Charge 2: Hundreds of steps logged while eating lunch?!

macchiatto

I just got a Charge 2 a week ago so I'm still getting used to it. (I had a Flex for a while last year so I'm not entirely new to Fitbit.) Today I was looking at the breakdown of my step count in 15-min increments. I met a friend for a 2-hr lunch and I was getting 100-200 steps per 15-minute increment even though we were sitting the whole time!

Anyone else have this issue with their Charge 2? Is there a setting I can adjust? Do I just apparently talk with my hands a whole lot?

malibu927

If you haven't yet, check off that your Fitbit is on your dominant wrist even if it isn't. This will minimize a lot of those false steps. I'm right-handed, wear my Blaze on my left wrist, but have dominant wrist marked.

heybales

Curious - look at the 5 min daily graph and the calorie burn.

despite the steps during that block of time - how many calories burned was reported?

You can even make an activity record out of it to see the specifics.

Usually when false steps are seen, they are minor, and given minor calorie burn.

macchiatto

Thank you both for your help! I didn't see how to get the five minute increment view but checked calorie burn. I will also switch the setting to dominant wrist.


(Yesterday involved a lot of sitting. The lunch in question was 12:10-2:10. For reference, I was driving from about 7:10-7:45, in a lecture 8-9:15, sitting leading a group 9:30-10:45, sitting in a meeting from 11-11:30, then driving again til 12, etc.)

macchiatto

I also don't think I burned any 2300 calories. :P (I'm 5'7" and 131 lbs and didn't work out yesterday.) Definitely not eating back all the calories though; ate about 1700 yesterday.

heybales

I'll bet ya that's about right for daily calorie burn, depending on how many steps is in your non-exercise day.

Perhaps tad more bogus steps than is true, so tad less calories.

Can't exactly tell how many calories on those 15 min blocks - but ya, looks high if that time range corresponds to the higher step count.

Now if that is indeed perhaps 28 cal average, that would mean a 2700 TDEE if maintained all day long - so really it's not that high.

Those low points are probably no steps so resting - and it's a tad under 1 cal/min, or BMR of below 1440.
So 14 for 15 min block of time probably about right.

If you hover over a 15 min block and see what the calorie burn is, that's what to compare too.
BMR is sleeping level burn, so those middle range blocks aren't that far from reality, so the steps didn't add that much.

macchiatto

Thanks so much, @heybales! I really appreciate your time and insight. Fitbit says I had 10,114 steps yesterday. When I hovered over the 15-min increments for that lunchtime slot they ranged from 23 to 35 calories burned (for comparison, 14 for sleep and 14-17 when I was sitting in the lecture).

And wow, that would be great if my TDEE is really that high! I actually just filled out your spreadsheet a few days ago (I love it btw!) and it estimated BMR of 1313 and TDEE of 1929 but I wasn't confident in my estimates of my daily activity beyond workouts. I'm definitely interested in keeping an eye on all my Fitbit, calories in, and weight data over time now that I'm moving back to maintenance to get a better idea of what it really is.