Strange things your Fitbit records as exercise

Tania_181
Tania_181 Posts: 100 Member
edited May 2017 in Social Groups
Had a driving lesson on Monday. Looked at my Fitbit later that day and it had logged half the lesson period as exercise. Needless to say I deleted that record!

Replies

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    not much really...it recorded my flower bed cleanup aka gardening as "sports" which was fine...
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Just so you know - that Activity Record that is auto-created - is nothing more than a snapshot of the stats for that block of time.

    Deleting the record doesn't change the stats.

    So if there were a bunch of bogus steps, or just enough along with your elevated HR (you didn't mention which device) that Fitbit thought a workout was going on - then calorie burn was likely inflated during that time too.

    Now - if 15 of your day, big whoop - your food logging has more inaccuracy than that - don't worry about it.

    If this was a long over-the-road CDL driving lesson - might be worth correcting by manually logging a workout of driving to wipe out the false steps and calorie burn.
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
    Not much here either. When I first got it, it logged hundreds of steps while I was sitting talking to a friend over lunch for 2 hrs. I do talk with my hands a lot, but still. ;) That hasn't been as much of an issue past the first week or so; I'll get a minimal amount of false steps but doesn't seem to affect the calorie burn. There are also times during the day when I don't get step credit b/c I'm carrying something so my arms aren't moving; the two tend to cancel each other out.
  • lunamare
    lunamare Posts: 569 Member
    Mine logs driving my Jeep and my snowmobile as "Outdoor Biking". I laugh at it.
  • DrizztGirl82
    DrizztGirl82 Posts: 85 Member
    I went to a concert once and was moving a little in place. When I looked later it said I went on an 'outdoor bike ride'! lol, that was funny to me.
  • sjh2k
    sjh2k Posts: 1 Member
    Just those reasons alone of people reviewing the Fitbit worn on wrist and it reading arm movement incorrectly as steps is EXACTLY why I got Fitbit One clipped on my clothes near chest. I'm very happy that it records steps very accurately. How that helps some who have trouble with ones worn on wrist.
  • jenniferinfl
    jenniferinfl Posts: 456 Member
    I have a blaze and I've really never gotten anything like that.. lol These are great though. I've driven for an hour and not had it log a single step.

    The only thing sort of odd was that I was sitting on the recumbent bike playing Minecraft with my kid. I was wearing my fitbit on my wrist, but, I kind of rest my hands against my upper body while gaming. One time, apparently my upper body moved enough while peddling that it counted it as like the slowest elliptical exercise ever.. lol I think it was something like 59 calories so I didn't worry about it, and, that probably wasn't too far off from what I'd burn for a half hour on the recumbent bike.

    I just sit on the recumbent bike so that I'm not completely sedentary while gaming, I never actually count it as I'm just casually peddling.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    sjh2k wrote: »
    Just those reasons alone of people reviewing the Fitbit worn on wrist and it reading arm movement incorrectly as steps is EXACTLY why I got Fitbit One clipped on my clothes near chest. I'm very happy that it records steps very accurately. How that helps some who have trouble with ones worn on wrist.

    This has little to do with where the device is worn - but rather the newer devices that attempt to guess what a workout is based on movements - happen to be wrist worn HR-based units.

    You could have the exact same effect from a hip worn device, certain motions there look like elliptical, or jogging, or whatever else they could decide to attempt to see.
  • Tania_181
    Tania_181 Posts: 100 Member
    heybales wrote: »
    Just so you know - that Activity Record that is auto-created - is nothing more than a snapshot of the stats for that block of time.

    Deleting the record doesn't change the stats.

    So if there were a bunch of bogus steps, or just enough along with your elevated HR (you didn't mention which device) that Fitbit thought a workout was going on - then calorie burn was likely inflated during that time too.

    Now - if 15 of your day, big whoop - your food logging has more inaccuracy than that - don't worry about it.

    If this was a long over-the-road CDL driving lesson - might be worth correcting by manually logging a workout of driving to wipe out the false steps and calorie burn.

    Thanks for the advice. When I saw the same thing had happened again I manually logged two hours of driving and it removed the 'outdoor biking' and associated calories for me.
  • lar25473
    lar25473 Posts: 183 Member
    I have anxiety and sometimes when my heart rate spikes I see that I had so many minutes of exercise haha!!
  • AmbitiousRooster
    AmbitiousRooster Posts: 12 Member
    It frequently records playing soccer with the girls I nanny as outdoor biking.
  • kuranda10
    kuranda10 Posts: 593 Member
    Tania_181 wrote: »
    heybales wrote: »
    Just so you know - that Activity Record that is auto-created - is nothing more than a snapshot of the stats for that block of time.

    Deleting the record doesn't change the stats.

    So if there were a bunch of bogus steps, or just enough along with your elevated HR (you didn't mention which device) that Fitbit thought a workout was going on - then calorie burn was likely inflated during that time too.

    Now - if 15 of your day, big whoop - your food logging has more inaccuracy than that - don't worry about it.

    If this was a long over-the-road CDL driving lesson - might be worth correcting by manually logging a workout of driving to wipe out the false steps and calorie burn.

    Thanks for the advice. When I saw the same thing had happened again I manually logged two hours of driving and it removed the 'outdoor biking' and associated calories for me.

    If you use the DriveBit app, it automatically creates the activity for you
  • kuranda10
    kuranda10 Posts: 593 Member
    It's not so much logging an exercise, but it likes to log my pilates session as sleep time.
  • ruqayyahsmum
    ruqayyahsmum Posts: 1,514 Member
    Only thing mine does is when im jogging it logs it as elliptical. Guess i have an odd jogging gait
  • tumsashrinks
    tumsashrinks Posts: 21 Member
    I fell down the stairs yesterday and my heart rate spiked to 140 while I tried to get up, figure out if nothing is broken and get to the car etc., since I also dropped my phone a floor below, I was really stressed. And of course due to that elevated heart rate, Fitbit recorded the time period as an exercise. So, falling down the stairs = exercise :D
  • NicoleBurgoz
    NicoleBurgoz Posts: 43 Member
    I supposedly did 45 min on an Ecliptical yesterday, not even sure what I did (yard work most likely),
    strange thing though was, it didn't record it as exercise.

    I also went 73 floors today (gardening again) & got a whole 20 min of exercise ;)