January Member of the Month - John Ellis

Posted 08 January 2009

The story

John Ellis, Finance Director of Morgan EST has taken to his Fitbug like a duck to water. A few years ago, he’d experimented with using a pedometer when his daughter Molly had put one in her suitcase on a family trip. They used it on long walks making a game of who could most accurately guess how many steps they’d taken.

Before...

While on holiday the family had averaged about 16,000 per day, but when John tried it on a typical work day, the result was less spectacular, only 800 steps. "That demonstrates what office life does for your fitness," he says.

In October Fitbug visited the Morgan EST offices and at midday John received his "Bug." He put it in his pocket and forgot about it. Again when he got home he’d noticed just how little activity he’d done during his working day. He knew the government recommendation is a minimum of 10,000 a day, so when he got home; he grabbed his oldest child and the dog and went for a nice long walk. It was then he decided to never go under 10,000 a day.

The family took another holiday in Turkey and would take long walks at night racking up around 22,800 steps, which is equal to 10 miles. He then decided to set the challenge to himself of never going under 10 miles a day.

Considering he drives an hour each way to work, it’s not an easy challenge, but the good ones aren’t.

While not naturally an early riser, John now makes himself get up and on the cross trainer at 5.50 in the morning for 40 minutes giving himself 5-6000 steps before he even leaves for work.

"At lunch time, I now go out for a walk which gives me another 5-6000 steps. And my staff is happy, that I go to see them, I’m on the ground floor and they’re on the second. Then when I go home, I go for walk or jog after dinner and typically end the day with 25-30000 steps being completed."

And those steps are just on work days, he’s even busier on the weekends when he sets himself the target of 40-45000 steps each day. In November he did about 929,000 steps (more than 400 miles).

What has this done for John?

For starters he’s lost 31 lbs in 9 weeks and reached his target weight of 12 stone 5 lbs! "I haven’t felt this good since I was a teenager which is a long time ago," he says.

These changes are also affecting his work life for the better. He says. "I'm fresh and invigorated at work. I’m very focused on going out for lunch and getting fresh air, it benefits me in the afternoon. Fitbug’s is great because it gives you a daily challenge in your pocket. That’s what it does for you. I will not give up on my 10 miles on a working day."

After!

As this month's star member John receives a gorgeous Molton Brown gift set. If you'd like to feature as our member of the month - or if you know someone that deserves to -

send us your story!