PruHealth Vitality Experience - month 2 feedback thread with WEEKLY £50 prize for non participants.....NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

It's now month 2 of the PruHealth Vitality Experience for our 8 lucky participants: see their feedback from month 1 here.

PruHealth say "We believe the more you look after yourself, the healthier you feel. That's why we offer our customers Vitality when they buy our health insurance. Vitality is the world's largest incentive-based wellness programme and can make getting and staying healthy both easier and cheaper, but also reward you for all of your hard work!"

For the next 4 weeks the programme looks like this:

Week 5 - Half-Term & Half-Time - Check in with your personal trainer for a free 1hr session to boost your gym routine.

Week 6 - Discounts Dispensed - Get £25 worth of vouchers to test drive our up to 50% cashback at Lloyds Pharmacy benefit.

Week 7 - Choose Your Reward - Take your pick between discounts to Merlin attractions, National Trust parks or travel with Eurostar, Mark Warner or Mr & Mrs Smith getaways.

Week 8 - Wrap Up - Finish the Vitality Experience with a day of pampering at Champney's spa.

Week 5:Non participants: for chance to win a £50 pre-loaded Nectar card please share on this thread what you'd do with a personal trainer for an hour keep it clean! - would you ask to concentrate on your abs, arms, legs, all over fitness or another area? Add your comment and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £50 pre-loaded Nectar card - prize draw Monday 24 Feb at 9am. NOW CLOSED
Week 5: Participants - please share how you got on with your Personal Trainer. Have you used one before? Was it was you expected? What did you do? What goals or targets/ suggestions did they have for you going forward and how did you feel the next day!?

Week 6 (w/c 24 Feb) is all about showcasing one of the discount partners that PruHealth with Vitality has teamed up with - LloydsPharmacy. PruHealth say "our members can get cashback with Vitality on everyday essentials like health and beauty products, toiletries, fragrances and more whether they shop online or in-store with a LloydsPharmacy Vitality card."

Our participants received £25 worth of vouchers to spend at LloydsPharmacy to test drive the up-to-50% cashback benefit.

Non participants - for chance to win a £50 pre-loaded Nectar card please share on this thread what your best beauty or health related treat is for less than £25 - what would you buy? Some lipsticks, a luscious bubble bath or some luxury body lotion? Add your comment and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £50 pre-loaded Nectar card - prize draw Monday 3 March at 9am. NOW CLOSED.

Participants - please share on this thread what you bought with the vouchers - did you treat yourself or buy something more practical for the family? What do you think about this PruHealth with Vitality benefit?

Week 7 is also all about the rewards available to PruHealth with Vitality members - this time our testers are able to choose their reward from a few of the key Vitality partners who are working with PruHealth: Merlin attractions, National Trust parks or travel with Eurostar, Mark Warner or Mr & Mrs Smith getaways.

PruHealth say "We offer rewards to help motivate our members to improve their health and to recognise the hard work they're putting in. We're pleased to team up with a variety of travel, health and entertainment companies to offer members a great range of discounts and special offers."

Non participants - for a chance to win a £50 pre-loaded Nectar card please share on this thread what would motivate you to make small steps to improve your health and general well-being? Add your comment and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £50 Nectar card. Prize draw Monday 10 March 9am NOW CLOSED.

Participants: please share on this thread what reward you picked and why. When do you think you'll use it? Do you think this reward would help motivate you to earn more Vitality points (and therefore access to even bigger discounts and rewards)? What other partners would you like to see on the Vitality list?

thanks
MNHQ

[Wjjkl]

Non participant
Doing a regular group activity with a friend motivates me to try to improve my health - a set time & day helps with planning - getting bubs looked after and I know I have that couple of hours to myself rather than erratically trying to squeeze in exercise which is never as satisfying.

Also having a goal to meet and a little treat at the end of it is always motivating - maybe that new top in the size you're aiming for or a pamper session..! Nothing like a carrot at the end of a stick!

[Bagtrainlady]

I went for the National Trust membership as this something we will use as a family in the summer with the dc's. Certainly the free NT parking will come in v handy at our local venue. Also my dmum is a member of NTS so we can go for trips when we visit Granny or she visits us.

We live too far from Merlin attractions for that discount to be a draw and the holiday options didn't feel like a great incentive. It would be great if there were more family friendly options with Vitality. I really like Audrey's idea of cottages4u or similar

[CheeseTMouse]

What motivates me to improve my health is the fact that sport gives me the chance to clear my head - and I am far less grumpy if I can get exercise into my week. I can see that when I return to work this will be more challenging, so activities where I can include my daughter area bonus.

