Why Grit Scores are Better Than Step Counts

Your phone says you hit 10,000 steps. You left it on the table during your desk marathon. Congratulations: you just optimized for a number that didn’t change your body one bit.

Step counts feel like progress because they’re visible, shareable, and satisfying to watch climb. But they’re also trivial to game. A stroll to the coffee machine. Waving your wrist while you sit. The watch doesn’t know the difference. Your body does.

The metric that actually moves the needle isn’t steps. It’s Grit.

What Grit actually measures

Grit isn’t a single number. It’s the compound signal of things that are hard to fake: logging your meals, hitting your protein target, and finishing your workouts. No amount of wrist flicking will log a meal for you. No shortcut will hit 140g of protein. Either you did the work or you didn’t.

That’s why an AI fitness coach that tracks Grit—not just steps—gives you something you can’t outsmart. You’re not competing with a step counter. You’re building a record of real inputs: what you ate, what you lifted, whether you showed up.

Steps lie. Grit doesn’t.

Steps are a proxy for “moving.” But moving doesn’t build muscle. It doesn’t guarantee you ate enough protein. It doesn’t tell you if you skipped the gym because you were “too busy” or because you didn’t plan.

Protein tracking and consistency in the gym are leading indicators of body composition change. Steps are a lagging, noisy signal. You can hit 15,000 steps and still lose muscle, miss your targets, and feel stuck. Or you can have a low step day because you lifted for an hour and ate three solid meals, and that day did more for you than a week of aimless walking.

The difference is Grit: the unsexy, honest work of logging, planning, and showing up.

How to use Grit instead of steps

Stop optimizing for the number that’s easiest to hit. Start optimizing for the behaviors that actually change your body:

1. Log your meals. Not “most of them.” All of them. When you write it down (or tell an AI coach), you stop pretending the afternoon snack didn’t happen.
2. Hit your protein target. If you’re not tracking, you’re guessing. And most people guess low.
3. Finish your workouts. Not “I went to the gym.” Did you complete the session? That’s what goes on the record.

Consistency in these three areas beats 20,000 steps and a vague sense that you “moved today.”

The accountability that doesn’t quit

The problem with step counts is they don’t talk back. A number on a screen doesn’t ask you why you skipped breakfast or whether you’re on track for the week. An AI fitness coach that knows your goals, your history, and your Grit score can.

That’s the philosophy behind LastCall: track what matters. Get a buddy—Scully—who remembers your lifts, your meals, and your streaks. No forms, no friction. Just the metrics that actually move the needle.

Steps might make you feel good. Grit makes you get results.

Let Scully track your Grit today. Get started with LastCall.