True, overall fitness.

For the watch to calculate fitness values for your activities the activities must be logged. Some values are always tracked and you don't have to do anything besides wearing your watch. 

Thanks Andy, I get that makes sense if on a specific training program, but if other elements are being tracked in the background, itd be great to have the option. Last week I didn’t log an activity but did plenty to keep myself on track but my health statistics dropped. For training that’s fine but to use as a true view on health, something that should be simple is missing…

What are you missing and want to track? 

thanks for checking back Andy. I hit high on anaerobic each week but am getting told I need more low aerobic to balance and get my stats to optimal. At the same time, some days I can end up walking a few quick kms at work and end up climbing a few sets of stairs two at a time. I figure things like that would get my stats more accurate as although I’m not training, I’m still getting that low zone benefit to balance my time in the high zones. Cheers

Just track your walks and you will get the low aerobic. 

Climbing stairs will probably not give you low aerobic and the time spent doing that is very short so it will not have any real affect.

I know that’s always an option but the walks come out of nowhere. Depending on what I’m doing, they can just add up. And they’re just an example of extra load that could make it into giving a truer balance. Not keen on being a slave to the watch and constantly monitoring whether I should add something ior not. If im doing something in particular, then fine but incidental stuff would be a pain to add. Just seemed strange that activity can be picked up but there’s no way to allow it to be added to training to give a truer base. Seems an easy thing to do. Cheers

The watch monitors you continuously, regardless whether you start an activity or not. So the basic metrics (like Active Calories, Intensity Minutes, Steps, Floors, etc) is being updated even if you forget to start the Walk activity. For advanced metrics (like VO₂max, Training Effect, Lactate Threshold, Training Status, etc) additional data from sensors is needed (GPS, quicker HR sampling rate,...). And that is not available if you did not start an activity.

Aha, that makes sense. And just realised, if I’ve got a particularly busy day with lots going on, I can always just track for the day anyway. Had a day doing shuttle runs for mountain biking yesterday and just left it tracking all day. Worked fine. Thanks for the clarity andy. Cheers

Most people are in the same situation. Walks comes out of nowhere or are so short it feels pointless to log them. That is just normal life. 

I just don't care about logging life. I log my training and when I do something with an intention like increasing the walk distance when I'm picking up the kids from school.

Life is life that I always live which is my baseline. My training is what I do to be better in running, biking...