FREE IS MY LIFE: HEALTH: Get Rewarded for Healthy Living with @Walgreens Steps with #BalanceRewards #cbias

Sunday, April 7, 2013

HEALTH: Get Rewarded for Healthy Living with @Walgreens Steps with #BalanceRewards #cbias

I'm motivating myself to healthy living with the help of Walgreens Steps with Balance Rewards program...

I have always tried to live a healthy life that involved eating right and exercising. But when I finally hit the big 5-0 late last year, I found out that menopause is no joke. All the physical and mental changes that I started to experience was a surprise for me since I had never had many health issues before. So when I found myself gaining 15 pounds (what the heck!) and having difficulty mentally focusing (can adults get ADHD too?), I knew I had to take control before things really got any further out of hand.

So I started making sure that exercise was a daily part of my life. I get up every Monday - Friday at 5:30am to ride my stationary bike for 30 minutes followed by floor exercises using free weights. I also walk 1.5 miles around my work complex during my lunch break 3-4 times a week.

I keep a container of water at my desk so that I can drink more H2O during the day to help clear my mind and I am trying to eat better by having a healthy breakfast each morning at work and keeping frozen healthy lunches in the shared refrigerator at work instead of eating high calorie food in my work cafeteria.

Although I still struggle daily with making better food choices, I know I am on the right track if I keep trying instead of totally giving in to bad cravings.

I am always looking for ways to further motivate myself toward healthy living. So when I received the email shown above from Walgreens about their Steps with Balance Rewards, I decided to find out more about the program.

I am already a member of the Walgreens Balance Rewards Loyalty Card program. I love store loyalty and rewards programs because when you are a frequent shopper at a store, being part of a loyalty program allows you to not only get rewards based on your purchases but also to know first about big sales and discounts before the general public.

I found out that Steps with Balance Rewards is Walgreen's new program that, when linked to my Walgreens Balance Rewards Card, allows me to earn additional Balance Reward points when I participate in healthy lifestyle choices. And I can tell you from experience that anything that makes a game out of exercise and eating right is my kind of motivation - especially when there are prizes involved :)

Signing up for the Steps with Balance Rewards program was easy. I just followed the Steps with Balance Rewards Signup link in the email from Walgreens. I signed into my existing Walgreen's account, picked a screen name for the program (you can follow me at screen name FREEISMYLIFE) and my sex, and then my Steps with Balance Rewards account was successfully setup and linked to my existing Walgreens Balance Rewards account.

I even received 250 Balance Rewards points just for setting up my first healthy goal which is to walk at least 5000 steps each day - SWEET!

I can keep track of my progress in the Walgreens app on my smartphone!

Since I L-O-V-E my smartphone and use it for everything, I use the Walgreens smartphone app to keep track of my Walgreens Balance Rewards points along with a smartphone version of my Balance Rewards Card so I don't need a physical card.

The Walgreen's app can also be used to keep track of my Steps with Balance Rewards goals and the points that I earn in the program. I get 20 Balance Rewards points for every mile I run or walk (I'm walking since my running days are long behind me) and 20 Balance Rewards points per daily weight management log.

Today I checked the Walgreens app on my smartphone to look for healthy foods that I could stock up on for the coming weeks. I saw that Walgreen's has Cheerios on sale this week for $1.99 a box with my Walgreens Balance Rewards Card. And buying 4 boxes earns me 2000 points. I also saw in the ad that Walgreens has Lean Cuisine meals on sale 2 for $5. And buying 2 earns me 500 points.

I made a quick stop by my neighborhood Walgreens to look for the Cheerios and Lean Cuisines. I made sure to have the Walgreens app open on my smartphone so I had the Walgreen's ad prices along with my Balanced Reward card.

I didn't have a lot of time before I had to be home so my shop was short and sweet. I quickly found the Lean Cuisine meals and bought two for my lunch this week at work.

Then it was on to the cereal aisle where I found the Cheerios. The display was clearly marked with the lower price of $1.99 and the fact that I would earn 2000 points for buying 4 boxes with my Balance Reward Card.

Now I am stocked up with foods for eating a healthy breakfast and lunch this week at work and beyond with all the cereal.

And I'm over half way to earning a Balanced Reward prize from just this one healthy buying transaction at Walgreens. Along with my Steps with Balance Rewards points, I will earn my next Balanced Reward prize in no time flat!

Who Wants to go to The Biggest Loser Resort?
One of my favorite shows is The Biggest Loser - I love to work out while watching the show. Well I just found out that Walgreens is running a sweepstakes that fans of The Biggest Loser show will love!

The Walgreens Steps Up To Win Sweepstakes has daily instant win prizes and a grand prize of a trip to The Biggest Loser resort of the winner's choice (Chicago, Ivins,UT, Malibu, Niagra, NY). The sweepstakes runs until May 31, 2013. Official Steps Up to Win Sweepstakes rules can be found here at this link

You can follow Walgreens on Twitter and Walgreens on Facebook and check out Walgreens shopping experiences over on Aisle Share.

Here's to healthy living in 2013 and beyond!