Getting Active: Calling all fitness, healthy eating and weig

[weezypops]

Hello all!

We have a section on the site called ‘Getting Active’ which I have been wondering what to do with for a while. It’s currently pretty much empty and I’ve been trying to work out how to use it best. I’m sure it will be a popular part of the site as health and fitness are subjects that come up a lot on both the forum and our social media pages, for parents and children.

I think I have come up with something that will be really useful for our community, as well as a great way of local businesses involved in the health and wellbeing industry to showcase what they do! I would like members of our community to trial the various schemes and products there are out there, for however long it takes, and for us to follow their journey, whether that’s trying to get fit, lose weight, improve overall health or find a class to get their kids moving. The section will be presented in a blog-style, with each reviewer writing regular, honest reports on their progress, so that other parents in Essex are able to read them and find out what gets our seal of approval. For the companies that volunteer their time, products etc. this will be a section that stays permanently on the site so is a great way of advertising what you do… assuming you are confident enough in what you do to let us give you a go!

To make this happen, I need your help! if you're interested in getting involved, message me here, reply below or email me on louise@essexmums.org

Reviewers
Would you like to be on our team of reviewers? Depending on how many companies are happy to let us give them a trial, we may need people from across Essex. If you are interested, message me or post below with the following information:
• What is your overall goal? (ie. weight loss, healthy eating, overall health, fitness for kids etc)
• What area are you in?
• How would you currently rate your health?

Fitness
Can you get us fit? We need personal trainers who can give some free sessions, whether that is one-to-one or in a group, gym memberships, exercise DVDs, exercise classes… anything that gets our parents moving! Ideally it would be great if you could let the reviewer spend enough time with you that they really start to notice a difference. If you would like to be involved, please let me know what you would like reviewed plus the area you are in, whether you would like one reviewer or more etc.

Healthy Eating
We need everything from nutritionists who can do a personalised eating plan to recipe books full of great ideas, as well as healthy eating schemes where our reviewers can join in with others at weekly sessions etc. I know this is where most people fall down so would be really great to get lots of people on board here so we get a real variety of diets/lifestyle overhauls and can see what has worked well!

Other weight-loss products
I think many of us are dubious of the ‘lose weight quick’ products we all see every day, whether they are wraps, potions or magic gels, so it would be very interesting to trial these. I’m sure a lot of people would love to read honest, unbiased accounts of their experiences

General wellbeing
Anything else that doesn’t fit into the above but you think can improve health, please just let me know what it is and we’ll see if it fits!

Fitness for Kids
Although the focus of this section will be mainly about adults, if we can review some sports clubs and classes for kids too, that would be great. Ideally if the reviewer could come along for at least a half-term to really get a feel for things, that would be perfect.

I really hope this is something you’re interested in; if it’s not applicable to you and you know someone else that might be, please feel free to pass on. If you have any questions, just give me a shout!