The time has arrived to tally up my Vitality points and see if I’ve been able to catapult myself to Discovery Gold Vitality status in just one week. The challenge was simple. Go straight to the top of Discovery’s loyalty programme in less than seven days. How did a fair? Is it possible to earn enough points? It’s time to have a look at the scorecard now that the results are in.

Step One – The Online Health Assessments via The Discovery Website

Summary – Online Health Assessment

The Online Health Assessment via the Discovery website was obviously the easiest of the (4) steps and the simplest way to rack up quick points – actually it was a breeze. My guess is that a lot of Discovery Vitality members quickly get this step completed and then fail to finish the other (3) steps because it requires a little more work.

It took me less than an hour to complete the web-based assessments and I’ve got to give Discovery Kudos for making the process extremely easy. Unfortunately I missed out on 5000 immediate points by not being able to sign off on the “non-smoker” declaration just yet. I’ve only just given up the fags (3 weeks now) and you need to be cigarette free for at least 2 ½ months before you can claim your points. So if you are a smoker and have no intention of kicking the habit anytime soon, you will need to make up those 5000 missed points elsewhere. That might be a little difficult as you will see later in the post.

The only gripe I have with this particular step is the point’s allocation for the Online Nutrition Assessment. The marketing brochure I received stated that you could earn 2500 points just by completing the online assessment. Not entirely correct. As you will see, I only received 750 points for completing the nutrition assessment and that’s because (only after I investigated this myself), you get an immediate 500 point allocation for completing the assessment and another total  of 750 points are up for grabs throughout the entire year ( 250 points for the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th quarter of the year). Seems a weird way of structuring it and the marketing material I received was clearly not accurate.

Anyway, I scored 5250 easy points and it could have been a total of 10 250 if I was able to sign off on the non-smoker declaration. More incentive now to stay off the ciggies!

Step Two –  Preventative Screening Tests Completed By a Discovery Nurse

Summary – Preventative Screening Tests

This step was fairly easy. I called a Discovery Vitality nurse who popped around to my place and completed a bunch of blood tests and a few routine medical checks like BMI (Body Mass Index). The good news is that the cost of the preventative screening tests where picked up by Discovery because I am a health member. If you aren’t a Discovery Health member expect to cough up R218 for the consultation. A quick finger pin prick and we completed a whole bunch of screening tests.

I scored booster (bonus points) because my weight, blood sugar and blood pressure readings were in acceptable range. I failed to pick up points for my cholesterol test because the reading was at 5.3 and Discovery require it to be at 5.0 to score additional booster points. No biggy though.

17 500 points earned out of a possible 19 000 points and the whole exercise took less than 30 minutes. The points were also allocated to my online profile via Discovery’s website in a day. The whole process from start to finish was pretty impressive and Angela August was really efficient and friendly (not a combination you see very often today).

Step Three – Fitness Assessment by a Biokineticist At Virgin Active Gym

Summary – Fitness Assessment

The real work started at this particular step in the challenge. It was time to actually earn the points. No more freebies on offer!  I need to set up an appointment with a Biokineticist at a Virgin Active Gym. The cost was R175 which I will submit to Discovery and recover from my (MSA) Medical Savings Account.

What exactly did the consultation include? A pretty thorough fitness, strength and flexibility assessment. The whole appointment lasted an hour. Did I break a sweat? Yip I certainly did. It wasn’t the toughest work out, but I required a shower when I got back home.

I received 5000 points just for showing up and there was another 4000 points on offer for being at fitness level 3. When I popped onto the Discovery website to check my points a couple of days later I saw that they only allocated 2000 points to me for being at fitness level 2. I thought I was in pretty good shape, but you obviously need to be in excellent shape to earn the maximum 4000 point allowance.

All in all, 9500 points earned out of a possible 11 500 points. The only inconvenience was the hassle of trekking out across town for the visit and coughing up R175 bucks for the consultation. If Discovery want you to earn the points, shouldn’t they be paying for the consultation? It is after all in their best interest to have as many members checked out?

Step Four – Nutrition Assessment with a Certified Dietician

I’ve got to admit that at this final step I was a little skeptical. I’ve got to pay R275 for a consultation with a dietician just to earn a potential 7500 points. What am I going to get out of this besides Vitality points I thought to myself?

The money was well spent and I thoroughly enjoyed the consultation with Anita the dietician. I actually got some good advice, which didn’t require a formal eating plan, which I will use to make a few changes to my eating habits.

There were 5000 points on offer for showing up and another 2500 bonus points available for being at my goal weight. What’s strange is that I didn’t receive the max bonus points even though my BMI (Body Mass Index) was within range and I received maximum weight points in the preventative screening process. I will need to take this up with them.

7500 points on offer, I picked up 6500 points but feel aggrieved that I didn’t get a max score and plan to take this up with Discovery.

Summary of Vitality Points Earned in a Week

You require 45 000 points as a Discovery Vitality single member to achieve Gold Status. My challenge was to try and get all the points I required within one week. Simply the idea was to try and catapult myself from entry level status (Blue) to Gold within the shortest time period possible.

I’ve failed….But only just. I managed to score 38 750 out of a possible 50 000 points on offer and only required 45 000.

Had I been able to pick up the 5000 points on offer for signing the non-smoker declaration, that would have taken my tally to 43 750. I missed out on the cholesterol bonus points by 0.3% which would have earned me another 1500 points and then I would have stumbled over the finish line with 45 250 points.

So at the moment I am 6 250 points short of getting to Gold Vitality Status. Not very far off considering I have the rest of this year to get the points.

Did I get anything out of the experience besides Vitality points?

Funnily enough I did. I’m in Ok shape, but there is plenty room for improvement. The screening tests confirmed that all is in order but I will need to start getting things like cholesterol and blood sugar testing done at least once a year (just to make sure everything is in order now that I am getting a little older). I need to tweak a few things in my diet, but besides that I’m feeling pretty good now that I’ve finally kicked smoking into touch once and for all.

SO IS IT POSSIBLE TO EARN ENOUGH POINTS TO GET TO DISCOVERY GOLD VITALITY STATUS IN A WEEK?

I would have to say yes, it can be done. I didn’t manage it, but I’m sure there are others who could.

You will, however, need to be in excellent health to qualify for enough booster points to get you over the finish line. If you are still smoking, making up those 5000 lost points is going to be difficult.

Although I didn’t quite manage to get over the finish line in a week, I’ve enjoyed the challenge and look forward to racking up those missing 6250 points quickly. You will be the first to know when I do get over the finish line.

For more information on how to earn extra Vitality points why don’t you visit the Discovery website.

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