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wearing Fitbit on ankle?
Marianna93637
Posts: 230 Member
Sorry if I sound ignorant or not very knowledgeable, it's probably because I don't know that much.
I ordered a Fitbit Charge HR, and I should have it within the next couple of days. I'm very excited and I've been trying to read a lot about it. I know how it works, but it seems like things can get complicated, and have seen a lot of people complaining about overestimating, underestimating, solutions that work and those that don't...
So here's my question: would it work better if I wore it on my ankle?
In one discussion thread someone said that's where he wears his and it's pretty accurate.
-I was thinking by wearing it on the ankle the step could would be accurate, and the arm swings wouldn't add additional calories.
-I tend to talk with my hands, so I'm thinking that could make it think that I'm burning more calories. I'm a teacher, so when we go back to school, I'll be standing in front of my class talking, using my hands, I won't be exercising, but I think Fitbit my think I am.
- When I walk, I often don't use my right arm, I'm either holding unto my dogs' leash, or holding my purse, etc, although I could wear it on my left.
- Let's say I'm cleaning, washing dishes, vacuum cleaning, my arm will be working a lot but I wouldn't be burning too much calories. If it's on my feet, I think it would be more accurate.
Please let me know, and sorry if this is a silly question.
I ordered a Fitbit Charge HR, and I should have it within the next couple of days. I'm very excited and I've been trying to read a lot about it. I know how it works, but it seems like things can get complicated, and have seen a lot of people complaining about overestimating, underestimating, solutions that work and those that don't...
So here's my question: would it work better if I wore it on my ankle?
In one discussion thread someone said that's where he wears his and it's pretty accurate.
-I was thinking by wearing it on the ankle the step could would be accurate, and the arm swings wouldn't add additional calories.
-I tend to talk with my hands, so I'm thinking that could make it think that I'm burning more calories. I'm a teacher, so when we go back to school, I'll be standing in front of my class talking, using my hands, I won't be exercising, but I think Fitbit my think I am.
- When I walk, I often don't use my right arm, I'm either holding unto my dogs' leash, or holding my purse, etc, although I could wear it on my left.
- Let's say I'm cleaning, washing dishes, vacuum cleaning, my arm will be working a lot but I wouldn't be burning too much calories. If it's on my feet, I think it would be more accurate.
Please let me know, and sorry if this is a silly question.
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Replies
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FitBit tends to adjust to you over a couple of weeks. I don't see why it wouldn't qork, but if you change your mind and start wearing it on your wrist, I believe you'll have some inaccuracy until it adjusts.0
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The newer activity trackers are very reliable, even for the biggest hand-talker. I love mine and have found I can wave it around and even try to add steps by shaking it and it doesn't count them!
(not to mention wearing it on the ankle might not look like an activity tracker... If you know what I mean!)0 -
it's designed to go around your wrist
it's an HR tracker and needs the pulse point
another reason I prefer the zip0 -
FitBit specifically states that they do not recommend wearing it on your ankle.0
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It has settings for dominant vs. non-dominant hand. As for the step counting, I believe it does it by sensing the impact. It is possible to rack up steps by swinging your arm, but you have to do it with force for it to count them. Normal arm movements won't do it.0
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I usually wear it on my non dominant wrist (left) but set to dominate so I don't get credit for steps I don't take.
I do wear it on my ankle when I go grocery shopping or I'm pushing my 1.5 year old in a stoller....since it won't count steps when I'm pushing a shopping cart or a stoller.
I've checked that the accuracy is close by wearing my fitbit one at the same time. It's pretty close. And my heart rate seems consistent with what I'm doing...usually just walking so it's in the 90's to 120's. Which is the same if I were warring it in my wrist.
I don't wear it all day like that though. Just maybe an hour here or there.0 -
it does count steps when your arms arent swinging. it truly does. however, as to accuracy, mine alerted me that i reached my 10k steps the other night while i was sitting at my computer...so, you have to take it all with +/- of accuracy. its good but not perfect. (i have the surge and if i wore it on my ankle, i truly would feel like i was under house arrest. its enormous)0
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Love my Charge HR but I have two gripes: the three steps into my house do not a 'flight of stairs' make but Fitbit says it does.
