A is for Achievements, and Achievement!

A large part of today's population has jumped on the fitness-tracker craze in attempt to get healthier, and it seems everyone has something strapped to their wrist that tracks their steps, among other things. Striving to achieve that step goal every day is getting people off the couch and more conscious of how increased activity can have many benefits - weight loss, lowering cholesterol, managing diabetes and high blood pressure among them.  For me, the biggest benefit to walking and running is mental health.

Do you have a Fitbit, Garmin, or other tracking device that counts your daily steps?  Apps like MapMyRun/Walk/Fitness?  MyFitnessPal?  Strava?  Did you know that you can get paid to use them? 

I've been a member of Achievement for a couple of years and have cashed out several times.  It's a no-brainer.  You simply sign up, choose which step tracker you want it to grab data from, and the system does the rest.  You don't have to log in every day to do anything at all, you just sign up and forget about it (unless you want to check your points occasionally, and then of course you have to request to cash out when you have earned enough points to do so).

You get points for your daily steps, and additional points for tracking your exercise.  You even get points if you weigh yourself.  Have you ever been paid to sleep?  If your Fitbit or other device tracks it, you get points for sleeping too!

Achievement isn't going to make you rich.  Even as active as I am, it takes me several months to cash out $10, but it's basically free money.  You honestly don't have to do another thing once you've added your tracking device to sync with Achievement.

Click on any of the links above to get 100 points just for signing up today (I'll get 100 point bonus too), and let me know if you need help setting up your account. 

You're tracking your steps every day anyway; why not let someone hand you some cash to do it?

~ Marie Anne

Reflections - Where I was, where I am, where I'm going

Who's ready for the New Year?  Me!  It's New Year's Eve 2015, so time to reflect on where I was, where I am now, and where I'm determined to go.

I don't have any specific goals for 2016 other than to keep doing what I'm doing, and try to curb the junk food.  Looking back at where I was and what I've done, moving forward I'm going to try to focus on the things that have helped me the most.

Looking back

I joined SparkPeople a couple of years ago, and while it did help provide a modicum of motivation/accountability, it wasn't enough.  I got lots of trophies, but didn't find any real gratification in it.  I'm still a member, but don't mess with it much.  I think I've outgrown it, and that's not really a bad thing.

I got my Fitbit in September 2014 and it was great to be able to see how many steps I was getting and push harder to meet a daily goal.  I feel naked without my Fitbit and won't leave home without it (Who am I kidding?  I won't get out of bed without it!).  Regardless of what else I do, Fitbit will be a part of it.

In June 2015, I joined the 1,000 Mile Challenge and that pushed me even more.  Not only was I trying to meet my daily step goal with Fitbit, but now I had to keep putting one foot in front of the other in order to complete 1,000 miles in a year's time.  I was off to a great start in June and the first part of July, then life got in the way and I did almost nothing the remainder of July and August, and slightly more in September.  In October, I jumped back on board and have since done enough that I'm back on track for completing the 1,000 miles on time, and even slightly ahead of schedule. 

Since I've enjoyed this challenge, I've also signed up for the new 1,000 Mile Challenge that starts tomorrow, January 1, 2016.  I'm ready to get that first mile under my belt for the New Year!

While these other things have contributed nicely to keeping me motivated and moving, by far the best incentive for me has been Leap4Life.  I was tempted into joining L4L several months ago by the promise of earning money by walking and running, and while that's still a nice bonus, it's just that - a bonus.  You earn points on L4L by being active on the site, and by joining and completing events (goals) every day.  Leap4Life also has team events, and to me, that is key to keeping the motivation at a high level.  Having a workout partner is a great idea, but knowing that others on my team are counting on me to do my part is usually enough to have me lace up my shoes and get moving, no matter how badly I want to just be a slug on the couch.  Having one accountability partner is good, but four others on a team is even better!

Having said that, I found that the communication and interactive process on the Leap4Life site leaves a lot to be desired, so I created a Facebook group and my friends/teammates and I do our communicating there.  I started with one team of five members, and after word spread, created another, and another ... I just started our fourth team yesterday!  Some were Facebook friends years before L4L came about, and others are new friends I've found through the 1,000 Mile Challenge and Leap4Life.  Regardless of how we found each other, we've all become fast fitness friends, and have a lot of fun while we challenge each other to meet our goals.  And yes, there is the occasional bit of friendly competition, but it's ALL good!

Where I am

While all of these things have helped keep me putting one foot in front of the other and logging those miles, I haven't lost any weight, which puzzles me.  My level of activity has increased greatly, in some cases doubled, but it's not reflecting on the scale (and no, my clothes aren't fitting any differently either).  I know I'm still eating more junk than I should, but not more than I had been, so I don't know why the increased calorie burn isn't showing up somewhere.  I'm walking/jogging an average of 3-7 miles a day, with the occasional burst of 10-15 miles when I need to meet a particular goal.

