and my left minimally that it is causing this... I just wonder which hand is closer to my accurate calories burned...     on my days off the readings on each hand are similar and during work outs each hand seems to give similar results, it just during my work hours that the difference is so drastic, does Fitbit calculate calories from steps? Because if so my repetitive right hand movement give me about 10,000 extra steps a day I'm seeing compared to my left hand which stays usually in a stationary position supporting the dog on my table, while my right hand does the scissoring, brushing, drying etc. 

[Alicia11789]

O and my activity minutes on a work day on my left are between 30-60 on my right it's always between 200 - 300.... could this cause the calories difference? 

[Alicia11789]

Last Monday on my right vs the Monday before on my left... comparable work days though... both days had between 8-9 clients and worked about 10 hours plus Zumba class in the evening....    I'm so confused on which hand to believe!

[CarolynRTR]

Did you ever get an answer to this, perhaps on a different thread? I understand what you're asking, and that is definitely something that needs to be answered. That's a huge difference  I think Fitbit starts determining calories burned by using date you initially provided, weight, height, age to determine your BMR, and then adding what the Fitbit reads as steps and exercises, plus what you add manually. 

Unfortunately for us, using one hand in the manner you describe, cutting an animals hair, seems too easy for all the extra burned calories. If I were you, on a typical workday, I would keep a secondary fracker, such as your phone, in your pocket. I would write down the days activity, how long you spent standing, how long you sat, how much was vigorous activity, such as your Zumba, pretty much document everything you did while awake during a 24 period. Then go to one of the many websites in which you can manually enter weight, height, age, and all of that days activities, steps, Zumba etc , and have the website then calculate estimated calories burned for the day. I'd use two different websites, and then compare what the Fitbit says. The Fitbit is going to be less reliable than inputting everything by hand, so you'll know which arm reading is closest to correct when comparing.

I would love to see the Fitbit company's answer to your question however. But one thing I'm going to mention to you is that mine isn't near that far apart when using left versus right wrist while engaging in an activity somewhat close to what yours is. Mine is sitting in place painting, so the moves are similar to yours, with the rest of my body besides right wrist, arm and hand are sedentary.

Good luck! 

[Alicia11789]

Thank you yes I'm doing my own little experiments... I only sit about 20mins during a work day, so I wonder if it knows I'm standing vs. sitting...  I will let you know if I find the answer!