April 2008 - Posts
I have had a VERY generous offer from a supplier to give away FREE Shape magazine subscriptions to FitClub members!
You must reply ASAP with your name and shipping address before 6pm EST
ALL FitClub members can apply - offer only valid whilst supplies last!
sandi@steeplemedia.net
Alright guys, as of Today, I only have ONE entry to join the 2nd Fit Club this year!! Here is the post that I put up a few weeks ago. Please sign up!!
Also, I am taking your suggestions!! For the next Fit Club, there will be a page that you can report your information on. And I will send you a "Weekly Report" that contains all your information from the week. Also, try to convince a friend or family member who is close to you to join!! That way you have a local "buddy" to compete with 
The Club starts on May 12!! Hopefully, I will be able to post a list of potential members by Monday (that way you know if you signed up or not). Actually, Look for a "confirmation email" sometime today. If you dont receive one, you need to email me!!!
Want to join the Steeple Media Fit Club? This is your latest opportunity to get into the fit kids club! That was the best I could do to act cool. But seriously, do you wanna join?
The next SM Fit Club will start on May 12. Do you have what it takes? Ugg, I need to stop haha.
Well, if you would like to join, email me at zach@steeplemedia.com and during the 2 week break, I will send everyone out a survey or two to gather information so we can get started! Be warned though, since Sandi is not hosting, things will be a weeeee bit different, such as reporting information. I will still collect information via email, but I will not be emailing you daily.
All members of Steeple Media are more than welcome to join. If you are an "outsider" reading this post, all you need to do is Sign Up on Steeple Media and you are then qualified to join!
You also do not have to be in poor physical shape. You could be at the ideal weight for your height and age but still want to be fit! Also, if you were a member of the first Fit Club this year, you CAN sign up again and keep your fitness program rolling! Thats GOOD NEWS!!! I also want to get family involvement, so if you have a family member who you think should join, ask them to! That way the "partners" can be a little more local.
Just as the Fit Club that is currently going on, we need a MINIMUM of 6 people to sign up in order to make this fit club happen. 12 are needed to give more than 3 prizes away. I'm confident that we will hit that 12 though! I think I want to set the maximum at 20 but if we go over, GREAT!!!
Also, Baseline exercises will change! I have a few up my sleeve that I want to add and some that I want to take out. Partially because the way I am going to record them will be a little different.
Thats the basis of it right now, I dont want to scare you with toooo much information. Those of you who are in the Fit Club now, please get your emails to me soon that way I can get things started asap!
Here's a brief overview of the 10 week program.
Week 1:
Getting to know everyone! Baseline collection. Partner competition (how well do you know them?) Also, FIT CLUB FITCAST!!!
Week 2-9:
Increasing physical activity and baselines. FIT CLUB FITCAST!!!
Week 10:
Final information collected. Partner competition (each pair against each other) FIT CLUB FITCAST!!!! Competition winners announced!
There will be three areas that you can win a prize. The amount of prizes we have depend on how many people are in Fit Club. SO FAR, looks like we will be having an iPod Nano and another MP3 player!!
Areas the prizes will be given away:
Most Competitive: Will win a TBA prize and will receive a certificate
Most Improved: Will win a TBA prize and will receive a certificate
Most Supportive: Will win a TBA prize and will receive a certificate
Also, if you have ideas for added areas that someone can receive the prize and award, let me know!! zach@steeplemedia.com All prizes are TBA and will be announced closer to the next fit club date. I'm willing to go up to 6 prizes for this competition!
Sandi's Fit Club schedule looked similar to this one but I added a few competition inside hints I also think I will do more video blogging than text blogging as I think that video/audio is more fun. Oh and I want the FitCast to have more in its attendance so I think I am going to incorporate that into Weekly point totals some how, but thats soon to come
Thanks for stopping by and invite your friends!!
What is the WOMAN Challenge?
This May, thousands of women across the country will embark on an
eight-week physical activity challenge for better health. They will be
part of the WOMAN Challenge: Women and girls Out Moving Across the Nation.
To
kick-off the ninth annual National Women's Health Week (May 11-17,
2008) the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on
Women's Health is coordinating the WOMAN Challenge. The free eight week
WOMAN challenge encourages women and girls to set and achieve personal
physical activity goals, appropriate for their lifestyles.
The WOMAN Challenge begins on Mother's Day, May 11, and ends on July 5, 2008.