The other gripe is the screen was VERY easy to scratch. Very very. So I ordered a set of screen protectors from Amazon, and they work like a phone cover. Get a multi pack because you'll be brushing this against clothes, bags, etc, and they will peel up. Put the protector on it when you first get it. I got a nasty scratch on my screen in the first 6 hours.0 -
I had a Fitbit flex that was so inaccurate (it never "adjusted" as someone suggested), I eventually just trashed it. If you are looking for your heart rate - you need to wear it at a pulse point (wrist). If you are looking for accurate steps - you may want to try it on your ankle. I found that talking with my hands, scrubbing the stove, hammering a nail - all added steps to the Fitbit. My real suggestion - cancel the order and get another brand.0
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Love my Charge HR but I have two gripes: the three steps into my house do not a 'flight of stairs' make but Fitbit says it does.
The other gripe is the screen was VERY easy to scratch. Very very. So I ordered a set of screen protectors from Amazon, and they work like a phone cover. Get a multi pack because you'll be brushing this against clothes, bags, etc, and they will peel up. Put the protector on it when you first get it. I got a nasty scratch on my screen in the first 6 hours.
My Fitbit does the opposite - it doesn't count flights of stairs. I live on the second floor in an apartment, and I can go up and down 5x in a day, and it'll tell me that I've climbed one flight. I agree with the scratching. I was pretty upset at first, but it hasn't affected the ability to read the screen, so I'm over it. It really should be tougher to scratch, though.however, as to accuracy, mine alerted me that i reached my 10k steps the other night while i was sitting at my computer...so, you have to take it all with +/- of accuracy.
I haven't had that happen. I wore my Fitbit Charge HR along with my old, cheap hip pedometer one day for a 45 minute walk, and the Fitbit gave me 2,500 less steps, so I don't worry about it giving me too many. I do mentally subtract 10% from the total daily calories burned that it gives me just for peace of mind, but since I haven't actually tried eating all of those calories, I don't know if that's necessary or not.
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You're over thinking things. Use it how it's intended to be used (on your wrist, as an activity monitor) and understand that all this calorie counting stuff (both cals in and cals out) are just a series of estimates.
Any increase you see from talking with your hands is going to be insignificant. Any "lost" cals from moving with stationary arms will be insignificant. If you think about it... a hard workout lasting 1 hour will burn 600 cals, and probably not even that. That's going at a high intensity consistently for an hour. How much do you think you're burning walking around a grocery store? I'm not saying you aren't burning cals, I'm just saying that things like that are insignificant in the bigger picture.
For most, "accuracy" is far more dependent on your consistency than it is on a particular method.0 -
I wear mine on my non-dominant wrist by default but when I sleep at night, I put it on my ankle. Gives my wrists a breather and still allows me to track my sleep movement.0
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I was tempted to do this when grocery shopping because having my hand on the cart causes it not to register steps. Unfortunately, I can't fit mine around my ankle.0
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You're over thinking things. Use it how it's intended to be used (on your wrist, as an activity monitor) and understand that all this calorie counting stuff (both cals in and cals out) are just a series of estimates. For most, "accuracy" is far more dependent on your consistency than it is on a particular method.
Agreed... IMO fitbit is the best tracker out there... they all are going to have faults, just use it as it is intended and see how it works for you... after a month or two you decide to switch it up then fine but at least give it a shot the way its intended.
I really love how my fitbit calculated my TDEE and helps me know when I've gone over budget or I'm under and need to eat a bit more... if nothing else my fitbit challenges me to get more steps every day, find more ways to get "active minutes" and shows me just how light a sleeper I am
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It's designed to be worn on the wrist. If you have a good reason to not wear it on your wrist (not allowed at work, for instance) then you can perhaps wear it on your ankle, taking reassurance from the fact that some people have experimented with wearing it on their ankle and said it seems reasonably accurate. However, that is anecdotal - it hasn't actually been studied.
