Want a new pair of Brooks running shorts or jacket? Well, here’s your chance to win both!

The Team BILBO Giveaway (BILBO = Brooks Innovation Laboratory for Biomechanical Observation) and SAC Technology have teamed up to give you a chance to score some new gear. There are two ways to enter the giveaway. You can visit brooksrunning.com, see which pair of Brooks running shoes you would be interested in taking a run in, and post a comment on FMU below including the shoe you’d want. Then, share it on your facebook, twitter, your personal blog or anything else you can think that will help spread the word. Just be sure you come up with two additional methods to share the content. You can also watch the video above and leave a comment about it and mention the contest and why you deserve to win the new shorts or jacket. It’s that simple.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can be creative and come up with interesting ways to get your comment out there. Get those creative juices flowing and you could be on your way to a new addition to your running wardrobe, all thanks to Brooks. So what are you waiting for? Get yourself entered and you could be the lucky guy or gal sporting some new running gear.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Brooks Giveaway

The Amway Positivity Project invites you to share your power of positive story, and enter to win the $10,000 grand Positivity Prize or one of nine $2,500 Positivity Prizes – all intended to help you advance the power of positive in your life, your community and your world.

The deadline for the project is October 17 and twenty-five stories will be selected as semi-finalists by a panel of judges and the Positivity Prize winners will be chosen through public voting. Stories can be submitted in whatever format you want: written word, poetry, videos, illustration. Whatever works best and tells your story in the best way works. Amway isn’t being picky about format; they just want to hear your stories!

Once the finalists are chosen, they will gather for a special VIP event where their stories will be highlighted and their Positivity Prize granted. To enter, visit www.yourpositivityproject.com or www.Facebook.com/AmwayGlobal.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Amway Positivity Project

I recently participated in the Plus Up Your Gym Bag Makeover in which I was sent a gift card so that I can upgrade my gym bag. This was going to be a relatively easy upgrade, since I don’t have a gym bag to begin with. I work out at home for the most part, so it makes it really easy for me to not have to take anything with me. I was originally going to make a video about this whole fun project, but the audio was damaged.

FiberPlus Taste Test
Part of the promotion was that I had to try out the new Kellogg’s FiberPlus bars. I received a coupon to go buy a box of bars, which I did at the local Super Walmart. I chose the chocolate chip version. I let my wife try the bars out first. She didn’t like them. I tried them after a workout and thought they tasted good. It was very light and had a good amount of carbs. One of the positives of the FiberPlus bars is that they have antioxidants.

According to the Kellogg’s FiberPlus site “Many Americans aren’t getting enough fiber, whole grains, vitamins and minerals daily. With 35% of your daily fiber, 7 grams of whole grains, plus antioxidants vitamin E and zinc, these bars are a nutritious—and delicious—high-fiber treat.” Look’s like another way to combat the lack of nutrition that is rampant in America.

Plus Up MY Gym Bag
I immediately set out to upgrade my fitness tools. I have pretty much everything I need minus a few things I’ve been wanting, so this was the perfect time. The first thing I purchased was a heart rate monitor. This will let me keep track of my calorie expenditure plus my heart rate. Next I purchased a yoga mat. The days of doing yoga on a hard, cold floor are over! I also purchased a fanny pack. lol. Now I actually have a gym bag to hold my stuff. I occasionally go to the gym to hop on the elliptical or go on long walks. Now I can carry stuff with me in my “gym bag”. I also purchased a new pair of shorts. My other pair was starting to fall apart. The last thing I purchased was a Live Strong band. I try to make living strong a habit of mine.

The Giveaway!
Okay now here’s the fun part. We are giving away a $75 American Express gift card to one lucky winner. The contest is running from today until Oct 18th. The winner will be announced on Oct. 19th. To Enter:

1. Entrants may post a comment to the blog stating why they need to “Plus Up” their gym bag.
2. Entrants may send a message on Twitter.com (“Tweet”); comment should describe why they need to Plus Up their gym bag and include the Sponsor’s twitter handle @fatmanunleashed and hashtag “#plusup”.
3. Entrants may visit the FatManUnleashed facebook page and leave a comment as to why they need to Plus Up their gym bag.

Read the official contest rules.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Plus Up Your Gym Bag Makeover and Giveaway

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

FullBar Giveaway Contest Winner!

In celebration of the launch of FullBar into retail stores this month, Dr. Snyder is giving away a week’s worth of samples to one lucky FMU reader. FullBar has been featured on FMU before, but as a reminder, it is a natural hunger management tool that can help you curb your appetite before meals, check them out at FullBar.com.

To win the free samples, post a comment about your inspiration behind losing weight and getting healthy. Do you want to be able to be more active with your kids? Feel more confident? Run a marathon? What is your motivation? The most compelling response posted within the next 3 days will win the loot!

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

FullBar Giveaway Contest!

