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. 😁

I find ankle most accurate.

I think my MILs records her breathing. We even swapped one day... she must have lots of little movements. Whereas I can walk around and it didnt pick up any unless I go at some pace.

You are SO right OP. The step counters massively over estimate. I used to have a wrist one but it was ridiculous. I once clocked up 320 steps sitting on the loo! I now use an app on my phone which I'm guessing works with satnav technology like the trackers on kids' phones. It still doesn't make me get off the sofa and move my arse though.

I had a Fitbit and would regularly clock about 3000 steps just sitting on the bus in the morning 😂

Mine is on my wrist and like yours OP. I will only get 2-3k if I’m in the office or if I’m working at home 1-2k.

Sounds like hers is set up wrong rather than it’s a wrist issue

Making a risotto gets you about 2000 with the constant stirring.

My Apple Watch doesn’t pick up steps from sitting at my desk. I get up from my desk a lot and walk around to make drinks and stretch and keep mobile so I rack up steps that way. I always have more steps than my DP even if we do the same things as his stride is bigger than mine. I don’t shake anything very vigorously. However I don’t count any of these steps as exercise, if I am doing exercise I will always start the fitness counter specifically. Just did an intentional 2 mile walk this morning fast paced took 26 mins. I’ve done 3.7k steps but obviously some of those are going to the toilet and getting dressed.

10k steps a day was an advertising gimmick. Adults are meant to get 150 mins of vigorous exercise a week this means getting out of breath and slightly sweaty raising your heart rate.

Steps through normal life are activity, not exercise. NEAT (non exercise activity) accounts for a good portion of your daily calories burned, whereas exercise is only about 10%. So it is good to keep moving around and good to get in steps if you are trying to lose weight or keep active but sedentary steps don’t benefit your cardiovascular system or improve muscle strength or bone density like exercise does so they both have different purposes. This is the trope ‘you can’t outrun your diet’ being true but both NEAT and specific exercise is good for you in different ways. Just that 10k steps are kind of misleading, you could just do 30 mins exercise a few days a week and fidget a lot day to day and you would meet the basic requirements for activity/exercise (depending on your height and other factors)

I dont know about steps, but mine is pretty accurate on the distance as I have a number if set walks I do with the dog
I know how far they are and my fit bit is always about right on them.

My step count always seems quite low. To get to 10,000 I'd have to have done a long walk plus a fairly active day.

But I find it useful to track me. As long as it's consistently out, I know that 3,000 is a day doing feck all, 6,000 includes a 30 minute walk etc, so it reminds me to move about a bit more.

Compeltely agree with you OP, there is no way some people are doing the steps they claim

I do have a wrist counter, fit3 thing. I completely disregard the counter on there, which then links with my phone. It counts steps when Im sweeping up or something for example, Ive worked this out

So I just know that my target per day is 6k steps, and that is 3 miles and if I have done more than that, then Im winning.

If anyone relies on a step counter to tell them whether they are fit, then they most likely aren’t.

Bit like my juddering wheelbarrow! All the bumps 😎

I use both my phone and a smart watch to track steps. My watch is the lower number so Saturday watch said 14k phone 18k.

I recently got a fit bit for my wrist.
One day I had been helping my daughter clear out her wardrobe. And it logged 30 minutes of swimming!!!
It then did it again when I was sorting my drawers out too.
Clearly swimming and folding clothes have a lot in common.....
Otherwise I think it's pretty accurate.
Unless I am clapping. A standing ovation derives many many steps!!!!

DH and I have the same fitbit.

I have long legs, walk fast and have a long stride.
He has shorter legs and what I endearlingly call hobbit strides.

He gets many many more steps on the same walk.
Drives me bonkers.

I def don't get steps from stationary activities.

My step counter is always low even though I think I walk quite a bit as I don't have a car. I guess it's useful to think 2000 steps ish is a mile and that's about 18-20 mins for me to walk. So even though I do school drop offs, they might only be 10 min walks. It takes quite a lot of walking to get to 10,000 in my experience

I have a Garmin I wear on my non dominant wrist. It’s not too bad but does record the bumps when driving through Birmingham on the M5 as steps. We fell out when it told me, the day after completing an ultra marathon, that I needed to move further.

I agree that they are not very accurate. Often after going for a hike with friends we compare step count and they vary immensely. But I think they are fairly consistent for an individual so I know that if my step count is higher than yesterday I've had a more active day, I do find having a target helpful.

Mine would register over 300 steps just putting my makeup on and I don’t even wear a lot.
I know someone who was very boastful about how she’s super fit because she’s walking X amount of steps each day, but she has a B&B, so it’s actually clocking up thousands of steps when she’s changing the bed linen/cleaning etc.

Yes, I think you have articulated clearly something that I was groping towards in an earlier point without quite understanding. Each person's step count is relevant for them. It isn't a tool for comparing one person with another. It shows you the difference, for you, between being active and sedentary.

And it is a pretty rubbish tool, on its own. Heart rate is where it's at.

My fit bit used to clock my steps and miles while I was driving. How it thought I was walking 3 miles in 10 minuted with a low heart rate I'll never know!

I don’t think it really matters? As long as you are not “cheating” it by wiggling it around on purpose you are going to get a measure of the movement of your body compared to yesterday. It’s not religiously just steps, no, as other activities like swimming and trampolining set mine off. But then not all steps are of equal effort either. In terms of distances mine is accurate and I know roughly my steps per mile and it all lines up as it should, more or less. I also track my runs and walks on a mapping app and know how far they are.

I aim for 15k as an average, don’t always hit it but do regularly have days where I do 35-40k to even it out. It feels like exercise to me.

I agree, it’s not something useful to focus on, your heart rate is. Moving around is still good for you though. Everyone has a different stride length.

Definitely depends on the quality of the device. My Fitbit doesn’t register anything that’s related to my desk job - so not typing or anything like that. In fact it buzzes hourly to remind me to move a bit more! And most people wear them on their non-dominant wrist so wouldn’t pick up things like drinking cups of tea or scrolling on iPads anyway?
Most annoying is my Fitbit not recording steps while I’m pushing a trolley or pushchair though!

Does she lend it to teenage boys for their wrists?

My Samsung watch does not record any steps when I’m not actually walking around.

YANBU but why would you care?