Be one of the first to register and...
- Receive a tracking log to record your progress throughout the eight week Challenge and the remaining year
- Receive weekly motivational e-mails and health tips to help you reach your personal physical activity goals
- Choose 1 of 6 virtual routes throughout the United States to move
along during the challenge. Explore the country without leaving your
hometown!
- Participate as an individual or form a team
(Rumor has it they will also send you a free pedometer)
SIGN UP HERE
This was tough to work out!
Lots of number crunching on your baseline results.
I looked at your % increase each week and overall to find our winner.
Our late comers were not eligible for the prize but if you would like to know your % increase in the last week, just let me know and I will figure that out for you
.
Zach pulled some SUPER impressive numbers for the last week's baselines! I bet he is still hurting from those!! That definitely put his total numbers way up there. HOWEVER, looking at most CONSISTENTLY IMPROVED he is not our winner.
I also want to give a huge pat on the back to the following members who showed great improvement over the 10 weeks -
Unruli1, Sir Valiant, FluffyCow, FlannelMan, Scoutmom and J_Cee. Hope you keep these up guys!
Finally, our winner, who amazed me every week with her determination, creativity and commitment is..............
OLDJERSEYGIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice work! I will contact you via email about your prize :D
Please keep on posting you guys - this blog belongs to you all, and see you May 12th for the next season!
This prize is based on the weekly points you accumulated, including all of the bonus points you earned during this last week.
Here's how we did Week 9
14th - 500
13th - 1000
12th - 20,000
11th - 21,049
10th - 23,400
9th - 27, 467
8th - 27, 926
7th - 28, 912
6th - 31, 724
5th - 32, 955
4th - 36, 464 Congratulations Scoutmom!
3rd - 37, 473 Congratulations OldJerseyGirl!
2nd - 40, 345 Congratulations Sir Valiant!
1st - 61, 223 Congratulations to................................................ZACH!!!
Out of nine weeks total competition, Zach has won 7 times.
Zach, you are clearly our MOST COMPETITIVE FitClub member this season and you WIN a years subscription to Shape or Men's Fitness Magazine plus a gift!!!
Still to come.....................prize for MOST IMPROVED MEMBER......
Can I just say, you guys are great.
Out of our 14 ending members - 7 of you were nominated at least once as being the most supportive person to someone during Fitclub!
Thank you to all of you who wanted to nominate me too! Your words really touched my heart, and I feel more inspired than ever to continue on next season!
A special thank also to Zach, who has been putting on the FitCasts every week - which are really fabulous! They mix games with trivia with exercise with prizes with friendly chat!
Not only that, Zach has offered up prizes throughout this season too. Zach did the pedometer challenge, and he also gave away several prizes in FitCasts.
As you can imagine, Zach received several nominations.
HOWEVER!!
There was someone who really touched people with her frequent posts, who inspired people with her attitude and who energized people with her determination!
Thank you from all of us Ms FLUFFY COW - you are the winner of our Most Supportive Member for this season!
You win a $10 iTunes Gift Card!
CONGRATULATIONS and please, continue to inspire us all!
More winners coming later today.................
Being one of the last ones to write a post, I had a whole week to reflect on the 10-week journey. Up until now, I still don't know what to write.
If only I have miraculously lost 10 pounds, no, even 1 pound, then I could write, "I've lost xx pounds during fit club!" (insert triumphant laugh). But no I didn't. Do I feel depress about it? Nope.
Or maybe, if only I was able to keep at my 1200 calorie limit, then I could assure you that I have finally gotten rid of my bad habits. Unfortunately, April is final exams week. Food is my ammunition. The one to fuel those long nights of cramming papers and studying for stuff I'll never apply in real life. Between an "A+" and a skinny waist, guess which one I picked? Yes, that's right, I am a natural geek. Again, I don't feel bad about my decision.
If there's anything that I've learn about FIT club is that I shouldn't sabotage my whole week or my whole life for one single mistake. "Since I have eaten a pizza, I might as well eat 5 more slices." Nah, I don't do that anymore. Thank God. Sandi's words will probably serve as my lifetime conscience: Do not aim too high. 10 minutes of exercise is better than nothing. But, when I get to the 10-minute mark, I know that I would want to do more and more.
I don't feel bad about not losing any weight or not sticking with a low-calorie diet, because when I look back, I know I did something.