Their representative sent me a thank you card and a $25 King Card gift card that I could use at any Smoothie King. I’m in the Florida area and decided to have a smoothie for lunch. I originally wanted to record my entering the store, all of the inside and the staff on camera as they prepared the drink, but the store manager was too scared to let me record without the owners permission so I didn’t get to do that. Little did they know that I was going to give them a shout out, with address and everything. Oh well. Moving right along.

The store is packed with a bunch of health supplements, protein powders, weight loss pills, and of course, smoothie making materials. It’s a huge cross-sell factory, which isn’t necessarily bad considering they are catering to health conscious folks. I can now see why they have smoothie stores next to gyms. It’s a one stop shop for protein shakes and supplements. Forgot to take your creatine? No worries, hop into your neighborhood Smoothie King after your workout for a shot of creatine, or whatever supplement you need. It’s a smart concept actually.

Okay, so after I tried my very best to decipher their menu, I just gave up and asked the girl behind the counter to give me something with protein and chocolate. She said The Hulk would be good. So I had a Chocolate Hulk. Now the ingredients in it made the drink have way more calories (approximately 919 calories for their 20 oz cup) than I would normally allow for a shake, but it was my lunch and 2 snacks replacement for the day. It doesn’t help that it’s their weight gain shake either. No worries. I lived to tell about it. And after you see my video below, you will tell it was well worth it. It’s one of the best tasting protein shakes/smoothies I have ever had. Not something I would do often though.

After buying the shake I still had some extra money on the gift card so I purchased a few Pure Protein bars and called it a day. It’s important to keep in mind that I purposely did not order a shake with fewer calories. I could have easily ordered a “skinny” or something with a lot less calories like a Low-Carb Chocolate. Smoothie King has a list of nutritional information on their different smoothies that is worth taking a look at. It’s also important to note that you should always ask about what you are about to consume. In this case I didn’t really care because I was excited about tasting the smoothie, but if you are not sure about ingredients or calories…just ask the staff or ask for a nutritional guide. Do your research and stay informed.

The Smoothie King Contest
So, either you managed to get through my way-too-long Smoothie King nonsense above or you skipped right down to this part because you only care about the contest. Either way, thanks for visiting. Time for the contest right? It’s pretty simple.

The video explains it. Watch the video. Watch the video, now. Please buy my product.

For the video impaired, the contest is short. It will last one week from today and all you have to do to enter is leave a meaningful comment below. Two lucky winners will each win a $25 gift card to Smoothie King. I will choose the 2 winners based on who I feel left the best comments, sprinkled with a little bit of randomness. Thanks!

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Smoothie King First Impressions and a Contest

The winner is Lisa Newton from Iowa Avenue and Healthy Lifestyle Bloggers. She wrote a great post titled “Is your Food Worth its Weight in Exercise.” It was picked up by a few sites which brought in some decent traffic. I loved it! Thanks Lisa. She is the lucky winner of a Fat Man Unleashed shirt, a free one year subscription to any magazine of her choice, a one month banner ad on FMU, and a site review. Man, I gave away a lot of stuff. I guess Lisa got lucky!

As far as drinking water, well, drink it. But don’t drink too much. Your body usually tells you when enough is enough. I normally just check the color of my urine: If it’s clear I drink less water. It also depends on whether I am having a tough exercise day. Either way just make sure you drink enough.

Enough blabbering, watch the video below.

RSS subscribers, watch the video blog here.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Health Bloggers Unleashed Contest Winner, and Water

GINA!

I will be in touch shortly. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy riding the bike around Fordham. Buy a strong lock and chain it up!

Here is her winning comment:

“I’m a college student, struggling with my weight, wallet, and lifestyle. While I’ve recently been making changes, exercising more, and eating healthier, it isn’t always easy when you are trying to go to class, keep a job, study, and get everything done – especially if you saw the cafeteria that we’re supposed to eat it. It’s terrible!

I’ve oft considered buying a bike, but with books as expensive as they are, there’s no way I can afford it. However, were I to, say, win a bike, I could ride it to work, thus saving money by not paying for public transit or gas, get a better workout, and continue to earn money.”

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Lipton Bike Contest Winner Announced

It’s one of those times when I get to give back to the readers. I love giving back to the readers. I was recently made aware of the new “Free Your Y” contest from Lipton. It’s basically a contest where you upload a 2 minute video to YouTube displaying your youthfulness. What’s in it for you? Well, if you are the lucky winner you get $25,000! There are also second and third place prizes of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.

So what’s this “Free Your Y” slogan all about? They are promoting the fact that Lipton’s White Teas are made from young tea buds, plucked early in their life cycle. Free your Y = Youth. Get it? It’s all about tapping into their customer’s inner youthful spirit and highlighting those things they do every day to feel young. I find the new teas have a soft, smooth taste. My wife likes them too. I’m no expert though.

The official web site for the contest is at: www.AreYouYoungEnough.com.

That contest officially starts April 15th. You can get the specifics by visiting the the link above. I may just submit my own video and try to win one of those prizes.