It does not count arm swings, so don't worry about holding onto books, dog leashes, purses, etc. Fitbit has to filter out arm swing movement to detect the acceleration generated by a step. Yes, it will miss some steps that it should count and count some arm movements it shouldn't, but it evens out. Especially since Fitbit takes into account the intensity of the step when computing calories. A missed step won't have been intense enough to count for much calorie burn and a "phantom" step from daily activities probably won't be very intense, either. It's best not to obsess over your exact step count and trust Fitbit to have figured it out for the most part.
Pushing shopping carts is the one activity where I worry about it missing steps. I try to push one-handed when I can. Another option is to turn off the HR function and put it in your pocket, but I almost lost mine once doing that. (You do need to turn OFF the HR function because it will get really wild, really inaccurate HR readings in your pocket.)
Yes, the screen scratches more easily than would be ideal. A cautious swipe with a little acetone or a rub of toothpaste with a Q-Tip will help if your screen is hard to read. For some reason, I had more trouble with this when it was new. Now that I've had mine for almost a year, I don't seem to get bad scratches much any more.
Stair climbing counts are unreliable - at best. On a windy day I can get 100 flights just walking around the house, without going near the stairs. Other times, it completely misses it when I do climb a flight of stairs. So, I set my daily stair goal to 1, and ignore it.
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afatpersonwholikesfood wrote: »Love my Charge HR but I have two gripes: the three steps into my house do not a 'flight of stairs' make but Fitbit says it does.
The other gripe is the screen was VERY easy to scratch. Very very. So I ordered a set of screen protectors from Amazon, and they work like a phone cover. Get a multi pack because you'll be brushing this against clothes, bags, etc, and they will peel up. Put the protector on it when you first get it. I got a nasty scratch on my screen in the first 6 hours.
My Fitbit does the opposite - it doesn't count flights of stairs. I live on the second floor in an apartment, and I can go up and down 5x in a day, and it'll tell me that I've climbed one flight.
Do you stop on the stairs? http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/34950765/#Comment_34950765
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I was tempted to do this when grocery shopping because having my hand on the cart causes it not to register steps. Unfortunately, I can't fit mine around my ankle.
That. I realized some time ago that it does not track when I am in the store. Sometimes I will push the basket with one hand or I intentionally leave my basket and walk down the aisle to get what I need and go back to the basket. Otherwise, I just chalk it up to knowing that I have walked in a store for however many minutes.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »
Do you stop on the stairs? http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/34950765/#Comment_34950765
Interesting. I keep moving, but I do have to turn because the stairs are in a Z shape, so maybe that midpoint is enough to throw it off?
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I have the charge hr and wear it on my ankle when riding my bike. It might not count all the steps, but it is better then wearing on my wrist when biking. It also keeps my heart rate on my ankle. I wear it inside my socks.0
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Thank you everyone, very informative, although of course a lot of people will have very different opinions. But I get it, it doesn't seem beneficial to be wearing it on my ankle. And no, I don't want to look like I'm on house arrest, especially since I'm a teacher at a school where quite a few of my students are on it lol.
I'm not that worried about grocery shopping accuracy because that doesn't take up that much of my time and the calories I'd be burning don't amount to much.
But I do walk my dogs every day, I have 2 German shepherds and I'm holding both leashes in my right hand. They walk very nicely, but I have to hold the leash with a strong grip (2 dogs equal to 170 lbs) so that arm doesn't swing. I guess maybe during that time I could put it on my left wrist? When I jog with just the one dog my arm can swing, so it's ok.
Most of my exercise calories come from taking Zumba, about 3-4 times / week, (and of course walking, and I'm gonna really start jogging regularly), and I assume with Zumba and the heart rate monitor, it should be pretty accurate.0 -
Marianna93637 wrote: »Thank you everyone, very informative, although of course a lot of people will have very different opinions. But I get it, it doesn't seem beneficial to be wearing it on my ankle. And no, I don't want to look like I'm on house arrest, especially since I'm a teacher at a school where quite a few of my students are on it lol.
