To think someone is cheating on their Fitbit?

[greenmidgetgems]

Totally minor and 1st world problem I know.

But is it actually possible to get 135000 steps in less than 3 days by just going about your day. That includes 65000 steps today alone.

For comparison I do between 8000 and 14000 a day. DH is training for an ultra marathon and did 65000 steps on a 30 mile run.

I'm a hairdresser and I get very few steps just walking around my hairdressing chair however a long blowdry can clock up a tremendous amount of steps and active minutes.

I think they have either set their Fitbit to a very small step, or are manually entering.

My Apple Watch seems very conservative re steps compared to DD's Fitbit and even more so compared to a friend's Pebble. I am on my feet walking round a classroom all day. Whilst teaching I rarely sit. However, most of those steps are not counting - I think I need to change the step length a bit. It doesn't seem to just add steps on for moving my wrist etc either.

Even on a full on day at universal where we were in the go from 8am til gone 9pm round the parks, walking A LOT (!) and it wasn't as high as that,

@EZA15 to add steps manually on the app click on the the blue running man icon then the stopwatch icon (top right corner on mine but I've not updated to the new dashboard - well I tried but didn't like it!). Then select Log Previous and fill in the details.

@Maidofstars I didn't know manually added steps didn't count towards challenges but I feel this is how it should be! I don't know how to check back but can see that manually added steps are still shown for that day on the graphs etc.

Am I the only saddo who loves all the graphs and stats? I was really surprised when a friend told me they only check their steps on the fitbit before going to bed and don't use the app at all.

I realised just how inaccurate they are when I sat in front of the tv for five hours whilst doing craft. The repetitive hand movements were counted as steps.

I do find that I can get a fairly high count at work (teaching) and on the days I run a big event (a few times per year) I can get to around the 50000 step mark, but that is constantly on my feet for about 14 hours.

Indigo The FitBit moderators are unanimous that manually logged steps will not appear in a challenge or for a badge.

I am on my 4th fitbit and it seems fine - plausible and consistent counts - all the devices have all been about the same. More or less. I wear mine on my non-dominant wrist, well above the bone. I don't imagine it is hugely accurate but nothing like the wild variations some of you are reporting.

10000 steps is 4 miles for me.

So 135000 steps could be about 54 miles. Which is doable over 3 days.

A marathon of 26 miles would be 65000 steps - which would be doable in 8 hours walking at a pace of 3.3 miles per hour

Mine seems pretty accurate - if I don't go out, it's really minimal - if I go to the office, I get just under 8000 steps for about 6k total walking. I wear it on the dominant hand - but have set it to dominant hand, so don't seem to get massive swings. Only thing it gets confused about is spin classes - but even then not massively. The only time I've got huge numbers is when I walked Seven Sisters back to back - and then added an extra hour by getting lost. But also walked in excess of 20 miles....

I also don't do challenges other than seeing my own numbers....so have no reason to cheat :)

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I clearly have a longer stride length than average, as both times I've walked a marathon it came in at around 42,000 steps (using a garmin watch). I've also walked 30 miles, which was 50k steps and took 9 hours. I would be deeply suspicious of someone claiming 135k in 3 days, unless they were walking at a brisk pace for most of their waking hours.

Our maintenance team at my previous work (big site!) always won these challenges. Even the ultra runners had no change (as in took half the steps).

Green how many steps did they take last night?

one day I did 24,000 & all I did was 1.5hr fast walk, 1hr aerobics & the rest was just looking after kids.

I.5hr walk for me was 11,000 steps so as long as she walks for 4+ hours I guess it's possible

For what it's worth. One day a week, I'm up at 5 and non stop dropping kids at nursery, going to work (I teach pre school) and then getting kids. Home tidy etc gives me around 18.5k steps a day. Add in the gym and perhaps it's doable. But i have a fairly active job although I do drive everywhere so maybe that's it? Otherwise how else could they clock up the numbers? How can you cheat?
Perhaps she puts it on her kids and let's them do the work

Just read more comments. Going to Asda is a lie as it doesn't count the steps when you're pushing a trolley or pram!

All these people saying 'you can't possibly do 180 steps a minute' must have much longer legs than I do.

DH and I walk in a pattern of three of my steps to his two. He finds this hilarious and points out how useful it is, musically speaking. I would tell him where to go, but I'm usually too out of breath.

I don't have a Fitbit, but my (ropey) phone pedometer once clocked up 25000 steps for me on a 10-mile drive, while in the glove compartment.

I think my Fitbit records quite accurately - wrist worn on non-dominant hand.

However, although the woman referred to in the OP is clearly cheating herself somewhere, I do think that a degree of inaccuracy is not a major issue anyway.

The main function of the Fitbit (or whichever tracker), for me at least, is the competitiveness and the challenge of just doing that bit more and getting to the next 100, 1,000, badge or whatever level you're at. Competitiveness counts both against myself, and against friends in the challenges you can set.

There is absolutely no doubt it makes me move more.

All these people saying 'you can't possibly do 180 steps a minute' must have much longer legs than I do

Doesn't matter how short your legs are, there are still obvious running and walking paces.

one day I did 24,000 & all I did was 1.5hr fast walk, 1hr aerobics & the rest was just looking after kids

You probably didn';t though, thats the whole point! 24,000 steps is approx 18.5km. How far did you walk?

I have very short legs and the most I've racked up (on a city break, walking for hours) is around 30,000 steps.

All this shows how inaccurate step counters are. People are deceiving themsleves into thinking they are more active than they are.

Surely going for an actual walk and measurug the distance is better for you

Green how many steps did they take last night?

She was up to about to about £190k yesterday evening. At that point I flounced from the challenge in a strop

Mine seems quite accurate, I've walked 3 miles so far today, which is 7600 steps. I've done the school run (about 2.5 miles there and back) and I've been pottering about doing housework.

I did a 20 mile charity walk last year and was most miffed when my Fitbit told me I'd only done 16 miles, that was 40,000 steps.

I usually get competitive on the challenges but I'd never cheat. My friends have asked how I get so many steps in, but I do walk everywhere - school run, to town, which is also half an hours walk away, just out fir walks with the kids etc.

What's the point of cheating? You'll know you didn't win fairly. At least I get the satisfaction and smugness of knowing I'm actually a winner. It's the only thing I'm ever likely to win at!

I didn't hit 65000 steps doing a marathon - plus a 3 mile jog to the start line, a 3 mile shuffle home and whatever other wandering around that day