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JANRTEACH
4/10/06 10:32 P
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| Bring it on is right!! Good point!!
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NUSHARGURL
4/10/06 7:11 P
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| I use my points for motivation, not competition. After I saw how some people get crazy points in a short amount of time, I said to myself "why bother?" After all, my weight loss is mine, no one else's. Now stick a prize in there or something, then oh yeah, bring it on, lol!
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JANELLE1979
4/10/06 6:21 P
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When I first started with SP, I couldn't have cared less about the points. I got my sister to sign up a few days later and for some reason, she made it her goal to beat me when it came to points. I don't know why, but I guess I didn't want that to happen so now we're in this race for points. So I know I definitely wouldn't be keeping track of other goals, reading the articles, and paying such close attention to everything if it weren't for this stupid race for points! We know they mean nothing, but for whatever reason we want them anyway! Might be stupid, but SP says that it's the people who log on the most and stay the most involved that lose the most weight and achieve their goals....so who cares what the reason is....just get as many points as you can and stay active! (I just got another 3 points for this post...) :o)
Janelle
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PEOPLE STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE POINTS,
The points are exactly that points, they may help to motivate some, and others see it as depressing,if they are behind, either way the points DO NOT MAKE YOU LOSE WEIGHT, only you can do that! If someone gets points for doing exercise that they have not done they are only cheating themselves, NOT ANYONE ELSE. It is not the POINTS that will take two pounds off every week, it is the people who can stay focused and motivated, and if the points help them to do that, that is a weight loss tool. I look at it this way I would rather have 0 points and reach my 60 lb. goal, then to have a billion points and still be where I am right now! However you earn your points, please just keep in mind that they WILL NOT TAKE THE WEIGHT OFF!
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BUTTERSTAR_8
4/10/06 8:18 A
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| I don't think I would have ever been motivated to read the articles without the points, and I find the articles very helpful in my dieting! I dont think people should be allowed to track exerise they haven't done yet, though. I read in a past thread that SP doesnt deduct points when you mark something done than later mark it undone, so if they were unable to work out that day, they have no way to take away those un-earned points!
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I suggest they revise the way they calculate points. Points for exercise, and actually meeting your food goals. Points for actually losing weight and inches.
But they should reduce points for reading articles and chatting away on the site. And get rid of the leaderboard. Instead, some sort of a personal scorecard.
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| I wish people would STOP focusing on just the points, It really does'nt matter how many you have, if your losing the weight. I would rather have a 2 lb. weight loss for the week then 100 points, but if you prefer the points, go right ahead.
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I enjoy spinning the wheel & getting points. My friend & I compete against each other. We are both helping each other lose weight. She does much more exercise than I do. I still love the competetion between us.
Suzanne
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CRUNCH_THIS
4/8/06 4:28 P
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I see both sides. I think if someone can plan their month ahead they should be able to enter it in now, but what if they have to miss a meal because something came up?
I look at it this way - if I "cheat" by adding points when I don't really do the workout/meal (for WHATEVER reason), I'm only really cheating myself. Planning ahead is great, but not if you are doing it for SP points.
I usually average 70 points a day and that's how I'm at the top of some boards. I work part-time in front of a computer so it is very easy for me to take 5 minutes to read a few articles, and because many of these have helped me I think it's unfair to say I don't deserve points because I should be working out. To be honest, some days I do more than 2 hours of cardio as I'm training to run road races - for me it's "unfair" that I can only count 2 hours of cardio towards points (24 points is the limit).
I think if you are constantly competing with people you've never met, you are gonna set yourself up for a failure. Compete with yourself. Beat YOUR best day, week, month. Or better yet, start your own leaderboard or join a smaller one (based on your city, company, or sparkgroup). Find a good bunch of SP buddies that log points the same way you do, and go for it!
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I think most of us were just interested in how somebody can get so far ahead so early. Thanks for all the info -- I still say that having people so far ahead so early is discouraging and I have slacked off logging in stuff lately because I'm already so far behind it just doesn't matter.
I truly thought that spark points were so neat, but trying to catch somebody who is that far ahead isn't any fun. People do get a lot of points for getting set up in the beginning and now that I am on my fourth month, there just isn't a lot of incentive to keep worrying about the points. For those of us who track every little thing, the 900 points in less than 24 hours just seemed impossible.
I'm sorry if the discussion bothered you -- it's still O.K. to wonder about it. I've been watching things since December and trust me, you can never catch up to anybody who has that many points on the first day.
Even us "lazy" guts would like to see some progress. Maybe we need two different leaderboards -- a fast board and a slow board?? Then us turtles could hammer it out. 