Filling up my two jugs of water to start the day.
Clipping on my pedometer as my real time indicator and doing a tap dance in the filing room when nobody's looking so to increase my steps.
Running for 10 miles around the park effortlessly. To glance back at my 100-pound friend, in the midst of a heart attack, while trying to keep up with me. Realizing, "Wow, I'm not even panting."
I joined this club so I could have people to scold me and to make me feel bad to the point where I could force myself to change. But instead, I found a group of people who understood and encouraged. How could I disappoint this lady who takes her time to email me everyday asking how I did for the day? FOR FREE. So, Sandi, I may not have gotten a perfect score, but I just want to tell you and everybody, that your efforts have not been completely wasted. I'm not a total failure. And I thank you for everything! You're probably the most supportive people I have met in the internet world.
Now that I have all the tools to lead a fit life, I wanna try and see if I could do this on my own. I wish you luck in the future. Thanks again for everything. I will miss this program very much!!!!
Oh fit club….
I’m going to miss this group! This journey has been
completely amazing. FitClub came into my life when I really needed that
inspiration. I had just joined a gym and I didn’t know how I was going to stick
to everything. The daily emails (though at times, I dreaded them) were amazing
to keep my motivation up. I joined fitclub to keep me motivated, to have
friends working towards the same healthy lifestyle…. and to have people to talk
to about everything (not just fit club related, mind you)
For those of you that don’t know, I’m down 37 pounds since I
started. I have been dieting and exercising along with the Fit Club program.
This alone is lifechanging for me and I’m looking forward to attempting another
season. (right now with my work schedule I don’t know how its going to work…
but I do want to join you all again next season).
My partner, Sandi, was completely and totally amazing. She
got me started in the process, she kept me going and she was there through
every pitfall, breakdown and triumph. I could not have asked for a better
partner and I hope that if I can make it to Fit Club next season that we can be
partners again.
I gained so much through this… and I really want you all to
know how much I appreciate EACH and EVERY one of you who pushed me to go to the
gym, encouraged me to continue my diet (when I wanted that mofoing hamburger instead
of celery sticks.. you know who you are) and everyone who got amazingly high
scores that pushed me to try harder on my own baselines.
Thanks Sandi, thanks everyone and I hope to see you all
again soon!!!!
I also didn't go into this with the purpose of losing weight. Who cares what the scale says - it's all about being healthy and active and strong and productive.
I was looking for some friends to egg me on and motivate me to MOVE even just a little bit, every single day - and I found that right here! I found everyone's emails really inspiring of course - seeing you all do well helped motivate me.
However I think I sat back and basked in your success a little. I think I will be FAR more competitive with someone else at the helm.
The age range of participants was large and yet you could not tell at ALL from the results for the most part - that was inspirational to me too.
I am keeping the pedometer habit. I find if I don't wear it I get lazy. If it's on and it reads under 5000 I feel so mortified that I will do anything to get the step count up. I got a lot of tips from you guys on that - jumping up and walking in place during ads on tv, taking less clothes each time down 2 flights of stairs to washing machine so I do more trips...I'm pretty happy if I can get it to over 7500 but I'd like it to be 10,000 every day.
I have made BIG changes in my beverage consumption. No more aspartame. Water consumption is definitely up - and it much more second nature now.
Fiber is up - I really think this is important if you eat fat in your diet like I do - I'm such a cheese fan! The fiber is like a fat sponge - soaks it up and carries it out of your body. Moderation, of course, is the key.
My buddy, OneMelody, although she joined a little later on, is a total inspiration to me! That girl has oomph, she is the only person I know who will seriously head out to the gym at 11pm at night!
I found everybody's HONESTLY fabulously inspirational too. It reminds me of being a parent - extremely difficult but very rewarding!
You are all winners in my book.
But there are still 3 winners to announce....
Please send me nominations for most supportive by Fitcast on Sunday if you haven't yet.
The other 2 winners will be announced on Monday :)
Wow Scout's post is hard to beat.
This has really been a great experience for me. Even though I knew my partner and I would have a hard time keeping up or beating the young ones we tried our best to just better our previous weeks total.
Being a partner with Scout kept me going. We stuck together and did strive to do our best and not to worry about not being able to do as many as the others.
I would like to thank the following people, Sandi for all the work you did on the FitClub, Zach for putting together the FitCast, and last but not least my partner, Scout, you were great.
