By Al Muskewitz

Candace Rivers is all about promoting healthy lifestyles for the nation’s fleet of professional truck drivers and having fun on the way to reaching their wellness goals.

A CDL holder and social media influencer, the Alabama resident in her latest Fit's Possible Trucking campaign is seeking to recruit drivers across the country to lose a collective 10,000 pounds over the course of the year for better health and prizes.

So far about 100 drivers are involved and she encourages more to enroll through her series of entertaining and informative videos on TikTok and other social media platforms.

She knows it’s difficult and sometimes discouraging to be on a weight loss program and it has gotten her to thinking. While she continues to encourage drivers to keep eating right she’s considering changing the focus of the campaign to a move challenge. Think of it as going from 10,000 Pounds Down – the name of her weight-loss challenge – to 10,000 Steps Up.

“I’m OK with shifting because I don’t want people to get discouraged,” she said. “I don’t want people to say I’m not losing anything.

“Even though it sounds great – 10,000 pounds down – we could easily switch it to 10,000 steps. Then you’ve got them moving more and you’re not getting discouraged. I’m willing to shift if things need to be shifted, if it makes my truck drivers have a better time of it and not be so down on themselves because they did all this work and didn't see the scale move."

Many health and fitness professionals recommend 10,000 steps in a day, which comes to about five miles, but that target can be difficult for a driver who spends most of his day behind the wheel. Most of his walking gets done in a pre-trip inspection or going from the fuel island to the cashier or restaurant and then it’s back in the cab and on the road.

Given those constraints, Rivers wouldn’t be opposed for her audience to adjust their target to 1,000 steps a day.

“If we did 100,000 steps a day (collectively), that would be awesome,” she said.

As her audience continues to grow on social media she’d really like to put together a Fit's Possible Trucking Truck Stop Wellness Tour culminating with the Women’s In Trucking Accelerate Conference in Dallas in November. Among the places she knows she'll be spreading her message are the 75 Chrome Shop Truck Show in Wildwood, Fla., in a couple weeks and the Mayberry Truck Show in Mt. Airy, N.C., in October.

In conjunction with these shows she’d like to launch a Fit's Possible Trucking All-Day 5K. Participants would receive complementary step-counters to measure their progress and those who meet the 5K threshold would be entered into a drawing for prizes.

“It’s very easy to get a 5K walking when you’re at these truck shows,” Rivers said.

She would know. She got plenty of steps in during her first experience at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March. In addition to meeting and greeting the drivers who visit her social media platforms as a guest of Hiremaster by Wright Media she got out and about to explore the expanse that’s the largest truck show in the country.

She was amazing at the vastness of the show and encouraged to see so many companies on the floor promoting driver health and wellness.

“I feel like it’s an acorn to an oak tree,” Rivers said of the awareness of driver health. “Not just with truckers, but the actual companies, the truck stops, everybody. This momentum is growing and I feel like now with technology where it is it’s going to make it way more easier to share the message.

“I feel like a seed has been planted and once you sow the seed you don’t always see the harvest yet. I can see the seed in the ground. I can see the ground’s been toiled. I’d say this time next year you’ll start seeing the sprout and in about 2-3 years you’re really going to see the harvest. I know a lot of truck stops are putting more into it. Sometimes it takes people time to digest it and then really start learning it.”

To learn more about Rivers' programs and Fit's Possible Trucking, connect through Candace@fitspossibletrucking.com or www.fitspossibletrucking.com