[WowOoo]

Non participant:
What will start to motivate me soon is brighter mornings and warmer weather. I've been rubbish at running recently, but find it far easier to leap out of bed when it's light outside and there's no frost. Come on, Spring!

[CointreauVersial]

Well, I ended up going for the Merlin discount. Actually, I think the DCs would have disowned me if I hadn't. We live very near Chessington and Thorpe Park, and last year trekked up to Alton Towers, so I'm sure another trip will be in the offing soon (Inset days are always good for this). DH and I both love a roller coaster and the DCs are all tall enough to do all the rides.

I did briefly consider the Mr&Mrs Smith discount, as DH and I do sometimes sneak a night away without the DCs, but the rooms were so expensive that even with the discount it would be way more than we'd pay (I'd rather stay in a Premier Inn and spend the spare cash on a posh dinner). NT would have been great when the DCs were younger, but they are less than enthused about the prospect of visiting a stately home nowadays.

Would I find this reward motivating? Well, yes, if it meant that the remainder of the cost were affordable. That's why the Mr&Mrs Smith option didn't work for me. Holiday discounts (Mark Warner etc) are all very well, if you are the package holiday sort, but we're not. A Eurostar discount won't go far if I'm lugging five of us across the channel! The UK Cottage idea is a good one, though, as it's something which appeals to families (international holidays are out of the picture for us for a few years yet).

Or how about other "days out" ideas, like Tesco Clubcard do - relatively small things which you could work towards, then you really feel like you are being rewarded. How about Meals Out vouchers? Store vouchers? Boden discount??

[SaltySeaBird]

What would motivate you to make small steps to improve your health and general well-being?

Interesting question as I'm at my most run down, unfit and heaviest in a five year period. I really want to take not just small but giant steps to improve my health and well-being but I'm struggling (and I used to be the most energetic, fitness health nut about!).

Time is the one thing I lack at the moment (18 month old toddler in the house). I gave up my gym membership as I'm working part-time now and my salary is gobbled up with childcare. It's easier to grab a biscuit when I come in starving as opposed to making something healthy. Not helped by the fact that pre-children I worked a brisk 20 minute walk away and now I work an hour and 20 train ride away.

If there was something that was quick, convenient and low cost that would help me improve my health and well-being that would help motivate me.

I think entering a race or signing up for some other sporting event would help motivate me. I'm going to Google that now actually ...

[lottietiger]

Non participant: what would motivate you to make small steps to improve your health and general well-being?

mmm fruit on offer at the tills in supermarkets not sweets and individual items at reasonable prices in garages etc, not 75p for an apple. Our office is giving up chocolate for lent so im trying to use that to eat more fruit.
Excercise wise i keep saying im going to buy an fitness DVD, but my £12 keeps seeming to go elsewhere. I need to motivate myself to do exercise as soon as little one has gone to bed and not watch TV.

[CMOTDibbler]

What has motivated me to make more steps towards improving health is doing things with ds. We swim together, cycle together (though riding on the road with a 7 year old does raise my heart rate effectively!), and he's starting to run with me.

So parent and child activities would be great - try canoeing/climbing/tennis or whatever

[whattoWHO]

Non participant. What would motivate me? Someone to join me at the gym or have similar healthy eating goals.
Currently I'm motivated by my forthcoming wedding. And the feeling of having lost weight and started exercising is motivating in itself!

[Bubbles85]

Non participant - for me, I would like to find a gym that doesn't cost so much so I can start training.

[smallinthesmoke]

I chose Merlin vouchers so I can take the kids on the London Eye. We're really excited and looking forward to this. DD1 has wanted to go on it for ages but we kept putting it off as it's so expensive for the four of us. The only decision now is whether to go in the day or evening... I think I'd love to see London at night all lit up, if we can get the timing right with DD2... thank you Mumsnet, thank you Pruhealth Vitality!
DH and I went on the London Eye on our first date more than 10 years ago... blimey.
I didn't choose the other benefits as we don't have a car and in the main things like theme parks or National Trust places need one. And we have no childcare for nights in hotels or trips on Eurostar and I'm very of those of you that do!
I think the benefits and discounts are nice to have but not make or break. Whereas the Virgin gym and (for some) the cinema tickets will really make you decide to choose Pruhealth Vitality over other providers. For that reason I'm not especially fussed about adding to them. I think that the Pru Health Vitality offer is already very wide-ranging and potentially confusing the bigger it gets.
We're hoping to go on the Eye this weekend and I'll try to video blog it if I can. I have several videos of me at the gym and they are all unspeakably awful! Who is this haggard old bag... oh yes, it's me....