With apologies to Frankie:
Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.
I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Yep, I did Fit Club, but I did it my way. I didn't do it to lose weight (although I
lost a few pounds). I didn't do it to
please anybody else. I did it just for
me as a lifestyle change. And it worked. It is now automatic that I make those healthy
choices Sandi asked for each week. I no
longer look for the closest parking space (unless I'm really, REALLY in a
hurry). I bought a set of hand weights -
and yes, I'm using them! If I feel the
urge to snack I ask myself "are you really hungry, or just bored?" Hey, so what if I get strange looks for
talking to myself? It's a question that
needs to be asked! I won't go to lunch
until I've walked at least 2,000 steps.
Fit Club got me started, having Old Jersey Girl for partner helped me
stay on track.
And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, Ill say it clear,
Ill state my case, of which I'm certain.
I've lived a life that's full.
I've traveled each and ev'ry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
My wife (Fluffy) dragged me into this and I was not happy about it either. I hate exercise particularly on freezing cold mornings. But you know what, I began to notice some changes as my baselines got better and I started to feel better (not as cold, got my circulation going). I still hate exercise but I think I will keep up with the walking. Most important to me was that I wanted to support my wife and to encourage her. Go Fluffy you look better than when I married you 13 years ago. To everyone else it was great getting to know you. I'll still be around, I might even punish myself again as a challenge on the next round of Fit Club. I'm proud of each of you and encourage you all to keep up with the exercise. See ya next time around. - un-Flannel Man
Hey everyone, this is your OFFICIAL REMINDER that there will be TWOOOOOO FitCasts this weekend!!! MARK THEM DOWN!!!!!!!!!! If I could put flashing lights here I would!!
These two FitCasts are essential! On the Sunday FitCast I will be giving away the old version of the iPod Shuffle! You must be there to win!
(To win, you need to earn raffle tickets which are given away for lots of things including, showing up for the FitCast, winning certain challenges and being a caller! You also need to be there to win!)
The FitCast times are:
SATURDAY: 9:00 PM EDT - 10:00 PM EDT
SUNDAY: 8:30 PM EDT - 10:00 PM EDT
During the extended FitCast on Sunday, there will be a short break after we hit 4 challenges to get the raffle ready. I will also use that time to conduct a little survey with everyone and maybe even give away some more prizes
Plus, I have some announcements so thats always fun!!
Please post here if you cannot attend! I really want everyone to show!! Honestly, these things are a blast for everyone!!
Also, if you want, show up a little early... I usually turn the camera on around 20 minutes til the show starts.
I cannot believe that we are already at the end of fit club! It really seems like it went SO fast! I am actually looking forward to getting some measurements and getting on the scale at the end of the week. I know how important the support has been... Sandi's request for numbers actually helped me! I felt I needed some good #'s to give her!!! At the beginning, I enlisted my husband to do baselines with me and there were times when HE was the one dragging me off the sofa to "Git em done"! (Gee, thanks, Flannelman!!) I absolutely feel better, stronger and healthier. Between the challenges and my trainer dude, my eating habits have changed drastically! At the beginning, I couldn't see what more I could do... I already did not drink sweet beverages, tried to moderate my portions etc. But now I have reduced a lot of fattier and card loaded foods! And the weight is beginning to come off!!! It HAS been a journey, nothing happened overnight! But I finally stuck to it long enough to see some results!!!! Thanks to EVERYONE who took part, I had so much fun talking with you all and watching the baseline numbers go up and hearing reports of great changes being made! Keep it up Fitclubbers!!
Hello all,
Congrats to all of you that finished fit club with a bang. I started off well, but I was the person that you saw with tons of zeros starting about midway through. Started off when I injured myself, which was so not fun. I think Fit Club is a wonderful supportive tool. However, honestly, I just got tired of recording everything. It was just more papers that I had on my desk. The thing I can think of to improve Fit Club: some kind of electronic submission (which is probably to difficult and time-consuming to set-up). Also, I do not calorie or nutrient count, so I was not interested in participating in those kinds of challenges. Another thing, was that I did not check the SM page. I kept up to date on what was going on through Sandi's emails. So if Sandi did not mention what the challenge was in her emails early on in the week, I automatically counted myself out. It would be too late to catch up. I think the idea is great, but it just didn't serve me well.
unilab98
Next page »