How can a person average 80,000 steps in a day?

[prc1977]

I don't mean to call anybody out or question somebody's integrity but there are fitbit users who average better than 75K steps a day over the course of a week. Assuming they get eight hours of sleep, that means they're walking almost 40 minutes each hour every hour of the day unless they're asleep. Every day for a week.

It is possible that they're running or training for a marathon or walking really fast or are really really into this walking thing but it seems like it is too much. Any way you do the math, it is an incredible amount of walking and it is sustained over the entire week.

What's the most anyone has ever walked in a day? How about in a week? 

I wonder what it would be like if I got up at five am and walked all day until midnight? Doing the math, it would theoretically be possible to break 100k but I don't think I could get anywhere near that. And 80k a day for a week seems too much too.

What do you think?

Moderator edit: Clarified subject. 

[Colinm39]

@RamonaKYes, that is an issue, but I find it compensates for all of the steps I lose using trolleys, walking on carpet and domestics... Yesterday my wrist Fitbit was down 16% against my Fitbit One which I wear 16/7.. The wrist type 24/7.. But the HR compensated.. so I live with the variances. On a planned walk they are within Fitbits limits.  More arm swinging... It doesn't add steps while I type.

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@RamonaK wrote:

I do a lot of gardening. Today I noticed while digging every time I jammed the shovel into the ground the steps jumped about 10. I kept watching and sure enough I racked up quite a number of steps without moving my feet. The fitbit measures movement other than feet - especially forceful arm movement. Doesn't anybody notice that?

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@RamonaK  Click on the gear wheel for the topic and make sure the Newest to Oldest is "greyed out".

The creator of the topic will always show the date, but if that option is ticked the newest posts to a topic will always be the at the top..

@RamonaK wrote:

Thanks BruceBu, I just discovered that. It would be nice if most recent posts were at the beginning instead of the end. Especially for newbies like me. Now I will go back to some of those other questions I was looking at and posts were all in 2014. Maybe there are more recent ones at the end.  

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Corney]

I no longer concern myself with these questions, just the fact that people
question how someone can log 80K steps in a day, or 50K steps day after
day, week after week, implies they don't believe them.

[prc1977]

I'm not sure that asking implies anything beyond the wish to find out how someone can reach such a high level. If I ask how LeBron James can play basketball so much better than I do, am I implying he cheats or that he somehow doesn't really play the game as it appears?

Thanks for taking the time to comment on a matter that is no longer a concern to you.

[RamonaK]

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@Colinm39 wrote:

@RamonaK  Click on the gear wheel for the topic and make sure the Newest to Oldest is "greyed out".

The creator of the topic will always show the date, but if that option is ticked the newest posts to a topic will always be the at the top..

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@RamonaK wrote:

Thanks BruceBu, I just discovered that. It would be nice if most recent posts were at the beginning instead of the end. Especially for newbies like me. Now I will go back to some of those other questions I was looking at and posts were all in 2014. Maybe there are more recent ones at the end.  🙂

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Thanks! Colinm39. That's a big help!

[Colinm39]

@RamonaKIt's so long since I joined, I overlooked these types of settings....... Here is another link in your overall Community Preferences to set all topics automatically to the newest first.  This one is "Linear Layout".  There could be others you wish to set to enhance your viewing..

To get to the whole Preferences section, just left click on your Profile Image in the top RH corner and select the gear wheel.

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@RamonaK wrote:

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@Colinm39 wrote:

@RamonaK  Click on the gear wheel for the topic and make sure the Newest to Oldest is "greyed out".

The creator of the topic will always show the date, but if that option is ticked the newest posts to a topic will always be the at the top..

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@RamonaK wrote:

Thanks BruceBu, I just discovered that. It would be nice if most recent posts were at the beginning instead of the end. Especially for newbies like me. Now I will go back to some of those other questions I was looking at and posts were all in 2014. Maybe there are more recent ones at the end.  🙂

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Thanks! Colinm39. That's a big help!

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[BruceBu]

@Corney Since you seem to have a strange fixation on the negative impacts of averaging 50k/day (for a month) to 80k/day (for a week), perhaps you could make the relevant components of your profile page public to show us, by your actions, what you think an appropriate daily step average would be (my profile is mostly public https://www.fitbit.com/user/3RN8DH)

For the other doubters,  whether it is 'impossible, must be cheating' (false) or 'you can't have a life and do that' (false, and none of your business anyway) or 'It's unhealthy - you'll eventually have joint problems' (statistically speaking, general health is much better and joint health is moderately better - ~15% less risk of OA or joint replacement), then please tell what you consider to be a useful borderline between reasonable/believable and unreasonable/cheating. Say for a month, is it 20k/day, 40k/day, or what? Ya think it might depend on the individual?

I would also point out that most of the doubters have never done it and are really only doubting themselves. People who are experienced in the subject matter, having actually done it themselves a number of times, don't seem to have any problem believing or doing.

[TheKetoGoddess]

@Esya

Ha! Who knew. A little late for me, but better late than never!  🙂

~A

[SNICKERS333]

I have met a lot of cheaters, it’s very hard to find honest people that care, some are so obsessed about winning and shake it all day, what a life, I stay away from people like that

[brunoray]

I just wonder why this question hasn't gone away; I really do NOT care how many steps anyone does each day, except me.


Nancy


Speedy

[GershonSurge]

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@Corney wrote:
I no longer concern myself with these questions, just the fact that people
question how someone can log 80K steps in a day, or 50K steps day after
day, week after week, implies they don't believe them.

