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Water and fitbit flex

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Italian_Buju
Italian_Buju Posts: 8,030 Member
in Social Groups
Hello....

I am wondering if anyone regularly wears their fitbit flex in the pool? I know it is water resistant and I wear it when I am doing dishes and stuff, but take it off when I am showering, mostly just so I can wash and moisturize my wrist....but I want to exercise in the pool and am wondering how safe that is?

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  • Italian_Buju
    Italian_Buju Posts: 8,030 Member
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    BUMP
  • alexandraxpwns
    alexandraxpwns Posts: 1
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    I wore my flex in the pool a lot last summer and there hasn't been any damage. :)
  • Italian_Buju
    Italian_Buju Posts: 8,030 Member
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    Oh good, I really want to wear it in the pool, I was just nervous...thanks!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I don't know about the pool-- they tell you not to submerge it. However mine has been in the shower daily for months and I've worn it to the beach a few times and it's been fine.

    Is there a particular reason you want to wear it in the pool? It isn't going to be able to accurately gauge swimming calories.
  • Italian_Buju
    Italian_Buju Posts: 8,030 Member
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    Yes, it is because I like to take aqua aerobics and I want those steps to be seen on my dashboard count....
  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
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    unknown_sister wrote: »
    Yes, it is because I like to take aqua aerobics and I want those steps to be seen on my dashboard count....

    For something like aqua aerobics I would enter that as an exercise, not via stepcount, because you're doing more than just moving your feet and walking.
  • Italian_Buju
    Italian_Buju Posts: 8,030 Member
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    Then I am losing a lot if time and steps that won't get counted on my dashboard. I take it off to shower every day and by the time I put it back on I lose about an how worth of steps, if I take it off for that too, those days I would lose two hours and a lot of 'active minutes'.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    You aren't getting any active minutes in the shower or pool, if by active minutes you are referring to the middle calorie burn time that is official Fitbit category.
    Unless you dance in the shower. And you likely can't take that many steps in the pool.
    Besides, how is it going to see impact?

    Oh, shaking of the arm to count as "steps" that aren't really. So no care at all about calorie count and eating to a good estimated daily burn, merely step count goals?

    Make sure you wear it cooking too then for those "steps".

    This is merely the same thing as folks on MFP that like to log every single thing they do during the day for extra calorie burn to show up for whatever reason. Cleaning 20 min, cooking 30 min, carry groceries 5 min, pushing shopping cart 30 min, ect.
  • Italian_Buju
    Italian_Buju Posts: 8,030 Member
    edited January 2015
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    Um, that was an interesting response.....perhaps I should have explained myself better? Or are you always just rude like that??

    When I shower, I am saying, I do not take it off just for the ten minutes I am in the shower, but for about an hour, until I am dressed and have done skin care etc....during this time, I take MANY walks back and forth throughout my house from one end to the other collecting things, hanging towels up, whatever may come up, and none of those steps are counted, and I am alright with that.

    When I am in the pool, aquafit is aerobic activity....so a good part of it is water jogging and doing typical aerobic activities such as grapevine etc, so those are a lot of steps that are not counted for. As well, doing this for 45-60 straight minutes, with my heart rate up and running around the pool, those are active minutes.....

    I thought that was pretty self explanatory in my post, but I guess not to everyone..
  • xcalygrl
    xcalygrl Posts: 1,897 Member
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    I think you'd be better off just logging the activity on FitBit. You'll probably see a better estimate of burn that way than via wearing the Flex to your aqua aerobics class. It will still give you active minutes if you log the exercise as an activity. They have a similar database to MFP's exercise database, but it is a bit more accurate than MFP's burned numbers.
  • Italian_Buju
    Italian_Buju Posts: 8,030 Member
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    When I walk track, for example, I do not log that here at all, because my fitbit is already 'logging' that, as far calorie and step count. I have never logged anything ON the fitbit website itself, always through here....guess I will have to look into that.....
  • MSlaterSr
    MSlaterSr Posts: 9 Member
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    Losing steps and activity that you performed could actually benefit you in the long run. If you burn more calories than is recorded you will actually have less calories added to your allowed calorie intake. If you follow the app closely and you are otherwise truthful you will end up eating less calories than you are actually allowed. The more calories you don't eat equals the more weight loss you will have. If you feel comfortable that your fitbit will not be ruined by the water just wear it. Any lost recorded activity will actually benefit you in the long run. The whole point of having the fitbit is to have it record your activity for you anyway.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    She isn't concerned with the calories - merely missing steps that could count towards the dashboard.

    And yes, I actually got the point of the desire, though I was wrong about your point of wearing it in the shower.

    And again, I doubt it'll count as active minutes even if it could see the steps decently.
    Active minutes is a calorie burn of 3 x your resting calorie burn.
    And you just won't have enough impact to your steps for it to think you are walking that hard.

    Manually logging it yes, I'll bet you can, because then you are providing the calorie burn. But I'm not sure what the goal is beyond getting more steps seen.

    Wasn't trying to be rude - but couple others asked similar questions or made similar comments about just manually logging it - but you wanted the steps specifically for the dashboard, so not the calories so much then.
  • Angierae75
    Angierae75 Posts: 417 Member
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    Honestly, there's no reason to take your fitbit off for your shower. Just leave it on if you're worried about losing steps. I've showered with my fitbit every single day since I got it in September. It's fine.
  • ckchilds
    ckchilds Posts: 5 Member
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    I have been wearing a fitbit (zip) for a year. Mine is not waterproof so I do not wear it in the pool. The fitbit does not measure swimming or cycling or any activity that isn't step-based. In fact, when I swim and log my activity in MFP, all my fitbit calories disappear, even if I walked 3 miles. I don't know why MFP asks what time I swam if they can't figure out that my fitbit was doing nothing for that hour while I was swimming, and therefore it should add the activity, not override it.

    I think the fitbit is great for tracking days when you walk a lot or run, but is not very useful for other activities.

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