Thank you for the great, and unexpected, blog post on us! Also, I would like to point out that we actually have an even better program for our monthly giveaway of ten $200 Visa gift cards; you actually just need to scan 30 items, instead of 45, to earn an entry, and you can earn as many entries as you want providing you don't run out of items to scan around your home.
I'd welcome any feedback from your or your readers, and you can reach me at (in case it doesn't show in the signature) info@coupsmart.com.
I used to work at a sports radio station. The afternoon host would routinely offer ridiculous viewpoints on the air (e.g., "The NFL should go from 11-man football to 7-man, it'll open the game up"), then smile in triumph when the phone banks lit up with people ready to tell him he was an idiot.
I hope Carrie doesn't feel the same way about comments as this guy did about phone calls, otherwise bashing this article will have done the opposite of its intended purpose.
Carrie, you claim that people who exercise eat more than their non-exercising counterparts. A) No kidding, and b) Nowhere do you draw a distinction between different kinds of food. Yes, a high-performance machine likely requires more and better fuel than an inferior one.
You also speak of "weight loss" in absolute terms without looking at how it's configured. If the women in Group A lost an average of 30 pounds of fat and gained 10 pounds of muscle, while the women in Group B just lost 20 pounds of fat while gaining zero muscle, would you consider those weight losses to be equivalent?
I don't think you understand the concept of exercising to leverage one's time. Your husband's away from the kids all day? Give him an hour at the gym, and he'll probably require less sleep and be more alert and less lethargic during the time he does spend with your kids. Oh, and way to break new ground with the McDonald's-bashing. Do you also think puppies are cute and sunsets romantic?
"in a world where we are increasingly conscious of the environmental toll of food production"
"We"? Speak for yourself, please. So the answer is to produce less food? And I don't believe for a moment that an "iron-pumping construction worker" consumes 12,000 calories a day. Neither Tour de France cyclists nor competitive bodybuilders consume that much (probably closer to 7,000.) Look, it's one thing to write a post that provokes thought, something different to just throw specious arguments out there to get a reaction.
My wish is to enjoy the freedom that financial security would offer.
To be able to make decisions purely by choice instead of need would be empowering.
I would love to be successful in creating a source of revenue for myself, to eliminate having to work to support the success of someone else's business, working long hours and still stuggling financially.
My wish is for my mother to find a full-time teaching position. She earned her special education certification two years ago, but has yet to find a job. This is a big career change for my mother, who had to leave her previous job due to an injury she sustained at work. Instead of mourning the loss of one job, she took the opportunity to pursue a career that she was passionate about. However, after five years of taking classes and passing all the required tests, and the additional two spent job searching, she has become discouraged. She worries that her age, limited experience, and the bad economy will prevent her from ever getting a job in the field that she cares so much about and has worked so hard to enter.
My mother and I have been having financial troubles ever since my father left us, nearly a decade ago, and I have seen my mom sacrifice so much for me. Her disability benefits ended three years ago and it breaks my heart to visit her and see her nearly empty refrigerator. I try to help when I can, but she often refuses my assistance and, as a recent college grad with the requisite college debt and a job folding laundry, I'm not in the best financial situation myself.
I would like for my mother to be able to afford healthy food and to keep the heat on in the winter. I want her to stop worrying and being sad. I want her to be able to travel to the places she keeps reading about in her library books. I just want her to be able to enjoy her life.
I don't want to $20, I just wanted to get my wish out there.
I would love to have no debt--no car payment, no student loan, and no mortgage payments. If we didn't have those things, it would free us to up to provide health insurance for our entire family!
Boy, I knew diet and exercise were the closest thing to religion for most urbanites, but you guys are about to declare a Fatwa here. Carrie is saying something pretty simple in this piece, For people who want to loose weight (and probably don't get too much pleasure from spending time on a treadmill) joining a Gym may not be a good solution. Her sacrilege comes from an article in TIME itself based on careful academic research. I read this article twice and I'm pretty sure she is not saying "Don't exercise".
I was surprised to see that there are about 18 scathing comments in a row.
Then I realized people who do not particularly like exercise, spending time in gyms, and have thrown hundreds if not thousands of dollars away on memberships are pretty unlikely to put their mistake on display here. Those are the silent folks Carrie is addressing who did not get much for the time and money they spent.
For the rest of you, I am glad you are all doing something you like, I'm glad you all like your bodies. But, maybe you should realize there is very powerful advertising and cultural pressure to support the 19 billion dollar gym industry. And not all of that money is creating happiness, health, or self esteem.
