AIBU to think that many people over count their daily steps?

Interesting. Although I think it depends on the device. I find that if I run on the treadmill and am holding the bar (so hands not moving) my steps don't go up, but when I move my hands they start going up again. It also seems like it would be incredibly hard to drink enough coffee or type to the tune of 2500 additional steps! Are you sure there isn't something else going on? A malfunction with your friend's device maybe? If I could clip my device to my bra I don't think it would register steps at all, I can't be certain though. So maybe it's a combo of yours being too low and hers being too high?

Yes the a Fitbit on my wrist picks up movement but not things like typing, it has to be more obvious movement like raising my arm up and down repeatedly or pushing my child in the swing, but I do count that as exercise anyway.

Conversely, my phone largely resides in my bag, or if the weekend on the kitchen table for much of the day, but even so registers about 3000 steps (including a couple of dog walks, but even then there is only patchy mobile signal so I suspect no distance evident for some of it).

I did pop mine in my pocket for a couple of whole days at work and it's usually 10-12k steps, at home it's more if I'm gardening but only if the mobile signal is picked up, but I really prefer NOT to have my phone in my pocket.

Honestly I was going to say there was no way but I've just sat on my arse watching doing fake trombone playing gestures and my watch is clocking up loads of steps, can't believe it. It's a Google fitbit watch, latest model, top end. How shit is that

They are massively inaccurate, no matter where you wear it. Mine isnt on my tea drinking wrist. I do 15-20k a day, mostly indoors! If i don’t; because i’m only 5ft, i barely burn any calories so my indoor steps help keep my weight down

I don't count mine at all.

@marmaladeandpeanutbutter yes when you are just hacking round the lanes apart from your inner thighs and arms and core working a bit the horse does most of the work. If you are doing more strenuous training or activity you work much harder (as does the horse).

I use my phone which I 6 very accurate as I've tested it - counting steps and it was more or less identical

@Objectrelations doesn't the horse do most of the exercise?! I've always been curious about this.

It depends on the tracker. My old was was designed to wear on the wrist, but if you were holding something like pushing a trolley cart while buying groceries or just carrying a heavy bag while walking home, it wouldn’t register any steps at all. My current one is much more sophisticated and seems to be able to tell the difference between walking and moving. It also tells me that since I Covid last spring my gait has changed and I am at risk of falling which is very disturbing. I’m doing strength training now to try to combat that.

My counter is in my phone, that I normally have on me but often leave it down in the office or at home. So it undercounts somewhat.

But I also have a similar problem in a relatively sedentary job and apartment only 5-6 minutes walk from work. I have meetings out and about some days, and travel days amp it up hugely (or when my teen is visiting and drags me out shopping for her wardrobe!). I need to make myself get back to watching the while pedalling my exercise bike at night and doing some yoga stretches.

Some of these devices are more or less accurate than others. Not sure why you presumed yours was the better one, OP!
Anyway, I doubt most people rely on the accuracy of most of these devices, but instead use it as a guide, alongside the length of time spent walking, gradient, how they feel afterwards etc.

My Fitbit is pretty much accurate with my Strava app. I imagine cheaper step counter quid be less accurate though

As long as you are wearing it in the same place on your body and comparing yourself to yourself you can always still see whether your activity is consistent increasing or decreasing.

However, I have an Apple Watch which seems pretty good at sorting out one activity from the other. It can even separate front crawl from breaststroke when I'm swimming fairly reliably.

The only thing I have noticed it has failed at was horse riding. I went recently when I don't usually or haven't done for years - and it logged the ride as steps. It was just a plod round the lanes though so the horse was just walking in the same gait the whole way round. not sure if it has a riding activity will have a look if I go again.

Reports of step counts being recorded while someone is knitting or crocheting (sitting down) are widespread so I guess, for a wrist worn monitor) they must count any repetitive movement and if your colleague types energetically that very likely accounts for her ridiculously high count. What I don't understand though is how one on a bra strap can record anything at all.

Every time I do housework it's convinced I've been swimming 😂. I worked out my actual stride length and now my steps are pretty accurate. However if you're light footed it still misses them. I can apparently get to the bathroom in three steps and downstairs to the kitchen in about four. A trip to London might get me over the 10,000 but otherwise I rarely meet that. My step goal is 7500 but I'm happy with anything over 5000.

I've done 11k steps today but that's involved about an hour and a half of brisk walking outside, along with all the incidental 'pottering'. I can see on the hourly breakdown that it is accurate based on what I was doing at the time.

I certainly wouldn't get anywhere near 10k steps 'pottering' at home! I wasn't well at the weekend so didn't really go out except to the local shop, and I only just reached 3,000 steps on Sunday and no more. No way I would get to 3,000 steps making breakfast or something like that!

I have an Apple Watch, it doesn’t count when you wave your arms around or if you’re on the exercise bike. Only walking.

This thread reminds of a few years back in Eastenders where Ian Beal was facing pre-diabetes so was ordered to do more steps. He worked out that whisking a cake mix counted as "steps", and later put his fitbit thing on the ankle of a small child 😆

Do you know this thread reminds me of my late Dh. We used to work in the same place, in a factory where he operated a piece of machinery with his foot and then me sitting a bench doing my job, he never used to walk around that much more than me. Both of us were fit and active and we had a competition between us about who could do the most steps. He’d record his on his phone in his trouser pocket and me with my Fitbit. He’d have twice as many steps as me and he was so smug about it and I’d be fuming (competitive me 😂) Anyway I somehow twigged on and found out that his foot operating the machine was causing his phone to log it as a step. And he bloody KNEW the sneaky sod 😂😂

I am doing a Conqueror virtual challenge, and use Googlemaps to work out my distance. I only count brisk walks. Pottering around shops doesn't count, and is not really exercise anyway.
I did have a clip on pedometer thing, but it was a bit random in it's accuracy, so binned it.

Ha ha! I was recalling that thread too! People are deluded. It does come up in conversation. And it took me a while to figure out that they have gadgets massively over counting. I kept hearing stories of having 3k before getting to work ‘just running round after the kids’. Then someone else who did a similar job to me saying they’d get 10k in during work and if they didn’t, a walk around the block would top it up. People don’t get how much time it takes to clock up to 10k. I would need a solid hour plus of walking to do that. At home, pottering I’d be lucky to get 1k. I’ve done 5000 today and that is 2.8kilometre.

Nothing works as effectively as putting it through a wash cycle - including spin

I wear a Fitbit so it does count all movement as steps, I don’t really pay any attention to it to be honest, I only have it because with my health insurance rewards steps and vigorous activity.

I have this with my mum. I often stay with her and on those trips I have pretty much the same very sedentary lifestyle as her (e.g. we take the same trips on the same mode of transport, we sit watching telly together, we take turns making meals). On those days, her wrist-worn smartwatch racks up 12k+ steps, while my old-fashioned bra- or pocket-worn pedometer (which is very accurate - I've tested it) will rack up maybe 3k.

She's so proud of her steps and how active she is, but when I stay there I am tearing my hair out from lack of activity! She does do a lot of knitting and typing, so I think it's probably that.