I'm not that worried about grocery shopping accuracy because that doesn't take up that much of my time and the calories I'd be burning don't amount to much.
But I do walk my dogs every day, I have 2 German shepherds and I'm holding both leashes in my right hand. They walk very nicely, but I have to hold the leash with a strong grip (2 dogs equal to 170 lbs) so that arm doesn't swing. I guess maybe during that time I could put it on my left wrist? When I jog with just the one dog my arm can swing, so it's ok.
Most of my exercise calories come from taking Zumba, about 3-4 times / week, (and of course walking, and I'm gonna really start jogging regularly), and I assume with Zumba and the heart rate monitor, it should be pretty accurate.
Nope sorry, Zumba is probably closer to HIIT so an HRM to calorie calculation is not accurate ..take a percentage and adjust based on weight over time (6-8 weeks)0 -
afatpersonwholikesfood wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »
Do you stop on the stairs? http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/34950765/#Comment_34950765
Interesting. I keep moving, but I do have to turn because the stairs are in a Z shape, so maybe that midpoint is enough to throw it off?
Not for my One - as long as I keep moving it records the fraction of the elevation change and gives me credit periodically.0 -
Nope sorry, Zumba is probably closer to HIIT so an HRM to calorie calculation is not accurate ..take a percentage and adjust based on weight over time (6-8 weeks)
Please explain this to me. Up until now MFP suggested that my 55 minute Zumba class was burning 500 something calories. I always just entered 350 or 400 based on how I felt. As I got in better shape, a lot of time I don't even sweat too much. I found another instructor, and it's guaranteed that it' at least 600 calories, I'm out o f breath, soaked and wet head to toe, I feel like I was running (fast) for the whole hour. I'm curious to see how my I am actually burning.
There was a lady at my class last week, she was wearing the Fitbit Flex (she just got it so I know she didn't know everything about it yet) and she told me it said she burned 630 calories during our Zumba class. I know it was way over, these classes I usually log 350-400.
So how do I adjust, what do you mean adjust based on weight over time?
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Marianna93637 wrote: »
Nope sorry, Zumba is probably closer to HIIT so an HRM to calorie calculation is not accurate ..take a percentage and adjust based on weight over time (6-8 weeks)
Please explain this to me. Up until now MFP suggested that my 55 minute Zumba class was burning 500 something calories. I always just entered 350 or 400 based on how I felt. As I got in better shape, a lot of time I don't even sweat too much. I found another instructor, and it's guaranteed that it' at least 600 calories, I'm out o f breath, soaked and wet head to toe, I feel like I was running (fast) for the whole hour. I'm curious to see how my I am actually burning.
There was a lady at my class last week, she was wearing the Fitbit Flex (she just got it so I know she didn't know everything about it yet) and she told me it said she burned 630 calories during our Zumba class. I know it was way over, these classes I usually log 350-400.
So how do I adjust, what do you mean adjust based on weight over time?
If you take 75% of the HR logged calories and have a 1lb a week goal weight loss then lost 9lbs in 6 weeks you know you can eat back a higher percentage
These are all just estimators and it's what your body does that counts
I think I'd have taken a similar calorie burn as you have ..sweat is no determinant of calorie burn unfortunately0 -
Marianna93637 wrote: »But I do walk my dogs every day, I have 2 German shepherds and I'm holding both leashes in my right hand. They walk very nicely, but I have to hold the leash with a strong grip (2 dogs equal to 170 lbs) so that arm doesn't swing. I guess maybe during that time I could put it on my left wrist? When I jog with just the one dog my arm can swing, so it's ok.
I wear my fitbit on my right hand, and I walk my dog, who pulls a lot, with the leash in my right hand, so my arm doesn't swing much. Its basically just sticking out straight for most of the walk because she pulls until she gets tired. But the fitbit seems very accurate. I've walked her around a track, and even with my arm not swinging, the distance walked is very accurate. So, if I were you, I'd try it out first before you start switching wrists and everything. Maybe best to go to a place you know is a certain distance, and walk that and see how accurate it is.