My wish would be to go to cooking school when I retire. After being an employee for more than 30 years I think that cooking would be a great thing to do in MY SPARE TIME
i wish i could go back and start again taking everything i i have learned so far. my life would be better, my childrens' lives would be better, and i could have contributed much more to the world in general.
If I could have one wish, I would ask for a complete clean slate. Debt (house & 1 credit card) be wiped out, all bills (utilities paid in full), receive a perfect credit score and a chance to start over and apply the financial knowledge that I have now that I didn't have before. I'd live below my means, give to charity, save for my daughter's college tuition, and only buy cars that were 3 years old or older.
You really shouldn't judge your level of fitness by the number of pounds you see on the scale. I mean, you could lose lots of weight living a sedentary lifestyle by just eating less, but it doesn't mean you're getting any healthier if you're leaving your muscles and cardiovascular system unused.
I enjoyed your article. I just wish it were as easy as you make it sound to solve the issue. Economic outpatient care can certainly be a destructive force. In America, we live in a society that values work. For most of us, working provides not only the necessary means to live, but also a worthwhile purpose in life. When given economic subsidy, especially at critical points in life, the receiver can get de-railed from finding their life's purpose. This can also be a problem for lottery winners and inheritors of money. Even though they are not economically dependent on others, they may lose motivation to persist in their contributions to society. Good for you for shining a light on this issue!
My financial wish is that my parents would go write their will. I don't care what they do with their money and property, but I want it on paper, lawyered up, and notarized. I'd sleep better.
My husband and I have been waiting to adopt a child for almost a year. Our journey to parenthood has been a long and challenging one and...expensive! I have tossed many pennies into fountains, wished on numerous four-leaf clovers, and tossed a lot of salt over my shoulder wishing to be a mother. Winning the lottery would go a long way to help offset the cost of the adoption. However, I know when I hold my child in my arms the first time I'll have won something far more important than money.
There is also the cost of exercise clothes for most, though I just wear the oldest, crappiest garments I already own. I'd also like to suggest that the lack of weight loss may be due to the "fact" that muscles weigh more than fat...not so sure this is true but I've always heard it. I go less by what the scale says and more by how my clothes fit or how I feel. I think we're way to weight conscious now. We can be healthy and not necessarily slender.
My husband and I have been waiting almost a year to adopt a child. Our journey to becoe parents has been a long and challenging one and...expensive! I have thrown many a penny, tossed many grains of salt over my shoulder, searched for lucky clover everywhere all with the wish of becoming a mother in mind. However, winning the lottery would be a big help in paying the adoption expenses. But, I know the minute I hold my child in my arms, I'll feel I have won something far more important.
Downplaying the benefits of being fit seems near irresponsible.
Going to the gym (and jogging, biking, swimming) has sure shed weight from my wife and I. Maybe this isn't backed by science, that's fine. But the overall health benefits of these activities absolutely increase health and quality of life.
It sounds to me like people trying to justify not doing that which is difficult.
Ouch... you left this article on a down note... at least tell people alternatives so they dont just cut their gym memberships and do nothing since they "have no time and it causes injuries"
I have my membership and i ride the roller coaster of going for 2 months straight and taking 2 months off... The point is you need ot find balance. If youre not going to be going to the gym, you need to learn to control the diet...
Again, shoulda ended the article on a better note...
Dearest money fairy, here is my Smart Cookie wish. I wish for enough money to buy my family a boat... a big boat... ok a Yacht, to sail around in, to laugh together in and enjoy time together in.
I think that a gym membership can be one of the best investments you can make, and also a waste (that is, if you don't use the facilities) - it depends on what options you have for exercise, discipline level, stage of life etc. For the express purpose of losing 5 pounds and no other reason, then joining a gym might not be worth it.
One of the reasons that I joined a gym was for strength training, which helped me to avoid injury in running. I also made use of indoor track in the winter, cardio classes, and swimmng pool. This summer I have been training almost exclusively outdoors for a couple of sprint triathlons (one down, one to go) and have started debating whether I should continue this regimen and quit the Y or stick with the gym b/c of the indoor components. I could easily find an outdoor pool in the summer but not in the winter. If I decide to quit the gym, I won't be abandoning exercise, just the monthly fees.
Hi Linsey,
Thank you for the great, and unexpected, blog post on us! Also, I would like to point out that we actually have an even better program for our monthly giveaway of ten $200 Visa gift cards; you actually just need to scan 30 items, instead of 45, to earn an entry, and you can earn as many entries as you want providing you don't run out of items to scan around your home.
