I saw on Twitter this morning a new Foursquare add-on service at EarndIt.com. Apparently, if you sign up for an Earnd It account, and integrate your Foursquare (and Twitter or Facebook, if you like), whenever you check in at the gym on Foursquare, you earn point, which you can then apply to actual merchandise.
That's pretty awesome! My one trip on Monday already earned me 15 points. For 400 points, I can get a $50 gift card to Shoecrush.com. You can also earn "trophies", which I'm guessing are much like badges.
I think this is a brilliant idea! I've been meaning to set up a reward system for myself for pounds lost, but this is great, too, as it rewards your fitness efforts -- it gives you a reason to go to the gym if losing weight or getting healthy isn't quite enough to get your ass in the car.
Now I'm bummed I skipped the gym this morning (wasn't feeling well, did yoga instead), but will definitely be going in the morning. I want shoes!
Here's a list of the current Earnd It rewards. I must admit, the rewards are pretty slim pickins as of now, but that's likely because they're new. Hopefully, over time, the rewards catalog will become a little more robust or I can't see it being very motivational.
It looks like in addition to Foursquare, it works with Nike +, Garmin and soon Fitbit! I wonder if I can get double points by checking in at the gym while wearing my Fitbit...
What do you think? Does this motivate you? Would Earnd It be something you would be into... assuming they had more reward options?
ooo...this is my first Donut post, and I'm terribly excited--and terribly rusty! It's been a while since I blogged, so, y'all be gentle with me, m'kay? Hi, I'm Wendy, former Couch Potato. On January 4, I declared 2010 to be the Year of Getting Off My Fat Ass and Doing Something About It. I joined Weight Watchers that day (Joelle TOLD me I'd love it--how could I have ever doubted?), and I became a happy, happy points counter. (WW 4EVA!) The results have been pretty good so far--I'm down 42 pounds and around 23 from my goal. My cholesterol is down 25 points and I no longer get winded when I walk to my mailbox (victory!). Not that I don't still love my couch (because I dooo! I love my couch!), but the ass-groove is much smaller than it used to be.
Our local gym offers both BodyPump™and BodyFlow™classes, and the night before last was my first BodyPump. I was super nervous about this class, because while I do an hour of cardio every day, my strength routine has been somewhat lacking--I have zero upper body strength, but I've learned a great deal about what I can and cannot do this last year--and the "Can Do" list is far greater than I ever realized.
read more of Pump Your Body! >>
You know I love my Fitbit... when I can remember to wear it. It's totally unobtrusive, I love all the stuff it tracks and it's been fun to use... if you're one of those people who is retentive like that and likes to track things. I am one of those people.
So far, the Fitbit memberships have been free to one and all -- and they still are, so don't panic. But they've also released a very reasonably priced premium service that I may check out. At only $49.95 a year (not a month, which is what I thought it was at first and almost fell off my chair), you are able to track pretty much whatever you want. In addition to all their awesome free services, you can also create custom tracking (i.e., if you want to track how many cigarettes you smoked -- assuming you're trying to quit! -- or sodas you drank or sit-ups you did -- you can make a custom tracker for whatever you like!), "benchmark" yourself against your peers (others in the Fitbit community -- if competitiveness is your motivational thing), and apparently, get more "in-depth analysis" of your data than you do with the free version. AND, you get a Fitbit trainer, which takes your activity level and calculates a 12-week fitness program to help you meet your goals. Fancy schmancy!
There's a free week trial of the Fitbit premium services, which I think I'll check out and see if it's worth the $50/yr. I've been considering putting my Weight Watchers membership on hold temporarily because at $15/mo, I just don't use it as much as I do my free Fitbit profile. I feel the exercise is more accurately tracked on my Fitbit (WW crushes my juju when I sweat for 30 minutes and only get 2 measley Points® for it ) and find logging food in two places is becoming tedious and time consuming.
Don't get me wrong, Weight Watchers is a wonderful program and I lost a lot of weight on it. But when you do it for a long time, sometimes you just need to shake things up a little. Fitbit's calorie-counting lets me see at a glance how I'm doing and look at food in a more reasonable, matter-of-fact way. I'm less obsessed with Points and counting and cutting corners to squeeze out an extra half a Point so I can have that Giant Fudge Bar later tonight. I am enjoying the more simplified "calories burned/calories consumed" method right now. Counting calories used to be such a pain in the ass, which is why Weight Watchers is so great, especially for new dieters. But now with tools like Fitbit (and it's similar competitor, Bodybugg), it's not as much of a production. What I've been calling Calorie Reality™ has been effective for me lately.
Whether I keep my WW membership active or not, I'm definitely going to keep using my Fitbit. I don't use my sleep tracking as much as I thought I would (I tend to remove the wristband in the night and found myself being concerned I'd lay on my wrist and turn off the recording), but I like that it has the option if I want it. And with more features being offered by Fitbit, it's looking to be a strong contender in the fitness market.
Do you have one? Do you love it? Do you think you would try the paid membership? Yes, no?
[I am not paid by Fitbit or anyone, for that matter, for my product endorsement -- at least not yet! And even if I were, I'd never endorse something I didn't believe in. I dig this product, simple as that.]
