Almost 17,000 steps but only 1 mile????

[janepez]

My Charge 3 is showing 16,998 steps but only 1.09 miles. I did not walk enough for that many steps. I went shopping for a bit but was mostly just cleaning my house so how do these stats make sense? How is it possible to have such a small distance register so many steps?

[Dominique]

I think it could be consistent with typical house cleaning: your hands move a lot (and a large portion of it is detected as steps), but you’re not covering long distances. How about your calories burned and active minutes for that same day?

Distances are only really meaningful if you’re actually moving (walking or running). For optimal results, you should be using GPS. Since your Charge 3 doesn’t have GPS built-in, you’d need to have your phone with you.

[janepez]

That makes sense. I was using my hands a lot. I was cleaning out a closet, folding and hanging clothes.

[GSaldiveri]

Calculating distance with these devices is simple math - Steps x Stride Length = Distance.

I have my stride length set to 30 inches, if my tracker indicated 16,998 steps my distance would show just over 8 miles. It doesn't matter if you actually walked that distance or not.

Unless it is being overruled by GPS from what you are showing your stride length seems to be set to about 4 inches....

How does my Fitbit calculate distance?

Fitbit devices calculate distance by multiplying your walking steps by your walking stride length and multiplying your running steps by your running stride length. We estimate your stride lengths using your height and sex. If your Fitbit device uses GPS and you track 1 or more runs using on-board or connected GPS, we evaluate that data to automatically update your running stride length. For best results, run at a comfortable pace for at least 10 minutes.

If you prefer to measure your walking and running stride lengths yourself and enter them manually, see How do I measure and adjust my stride length?

Note that when you're tracking an activity with GPS, Fitbit calculates your distance using GPS data rather than steps. If you begin moving before you get a GPS signal, the tracker will calculate distance using steps and stride length as described above until a GPS signal is found.

[janepez]

Great info. Thanks!

[GSaldiveri]

@janepez  Where you able to check your stride length?