There hasn't been any significant change in my A1C or cholesterol numbers either.  I'm still battling severe, chronic pain, but saw a rheumatologist this week and hopefully some of the tests he ordered will shed some light on the cause.    I'm remaining positive through it all, and not going to stop moving.  Surprisingly (or maybe not), the only time I'm not in pain is when walking.  Once I sit for 3-4 minutes, I hurt from head to toe when I get up, until I've moved around a bit and loosened up.  Once I push  through the pain for a few minutes, walking doesn't hurt and I can walk pretty much all day without issue - so walk I will!

Where I'm going

Moving forward, I'm going to continue what I'm doing, which is ... moving forward!  I would like to do more of my walking outdoors, but Ohio winters won't always make that possible  I've got the treadmill and now that I have the Kindle and can read while walking, I'm able to get a lot more steps in, but I'm also not getting the fresh air that's much healthier (and although probably a negligible amount, the treadmill DOES use electricity, and I'm trying to scrimp and save every penny).  Unless weather conditions absolutely prohibit it, I'm going to bundle up and try to get in at least a short walk up the road and back every day, and longer if time and weather allow.  I do a lot of walking outside in the warmer months, but not so much in winter, so would like to step that up a bit.  I will still use the treadmill, but figure any amount of steps I do outside is better than none.

I'm also going to make a concerted effort to curb the junk food.  I know cutting it out entirely isn't going to work for me, so I'm not even going there.  I do eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, but also more than my share of snacks.  Since money is so tight right now, I'm going to use that to my advantage to help rein in my food budget.  I don't spend a lot on food for just myself, but balk at the price of fresh produce yet will turn around and pick up a bag of candy or cookies.  The plan is to put that back on the shelf and instead buy something that isn't processed.  If I can afford to buy junk, I can afford to buy the extra bunch of broccoli or mushrooms to add to my breakfast omelet.  Sounds good in theory, doesn't it?

What about you?

Do you have a specific plan for 2016 to achieve (or maintain) better health and fitness?  Are you going to continue what you've been doing, or try something new?

If you'd like information about anything I've mentioned here, leave me a comment, or connect with me on Facebook.  You can also find out more information about Leap4Life by looking at the labels at the very bottom of this post and click the one marked "L4L".

I'm going to close out 2015 in style and put on my hoodie, lace up my shoes, and head out the door now.  Won't you join me?

~ Marie Anne

How to Earn More and Cash Out With AchieveMint

I finally made it! It took a while, but earning points for cash is easy with AchieveMint.   You're already working out, so once you have your Fitbit or other fitness tracker synced with the site, you're all set.  Earning enough points to cash out with AchieveMint doesn't happen overnight, but it doesn't take any extra effort to do, so just let those points accumulate every day and get a nice surprise when you see you've reached enough to cash in for your $50 gift card.

In addition to getting points for the steps and miles you accumulate with your Fitbit (or whatever device you're using), you can also get more points every day by:

• Linking your Twitter account (5 pts)
• Tracking your food intake (30 pts x 3 meals)
• Tracking your sleep (20 pts)
• Weighing yourself (10 pts)

That's an extra 125 points every day, which is probably more than you'll get by walking or jogging, so you'll be racking up those points even if you don't work out!

I weigh myself every morning and record it on both the Fitbit site and Walgreens (Here's how you can earn with Walgreens too).

I enter my food intake on MyFitnessPal and have it linked to AchieveMint.  Since I have regular meals saved, it only takes seconds a day to do.  I'm not monitoring calories or anything, but I make sure to make at least three entries a day, which might just be breakfast, a snack, and a drink.  You can add every meal and snack, but you only get credit for three entries at 30 points each, so I'm not a stickler about entering every bite that I put into my mouth.

Once you link your Twitter account, AchieveMint will automatically send one tweet every day, so you don't have to do anything else to that.

I don't know about other fitness trackers, but just push the button to start sleep tracking on your Fitbit when you go to bed, then just push it again when you wake up.  It will automatically send that info to AchieveMint for 20 points every day.

It might take months to make enough to cash out, but it's pretty mindless and takes no extra time at all.  If you link the accounts as I have above, you're pretty much done other than the few seconds it takes to enter your food, but for 90 points to do that daily, I think it's worth it.

I'm averaging about 200 points a day, so if you do the things I mentioned above, it should take about 250 days to earn the 50,000 points to cash out for your $50 gift card.  That seems like a long time, but I treat it as found money and when it comes in, I'll treat myself to something for my efforts.

What will you treat yourself to?

