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. 😁

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.

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

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

@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 don't count mine at all.

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

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

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.

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.

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?