Counting Steps FAD

snowflake930

I don't know if this has been brought up or not, but the wrist fit bits miss some steps when you are pushing a shopping cart even though you are obviously taking steps. Also, if you stop in the middle of a stair case, you do not get credit for walking up it. So what? Do you really care that an occasional wrist movement will pick up steps, or that you will lose steps pushing a shopping cart or stopping in the middle of a stair case? Nothing is perfect, and they are not for everyone, but as a person who was morbidly obese and could not climb a staircase without becoming out of breath, my fit bit and MFP are two of the best tools I have had for helping me become a normal weight and able to hike up and down hills for hours, and it is all good for me. How could anyone think that this is a bad FAD, if it helps so many people to move more?

Simple solution. If you don't like them, fine, don't use them, your choice, your life. For many of us though they are great motivators. I for one, will continue to use this fantastic device!

3dogsrunning

I've been up for 4 hours, played with a toddler, cleaned a bedroom, did two loads of laundry and am only at 1334 steps. I demand a refund.

Maybe I should wash and blow dry my hair ( I wear mine on my non-dominant hand so I doubt that will work either).

Awillz_Conqueror

koinflipper wrote: »

The components of physical fitness: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility and body composition.

So do your 10k steps per day accomplish this? NOT BY ANY STRETCH OF THE IMAGINATION.

It could. It depends on the person. It depends on what they are doing. If you want to say that walking to get snacks or coffee won't make you physically fit, I can agree to that. BUT if a person is making efforts to walk stairs as opposed to elevators or taking a brisk walk instead of sitting all day (doesn't have to be for 30 minutes, could be for 5-10 minutes, low intensity) it will absolutely attribute to physical fitness. Will there be huge gains, no. Will it ATTRIBUTE to a person's overall physical fitness? YES.

Fitness trackers do just that. Track. Period. You set goals to it and try to exceed them. As mentioned in this thread about 1 million times already, a fitness tracker tracks ACTIVITY. However, as I stated above, when a person opts to walk and/or take stairs as opposed to an elevator/sitting, it will attribute to the overall physical fitness of a person as they will be able to handle stairs more easily (cardio respiratory endurance and muscle strength) and it will assist in fat loss (flexibility and body composition).

The 10,000 is arbitrary and it depends on how the steps are being used. But if someone's physical fitness is low to start, and they work up to 10,000 steps, how are the steps not improving physical fitness in that person?

corgicake

It's a form of getting people off the bottom rung of activity level. If you can't remember a single study on that from your schooling, drop out now. Health insurance companies love handing out step counters for a reason.