I'd welcome any feedback from your or your readers, and you can reach me at (in case it doesn't show in the signature) info@coupsmart.com.
Sincerely,
Blake Shipley
Founder & CEO
CoupSmart
My wish is to enjoy the FREEDOM that financial independence offers.
To be able to create a source of revenue for myself.
To pursue interests based on choice instead of need.
I used to work at a sports radio station. The afternoon host would routinely offer ridiculous viewpoints on the air (e.g., "The NFL should go from 11-man football to 7-man, it'll open the game up"), then smile in triumph when the phone banks lit up with people ready to tell him he was an idiot.
I hope Carrie doesn't feel the same way about comments as this guy did about phone calls, otherwise bashing this article will have done the opposite of its intended purpose.
Carrie, you claim that people who exercise eat more than their non-exercising counterparts. A) No kidding, and b) Nowhere do you draw a distinction between different kinds of food. Yes, a high-performance machine likely requires more and better fuel than an inferior one.
You also speak of "weight loss" in absolute terms without looking at how it's configured. If the women in Group A lost an average of 30 pounds of fat and gained 10 pounds of muscle, while the women in Group B just lost 20 pounds of fat while gaining zero muscle, would you consider those weight losses to be equivalent?
I don't think you understand the concept of exercising to leverage one's time. Your husband's away from the kids all day? Give him an hour at the gym, and he'll probably require less sleep and be more alert and less lethargic during the time he does spend with your kids. Oh, and way to break new ground with the McDonald's-bashing. Do you also think puppies are cute and sunsets romantic?
"in a world where we are increasingly conscious of the environmental toll of food production"
"We"? Speak for yourself, please. So the answer is to produce less food? And I don't believe for a moment that an "iron-pumping construction worker" consumes 12,000 calories a day. Neither Tour de France cyclists nor competitive bodybuilders consume that much (probably closer to 7,000.) Look, it's one thing to write a post that provokes thought, something different to just throw specious arguments out there to get a reaction.
My wish is to enjoy the freedom that financial security would offer.
To be able to make decisions purely by choice instead of need would be empowering.
I would love to be successful in creating a source of revenue for myself, to eliminate having to work to support the success of someone else's business, working long hours and still stuggling financially.
Smartcookies - for my DH to find a decent job for me to work less hard.
to be able to keep the paycheck we earn for stuff we want to do now rather than paying for stuff we did in the past! Stupid credit cards.
My wish is for my mother to find a full-time teaching position. She earned her special education certification two years ago, but has yet to find a job. This is a big career change for my mother, who had to leave her previous job due to an injury she sustained at work. Instead of mourning the loss of one job, she took the opportunity to pursue a career that she was passionate about. However, after five years of taking classes and passing all the required tests, and the additional two spent job searching, she has become discouraged. She worries that her age, limited experience, and the bad economy will prevent her from ever getting a job in the field that she cares so much about and has worked so hard to enter.
My mother and I have been having financial troubles ever since my father left us, nearly a decade ago, and I have seen my mom sacrifice so much for me. Her disability benefits ended three years ago and it breaks my heart to visit her and see her nearly empty refrigerator. I try to help when I can, but she often refuses my assistance and, as a recent college grad with the requisite college debt and a job folding laundry, I'm not in the best financial situation myself.
I would like for my mother to be able to afford healthy food and to keep the heat on in the winter. I want her to stop worrying and being sad. I want her to be able to travel to the places she keeps reading about in her library books. I just want her to be able to enjoy her life.
I don't want to $20, I just wanted to get my wish out there.
I would love to have no debt--no car payment, no student loan, and no mortgage payments. If we didn't have those things, it would free us to up to provide health insurance for our entire family!
To pay off my credit card so I can cut it up and never use it again!!
I would be able to pay off my mortgage and equity line of credit.
Boy, I knew diet and exercise were the closest thing to religion for most urbanites, but you guys are about to declare a Fatwa here. Carrie is saying something pretty simple in this piece, For people who want to loose weight (and probably don't get too much pleasure from spending time on a treadmill) joining a Gym may not be a good solution. Her sacrilege comes from an article in TIME itself based on careful academic research. I read this article twice and I'm pretty sure she is not saying "Don't exercise".
I was surprised to see that there are about 18 scathing comments in a row.
Then I realized people who do not particularly like exercise, spending time in gyms, and have thrown hundreds if not thousands of dollars away on memberships are pretty unlikely to put their mistake on display here. Those are the silent folks Carrie is addressing who did not get much for the time and money they spent.