[daisybrown]

Looking at the kids helps me to look after myself, I want to still be here at least until they get to adulthood.
More free time and someone to exercise with would help too.

[WalkingThePlank]

We chose the Merlin voucher but have received a cheque instead which is nice but I'd have preferred a ring-fenced voucher. Has anyone else received a cheque rather than a voucher?

[StepAwayFromTheEcclesCakes]

non tester, I would be motivated if someone could explain to me what exercise I could do to compliment my current weight loss regime (19lbs down many more to go!) as I have a knee and hip replacement and have been told I can't do impact exercise

[Willemdefoeismine]

Glad to see, Smallinthesmoke, that we are not the only car-free family!

This weekend would be perfect for a trip to a National Trust property but not enough hours to fit it in. DH and DCs off to The Viking exhibition and then parties on Sunday!

Let's just hope the nice weather continues so we can use the NT membership over the Easter hols!

[katyk81]

Non participant.
I would really like an activity I could do with the children, without travelling miles and miles. We are in a quite rural area and the nearest gym is about 25 minutes drive away. As I work three long days from the office as well as some time from home each week I really don't want to be away from my children- especially for something I wasn't motivated about. I also struggle as my husband works quite late and most exercise classes seem to start around 7 so I have no chance to get there and by the time the kids are tucked up I am exhausted- excuses, excuses, I know but I need something to motivate me to get on and appeal to me to continue with and I think if the children were involved (age 6 and 2 and a half) they would not let me have the chance to get out of it! Now if someone can just come up with the perfect suggestion that would be great!

[nerysw]

Non participant - the weather is a big factor for me. I love going out for walks in the woods with my kids but we are at the mercy of clear, dry days for this. I can't wait for summer when we can spend a lot more time outdoors being a bit more active.

[sazzle82]

Non participant. At the moment I'm on maternity leave with my first child. Having my child has been a huge motivator to be fit and healthy. Time to myself, or with my DH is precious at the moment, so I would need any changes and small steps to be easy and convenient and fit in with our lives as they are as I don't currently have the luxury of working to my own schedule.

[smallinthesmoke]

Yes Walkingtheplank, I think mine is a cheque rather than a voucher. (I have a signed for letter waiting at the Post Office so I guess it is that). Spending it straight away is helping me ring fence it... Just booked tickets for tomorrow- woo hoo!
I am looking forward to seeing you all next week.

[StillNoFuckingEyeDeer]

Non-tester
I'm motivated to improve my health and general well-being by wanting to be the best role model I can for my DDs. I want to show them how to be fit and healthy.

[Willemdefoeismine]

Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone too. Haven't managed to get to the gym this week though . It's getting harder fitting everything in!

Have a good week everyone!

[Willemdefoeismine]

Just tried to do the route with TFL and it's coming up with highly convoluted journeys involving multiple transport (and I'm talking 6 with 36 minute walk) changes.....Couldn't click on the link I was sent - could anyone PM me the URL!

A bit if it's going to take 3 1/2 hours!

Thanks!

[Kewcumber]

I'm in hospital tomorrow being transfused so will be a chipper little bunny full of energy on Friday - which is a bit of a shame at the end of a 2 month health trial

Will have to go bonkers on exercise this week to make the most of it!

[zipzap]

Non-tester - what would motivate you to make small steps to improve your health and general well-being?

I like swimming and where I live there are very few public pools (my closest one burnt down whilst I had a temporary membership and had decided to turn it into a proper membership -it's now a Sainsburys!). There are quite a few gyms that have decent pools - but it's impossible to get a pool only membership - I don't want to (nor can I afford to) have to pay for lots of classes or equipment that I'm never going to use. Whereas there are plenty of gyms around that don't have pools, including a growing number of bargain gyms, so if I was into gym stuff rather than swimming I could pay £10-15/month. Instead to swim I would be looking at £40/month and more .

I've tried to be inspired by wanting to keep fit to be with my dc but they both like different active things and particularly love doing things I really hate (often involving running around outside in the cold, kicking balls etc) which I find very unmotivating as my heart sinks whenever they suggest it. So it would be nice to find some common ground and an activity which we all enjoyed.