Fuji Bike Giveaway
Now for the juicy part: One lucky Fat Man Unleashed reader will win a free Lipton branded Fuji Crosstown 2.0 bike*. That’s right. A freebie with no strings attached. All you need to do is leave a comment on how having a bike can change your life or on what you do to live a more youthful life. Or, just leave a thoughtful comment. Just make it meaningful. I will pick a winner on Friday, April 18th.

That’s about it. Make a video, potentially win $25,000. Leave a comment, potentially win a brand new, free bike. What do you have to lose?

* Lipton Legal Disclaimer: The Pepsi/Lipton Partnership will provide a check for $75.00 to be used for professional assembly of all Lipton Fuji bicycles awarded. Neither Pepsi Co. nor Unilever is liable for any injuries, damages or accidents that may result from the receipt, assembly or use of this bicycle.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Lipton Free Your Y Contest: Bike Giveaway

The Rules

The contest begins today Thursday April, 10th and ends Friday May 30th. There is only one entry per person. You need to write a health focused article and submit it to me via the contact form. This must be an original article, not published anywhere else, that will be published on Fat Man Unleashed. The whole point is to spread some health knowledge, while still engaging and entertaining readers. So make sure to write about health. It can be mental health, physical, weight loss, environmental, blogging & health, etc.

Entries will be posted on this blog as they come in. Entries must be in English, not have any grammatical errors, or be DULL! As long as you follow the above rules, your entry will be posted, making you eligible for a prize.

The Prizes

The winners will be based on a combination of the following: most traffic received to their guest post, most comments, most engaging, and a randomizer. The amount of prizes will vary depending on amount of entries received. I am working on adding more prizes to the list and will update when I hear back from potential sponsors. Right now the prizes consist of:

1st Place: Fat Man Unleashed T-shirt (Any Size), One Month Banner Ad Run of Site (the one you see above that’s 600 x 50 Pixels), 1 Year Subscription to the health magazine of your choice, Site/Product Professional Review.

2nd Place: Fat Man Unleashed T-shirt (Any Size), Site/Product Professional Review.

3rd Place: Fat Man Unleashed T-shirt (Any Size).

See, that was simple right? Good luck and I hope we all get some great entries full of health and fitness related brain wrinkling articles.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

The Health Bloggers Unleashed Contest

Stefan is throwing a birthday contest and is giving away $50 to 20 different people! All you have to do subscribe to his RSS feed by email. You can find the form on the right sidebar on any page on his blog. The winners will be chosen with a randomizer. The first 20 people selected will be given $50 each. The contest ends on the February 15th so head on over now and enter.

Free Blog ConsultationOn top of giving away a truck load in cash, Stefan is also offering a free blog consultation for his RSS subscribers. He will shoot you some free tips about your design, traffic, readership, monetizing and a few plugins you could use. It’s always good to have an outside opinion, worth a shot.

Perfect Blogging

Stefan has been writing some great content that is definitely worth a read. He’s started a mini guide about improving your blog and blogging. The guide already has three installments and they all have been focusing on different aspects.

If you are looking for new ways to monetize Stefan gives 15 ways to get blogging ideas. As a blogger I am always trying to think about the next topic and article I am going to write. His 15 ways could definitely get your blogging juices flowing.

Perfect Blogging is a blog about blogging. Strange to those of you who aren’t bloggers, isn’t it? However, blogging about blogging is a very popular niche and quite a few people actually make a living doing it. Now, Perfect Blogging is a rather new blog and is only beginning to develop content about various blogging topics, but it has great potential.

The first thing I notice about Perfect Blogging is its simple, yet appealing look. The blog has a nice logo, decent sidebar organization, and easy navigation. The design is a 3-column look which while I’m normally highly against, Perfect Blogging makes it work.

The Final Verdict:

What I like about Perfect Blogging

• The simple design and clean logo
• Blog Consultation service
• Great “About Me” page
• A simple, yet useful contact page

What I think Stefan could improve upon:

• The content. There isn’t much of it, but could use some polishing on how they are written. I find myself lost while reading which is a major turnoff.
• The post date structure. I like to know a specific date when a post is made. It’s nice to know if a post is fresh or not, but on Perfect Blogging, all I see is a month.
• SEO (search engine optimization). I noticed Perfect Blogging isn’t optimizing too many keywords on its homepage nor on any of its posts. I suggest using Uberdose’s All-In-One SEO plugin for wordpress
• RSS Visibility. I believe Perfect Blogging could see more organic RSS readers if the RSS module was moved to the top of the right sidebar. That way it would be more noticeable to new readers.

Overall, Perfect Blogging has a lot of potential and I see great things from Stefan in the future. If you would like to start a blog or would like tips on how to become a better blogger, visit Perfect Blogging today.

This is an article from FatManUnleashed.com's Healthy Weight Loss and Fitness Blog.

Perfect Blogging Birthday Contest