Honesty and Our Step Counts

[TMSheehan]

I do not want to sound negative but was wondering how a person can average 80K-100K steps per day.  This just seems mathematically impossible and makes me not even want to compete in any competitions anymore.  Personally I will walk for me but no more competitions.

[MarciM · Accepted solution]

Hi @TMSheehan Welcome to the forums. Unfortunately there will always be people that want to 'beat or trick' the system. Just ignore them, they are really cheating themselves. Find some friends that are close to your same fitness level, set some goals and challenge each other. Have fun and enjoy a healthy competition.  

[WendyB]

Also feel free to unfriend them as well

[Dominique]

Whenever I notice one of my "friends" has 300k+ steps (7-day) count all the time, I unfriend them. You can choose whom you invite to your challenges, as well as whose challenges you take part in. Most grow-ups try to be more active for their own good, not to impress other people.

[GershonSurge]

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@TMSheehan wrote:

I do not want to sound negative but was wondering how a person can average 80K-100K steps per day.  This just seems mathematically impossible and makes me not even want to compete in any competitions anymore.  Personally I will walk for me but no more competitions.

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Personally, I don't like the idea of short-term challenges because I usually do about the same number of steps every day. I prefer the monthly activity groups.

You can search for groups by keyword at www.reliker.com

I prefer to select a group that I can win, but not every month.  I prefer groups with about 50 members and up. Realize, there are usually no posts in the activity groups. Many people likely don't pay attention. Still, they are good for motivation every so often.

[Heather-S]

I don't really have any friends that do the 50K+ steps EVERY day.  

What has been bothering me lately are people who purposely hold onto steps without syncing.  I've recently figured out a friend of mine in my challenges is doing this.  She'll sync her tracker around 8pm.  And then by midnight, she'll sync again and suddenly she'll have tacked on an extra 3K steps.  So to me (and my husband), it appears she's doing it on purpose to win challenges. 

Even during the day, she'll go hours without syncing.  Then once I pull ahead of her for first place, she suddenly syncs and knocks me down to second place.

It seems really petty, especially given that she's quite a bit older than I am (she's the mother of one of my friends).  

In the end, I guess it doesn't matter.  I am a bit competitive, so it does irk me a little.  But it really seems like she's not syncing on purpose.

However, it seems even MORE petty not to invite her to my challenges, so I continue to do so.  You win some, you lose some.  And it does push me to get in all the steps I can.  I ended up with 25K steps yesterday in hopes of finally winning the Weekend Warrior.  Haha!  🙂

[GershonSurge]

@Heather-S,

The parley to syncing games is to decide how many steps you are going to walk before the weekend starts and not deviate from it. Don't even look until after the challenge is over. Then your friend will spend her weekend strategizing and not getting steps. If you can, pick a goal of the number of steps she won with last time. She will get tired of increasing her goal each challenge.

In the activity groups that last a full month, it's difficult to beat a person who sets a daily goal of the average steps that won the previous month and never takes a day off. 

[Baltoscott]

Syncing games and different time zones are pretty hard to avoid with competitive steppers. Because of nagging foot issues, I don't do step challenges much anymore, but when I am in one, and If I'm in a competitive mood, I might throw out some mock outrage posts with smily faces just to tease the non-syncers a bit.  And, of course, they aren't always gaming.  Keeping all day sync on is a battery drain on your phone that you may not be willing to endure if you don't have the opportunity to plug in and recharge throughout the day at work.

[Heather-S]

@Baltoscott Oh definitely, I totally understand not wanting to drain your battery with the all-day sync on. I have a few friends who are really busy during the day and don’t sync until lunch and evening, but they are consistently high steppers. 

I just found this one particular friend’s behavior suspicious and luckily my husband was in the challenges with me and he saw it too. 

Luckily this isn’t a big deal. Just was frustrated after losing the Workweek Hustle by 140 steps because she wouldn’t sync. Lol! 🙂 But I got her on the Weekend Warrior!

It has definitely inspired me to up my step count!

[oh_suzanney]

I just think what sad lives these people must lead where they feel they have to cheat at fitbit challenges.

[SunsetRunner]

never mind, I deleted my replay after seeing my point was already made 🙂

[emili]

I think most of us have the same outlook on this, but there are always a few whose moral compass is a little south of right. I actually stopped doing challenges altogether because they aren't fun to me. Unless people are chatty and actually care enough to get to know the folks they step with, its just me having a normal day with a bunch of people. No fun. I don't even look to see if I have invitations. I rather exchange a cheer or message with someone...

[tuxgirl]

I could see someone hitting a super high step count if they worked in an Amazon warehouse or some type of job like that. Or if they have super short legs. (My 5 year old steps a lot more to go anywhere than I do). Maybe they do Irish dance professionally? 🙂

Anyway, it's certainly possible that they are gaming the system, but I'm also not sure that I would rule out the possibility of some people actually hitting a high step count regularly