Fitness news that's work related!

First off, my apologies for not posting in over a week! I went to Philadelphia for vacation (will try to write about that this weekend) and found myself not near a computer the whole time! It was great though, fully enjoyed myself!

Now, onto Fitness!!

A few years back, I worked for a large health insurance company. The longer I worked there, the lazier I felt. I had a customer service job, followed by a claims processing position, so I spent more than 8 hours a day sitting on my lazy bum! I was in one of my highest weight gaining periods ever. I was unhealthy and miserable almost all the time. I noticed that a lot of my co-workers were the same way.

One day, one of my co-workers and I started talking about the Biggest Loser TV show. We always talked about how successful WE would be if we ever got on the show. this went on for a couple weeks before we decided to try a contest with a few co-workers, Biggest Loser style. To make it fun, we all pitched in $5. We each had to weigh in Monday mornings and at the end of a 2 month period, the biggest "loser" won the buy-in money!

It started out small, with just a handful of us, and over the year it grew into a huge contest, involving multiple teams, and having prizes like gym memberships, yoga session, cash, and gift cards for sports stores. I never one, but my weight slowly started to go down. I was mainly impressed with how many people started to take an active role in their health.

A year after starting the contests, I left the company. I still had over a year left of school, and lost the competition, motivation, and desire to keep up with my healthy habits. Needless to say, I gained all of it back, plus some! Occasionally I think back to those contests and how they kept me going.

I've been at my current company for almost 2 years (I had 1 job in between this one and the health insurance company that was NOT a healthy environment!). I've been trying to stay on track with getting healthy for a while now, and noticed that many co-workers are doing the same thing. So, 2 weeks ago, I came up with this brilliant idea! I know my company is small, but what if we did a Biggest Loser style contest?

I presented the idea to a friend at work. She thought it was a brilliant idea. With that, I went to my boss, who again thought it was a brilliant idea and said I should take it to our HR man. I ran over to his desk, borrowed 5 minutes of his time, and pitched my idea! He loved it! He tasked me with creating a proposal of sorts to explain how the contest would be run, the rules, and what prizes would be offered.

Sadly, I was leaving for vacation the next day, so I didn't have time to present my info to him right away. However, yesterday I was able to sit down with the HR man and my boss for an hour and talk through the rules and requirements, pentalities, prize options, and how to incoporate our Costa Rica and Atlanta offices into the contest! I was so excited!

This will be the most thought-out BL contest I've ever done. One of the things that my boss brought up was how we have a 24 Hour Fitness on the floor below us in our office building! Next week, I will be speaking wtih them about possibilities of using their scales, possible prize donations, and if they will hold a class for all the participants in our program!

I can't wait to share this new adventure with you all! It doesn't kick off until July 2nd, so plenty of time to prepare for the contest, and get my eating and exercise habits in check!

That's all for today folks! Stay tuned for more info later! HAPPY FRIDAY!

Peace and Good JuJu,
Holly