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How/why would anyone "cheat" in a challenge??

I've had my fitbit since Christmas. It has really helped me stay active and push myself. I've found so many awesome people to do daily, weekly and weekend challenges. I've never once questioned anyone's amount of steps. I have a very active job and there are days I push myself at the gym more than usual in order to get more steps. I usually get about 15k-25k a day.

 

However, I started a workweek challenge and added someone that I know and is new to fitbit and wanted motivation to start working out.. The steps seemed unrealistic for this person especially since they sync every few minutes, but I wasn't going to question it at first. Yesterday I was busy at work and was ahead by almost 8,000 steps. Within the hour this person ended up pulling ahead of me. 

 

I spent 2 hours on the treadmill and pushed myself to get my 45k badge before midnight. I was almost 15k ahead of the person and after 5-6 hours when I woke up the person ended up 10k ahead of me.. Which means they'd have to do 3k-4k per hour.

 

The numbers simply didn't add up. I know you can't manually log activity/steps and have them show up in the challenge. I hate to call anyone a cheater when it comes to fitbit, but it just doesn't seem humanly possible.

 

Has anyone else had an issue similar to this? Or am I completely wrong for thinking that the steps aren't realistic?

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110 REPLIES 110

Could they be in a different time Zhone?  I see it all the time when they are.

 

Its easy to do 3-4k in an hour. Some perople are also very competitive.

 

Community Council Member

Wendy | CA | Moto G6 Android

Want to discuss ways to increase your activity? Visit the Lifestyle Forum

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I can only speculate. From what I understand something like dancing for a few hours can give you lots of steps. Maybe the long distance runners, even modest distance runners get waaaay up there. But yes there are people that you question if their numbers are real. Kind of silly to fake steps, maybe they have a competition complex? Who knows...

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Same tzone and knowing personally that the person isn't physically fit made it strange to see every hour their steps jumping up 5-10k. But, I suppose that they could of just decided to push themselves to extremes. 

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Well if you know this person ask.

 

There are ways to add steps fast. Which I have read about. Like putting it in a blender or a paint shaker machine. But I would think continallly doing so would ruin it

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rrRFW0j5Vk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dMyT-TH7Fg

Community Council Member

Wendy | CA | Moto G6 Android

Want to discuss ways to increase your activity? Visit the Lifestyle Forum

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@mandynicole  There have been some threads about people who do a lot of steps per week where their ability to do so has been questioned, but not related to challenges. People are out there who can do the steps, but if this person can't do the steps and are cheating, they are only hurting themselves.

 

If you're not sure on this person's honesty, you might not be the only one. As Wendy said, ask them.

 

Should others also feel this person isn't really taking those steps, then stop inviting them to the challenge.

 

Sounds like you're doing a great job of stepping. Congrats on that 45k badge!

Stepping in the U.S.A. since September 2013. Android 9

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It's possible that person is typing or riding a Harley etc, or pushing a shopping cart round the Piggly Wiggly. Lots of things add spurious steps.  Maybe they don't realize, maybe they do and just rationalize it to themselves.  And some people do cheat just to get a high score, which baffles me.

 

I'd be inclined to say "hey, I see you are doing awesome at exercise.  How about we go hiking together at {insert local hilly spot} next weekend? "  

Wolf : Right Here and Now

Charge | iPhone 5 | Windows 7

Take a look at the Fitbit help site for further assistance and information.

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Recently read an article on people cheating on marathons, which also seems crazy.  I like the suggestion above to invite the person to go exercies together.  However remember that the point of fitbit isn't to 'win' but to get fit.  That person is really only hurting themselves if they are cheating.  If they aren't be honest with their step totals it actually is quite sad.  I'd be careful about calling them out or anything, you're getting your steps.  If they are cheating it doesn't detract from the gains you are making. 

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I am kind of new myself to Fitbit and have made a few friends on here already whom i do challenges with.

 

There is about 4 -5 of us consistently doing 15k - 20k a day. It's a pretty good challenge, last week i lost 😞 but this week i am ahead by 8k 🙂 and still haven't done my jog + workout and walk the dogs.

 

I added you, feel free to invite me to challenges and i'll invite you to ours.

 

 

 

P.S. If the person seems like they are cheating, just remove them from your friends list. Let them cheat with themselves. Like in some local city activity groups i see people doing 30k right as the month started :S throughout the night. 

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Giving benefit of doubt, challenges do bring out the competitive nature in people, whether it is good or bad.   Your friend may or may not be cheating, but the numbers that they are putting up is very attainable.  a 15 min walk can easily yield 1800 steps.  walking for an hour can get about 6-8k easily.  I can average 20K+ doing nothing but just walking.  

 

If you do feel that foul play is happening, then challenge them... 

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It's just a bit silly to cheat because anayone who does is really only cheating themselves. What is the point of winning - those results are only a few pixels on a screen. The real winning is getting slimmer, fitter, healthier or whatever your particular goal is. Cheating can't help anyone acheive those goals.

"Dieting is the only game where you win when you lose!"





















