What does it count when I log Elliptical?

adrcerv

Hi everyone. I logged an Elliptical 10 min workout and I'm really confused. Today I only did 3 flights of stairs, but after doing the Elliptical, it showed that I did 20. I'm wondering if FitBit's manual logging will count the amount flights of stairs from the Elliptical? I also have about 4,000 more steps than usual. This is the first time I log the Elliptical, so I'm wondering if it has something to do with that.

Thanks for your time!

editorgrrl

Stairs do not affect your burn in any way—it's just a motivating metric. It's based on changes in air pressure, so you can get "flights" just walking outside on a windy day.

It has nothing to do with logging your elliptical.

ddellington

I find that when using the eliptical, the distance on my Fitbit Charge HR is less than what the equipment reads. Does it have difficulty counting actual steps because they're more fluid than when actually walking?

astrocosmiczoom

The elliptical definitely counts as steps for me. I tracked it once.

mangrothian

The elliptical does count as steps; I mean, you are stepping, there's just little to no impact when you're doing it.

ddellington wrote: »

I find that when using the eliptical, the distance on my Fitbit Charge HR is less than what the equipment reads.

The reason the distance is different between the elliptical and your fitbit is the difference in stride length. If the elliptical stride is longer than your walking stride, for the same number of steps, the fitbit will show a lower distance, because it thinks your distance per step is shorter than what you're actually doing.

I have the same issue when I'm running - my stride is longer than what my fitbit thinks it is, so for the number of steps I've done, by the time I've finished my run it thinks I've done 500m less than what I've actually covered.

heybales

It may or may not be decent at counting your steps - totally depends on how you happen to do the machine, and where your Fitbit is located..

And that is exactly why there are no good study formulas for getting calorie burn for elliptical like there is for walking and running.
Too many variables and methods of doing it.

And it's also why the Fitbit using it's built in formulas for walking and running is NOT going to give a good estimate for elliptical calorie burn. That's why it's NOT "step-based" exercise.

Now - you may totally luck out and from sheer coincidence, your distance calculated by Fitbit matches the machine and your calorie burn based on walking/running that distance and pace matches what a better estimate gives for elliptical.

If that is the case - go buy lottery tickets.

Otherwise, if using non-HR model of Fitbit - it needs to be manually logged if you want a decent estimate of calorie burn.

And nothing regarding steps or distance is overwritten when you do - only calories.

NancyN795

mangrothian wrote: »

I have the same issue when I'm running - my stride is longer than what my fitbit thinks it is, so for the number of steps I've done, by the time I've finished my run it thinks I've done 500m less than what I've actually covered.

Why don't you adjust your Fitbit running stride length?

cindyangotti

So are you saying to take the steps it gives us for the elliptical but also log it as a non step based workout?

editorgrrl

cindyangotti wrote: »

So are you saying to take the steps it gives us for the elliptical but also log it as a non step based workout?

You have 3 options, and it'll take trial & error to find which you prefer:
Don't log it;
Log it in Fitbit; or
Log it in MFP.

heybales

There are some purists that want the step count and goal to be purely about daily activity - no exercise included.
They remove the device for exercise specifically not to get "false" steps that are not daily activity.

So whether you want the steps from the exercise or not doesn't matter - for the calorie burn aspect, manually logging it as the non-step based exercise it is, is more accurate.

mangrothian

NancyN795 wrote: »

mangrothian wrote: »

I have the same issue when I'm running - my stride is longer than what my fitbit thinks it is, so for the number of steps I've done, by the time I've finished my run it thinks I've done 500m less than what I've actually covered.

Why don't you adjust your Fitbit running stride length?

Because most of my activity is walking, where my stride is shorter and pretty spot on with distance. Unless I've skipped over an option, there's no specific setting for running stride length over walking stride length is there?

I've noticed it, but it's not something that worries me to much. For me, the fitbit is a general record of my daily activity, and it gets me off my butt. If the distance walked/ran isn't accurate, I'm not gonna lose sleep at night

heybales

In your Fitbit settings - right under the setting for stride length Walking - is Running.

It's a default length - which must not be correct. Nor the calorie burn based on running therefore.

mangrothian

heybales wrote: »

In your Fitbit settings - right under the setting for stride length Walking - is Running.

It's a default length - which must not be correct. Nor the calorie burn based on running therefore.

I can't believe I missed a setting that was so obviously there. Thank you.

Christine_72

mangrothian wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

In your Fitbit settings - right under the setting for stride length Walking - is Running.

It's a default length - which must not be correct. Nor the calorie burn based on running therefore.

I can't believe I missed a setting that was so obviously there. Thank you.

Don't worry. I didn't realise it was there either