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Can someone explain the purpose of step counting?

From all the academic research I have seen regarding nutrition and exercise getting a few thousand extra steps will have no meaningful affect on your weight and health.

Is the pedometer really just a psychological trick to get people thinking about their weight and health more often which leads to people actually eating less?

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It is a "psychological trick", especially when combined with other incentives like badges, leaderboards or rewards.

Keep in mind that many people struggle to get even a few thousand steps. Beyond that, it's a great status symbol, or at least it was, until the Apple Watch came out :-)

Also, the data can be interesting, both for researchers, and for yourself--if you're the kind of person who wonders e.g. if getting a lot of steps late in the evening rather than in the morning affects your sleep...

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