Fitness Magazine #FitBlogNYC Part 1; The Seminars

I don’t even know where to begin with this post…this was such an amazing event and my head is still in the clouds…

I guess we should start from the beginning…

I headed over to the city with my sister (she was heading to work) and met with other blogger at a Café before heading to Mercedes Club for Fitness Magazine #FitBlogNYC Meet and Tweet.

We arrived at the event and the line was pretty long but we were all in pretty quick.

Once we are in our seats, Betty Wong the editor-in-chief of Fitness magazine, started the event!

The first speaker was Celebrity makeup artist Sarah Lucero (one of her clients is Victoria Beckham). She is also the executive director of Global Artistry, Stila Cosmetics and a breast cancer Survivor!

Here are some of her beauty tips!

Her top three beauty secrets are sleep, tinted moisturizer such as bb cream to reduce redness, and wear the same color tone in your cheeks and lips. Three gym bag must haves are Mist, Mascara, and a kickass playlist on your iPod. Summer must haves are vibrant colors and a power pout. And ladies if you are over 30 start to brush in your eyebrows. So funny that she said this because I started to do this a couple of months ago!

The second speaker was Jennifer Ashton, M.D. who is ABC News Senior Medical Contributor, ob-gyn, triathlete, and author of the book “Your Body Beautiful: Clockstopping Secrets to Staying Healthy, Strong and Sexy in Your 30’s, 40’s and Beyond”.

Dr. Ashton, discussed Angelina Jolie and her choice to have a double mastectomy; and also noted that every woman struggling with cancer and the chance of cancer is a hero! Some foods we should be avoiding to help reduce the chance of breast cancer; alcohol, bad carbs and add lots of fruits and veggies into your diet. Also, she suggested following a 5/2 diet plan; be strict during the week and allow yourself a treat during the weekends. After a while of doing this your body will no longer crave the “treats” as much. The number one health myth that drives her crazy is “birth control causes cancer” and it is actually the opposite, birth control is known to REDUCE the chance of ovarian cancer. The number one thing that that stuck with me was “Life is an Olympic event and we have to train for it'”.

Up next was “My Blog is My Business” with an amazing panel of ladies, Deb Perelman @SmittenKitchen, Dana Weiss @possessionista, Jill Hanner @JillHanner, and Erin Whitehead @FitBottomedGirl

Here are some highlights and tips for bloggers

• Don’t blog for money but instead make money blogging (AMEN!)
• There is not only one way to blog; don’t try to be like anyone else…be yourself!
• Don’t worry so much about the numbers
• Don’t give value to the trolls and negative comments
• Tools they love; Skim links, google, twitter, instagram
• Don’t always say yes to everything; ask yourself these questions “Are you passionate about it? Will it help you get new readers? Will you make money from it?” if you can’t say yes to any of these…don’t do it
• When making a youtube video, make sure you have good lighting and audio.

The next speaker was Brett Hoebel founder of Hoebel Fitness and a featured trainer in season 11 of The Biggest Loser.

Brett spoke about the Extreme Fitness trend that is going on right now and how social media plays a huge part of this. The first thing that people do when they finish an event is post it on facebook, twitter, etc.; it is a badge of honor. People see their friends doing these events and think they can do it too. Brett’s Training Philosophy; short workouts with 3 movement patterns...if you want to see results you need to push pass that threshold!

The final speaker was Rocco DiSpirito! When I saw his name in the itinerary, I gasped so loud! I have been a HUGE fan of Rocco since his reality show and I was a bit star struck. Rocco is the Author of “Now Eat This! Italian” and star of Now Eat This! Web series on AOL ON.

 

I was never so happy to be sitting in the front row!

Rocco was so animated (true Queens guy!) and passionate when he spoke; every so often he would throw in some Italian words (((((swooooon))))))). He spoke about how we have a misconception that Italian food is bad for you but if you visit Italy a very small percent of the people are overweight as opposed to the USA. His new book recreates healthier versions of popular Italian dishes; he even went to Italy and cooked with over 20 different “mamas” to get it just right. Things that we should have in our fridge, Non fat Greek Yogurt, Parmesan Cheese (THE REAL STUFF), Dijon mustard, hot sauce. What inspires Rocco in the kitchen? people and ingredients!

I was nervous as all hell but I needed to take a photo with him…seriously when will I ever get this opportunity again!

Thanks to all the all the wonderful moderators;  Christie Griffin; Digital Director, Lisa Haney; Senior Editor, Pam O’Brien; Executive Editor, Heather Muir; Beauty Director, and Mary Christ Anderson; Deputy Editor.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this wonderful event!

Namaste…

Facing Your Fear…

Sooooo I am stepping out of my comfort zone…

One of the hardest things for me to do as a blogger, is to create vlogs. I have created some in the past, at events as well as a tutorial on how to make my beloved green monster and also my home gym. BUT if you clicked on those links, you noticed that the last time that I did this was in 2009!!!!