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I just hope you dont get unmotivated by this.  As far as challenge goes, I think FITBIT should have Calories Burned challenged vice number of STEPS.  I can get 10k steps doing eliptical for 28 minutes plus 5 minutes cool down and 20 Minutes on the treadmill at 7.0 Speed plus 5 minutes cool down.  It's not that hard, but I see what you were saying.  Not unless the other person owns his or her own equipment at home or literally lives in a gym 🙂  You should encourage the other person to share his/her info to you so you both can see how many calories you burn vice steps.  Keep working out, and dont let the cheaters discourage you from living a healthy lifestyle.  The real winner will emerge eventually (do a before and after pix and weight challenge yeah?)

 

Good luck! 

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Thank you all for your comments! I'm sorry if I made it seem like I doubted that it was possible to get a certain amount of steps in a short amount of time. I've pushed myself many times to get a large amount of steps.

 

I'm all about friendly competition and even if I don't win a challenge, I still feel accomplished and proud.  It was a situation that ended up getting to the point that I had to stop being in challenges with this person. Which I think also allowed them to be more honest considering they went from being well over 200,000 in 7 days to barely 100,000. 

 

It can be discouraging when you're 10-15k ahead of someone that just synced with an hour left in a challenge and they end up getting 5-10k ahead of you. 

 

I'm very grateful for the fitbit community and have been continuing to challenge myself with the help of positive motivation from challenges.

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Hey @mandynicole I can totally understand your frustration. I have found since I got this fitbit juuust how competitive I am. I will bust into a quick zumba or step class soo fast if I see someone gaining on me. I was up just the other night running around my apartment trying to get ahead. I can attest to being able to easily get 10k in an hour. I do it all the time either running or pushing myself on the elliptical...those are the only two ways I know of doing it though - even a high intensity step class will usually only net me around 6k and that's if I'm running through the breaks they take too.

 

The challenges are very competitive environments and it's easy to get caught up. I usually do them for two or three weeks, then I take a week off to give my body and mind a rest, lol. My 2 year old son was jumping on the trampoline yesterday and I was 500 steps away from 40k but my legs were DEAAD. I can admit that for two seconds I thought about putting it on him and watching him go, but like other posters have said, you only hurt yourself by cheating (and I would have felt bad about it all night and I neeeeds my sleep.)

 

I did at first question these consistently about 200 - 300k people, but a couple of friends I have that average that every week don't have day jobs Smiley Frustrated

 

Keep doing what your doing and challenge yourself to do more than you did before and you'll be alright.

Fitbit Surge | 3x Marathoner - Marathon Coach starting in August 2015 | Run 3x wk | Elliptical 2x wk | Strength sessions (Progressive Resistance Training) 3x wk - DO WORK!
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your information explains why my count in my challenge isn't adding up.  My fitbit always counts at least 25% less than actual, so Instead I manually enter my steps (using info from another app with a gps distance counter).  My hubby uses the app on his apple phone, and when he rides his bike he gets crazy high step counts.  Perhaps this person is doing the same thing and not realizing.

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@heatherdpear Any manually add steps will not go towards a challenge. They have to be pure Fitbit steps.

Using other app's as well do not go towards challenges either.

Community Council Member

Wendy | CA | Moto G6 Android

Want to discuss ways to increase your activity? Visit the Lifestyle Forum

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I would much prefer that my fitbit was accurate, but it is so far off that I report my walks manually.  I use the free app Sportrate Fitness tracker to find the distance for my walks.  It seems to be accurate.  It is very discouraging to walk and walk and walk and get home and find so few steps.  I tried counting my steps several time and a 5000 + step walk would come up with around 3000 steps.   I've tried restarting my fitbit several times with no effect.  Have had it replaced once, and the problem for which it was replaced happens less often.

 

but back on topic, I don't consider that I am cheating in my challenges and asked my challenge friends about the difference in the reported steps. Now I'll be able to get back to them and explain why my steps are lower than I expected.  I'm glad i came to the forum and found the information I needed.

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I see the same thing. I think there are cheaters and it's annoying. I wouldn't accuse, but I'll stop inviting them if I strongly suspect the cheating. Cheaters never prosper so if it's there idea of fun, good for them. But you're not crazy for being suspicious. I don't believe people jump on the treadmill for 1.5 hours and rack up 25k steps at 2am. They're full of it. 🙂

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Wolfrhan (and others), what are "spurious steps"? I know you can accrue steps in ways other than walking them--I was informed and instructed by my doctor that I could track my activity beyond actual walking steps by putting my Charge HR into stopwatch mode and then doing my other exercises and have that activity log and accrue both steps equivalence and calories burned while documenting my actual activity. Since I cannot physically DO a large amount of walking, even with my walker--not more than 4,000 steps a day, it has been very motivating to document my other exercise and get equivalent step "credit" for it...nothing spurious about my efforts. And, OP, perhaps that is what your co-worker is doing? Other activities?
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Find out if they're a guitar-player. I tried it once just for grins, and you wouldn't believe how fast those "steps" went up. In truth, you're really competing against yourself. Competing against others is fun, but I wouldn't depend on it. I tend to ignore the folks with unrealistic numbers. Cheers.

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