<story><title>Do you really need 10,000 steps a day?</title><url>https://blog.cardiogr.am/2016/02/12/do-you-really-need-10000-steps-a-day-2/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>newdaynewuser</author><text>I got into 10,000 steps craze, thanks in part to my company providing Fitbits. I was not really a health nut, just 3 days a week at gym, lifting and cardio. I had a bit of muscle definition. Gym was just something I did like brushing teeth. I didn&amp;#x27;t focus my life around it.&lt;p&gt;Due to incentives and competition among co-workers, I got into Fitbit seriously. While it was fun, but after a few months, not only I lost some definition but also gained weight. I was expecting to lose muscle mass but didn&amp;#x27;t know that 10000 steps spread out throughout day were not enough activity.&lt;p&gt;Now I realize Fitbits are great for extremely unhealthy or lazy people. But those of us who been working out without any devices should stay away from any such devices. And not change your workout routines.&lt;p&gt;It is too late for me, now I cannot workout without a device and some nice charts. I ended up getting a HRM based device. I like the charts it provides but I was happy using mirror to judge how much I needed to workout. And I didn&amp;#x27;t need any external motivation back then.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>_lex</author><text>Yeah, something that most people don&amp;#x27;t know is that extrinsic motivation dissolves intrinsic motivation.&lt;p&gt;see &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.spring.org.uk&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;how-rewards-can-backfire-and-reduce-motivation.php&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.spring.org.uk&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;how-rewards-can-backfire-an...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;This means that fitbit will leave you as either a fitbit addict (if you stick with it), or as someone who&amp;#x27;s less healthy than you would have been otherwise (if you don&amp;#x27;t, because now you&amp;#x27;ll exercise less on your own).</text></comment>
<story><title>Do you really need 10,000 steps a day?</title><url>https://blog.cardiogr.am/2016/02/12/do-you-really-need-10000-steps-a-day-2/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>newdaynewuser</author><text>I got into 10,000 steps craze, thanks in part to my company providing Fitbits. I was not really a health nut, just 3 days a week at gym, lifting and cardio. I had a bit of muscle definition. Gym was just something I did like brushing teeth. I didn&amp;#x27;t focus my life around it.&lt;p&gt;Due to incentives and competition among co-workers, I got into Fitbit seriously. While it was fun, but after a few months, not only I lost some definition but also gained weight. I was expecting to lose muscle mass but didn&amp;#x27;t know that 10000 steps spread out throughout day were not enough activity.&lt;p&gt;Now I realize Fitbits are great for extremely unhealthy or lazy people. But those of us who been working out without any devices should stay away from any such devices. And not change your workout routines.&lt;p&gt;It is too late for me, now I cannot workout without a device and some nice charts. I ended up getting a HRM based device. I like the charts it provides but I was happy using mirror to judge how much I needed to workout. And I didn&amp;#x27;t need any external motivation back then.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>irln</author><text>I agree that 10,000 walking steps isn&amp;#x27;t enough, however, it&amp;#x27;s a great metric for monitoring throughout the day and realizing (on occasion) you haven&amp;#x27;t done much for the day and you need to get out and hustle.&lt;p&gt;Also, on the Fitbit, their analysis of a particular run with regard to your heart rate is very helpful.</text></comment>