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

Maybe I'm being stupid, but how would something attached your bra strap pick up how many steps your feet are doing?

hand grinding my coffee gets me at least 600 steps.

Yes I noticed this issue a few years ago when i was brushing my hair and my steps went up!

I don't bother counting now. I might do if I suddenly had a chance to change my routine and up my exercise but while my daily routine is roughly the same there seems little point!

Mine is on my left wrist and I sometimes check my watch, I don’t think it counts non step movement except when I do windmills while exercising.

I have a fit bit which clocks steps before I've even got out of bed. I once clocked about 30 steps while using the toilet. I don't bother with it any more, its a bit annoying actually because it wasn't cheap!

I wear mine on my non dominant hand and I think it's fairly accurate. I wear a gamin and it tracks my walking route as well plus miles walked.

I do around 10,000 steps a day but I do a lot of walking with school runs, dog walks and if the weather is dry, I walk to and from school.

If I'm at home for the day, I rarely reach 600 steps so it always makes me laugh when people on here post things like "oh I can easily walk 10,000 steps at home" they must live in huge, huge houses to clock 10,000 steps without leaving the house

I wear it on my left wrist, which would cut down on wrist shaking steps because I’m right handed

I find my garmin is pretty accurate- it does occasionally count non-walking activity as steps, but not a lot. I have noticed that how tall you are makes a big difference - but I suppose that’s obvious when you think about it, the shorter you are, the shorter your stride = more steps than a tall person with longer stride.

My Fitbit (on wrist) doesn't seem to have a problem with recording steps accurately.

It tells me what I need to know: The huge difference between my more active days (when I clock up between 10k and around 40k) and my sedentary (work) days, when I struggle to get beyond about 6k.

And that difference 'makes sense' -- ie it reflects a genuine difference in how I have spent the day.

I don't doubt that there are occasional false steps recorded, but in percentage terms these must be very tiny.

In any event, step numbers seem pretty irrelevant to me. The key data is all about how often you are able to challenge yourself to the point where your heart rate is raised enough to count as exercise

Mine is on my wrist and almost spot on. If I walk / run it's correct and when I'm sitting / wfh it only adds a tiny number more.
I have to do 250 steps an hour. On wfh day it often starts buzzing at me at ten to the hour.

The only thing I've found with my one that picks up lots of extra steps is drumming.

My sedentary unfit sister who works in a bank is very proud of her 20k plus a day step count. I'm a fit very active person with a dog and a big garden I maintain myself who struggles to hit 10k on my wrist step counter. I do hit 8 to 10k on myphone counter which I don't even carry half the time

I had an older Fitbit (can’t remember the make but it was a small skinny one, not waterproof or anything) and in work I had to shake things, I was hitting 18k-22k steps a day. It was a job you did on your feet so I think 10-12k definitely but the shaking definitely used to add on some extra steps. It was fairly vigorous shaking, not the same as movement at a desk.
I think it depends on the tracker you use…
I’ve stopped using a tracking watch etc and just rely on my phone for a rough estimate now

I have a smart ŵatvh and it doesn't count steps unless I am actually moving about on my feet. Stepping from one foot to the other doesn't even count. If I sit down too long (about once a week!!!) it alerts me to start moving.

i just use my iPhone. It seems pretty accurate. When I go for a bike ride it knows I am not walking and doesn’t count it. It definitely doesn’t count arm movement!

My Garmin isn’t an accurate step counter. I can get loads of steps just wafting my arm about. But I don’t focus my exercise on steps. I try to get either 30 mins of exercise with my heart rate up a day, a yoga session in, or a walk of at least 2 miles every day.

i agree with a PP that the constant conversation comparing steps is the issue. As long as you’re happy with your exercise, ignore her!

I have my phone in my pocket, so can’t imagine that’s affected by drinking tea.

They are when you do lots of them in a row.

This why most of them say you should wear them on your non dominat hand.

I have a garmin watch and have found brushing my teeth and stirring pasta to be very efficient ways of getting my steps in 😄

Depends on the device. Modern smart watches are pretty good at differentiating steps and arm movements. If anything I would think an old fashioned pedometer on a bra strap would be less accurate.
My watch only counts actual steps, although not with the pushchair annoyingly

Depending on the tracker they can count steps differently.
I had a stint at Tesco's online shopping a while back but despite walking for the entire 8 hr shifts I barely hit 5000 steps due to walking whilst pushing the trolley.which meant my hands were not moving as I walked.
Also recently I switched trackers and jumped from 6/8000 to 12/14000 a day, same job just different trackers measure differently. ( I do walk/stand most of my shift and walk to and from.work)

Mine counts wrist movements, I’ve had alerts that I’ve hit my target steps when I’ve been in a boxing class (so stood still punching a bag) and stuck in traffic (many, many gear changes). If I don’t wear it on my wrist I don’t think it would pick much up. Wearing it on my ankle perhaps, wearing it on my bra strap wouldn’t pick up anything.

The biggest thing my Garmin clocks up false steps on is sorting/ folding laundry- but it is still movement and beneficial to the body. That compensates on lost steps doing things like pushing a supermarket trolley.

A decent sports watch has a reasonable callibration to distinguish steps from reaching for the remote and drinking a cup of tea.

Fidgeters tend to be leaner than very still people because their base rate of calorie burn is slightly elevated most of the time.

My Fitbit doesn't measure sitting down movement it buzzes when I'm at work and tells me I haven't moved enough that hour, I use my hands a fair bit