Fitbit and 10000 steps

If you sit and knit, the Fit it will count it as steps (yes, I know that's cheating!)

My daughter found her Fit Bit did not register steps when she was pushing her push chair, so using an elastic band, attached it round her ankle. When in competition with her friends, she has been known to attach it to her very active toddler!

The fitbit doesn't just calculate steps, though. It monitors sleep, calories, exercise, weight too. That's the bit that's most useful, in my view.

I'm a bit obsessive, mind. I love charts, statistics, trends etc.

I was thinking about buying a fitbit but do you have to have a smartphone? I haven't. I have had a pedometer which does not record accurately as I once tried counting steps and they did not match at all. My son bought me one of those Garmin thingys but once I'd done a few walks I failed to reset it properly and it wouldn't work. Also the batteries don't last long.
I have now measured local distances in my car so know how many miles I walk on the roads (well on the pavements!!) This does not work on footpaths however!!

badenkate I was surprised at how many steps I use just walking around the house. For that reason, I don't find getting to the 10000 so difficult. For me, it's about an hour's walking plus random steps around the house. I'm a bit obsessed with my fitbit, and always take note of the calories in/out function too.

You can set it to monitor weight; I don't personally.

If I'm running short of step opportunities I make up the shortfall by marching on the spot. Or disco dancing to Absolutely 70s.

I've got a step counter which clips to my belt and every so often I remember to put it on. However, DH and I have been completely confused about how long we would need to walk to get 10000 steps - we estimated that from the data I'd collected on the gizmo, we'd have to walk at least 2 hours a day every day ! And yet so many people say they're doing at least 10000. Yesterday I realised something (OK call me slow). Both DH and I are 5'10" and long legged. We take long strides - doing a quick survey of women's stride patterns, most women take much shorter strides than I do. So today I've tried to reproduce an average woman's stride - and taking the dogs for a walk and a morning's walking round the house has already registered nearly 5000. I suddenly feel much happier - I am probably getting much closer to the magic number than I thought

I've had mine for 3 weeks now and have found it to be a great motivator to get up and move. Mine buzzes if I've sat still for an hour, so I get up and walk about for a while. I understand they aren't super accurate but I know I'm much more active than a month ago. I set myself small challenges to beat. I want to beat my greatest number of step, 15,365. Waiting for a nice day when I can persuade someone to go for a long walk with me.

I love my fit bit! I get really annoyed if I forget it. 10000 steps is my every day goal which I can usually manage. I've just been to a Zumba class and recorded 7000 steps! As I've joined slimming world I'm hoping this helps.
I remember Titbits too ?

Yes, I think you have to move your wrist. I couldn't figure why it was recording steps when I was playing the piano!

Yes and I found the same pushing my grandson's buggy which isn't easy to do one handed!

oh and I forgot. Have you noticed it doesn't record all those steps you do in the supermarket? I now have this weird way of pushing the trolley with my stomach so my wrist is free to record my steps!!

I was given a ChargeHR because I was interested in recording my weird heartbeat. A waste of time - it is not accurate and apparently if you wear one on each wrist you would get different recordings.

Overall the fitbit is totally inaccurate - I can add loads of steps by just sitting in a car - I think it records every gear change. I can also add steps by wearing it on my dominant hand (though I usually wear it on my left but have recorded that as my dominant hand as far as fitbit is concerned). And gardening helps the step count too.

I do find the sleep monitor interesting and I think quite accurate, but again I must do a lot of sleep walking as some days I wake to find several steps already recorded, when I know I didn't visit the loo that night, other nights when I have done the long trek to the bathroom, it has only recorded 4 steps.

Sometimes it will record the stairs other times it ignores the fact that I have been up and down several times. Then it seems to think a hill is a stairway and as we live in a hilly area I can add a lot of stairs to my record!

But I keep wearing it! It certainly does motivate me into taking more steps but I very rarely achieve 10,000 in a normal working day so I have set it to 7,000 to give me a target that is attainable.