~ Marie Anne

How to Earn Money With Leap4Life and Fitness Trackers

I don't know about you, but if there's a way to earn money from something I'm already (or should be) doing, I'm all for that!  Leap4Life offers us that very thing - you can earn money by exercising every day and tracking your walking and jogging with a fitness tracker like Fitbit.  I've already explained how to sign up and earn with Leap4Life while working out, so this post will be more about how the points you earn actually translate to dollars, and how to get earn bonus points.

With Leap4Life, there are two different point systems -  Status Points and Fitwell Points.  You earn Status Points by just about everything you do on the site - commenting on a group or event page, entering events  etc.  Fitwell points, however, are what you need to accumulate to cash out for money, and they're harder to come by.  Don't scoff at Status Points, though, because when your status increases to higher levels, you will get bonus Fitwell points.

The quickest and easiest way to earn both Status Points and Fitwell points is by entering events.  Not all of them pay out in Fitwell Points, but you can earn quite a chunk of Status Points so make sure you check the events page every morning and sign up for the next one available. There is no penalty for entering an event and not making it, so sign up for all of them, even if some look too difficult to complete.  Most of the individual events that do pay out in Fitwell Points only give 10 points, but there are usually several of those a week, and it all adds up.  You need to earn 2,500 Fitwell points to cash out for $25.  That sounds like a lot, but don't run away just yet, as I'll show you how to earn extra Fitwell points more quickly.

The key to earning more Fitwell Points is to join teams and get in on team events that usually pay out 100 Fitwell Points, but as I said earlier, Status Points also help you earn money indirectly.  The chart below shows the bonus Fitwell Points you will get once you advance in status beyond the basic level.

Bonus Fitwell Points for Status Level

If you join and complete each daily event, it shouldn't take long to reach Bronze Level, and that means for every 100 Fitwell points offered for an event, you would earn 112.5 points (but they round up to 113), and you'd earn 11 Fitwell points for those events that offer 10.  Keep pushing to get to Silver Level and you'd get 125 Fitwell points for the larger events, and 12.5 Fitwell points (but they'll round up and give you 13!) for those that offer 10. The benefits are even greater when you reach Gold and Diamond Levels, so keep pushing!

Teams can have a number of members, but only five team members are allowed on the roster for any particular event.  You can be on more than one team, but only on the roster for an event with one team.  I manage four teams that I enter into every event, and can move members around on the roster to capitalize on individual strengths for that event so that both teams have a good shot at completing the event and getting the points.  I also manage a Facebook group so that team members can communicate and encourage each other daily since the setup on Leap4Life isn't the greatest.

So ... if you want to earn money while exercising, or just need some extra motivation and encouragement (I've got plenty of that to go around!), let me know when you've signed up for Leap4Life and I'll get you headed in that direction.  Leave a comment here or send me a PM on Facebook to let me know that you've joined so that we can connect as friends on L4L (it won't automatically connect us for some reason).

Don't wait until tomorrow.  Make every step count today!

~ Marie Anne

Earn While Walking or Running With Leap4Life

We all like to earn easy money online, but I especially like it when I can make money without any extra effort, by doing things that I'm already doing.  I found Leap4Life the other day and think it's the best and easiest site to earn gift cards for exercising or working out.  The friend who introduced me to the site has already earned two $25 amazon.com gift cards - I'm up for that!

If you have a Fitbit or other fitness tracker, the work is pretty much done for you.  Just link your Fitbit on Leap4Life, enter to participate in events as they come up, and you're done!  There are events every day of the week; some are for walking/jogging a certain number of steps or miles for that day, others where you have to try to attain a certain number of active fitness minutes.  Since your fitness tracking device is linked, it will capture the data at the end of each day, so you don't have to keep track of anything else.

Join my Leap4Life challenge and get started today!  All you need to do is log your first 3,000 steps in 30 days (that's only a little over a mile, so you should nail that the first day!) and you'll be credited with 50 FitWell points to get you off and running towards earning your first gift card.

If you sign up, make sure to send me a friend request.  I don't think Leap4Life connects us automatically 

How it Works

There are two types of points that you can earn on Leap4Life - status points, and FitWell points.  FitWell points are what you redeem for gift cards, but the more status points you earn to get to a higher level, the more opportunities you have to earn FitWell points, so grab everything you can!

You earn status points on Leap4Life by:

Adding friends
Joining groups
Creating your own groups
Completing events
Making a comment on a group or event

You earn FitWell points by:

Completing events

Note:  Not all events give FitWell points; some only give status points, but remember, those points will push you to a higher level more quickly, giving you more opportunities to earn FitWell points, so it's all good!