For the rest of you, I am glad you are all doing something you like, I'm glad you all like your bodies. But, maybe you should realize there is very powerful advertising and cultural pressure to support the 19 billion dollar gym industry. And not all of that money is creating happiness, health, or self esteem.
My wish would be to go to cooking school when I retire. After being an employee for more than 30 years I think that cooking would be a great thing to do in MY SPARE TIME
i wish i could go back and start again taking everything i i have learned so far. my life would be better, my childrens' lives would be better, and i could have contributed much more to the world in general.
If I could have one wish, I would ask for a complete clean slate. Debt (house & 1 credit card) be wiped out, all bills (utilities paid in full), receive a perfect credit score and a chance to start over and apply the financial knowledge that I have now that I didn't have before. I'd live below my means, give to charity, save for my daughter's college tuition, and only buy cars that were 3 years old or older.
It is worth it, as I can see many attractive people in tight fitting garments.
You really shouldn't judge your level of fitness by the number of pounds you see on the scale. I mean, you could lose lots of weight living a sedentary lifestyle by just eating less, but it doesn't mean you're getting any healthier if you're leaving your muscles and cardiovascular system unused.
I enjoyed your article. I just wish it were as easy as you make it sound to solve the issue. Economic outpatient care can certainly be a destructive force. In America, we live in a society that values work. For most of us, working provides not only the necessary means to live, but also a worthwhile purpose in life. When given economic subsidy, especially at critical points in life, the receiver can get de-railed from finding their life's purpose. This can also be a problem for lottery winners and inheritors of money. Even though they are not economically dependent on others, they may lose motivation to persist in their contributions to society. Good for you for shining a light on this issue!
My financial wish is that my parents would go write their will. I don't care what they do with their money and property, but I want it on paper, lawyered up, and notarized. I'd sleep better.
My husband and I have been waiting to adopt a child for almost a year. Our journey to parenthood has been a long and challenging one and...expensive! I have tossed many pennies into fountains, wished on numerous four-leaf clovers, and tossed a lot of salt over my shoulder wishing to be a mother. Winning the lottery would go a long way to help offset the cost of the adoption. However, I know when I hold my child in my arms the first time I'll have won something far more important than money.
There is also the cost of exercise clothes for most, though I just wear the oldest, crappiest garments I already own. I'd also like to suggest that the lack of weight loss may be due to the "fact" that muscles weigh more than fat...not so sure this is true but I've always heard it. I go less by what the scale says and more by how my clothes fit or how I feel. I think we're way to weight conscious now. We can be healthy and not necessarily slender.
My husband and I have been waiting almost a year to adopt a child. Our journey to becoe parents has been a long and challenging one and...expensive! I have thrown many a penny, tossed many grains of salt over my shoulder, searched for lucky clover everywhere all with the wish of becoming a mother in mind. However, winning the lottery would be a big help in paying the adoption expenses. But, I know the minute I hold my child in my arms, I'll feel I have won something far more important.
Downplaying the benefits of being fit seems near irresponsible.
Going to the gym (and jogging, biking, swimming) has sure shed weight from my wife and I. Maybe this isn't backed by science, that's fine. But the overall health benefits of these activities absolutely increase health and quality of life.
It sounds to me like people trying to justify not doing that which is difficult.
Ouch... you left this article on a down note... at least tell people alternatives so they dont just cut their gym memberships and do nothing since they "have no time and it causes injuries"
I have my membership and i ride the roller coaster of going for 2 months straight and taking 2 months off... The point is you need ot find balance. If youre not going to be going to the gym, you need to learn to control the diet...
Again, shoulda ended the article on a better note...
Dearest money fairy, here is my Smart Cookie wish. I wish for enough money to buy my family a boat... a big boat... ok a Yacht, to sail around in, to laugh together in and enjoy time together in.
I think that a gym membership can be one of the best investments you can make, and also a waste (that is, if you don't use the facilities) - it depends on what options you have for exercise, discipline level, stage of life etc. For the express purpose of losing 5 pounds and no other reason, then joining a gym might not be worth it.
One of the reasons that I joined a gym was for strength training, which helped me to avoid injury in running. I also made use of indoor track in the winter, cardio classes, and swimmng pool. This summer I have been training almost exclusively outdoors for a couple of sprint triathlons (one down, one to go) and have started debating whether I should continue this regimen and quit the Y or stick with the gym b/c of the indoor components. I could easily find an outdoor pool in the summer but not in the winter. If I decide to quit the gym, I won't be abandoning exercise, just the monthly fees.