VitaCup Company Fitness Challenge

At VitaCup we’re all about improving our wellness.  What does that mean? Well, it means different things depending on where you are in your personal health journey.  For us, it means getting our vitamins and nutrients daily through our coffee and tea. Although, we wanted to take it a step further and do more. That’s why, this year, we’re doing a “VitaCup Wellness Challenge” at our company and we hope to inspire you to join us.

What makes a good company wellness program?

A good company wellness program gives people "stretch goals" to achieve but makes sure that they are attainable. If your organization is diverse, you probably have different levels of fitness, so keep that in mind.

A company wellness program should include:

• Consultation with a nutritionist and/or health professional. You want to make sure you have a pro helping you put together a program so you are responsible with your suggestions.
• Physical activity goals, especially that encourage people to get up from their desks and move during the day. This is shown to help improve circulation and even focus, so movement is good for the business.
• Refresh those food and snack supplies. If your office has a communal kitchen, swap out the potato chips with some unbuttered popcorn, nuts, or even yogurt. These all provide more fuel for the body and brain without weighing you down.

At VitaCup, we’re helping our team by doing a FUN challenge that incorporates a reward, too!

• We consulted with Brianna Harris, our resident Chief Vitamin Officer, and Registered Dietitian. She was able to help make sure we created a program that was responsible and challenging at the same time.
• We established a goal to get 10,000 steps per person per day in January. This would be a total of 310,000 steps in the month! We chose 10,000 steps because it’s the amount of physical activity that will equal about 30 minutes of daily exercise; but if you’re a slower walker, that’s okay - just keep moving and take the time you need to reach your step goal!
• We surveyed the company to find out who needed step counters. There are many affordable step counters available and it’s easy to provide them to employees without breaking the bank. This also encourages participation so everyone has the equipment they need to measure their progress.
• We calculated how far we would walk - we can get halfway through the country and back if everyone participates.  Help the team visualize what they will accomplish together and make it fun to track the progress.
• We did an inventory of our food supply. We had a LOT of sweets and empty calorie snacks. We ordered new snacks that helped make healthy choices easy. For example, we stocked up on hummus, carrots, nuts, yogurt, nut butter bars, and carbonated flavored water.  
• We provided a place to store the information.  While there are fancy apps out there that can help a wellness program get off the ground, a simple google sheet with a progress bar can help everyone stay on track. If you’re a larger business, an app or wellness website will help make managing the program easy.

We’re so excited to “walk the walk” with our wellness journey here at VitaCup. We hope you will set some new health goals in the New Year and invite others to come along with you.

Join us! Tell us about your fitness goals, company wellness programs, or share your tips on how you have created a healthier lifestyle every day in the comments below.