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I got my Fitbit today! It was late, 5 pm when I got to put it on (right wrist). It already calculated that I burned about 1000 calories and took 300 steps. Hm, interesting.
Then, it said during my Zumba class I burned 413 calories. This was shocking. I was jumping more than normal, sweating (which I know is not the best indicator, but I was out of breath, etc, and I'm in good shape) I expected 5-600 calories.
So it's definitely not overestimating.
I heard that during the first few days it's adjusting and trying to figure thing out so we'll see how it will work. I am taking a Zumba class every day M-F this week though and it will be interesting to see. Monday, Tuesday and Friday are with the same instructor, so the calorie burn should be similar. Wednesday night is much tougher, and Thursday, I haven't taken but heard that it's like Wednesday. So if it adjusts itself I will be able to see, right?
I know I shouldn't base anything on today since it was 5 pm when I put it on. Although it says, at 10 pm I burned 1933 calories.0 -
it does count steps when your arms arent swinging. it truly does. however, as to accuracy, mine alerted me that i reached my 10k steps the other night while i was sitting at my computer...so, you have to take it all with +/- of accuracy. its good but not perfect. (i have the surge and if i wore it on my ankle, i truly would feel like i was under house arrest. its enormous)
Funny thing, i have a Fitbit one. So just a step tracker, sleep tracker...no hrm. I wear it in my pocket so i don't lose it. I wanted someone to see what step count I'd hit without it changing when i walked over to him, so i held it perfectly still in my hand and walked without moving my hand or arm at all, and it still added those steps.
I was both sad and amazed, lol. I really want a charge hr, but you know.....0 -
Marianna93637 wrote: »I got my Fitbit today! It was late, 5 pm when I got to put it on (right wrist). It already calculated that I burned about 1000 calories and took 300 steps. Hm, interesting.
Then, it said during my Zumba class I burned 413 calories. This was shocking. I was jumping more than normal, sweating (which I know is not the best indicator, but I was out of breath, etc, and I'm in good shape) I expected 5-600 calories.
So it's definitely not overestimating.
I heard that during the first few days it's adjusting and trying to figure thing out so we'll see how it will work. I am taking a Zumba class every day M-F this week though and it will be interesting to see. Monday, Tuesday and Friday are with the same instructor, so the calorie burn should be similar. Wednesday night is much tougher, and Thursday, I haven't taken but heard that it's like Wednesday. So if it adjusts itself I will be able to see, right?
I know I shouldn't base anything on today since it was 5 pm when I put it on. Although it says, at 10 pm I burned 1933 calories.
I don't have any experience with the HR-based trackers, so take this for what it's worth...
Most activity trackers do better over longer stretches of time. That is to say, the estimates they come up with are more likely to be "correct" over longer timeframes - full days, multiple days, etc - rather than shorter increments of say a single workout or a few hours.
IMO, try to focus more on the bigger picture... on your activity level and calorie burns for an entire day or an entire week, not so much a trip to the grocery store or a walk around the mall or a single workout. IMO.0 -
I wear mine on the ankle during the winter and when I am running with my stroller or grocery shopping. In the summer I obviously always put it on my wrist only due to what it tends to look like around my ankle. I work out with it on myu wrist too (again unless running with the stroller). For me I've never had a problem with accuracy and also it seems to catch my HR well at the same time too on my ankle (the inside of my ankle). I don't mind it and I think that it works well. esepcially when I want to keep my hands in my pockets as it's cold outside while walking.0
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I was tempted to do this when grocery shopping because having my hand on the cart causes it not to register steps. Unfortunately, I can't fit mine around my ankle.
That. I realized some time ago that it does not track when I am in the store. Sometimes I will push the basket with one hand or I intentionally leave my basket and walk down the aisle to get what I need and go back to the basket. Otherwise, I just chalk it up to knowing that I have walked in a store for however many minutes.
I tend to use my other hand to just pull the cart around one handed as I like to have the steps for Fitbit challenges. Otherwise the HR feature seems like it covers the calorie estimating fine during it.0
This discussion has been closed.
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