Happy Monday everyone! I've got a Motivation Monday post for you for the first time in forveverrrrrrrr. *gasp* I know, I know it's crazy. Today I wanted to share with you a really awesome method you can use to set your fitness/weight-loss goals that's both effective and super easy. The other day I was thinking about how I feel like I've kind of plateaued/fallen off the bandwagon, which I've mentioned in previous posts, and that I'd like to set new goals for myself.  I googled it and came across a ton of articles talking about the "Get Smart" method for setting goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Timeframe, which when broken down, totally makes sense.

After sifting through the articles, I decided I'd run back to my blog and do a post for MM where I'd walk through my own personal goals while explaining it at the same time. Kill two birds with one stone! Yay for multitasking! If you're curious to see which articles I'm basing my post on, you can check it out here and here.

So here we go!

Pact App

Okiee dokiee, so today I'm talking to you about one of my all-time favorite apps, Pact. I stumbled across the app reading comments on a post somewhere. No idea where or what the post was, but someone mentioned it and it sounded like the coolest thing since sliced bread. So I downloaded the app and signed up. I've been using it ever since. Now, you're probably wondering what's so cool about it, right? Well here it is. You get paid to live a healthy lifestyle. That's right, PAID. With real money! And it's free.


So here's how it works:

Pacts I've Made

Every week you make a pact. When I first joined, it was just for working out. Now you can make a pact for eating fruits and veggies, as well as logging three meals and at least 1200 calories a day in myfitnesspal. Making the pact is easy; you just decide how often you want to do everything. Once you decide that, you set the stakes. If you miss a day during your pact, you owe money. This can range from $5 to $50 a day. But you only pay if you don't make your pact. If you complete it, you get paid by those who didn't make their pacts. It's pretty cool. I've made about $40 so far. 

In order to complete a pact, it's different for each one. For the gym pact, you can either go to a gym, do a workout at home or an "anywhere workout" that tracks your motion, or use an partner app that automatically syncs with Pact. Each workout has to last at least 30 minutes and you can only log one workout a day. The app further explains everything in the tutorial they have. For the fruit or veggie pact, you just have to take a picture of a full serving of veggies or fruit that you're eating and upload it to the app. It has to be taken with your own phone and the built-in camera, otherwise the app won't take it. You can do up to three photos a day. For the myfitnesspal app, you just have to log your meals. You have to do three different meals, which can include snacks, and 1, 200 calories.

Making a Pact & Setting the Stakes

Your pact starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. You have until midnight on Sunday to finish your pact. After that, you're done. Then on Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week, they start verifying that you successfully completed everything and pay you for your efforts. And tada! You're done for that pact. It's pretty simple. The app itself has tutorials and more in depth explanations of everything. I definitely urge you to check it out. It's an awesome app to help keep you motivated. I know it's helped me.