Step Count Excessive

[MamaPenny]

Be aware that if you, like me, cannot talk without moving your hands, your step count will be exaggerated.  If you do a lot of anything that is more hand movement than it is stepping, your step count will be exaggerated, my guess is by at least 10% if not higher.

[WendyB]

Yes this is well known with wrist trackers

[Dominique]

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@MamaPenny wrote:

If you do a lot of anything that is more hand movement than it is stepping, your step count will be exaggerated, my guess is by at least 10% if not higher.

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Let’s assume it is indeed the case, and your step count will be slightly inflated by your talking with your hands: is it the end of the world? does that mean your Fitbit is utterly useless? I personally don’t think so. For one thing, there are known instances when you’re actually walking and not getting credited for the full amount of steps, for example, when pushing a shopping card. At different times of the day, your Fitbit may be both over- and under-counting your steps, so in the end, it may even out. Secondly, steps are just that, steps, one metrics among a slew of other metrics (calories, active minutes, HR, resting HR, cardio fitness score, sleep data etc. Just because your step count is slightly off (because of your talking with your hands or for any other reason) doesn’t mean all other metrics will be affected. I would personally focus on getting more active rather than overthinking the step count thing. Or if getting the most accurate step count is of paramount importance to you, just get a cheap pedometer you can clip to your waist.

[MamaPenny]

I wasn't complaining, just helping others to know.  If someone's using the step count to set goals, it makes sense when setting the goal to be aware of what to take into consideration when setting it.

And yes, for me the thing I use most is the heart rate monitor.  I use it while walking to gauge what intensity to aim for.  I'd returned my Alta because I could not do that because it was unreadable to me when outdoors.  I find several of the features to be very useful.

An re the step count, at least for me it more than "slightly" inflated  My best guess for me is at least 25% daily.  So I just set my goal to be 12,000 steps.