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I think this is the 37th time you said something to this effect. 

[Corney]

Snickers333  Several months ago Time had as it's cover story " Is Truth Dead".  I believe truth is dead in many aspects of our life today.  In every aspect of government from local, state and especially our Federal Government including Congress and the trump administration.  Why anyone would want to cheat on something as unimportant as their number of steps makes absolutely no sense. I read a post recently where a company lowered peoples health insurance premiums if they walked a certain number of steps per day, those cheaters were committing fraud and should be fired, and cheating in order to earn some useless badge is inane.

[BruceBu]

I could have sworn this was a discussion of how one goes about recording 560,000 legitimate (preferably high-quality semi-aerobic) steps in a period of 7 days. I don't believe it was intended to be a discussion of the psychology of people with weak or no moral compass and how they cheat to satisfy their needs.

Of course cheating is easy and or course there are plenty that do it - it doesn't matter unless you are one of them. There are also plenty that can do it for real and they do it for legitimate reasons - some enjoy the competition, others like being one with nature for extended periods of time, to experience the world in a way that can only be done on foot, for fitness and endurance, for bone and joint health, for heart health, for weight reduction and maintenance, so you can eat 5k calories a day if you like, because it might soothe a troubled mind. You'll just have to excuse me if I'm offended by the all the knee-jerk reactions based on "I can't do it and I don't want to do it, so you must be cheating and/or crazy". Quite frankly, it can be done without cheating, and I think those of you who worry so much about what other people do are the crazy ones.

@Corneythanks on the profile info.

[MermaidKisses]

It would just take all day every day so no, no one is likely to do it for more than one day even if they endured the one day. They'd definitely have to be unemployed to do it every day. Even then I cannot phathom anyone ever putting themselves through that daily torture. Those who attempted the Fitbit 100K challenge, most all quit before hitting 75K and started in the wee hours of the morning to finish before the day was up. And not one who finished or came close to finishing suggested ever doing it for more than once. They even stated that they didn't consider it to be a healthy choice at all. It was a challenge, nothing more. A challenge to complete in one day, not everyday. For one because no one in their right mind would or could do it for more than one day if they could even do it one. Anyone who has done it or attempted it knows that no one is honestly walking 80,000 steps a day. Either their tracker is broke or as you mentioned they have no moral compass. We had a company wide competition and the number of steps taken suggested they were faster than Olympic runners. Or liars in it for the prizes given. It is so unfortunate because the competition was supposed to motivate associates to start walking to get healthy. Most became frustrated because of the cheaters and lost their motivation. It's truly sad.

[MermaidKisses]

Agreed 110%

[MermaidKisses]

Crazy enough I thought I just found this question from someone else, but as far as I know I had only Googled it once. Maybe every time I reply or someone else comments it just brings it back up. I don't know. All I remember is replying to the question myself and because of that now I seem to be notified of every reply or comment. Facebook like. Noooooo! 😉

[Colinm39]

@MermaidKisses When you reply there is a tick box option at the bottom, it gets annoying because I get 2-3 emails of the same email.

If you don't want the emails for the topic click the gear wheel at the start of the topic and see if Subscribe or Unsubscribe is set.

I have done that on some topics and still get the emails and I reported that as a bug. No response...

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@MermaidKisses wrote:
Crazy enough I thought I just found this question from someone else, but as far as I know I had only Googled it once. Maybe every time I reply or someone else comments it just brings it back up. I don't know. All I remember is replying to the question myself and because of that now I seem to be notified of every reply or comment. Facebook like. Noooooo! 😉

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[BruceBu]

@MermaidKisses Plenty of people hike the Appalachian or Pacific Crest Trails in less than 3 months every year. This means averaging 100+ thousand steps a day for 90 days. Yes, at the 80k level you probably need to be retired, unemployed or have planned an extended vacation, but that does not mean that people don't do it. Because you cannot do this and perhaps cannot conceive of yourself doing it, is not grounds for judging others that can do it, nor is it grounds for judging their lifestyle choices. I will point out that I have averaged only about 37k a day for the last two years, not 80k every day, day in and day out as you seem to imply; however there have been a number of times that I have *averaged* 80k/day for a week (which was the basic question of this thread). What you say is simply wrong; you are trying to prove a negative (^nobody* can average 80k for more than a day), when it has already been proven true by innumerable documented cases. Repeating your misconceptions does not make them any more correct. Also, I would add that not all Fitbit challenges and badges are for one day only and I don't think any of them are intended to be one-time 'bucket list' items as you seem to think.

[Corney]

MermaidKisses At last a sane voice is heard from the crowd. Those that
disagree with you and me are only enabling those that continue to cheat.

[MermaidKisses]

I think also that some have never tempted this feat. And if they have, they surely know then that once is enough, if not too much. And that daily is ridiculously impossible. My opinion is those who manage this feat daily are, yes, in a competition and yes cheating. It is just not humanly possible to endure and no sane person would. There's just no way. The only other exception would be that their tracker is totally out of whack, which is possible. Because 80K steps daily is impossible for any person who is working and functioning in a normal day to day world. As in going to a job, preparing meals for themselves and/or others. Having any type of a life. Anyone who disagrees has not attempted it in real life. I've done 40K and admittedly that is ridiculous and us something one would not want to do everyday. There is no part of your body or your being that will not tell you to stop. Those who fight it and go for the 80K or 100K will probably not ever attempt it again, much less daily. Um, nope.

[ggoode66]

What about a mail carrier with a walking route or other jobs where the person is walking all day.