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

[SteppingMum]

I have a very sedentary job. I’m at my desk pretty much 9-5 with an hour lunch break, then 45 minute drive there and back each morning.

I struggle to naturally get in 3,000 steps a day without purposely trying to. I can get up to maybe 8-9K if i go on a walk after dinner for an hour.

My colleague has a very similar lifestyle to me and often expresses her shock at how little I move and she easily accumulates 10-15k a day. She doesn’t go to the gym or have small children or a dog that needs walking (neither do I).

So yesterday i did an experiment. Let’s compare steps from the moment we clock in at 8.45 until we go for lunch at 12.30.

My step count was 484 and hers was something like just under 3K.

The difference? She wears her counter on her wrist whereas I wear mine on my bra strap (I have an old fashioned clip on pedometer that only starts counting after three consecutive steps).

She drinks countless cups of tea in the morning (not getting up and making it herself - delivered by colleagues to the desk), has more phone calls to answer and typing to do than I do, and in general talks with her hands a lot.

I think a lot of people who wear their step counters on their wrist are having their daily steps over counted.

I want to challenge people today to try and move their smart watch to their trouser pocket or fasten to their waistband somehow to see if my theory is correct!

So AIBU to think that people are being lied to by their step counters when worn on their wrists? I know that I tend to use my hands more than my feet and will be wearing a wrist strap with my counter today as an experiment. Can’t wait to clock in and get 3K steps without even moving from my desk!

Also this isn’t a request for advice about how to get more steps in. I know I can get a desk stepper exercise thing or walk at lunch etc. I know what I should be doing. I’m a healthy weight and otherwise seemingly in good health etc so not too motivated just now to increase fitness but I know what I can do to increase steps when I want to.

My slight irritation is with my colleague thinking she’s so much more active than I am just because she moves her hands more than I do. 😁

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.

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

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.

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

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 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!

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.

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!

hand grinding my coffee gets me at least 600 steps.

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

Of course they are

I always thought an old style pedometer was supposed to be worn on the hip. Maybe yours is under-reporting?

My fitbit does pick up non steps sometimes, but it's usually when I'm being pretty physical in other ways so as a general monitor of how active I am I think it all counts.

Your colleague going on about it sounds really annoying though

According to her watch a friend of mine did over 3000 steps while sitting on the sofa knitting.

I'm pretty sure that my Fitbit overstates my mileage, though.

I think it must calculate my stride length based on GPS connected walks, when I am striding out in full hiking mode, and then it assumes that when I shuffle about the kitchen etc each step has the same value as a hiking step.

So I clock up absurd mileages round and about the house. Gratifying but daft.

Yes all step counters are not equal.

I get about 10000 steps a day (dog to walk) and just use my iPhone in my pocket to gauge this. DH had one of those rings.

We have done the experiment of checking how many steps we have done while on the same walk. His was usually at least a third higher than mine. It's bollocks.

I think you’re just looking for excuses because you’re not active OP 😂 get moving more than you will be less interested in everyone else’s step count.

Ha! This used to happen with my previous fitness tracker when I knitted. My current one - a Fitbit - doesn't do this. But sometimes it reminds me to move when I'm already walking about the house doing stuff and I shout at it 'I'm moving, I'm moving FFS!'🤣🤣

Mine definitely overestimates if I'm doing things like washing the dishes or sorting laundry. Though it doesn't register much movement at all if I'm sat working at my computer (I haven't checked if it registers anything but it certainly regularly buzzes and tells me i need to move when I've been sat working for a while).

But I'm not too worried if it's not accurate for steps on a generally day at home I just regard it as a relative measure of activity - it's better for me to have clocked up a few thousand steps e.g. maneuvering a hoover around -even if it's not actually steps than to have spent that time sat on the sofa. If I'm actually walking it's quite reliable - and obviously I know if I've actually walked any real distance or not at the end of the day.

The calorie count on my Fitbit is definitely way off though, I personally find that far more irritating.

My Apple Watch makes my aquafit class (45 minutes) around 4500/5000 steps which gets logged on nutracheck automatically, saves me inputting the class manually - I did change the setting once to ‘swimming’ but the reading didn’t make sense to me.

I have a very short friend who doesn’t live in a huge house but manages to clock up 8000 steps every day, she rarely sits down always pottering !

I’m fairly certain my Fitbit over counts

Neither your wrist (unless you have a tracker that can differentiate between you walking and brushing your hair) nor your bra are good places to wear a step counter. If have though the most sensible place to wear it would be attached to a belt at the side of your hip.

I spend a lot of my summer holiday on a boat. I clock up thousands of steps just sitting there! It's really annoying, as I really try to do a lot of walking on holiday too and I have no idea how many steps I have really done!

Wrist watches can be quite inaccurate. Mine has the opposite problem of, I can walk a 3 mile round trip with the pram and it'll count near to no steps because my wrists are static on the handles. At the end of the day its annoying but doesn't really matter I suppose

Who is the more normal bmi out of you both out of interest?

This thread shows there are devices which are less accurate than others.
I'm more concerned that some people have so little awareness of how far 10K steps is and are happily kidding themselves.
I WFH at a desk job. I am fully aware that unless I consciously go for a walk there is no way I'll get 10K steps in.
In reality I don't worry about it, as I swim and bike a lot (as well as running) so know I am getting enough exercise even if the garmin tells me I've done only 3000 steps.