I’ve been moving away from tracking steps since how much I walk is no longer completely in my control. Some days it hurts and even with my knee brace and it’s best if I don’t walk that far on those days. I don’t external prodding to walk when I shouldn’t be.
So I gave away my Garmin watch and have started using Google Fit instead.
One of my favorite things is that it tracks active, moving minutes. Yes, steps are there but they’re not the main measure. On a day like the one below I do pretty well with biking to work and my swimming lessons after work. Add some walking around campus, and I’ve more than met my daily movement goal.
So while walking might be the best exercise there is and I’m walking on the beach rather than running, I’m also trying to branch out and get lots of movement without necessarily getting lots of steps. See below. It can be done.
Is your walking limited? What do you do instead?
How does google fit work? Does it track your heart rate or do you have to tell it things you are doing?
Doesn’t track heart rate unless you’re using a connected device–like a Garmin (so it does when I am riding my bike). But it tracks speed and uses that as a proxy for things that require extra exertion. Things like swimming I enter manually. But it’s the best modal modal tracker I’ve seen. It auto-detects bike rides, which I like.