Hi, @Leebee50, all wrist worn trackers will, to some extent, give you credit for steps you do not take, because they interpret arm movements as steps. Fitbit's algorithms are pretty good at telling the difference, but they are designed for the average person.
Some people use their hands a lot, and are very expressive, for example when they talk. But all people tend to use their dominant hand more than their non dominant hand. The Fitbit program takes that into account -- that's why they ask which hand you are wearing it on, and which is your dominant hand!
If your hand movements seem to be giving you a lot of extra steps, a very simple solution is to wear it on your NON dominant hand. You will naturally move that hand less. However, if you are a very expressive person, or your dominance is more equal (i.e. you do many things with either hand), than you might not fit the average. In that case you need to tell the Fitbit to "expect more hand movements and don't count those movements as steps because they are not...". The way you do this is to say you are wearing it on your dominant hand (even when you are not). This is not at all like telling you to wear the wrong size shoes but put on extra socks. It is simply a setting in a computer program. It does not make you less comfortable in any way.
It is just a shorthand way of simply telling the program to expect MORE hand movements and not to count these hand movements as steps. (It still will count some, but fewer,)
So, in your case, since you are naturally right handed, and the Fitbit is giving more steps than you expect, wear it on your left hand, and tell the program you are left handed.
I will also add -- and forgive me if I am repeating myself; I don't remember if I said this to you already, that when I first had my Charge HR I was really worried about this issue! I tend to "talk" with my hands, and I noticed I was getting 10 steps here, 20 there, just from gesturing! I was in some challenges with friends and really worried I was cheating. I got so worried that I actually went out and bought a Fitbit One (you wear that on your body, and last year it was rated as one of the most accurate step counters on the market by the Journal of American Medicine). For several weeks I wore both the Charge HR and the One connected to different accounts so I could compare them.
The results really surprised me. On a really lazy day (not much stepping but a lot of sitting around and talking or puttering around doing household chores, the CHR usually won. On a really active day, the One won. But over a few weeks, on average, they were almost exactly the same... ! What I learned from that was sometimes my wrist tracker counted extra steps, but sometimes it also missed some real steps, and the average was very accurate.
For me, that means a wrist worn tracker is best, even if it isn't perfect. I am just not organised enough to remember to grab my Fitbit One the minute I get up and to transfer it from jacket to trousers or whatever whenever I change what I am wearing. So I love my Fitbit always being on my wrist, day or night. And I feel really confident, having tried my experiment, that on balance, and over a period, the Fitbit gives me a really good idea of my fitness and how many steps I am taking.
Sorry for such a long post, but I hope it makes things clearer. Please keep in touch!
Sense, Charge 5, Inspire 2; iOS and Android
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