There is no penalty for signing up for an event and not completing it, so make sure to check  the site every day and join the next challenge that's available.  Even if you know that will be a particularly busy day for you, you never know what might change, so sign up for everything that's out there.

This post explains how to earn more points faster on Leap4Life. 

So ... if you're reading this, you likely already have a Fitbit or other device that tracks your walking and jogging, so take the extra step and sign up for Leap4Life and start earning towards that first $25 gift card today!

~ Marie Anne

P.S.  I started several teams on L4L so that we can earn more points with team events.  I run a Facebook group where we motivate and challenge each other every day - it's much more fun to share your workouts with a friend, even if it's just virtually!  We're always looking for more team members, so send me a message on Facebook and let me know that you'd like to join us and I can get you started right away.

Don't let any of this scare you ... I can walk you through everything very easily.  Join me and a bunch of my friends today!

Earn Shop Your Way Rewards Money With FitStudio

Another way to get paid to get fit?  Yep!  FitStudio has linked up with Shop Your Way Rewards, so you can get paid in Shop Your Way dollars by linking your fitness app or device to FitStudio.  If you already have a Shop Your Way Rewards account just sign up with FitStudio and get points for fitness activities like walking and running, and if you set goals, you'll earn points when you achieve those too.  I believe if you set a weekly goal and make it, you earn 5,000 points ... that's five bucks right there!

It's painless. You don't have to do anything at all with FitStudio after signing up and linking your Fitbit or other tracker, or smartphone fitness app , just keep logging those miles with your tracking device and watch the dollars add up in your Shop Your Way account. 

Shop Your Way Rewards dollars can be used both in store and online, and the points/dollars you earn with FitStudio do expire quickly, but it doesn't take long to earn enough for $5-10, and I'll take whatever I can get!  I don't normally shop at KMart or Sears at all, but I'll check my points every week or so to see how much I've accumulated, and if I have points expiring soon, I'll go ahead and pop in to KMart on my next trip to town and pick up something so as not to lose my points.

When spending your points locally, the cashier should be able to bring up your account by your telephone number, but for some reason my phone number is tied to someone else's old account, so I have to show my card with my account number/bar code to get proper credit.   Go ahead and print out your card to keep in your wallet in case something similar happens to you.

I never shop at KMart or Sears except when I get enough points worth stopping in for, but free is free, so why not take advantage of it?  Shop Your Way Rewards will also send you Surprise Points and good deals via email, bonus coupons and sales going on in various departments and the like, and I got a special 50% coupon to use with a $50 purchase this week because it's my birthday.  That's a nice savings if I have $50 worth of things to buy!  

If you shop online, you can also earn loads more points with Shop Your Way Rewards.  Click on 'shop' from the home page and see stores like Old Navy, Gap, DKNY, and others that will reward you with SYWR dollars.

So go ahead and sign up for Shop Your Way Rewards if you don't already have an account, then sign up with FitStudio and set some goals (for extra points), and start fattening your wallet while you get fit!

~ Marie Anne

P.S.  Another way to earn cash money while getting fit is with AchieveMint.  Read about AchieveMint here.  

Earn money with AchieveMint by working out

Some experts say that rewarding yourself for good behavior is one way to stay motivated to continue, like allowing yourself a treat when you lose a certain number of pounds, or if you work out every day, or make your goal of x number of miles per week.  What's even better is earning that treat by working out, but not having to pay for it yourself!  You can actually earn by working out with AchieveMint, a site that pays you for the miles you walk and run.

AchieveMint can access your running and walking activity through all sorts of trackers - Fitbit, Runkeeper, Map My Fitness, and scores of others.  Simply create an account when you click on AchieveMint and link whatever fitness tracking device you use to and you're off and running!

You'll earn points on AchieveMint for whatever fitness related activities you perform, and also for weighing yourself - it even gives you 20 points every day for sleeping if your device tracks that!  You won't really earn a mint with AchieveMint, but I'm ok with any amount of money an app will give me for doing something I do every day anyway.  You need 50,000 points to earn $50 and it won't happen overnight, but the more miles you log, the more points you will earn, so that's a great incentive to lace up your running shoes and get out there.  Money is a great motivator!

I've been a member of AchieveMint for several months and have earned almost 30,000 points so far, and I'm not stopping now!  I could use a new pair of running shoes and we all know those aren't cheap, so it seems fitting to put my first $50 from AchieveMint towards the price of new shoes.

What will you work towards?

~ Marie Anne


Update 11/16/2015:  I did very little in the way of exercise for a couple of months this summer, but I'm back on track now and earning more every day!  At the rate I'm going, I'll have earned my $50 gift card in probably about three weeks.  I'll be posting separately about how I earn more points every day, so keep an eye on this blog for future updates on this and other programs that pay you to exercise.