Fitbit question: 10k+ steps in 4 hours??

WisheeNY

I just got my Fitbit One and wore it for the first time today to work. I work retail part time at a department store and today I worked a 4hour shift from 7am-11am. Fitbit says I walked 10,354 steps! Now that sounds great but I'm wondering how accurate that is because I noticed people are always talking about how even at the end of the day, they're still trying to meet their 10,000 steps and I already walked over that amount before noon?? Now this is a retail job in a big store (Kohl's) so I do walk a lot because my job is to go around literally row by row through all of the merchandise in the store and check the signing, set up for sales, and remedy any nonworking signs. A few times during the day, like if I had to go to the bathroom and back to get more signs or something, I'd count the steps and then check my Fitbit and it was usually pretty accurate. Sometimes it'd be like 5 steps off. Does this sound normal to anyone? Does anyone else rack up steps that quickly?

LivingtheLeanDream

Fitbit is pretty darned accurate and there's no reason you wouldn't do 10k steps at work. The ones who struggle to make 10k are sedentary and not that active.
I do 10k before I go to work by running for an hour. I have a desk job but can still get 4k at work. By the end of the average day I've done 17k. ☺

pope705

I wonder if it depends on where you wore your One.
I have a flex that I wear on my wrist, and I usually don't get my 10000 steps in 4 hours unless I go for a walk or run. When I used to march (with the military) to and from the barracks and class, I would have my steps by lunch. But we started our days at 0730. Maybe some of the work you do made it think you were walking?
If it always gives you 10000+ steps on days you work, I would probably up my daily step goal to compensate.

maxit

Perfectly plausible for 10K steps in 4 hours - folks that have a hard time getting in 10K a day are people who basically sit while working. That is not you.

subversive99

I think if you are working in a big retail store and on your feet all day you would have no problem hitting 10k steps in that amount of time. I work in IT, mostly sedentary, but I have one client that has this loooong office with offices all the way along and when I spend a day there my step count is always crazy high since I'm back and forth from one end to the other.

Regarding accuracy, I have a Fitbit One and have watched the tracking on my phone as I walk on the treadmill and count my steps, and I figure it is off by *at most* 5%. So, take that for what it's worth, but I don't think it's unreasonable at all.

makelemonade14

I get about 4k steps in 4 hours at work as a teacher. I think 10k for retail is definitely realistic.

Jakiepaper

My husband works as a retail manager and averages 12,000 to 16,000 steps a day. He's got the ZIP though.

ErinK09

Sounds about right. I can get 5,000 in a half hour if I'm moving around a lot.

JAT74

Today I went out to a market followed by a walk of around 45 minutes and then came home. I was out for about 2.5 hours and when I came home checked my Fitbit and I'd already hit around 10,500 steps by 1pm.

Most days I'm really sedentary as I work from home so I struggle to reach my steps by the end of the day unless I add in a walk or make more effort to move.

WisheeNY

Thanks everyone!

Yodee

I work in retail also but at a much smaller store but I can get very close to my 10k in about seven hours, depending on what I am doing that day. Keep up the good work - I love my fitbit, it's much easier to account for your lifestyle!

MaggieLoo79

I started wearing a Fitbit Flex today and it is wildly overestimating my steps. I know, because I wore a pedometer November - February and I should have come out at half the amount of steps Fitbit listed for me. I've changed the sensitivity to "dominant" and am hoping that helps, otherwise though, it's going back to the store.