I use a Fitbit Flex and have to make an extra effort to achieve 10,000 steps
If anyone wants to be Fitbit friends and do challenges sometimes please message me Thanks

I have recently unearthed my Fitbit from the drawer and clipped it on. I don't aim for 10,000 steps just more than I did yesterday. It doesn't register enough steps when I do a spin class so perhaps I should tie it to a shoe.
It's a bit of fun really.
Titbits! I remember reading that.

I can't be bothered with fancy gizmos, so use a Tanita 3 axes pedometer, which can be bought for under £20. It is more sophisticated than the cheap ones that clip onto a belt, It can be carried in a pocket, bag, or hung round the neck. I have tested the number of steps it counts and it is very accurate, matching my count exactly. It also estimates calories used and distance covered in Km and has a personal alarm. Tanita pedometer.

I found setting mine up easy, never. You just follow the instructions.

I'm really enjoying mine but now it's stopped syncing. It's saying "not connected" and the lights have stopped flashing when tapped. .

Anyone any advice?

Do they come with proper instructions re setting them up ?

I got the Fitbit Charge HR last week and have had to do some messing about with it to make it more accurate. I wear it on the non dominant wrist but have logged it in the program as dominant and have also altered the stride length as it was counting way too high and also counting any movements as steps. This was on the advice from the Fitbit forum and it does seem to have helped. I really got it to monitor my heart rate having been diagnosed with AF but then found my phone actually does that anyway and the results are different. It does monitor sleep though which is quite interesting. I don't use it for counting calories as we're on the Nutra check diet so the food entered on the diary is counted every day. In all it does tend to make you think about moving around more and walking into town rather than getting the car out - I work from home so some days can actually only move from desk to kitchen to sofa

I bought my daughter a Fitbit Alta which is worn on the wrist. I have the simple Fitbit Zip and find it pretty accurate. I do have to go out for a proper half hour plus walk to get a load of steps in, and the rest is normal walking about and up and down my seemingly endless town house stairs (specially when memory fails and I forget things upstairs when I am at front door). I like the challenges and the ap on my phone. Rain today has kept me indoors mostly though, apart from a walk around Tesco!

For best results wear your Fitbit on your torso. I clip mine to the waistband of my jeans. Will indeed get weird results if worn on wrist.,

sunlover I've got a flex. I'm already a bit obsessed with logging things.

I've been playing with it for 4 hours..

I'm still a newbie using mine. TBH I don't log what I eat. I'm just interested in steps and distance. I'm a bit disappointed that it doesn't register riding a bike.
Which Fitbit did you buy gettingonabit?

Heeeeelp someone? My new fitbit is up and running (so to speak). It's counting steps ok, and logging food ok.

However it won't log exercise. . It says "not connected", but it IS connected.

I've just walked 15,000 steps buying the thing and now I can't log the buggers!

Where am I going wrong?

I've got a Garmin vivofit which counts steps, and usually manage the 10,000 as I'm out of the habit of driving these days. It counts extra steps if I wind wool (and also when I'm plaiting my hair), but not if I knit. It also counts extra if I'm weeding and shaking the earth off the weeds, so I put it on a belt loop when I'm gardening.

It also gives you a goal for each day, which seems totally arbitrary, and is supposed to count the calories used, but that bears no relation to reality. You are meant to wear it 24 hours a day and it'll tell you how you sleep but I don't think I want to know. It connects to the computer but then refuses to tell me what I've done, so I just note the steps and the distance. Although it's not perfect, I have increased my walking since having it, and feel fitter, if not thinner

Shysal, I have also started to eat more healthily. Cut out bread and other things like cakes and biscuits. So fingers crossed!
Neversaydie, I tried standing still and moving my arms but no steps get recorded. I know the Fitbits are not really accurate to the exact number of steps taken but seem much more reliable than the pedometer that I tried years ago. Anyway, I'm walking and moving more and more each day so I'm happy with what my Fitbit tells me.