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.

New Challenge - Walk 1,000 Miles in a Year

Anyone who knows me knows that I love a challenge.  I heard about this latest one, the 1000 Mile Challenge,  just last night and debated whether to jump in or not, but knew I'd cave ... and I did.  The challenge starts tomorrow, June 6, 2015 and ends June 5, 2016.  I'm pumped and ready to go!

The challenge is to walk/jog/hike 1,000 miles in one year.  One thousand miles sounds like a lot, right?  But at a full 365 days, that comes out to approximately 2.75 miles each day.  Piece of cake!

There is a business Facebook page for the challenge (you can sign up for the challenge from there) and also an interactive Facebook page  for challenge members, where we can chat about how we're doing, share success stories, etc.  The challenge hasn't even started yet and I already see the group as a great motivator.

There is a fee to join the challenge, but 50% of the cost goes to charity, which you get to choose when you sign up.  Finances are tight for me right now, but that's a small price to pay to keep me moving every day in an effort to take better care of myself.  (I'm still dealing with some health issues, but I'm fighting it all every step of the way!).

You can use any app or tracking system you already have to count your miles, but if you use a Fitbit tracker (which counts ALL your steps every day), they'd prefer that you only log those miles that you actually do consciously, over and above the steps you would walk in a normal day.  You're on the honor system, so if you want to just use your total Fitbit number, no big deal - the challenge police aren't going to come after you.  The idea, though, is to get your butt moving more than you do on a regular day, so set a challenge for yourself other than just walking around the house.

I'm going to look at my Fitbit stats and come up with a number that I think is my average number of steps daily without going for a walk or jog, and deduct that from my daily total and report that number.

There are many apps out there you can use to keep track, but a good app to try is Charity Miles, (available for both android and ios) because not only does it log your mileage, it also donates to a charity of your choice.  There are loads of charities to choose from, and you can choose a different one each time you open the app to log your miles.  I'm going to make a separate post about different fitness apps and the benefits of each.

• Note:  None of the apps or trackers are synced with the challenge in any way, they are just tools to help you track your miles so that you know what to report.  

This challenge will benefit my dogs as much as it will me because it'll be an incentive to make sure I don't slack off on their exercise too.  When walking the dogs, I also use an app that donates to my favorite animal rescue organization, so that's a win-win also.  If I walk all three dogs on our regular route every day, I'll get 2.4 miles right there, so even if I have to fill in on the treadmill on days I don't get out there, I've got this.  1,000 miles in one year?  I'm ready!

Who's with me?

~ Marie Anne

My first official/unofficial 5K race - for Jessie!

Well,  I'm going to do it.  Most of it will be done at a fast walk, and maybe a very slog jog for part of it, but I'm going to hop on the treadmill this afternoon and run my first 5K.  It will be my first official (well, with me officiating) 5K in decades, but since I'll be competing with myself here in my home and not in the actual race, my time will be unofficial by race standards.  No matter ... Just doing it at all and showing support for Jessie and her family is good enough for me.

Jessica Torres was severely injured in an auto accident several years ago, but her family never gave up on her.  I served with Jessie's dad years ago when we were both stationed in South Weymouth, MA, and Tony, his lovely wife Lenore, and their son Derrick are wonderful people who still believe the best is yet to come in Jessie's progress towards healing.  This 5K race for Jessie is one way we can help support them while they support her.  Even if you can't be in Tennessee for the race, you can still help with a donation, and of course prayers are always welcomed.

I'm still having knee trouble (with both knees now!) but have started physical therapy and ohmy, the therapists are working miracles.  Separate posts forthcoming about that, but I'm definitely glad I'm pursuing it.  I'm taped up with kinesiology tape and going to complete this 5K in one sitting if it kills me.  I just need to remember that pushing too hard is what got me into trouble in the first place, and pay attention to my body.  I know I can walk the distance a couple of times over with no trouble, so if I don't kick it into a jog for too much of it, I should be ok.  I want to do my best, but I also don't want to lose ground that I'm finally starting to gain after the knee injury more than two years ago.  It's been a long journey filled with setbacks, and I want to keep moving in the right direction.

So ... I'll be lacing my running shoes and revving up the treadmill at race time, scheduled for 5:00 pm eastern today (4pm Memphis time), May 30 2015.  I'll post my officially unofficial results later, embarrassing or not!

~ Marie Anne

Fitbit 'Beat Your Best Day' Challenge 2015

Well I did it.  Fitbit challenged all users on Saturday, May 16, 2015 to beat their best Fitbit day ever.  I needed to beat 25,585 steps (over 10 miles) and since I haven't even been making my goal of 10-12K very often lately due to some health issues, I didn't think I had a chance.  Still, I wasn't going to give up before trying.