If spark points aren't that important then why do we have a leaderboard? The system was already set up so that you culd see what other people were doing. Perhaps that's part of the problem. Just wondering. Maybe we should be competing with ourselves and cut out the leaderboard altogether.
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I think the points is great motivation, I get alot of points AND I DO NOT SIT in front of the computer all day. I plan every thing out for the day, plan food, exercise, and stick to it, that day, alot of my points a got when I first stated, setting things up. I DO NOT see how you can even say people are "CHEATING", because they earn alot of points, I call it "HARD WORK" and "PLANNING" I think it is very rude, to say people are cheating, just because they have alot of points. It would be the same thing if people with alot of points were to say people with just a few points are "LAZY" We need to remember that we are all in the same boat, all trying to reach a goal, so please try to be a little nicer, and have a better attitude, because I do not want the boat I am in with YOU to be SINKING!
And another thing, why are you so worried about the POINTS, the points do not make you lose the weight, they are to help motivate you, and show you how you can lose the weight!
Sorry, I JUST HAD TO VENT!
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| Not everyone who plans ahead is "cheating" per se. At the end of the month they'll have the same points as everyone else who enters food and cardio as they do it rather than planning ahead. It all averages out.
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i think you should be honest with yourself
iam proud of what i did so far without cheating
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Thanks for the info Traici!!
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| Ok - I tried the track ahead thing.. I just planned my entire month of meals and everything... (might help me grocery shop) and it does move you to the top.. I don't know if it will help me or hurt me... But I've always been around 25 and now I'm running 2 or 3... But man that was alot of work planning a whole month of food.. But I kind of like not having to think about it every day now.. I will know what I'm gonna cook and eat.. And I can change at any time if needed....
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how to get 900 points in one day:
daily sparkpoint challenges:
track: food eaten (5), cardio minutes (24), other exercises (10) and other goals (5)
make/find a recipe (3), post to message boards x 5 (15), read three articles (9), drink eight cups of water (5), use healthy lifestyle scale (2), login and hope for 20! (20), do a web search (1)
total so far: 99 points
one time challenges: complete all of these "one time" challenges for 80 points
total so far: 179 points
diet stage challenges:
read diet overview, complete action step, move to the next stage, read habit/strategy overview, read stage strategies. do all of these and you get another 60 points!
total so far: 239 points
bonus/milestone points: it sounds impossible, but if you happened to have been active on the site for thirty days, and be posting your 100th/200th/300th etc etc message AND refer five friends that very same day, you can get a bonus 85 points
total so far: 324.
Okay, so you think you've done all you possibly can to earn points? Not so! Plan your meals for the month ahead and add an extra 145 points. You're now on 469! Finally, as if you haven't done enough healthy living for one day - plan your cardio for the rest of the month. Planning 37 hours of cardio, or just a little over an hour a day, for the rest of the month will take your points up to 900.
Phew! After all that, I think they've earned their 900 points!!
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Traici - I TOTALLY agree! LOL
We should also be able to get points for weight training - even if its not the weight training SP sets up.
To track ahead, go into your exercise tab and where it shows the date, hit a day ahead and track what cardio you intend to do that day! :)
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| i thought the whole sparkpoint thing was to motivate people to become healthier??? what it seems to be doing is motivating people to sit on their butts in front of the computer for longer, trying to earn as many SparkPoints as they can. sure, i can exercise for 20 minutes and get a handful of points, but 20 minutes on this website gets me a hell of a lot more. my advice - more points for healthy eating and exercise, less points for skimming articles!!
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What is the use of the leaderboard if it is so lopsided that it doesn't provide any incentive? 
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VERMILIONCLAY
4/4/06 8:11 P
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| uh yea! How can you track ahead!?
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| wow-900 a day? I'm just now nearing a thousand at the begining of my second month!
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| We need to back down focus on other's points, after all, we don't actually GET anythig for them! They are to motivate us, so we shouldn't really 'compete' with others. Chin up and see if you can get more points tomorrow than you did today!
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MAKINGCHANGES
4/4/06 12:03 A
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| How does one "track ahead"?
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If you are always up against those super points, it isn't very motivating. I only get about 350+ points a month, so starting off -900 isn't a very good feeling.
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SPARK_COACH_JEN
4/3/06 9:52 A
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Most of these people are getting lots of points b/c they are tracking ahead. Although they will be at the top of the board in the beginning of the month, everyone will be able to catch up as the month goes on. I know it can be frustrating, but just try to focus on how you're doing and how the points can motivate you to reach your goals.
Coach Jen
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| I can't see how it's possible either. These people must be making stuff up.
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| I agree, I can't even imagine how anyone can get 900 points in one day.
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| Give me a break -- I understand forecasting ahead and all that, but 900 points???
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