Once I got a couple of miles under my belt, I couldn't stop, not without giving it my best.  I took all three dogs out separately for a walk first, and logged about 2.5 miles.  Then I went out by myself and ended up doing something else I'd never done before - walked all the way down the big hill on my road.  It's about a half mile to the point where the big hill starts, and then it's downhill all the way.  I'd only gone about halfway before and even that only a few times (and that was a year or two ago), but I figured it was as good a day as any to make the attempt, so down I went.

Hooo boy, it was rough.  It's a single lane road with drop off on one side and ditch on the other, poorly paved, and the township decided to put crush and run on it a while back, making it precarious to walk on with such a slope.  It was pretty stupid of me to try it since it's a remote area that's a dead end road, and only two houses down there, so if I'd hurt myself, it could have been disastrous.  I've been using my walking time as quiet time with the Lord, and believe me, I did some praying yesterday!

You can't really see the slope here, but it's a steady decline

I made it to the end of the road, enjoying the sounds of nature during my trek.  I got to rub noses with my neighbor's two horses, smile at squirrels scampering about, saw one woodpecker a short distance away and heard another while headed downhill, but didn't see him.  At the bottom of the hill was a very vocal Canada goose that apparently didn't want any strangers in his/her area.  The honeysuckle was in bloom and tickled my nose with delight, just as the things I saw along my path made my eyes smile.

Good morning, boys and girls!

That walk took a lot out of me and only ended up with 2.2 miles for my efforts, but I'm glad I did it.  Will I do it again?  Maybe, maybe not.

I logged the rest of my miles between a few minutes on the treadmill here and there, and two more walks down my road (not down the hill, though).  When I saw how close I was getting to meeting my goal last night, I decided since I was only a few thousand short of the 30,000 step badge, why not go for broke?  I was beat, but I knew I'd never be this close again, so I grabbed my headlamp and flashlight and off I went at 11:00 pm.

I did it.  I busted my previous 'best Fitbit day' out of the water.  I needed to get to 25,585 and I ended up with 30,101 steps by the time I fell into bed.  I also finished up with the equivalent of 59 flights of stairs which topped my previous best too (I think it was 54), and got my skydiving badge for reaching 1000 flights of stairs since I got my Fitbit last September.

Yep, I'm crazy, and paying for it today, but I made it.  I knew I'd  probably never see a day like that again, so grabbed it while it was within reach.

More than 30,000 steps, which is almost 13 miles.  Church activities are about all I have planned for today, and I think I've earned a day off.

Did you accept Fitbit's challenge yesterday to beat your best day ever?  How did you do?

~ Marie Anne

Fitbit Step Challenge on Saturday ... Are You Ready?

My personal best day at 25,585 steps

Are you ready for a challenge?  I am!

I was doing pretty good with keeping up with my walking for a while until some health issues sidelined me for a short time in February/March of this year, but I was given the go-ahead to resume normal activities, so I'm starting to get back at it.  What a great time for the Fitbit folks to issue this amazing challenge!

The challenge is a big one.  In an effort to beat Fitbit's total highest number of steps in one day, on Saturday, May 16, 2015, Fitbit is challenging all users to beat their best day ever.  They've leveled the playing field by asking each of us to beat our own personal best day, rather than set a specific step goal for all.

Mine will be tough to beat.  My best step day recorded since I got my Fitbit One was 25,585 steps on October 22, 2014.  At my stride, that's more than 10 miles!  I haven't even come close to that before or since, and I've only occasionally been meeting my 12,000 step daily goal lately.  I've got new health issues cropping up almost daily, and some of them do affect my walking, so it might not be physically possible to make it, but I'm going to give it my best shot.

I just checked my specific stats for that day and wow, I can't believe I did all that in one day.  I walked up and down the big hill on my street several times that day, enough to log 54 flights of stairs, and almost 11 miles!  Once I got going and did several walks throughout that day, I decided to shoot for the 25K badge.  You can see by the chart that I was a walking machine that day, LOL.

Did I really walk almost 11 miles that day?
(Click to enlarge)

I'm going to try to build up to it by walking a little more each of the three days until goal day on Saturday, and hope I don't burn myself out in the process.  My feet have been swelling horribly lately and we haven't been able to pinpoint why yet, and now other areas of my body are swelling too, so hopefully this push won't do further harm.  I'm not going to give up, but not listening to my body could have serious consequences (remember that knee injury over two years ago?), so I need to be smart and find a balance.

Are you up for the challenge?  What record will you be trying to beat?

~ Marie Anne


Don't have a Fitbit activity tracker yet?  What are you waiting for?