I am committed to work on the things that scare me and putting myself out there for the world to judge is definitely one of my fears. I decided this past weekend to just practice doing a vlog and was not even certain that I would post it up for anyone to see besides my family and close friends. With some encouragement from a fellow Sweaty Betties Ambassador, Brooklyn Fit Chick (BTW check out her vlogs…they are AMAZING!) I mustered up the courage and here it is!

I talk about my new logo, as well as being invited to fitblognyc AND Bob Harper’s new book!

Namaste Mari Rambles

I am going to work on these and have at least one vlog posted every other week!

Do you vlog??? What is something that you are afraid of?

What’s Happening…

Who remembers this show from the 80’s?!??! God I miss the 80’s!!!!

Anyways….LOL

So I had a little health scare yesterday but thankfully it was not something HORRIBLE but it made me appreciate the little things in life that made me smile recently…

ONE: I was one of the winners of the Sweaty Betties dietbet challenge! I managed to lose 4 percent of my weight! BAM. If you are looking to lose weight and need a kick in the butt, I totally recommend trying this out. Danny J created a new challenge for the month of May and you still have time to enter.

TWO: I received my order from Cavegirl Confections! Cavegirl Confections is Paleo approved Gluten and Grain free Snacks! I ordered the cherry vanilla almond butter and the key lime pie bites…holy yums batman!

THREE: I ordered my new business cards and love them!!!!!

FOUR: I was invited to Fitness Magazine’s FitBlogNYC Meet and Tweet!!!!! I can’t wait to attend this event next week!!!

 

What are you grateful for?

Namaste…

Namaste Mari 2.0

I am soooo happy to share my new logo with you!!!!!! I have been working with an amazing designer to make her exactly how I wanted and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome!

 

I also made some changes on my blog to make it easier to connect with me…I love interacting with my readers!

What do you think of the Namaste Mari 2.0? HAHA

Namaste…

Namaste Mari Does Bikram…

For the longest time, there was something that I refused to EVER do…HOT YOGA! but it is time to eat my words. My dad’s wife goes to a local studio, Hot Yoga 4 You and has been trying to get me to go with her for the longest time and I finally did!

Here is a little info about hot yoga from their website:

Bikram Yoga is a series of 26 poses and 2 breathing exercises, suitable for all ages and levels of ability. Each posture stretches, strengthens and prepares specific muscles, ligaments, and joints needed for the next posture. The Bikram method also stimulates the organs, glands, and nerves, moving fresh oxygenated blood to 100 percent of the body, restoring all systems to a healthy working order. Bikram scientifically designed this 90 minute program to deliver total health through the balancing and strengthening of every system in the body in order to prevent illness, injury, promote weight loss, and limit the effects of aging. Bikram Yoga is done in a heated room to warm your muscles, prevent injury, allow a deeper workout and cleanse the body by flushing toxins.

I packed my towel, water bottle, and Yoga Mat and was ready to go…

Before Class (Dry Mari)

When I walked into the room and saw the thermostat…it said 106!!!!!! Holy sh*t what did I get myself into? The heat literally smacked me in the face. Chris, the instructor put me in the back of the room since I was a “new” student (::clearing throat:: “I am namaste mari!”). But I have to say, I did appreciate being back there because it was right by the door which he would periodically open throughout the class. Oh, did I mention that the class is 90 Minutes??? (They just added 60 minute classes which I want to try too.)

I enjoyed the class but didn’t really find the poses that challenging which I am sure they did this because the room is so hot. Not one single plank?! Chris was very informative and fun which is so important to me…I need to have fun in a class and smile every so often. He also knew how to handle the room; some students kept chatting it up like it was Starbucks but he laid the smack down haha .

By the end of the class, I was a REAL sweaty bettie. I give the entire experience a thumbs up and I plan to return again.

After class…(Sweaty Mari)

Thanks Monica!

Namaste…

#SpringToHealth Challenge Winners!

These past couple of weeks have been so great…I have met so many amazing women during the #SpringToHealth challenge. I want to thank EVERYONE that participated in the photo contest and made it a success. We originally planned to only choose two ladies but we decided to pick three instead! We went through allllllll the photos and chose the ladies that posted every day.

We then went old school and put their names on small pieces of paper and picked three.

Congrats ladies!!!!! Please email Amber (exsoycise@gmail.com) and Myself (namastemari720@yahoo.com) your contact info so we can have your prizes shipped from one (or more) of these amazing Sponsors!

ColourfulPalate won the $50 Whole Foods Market gift card

BerryJustine won the case Stonyfield Organic Greek Yogurt, Neocell Beauty Bursts Mint Chews and Kind Bars!

QueenBacon won the Kelapo Coconut Cooking Oil Spray and Baking Sticks, and Almond Butter, Granola, AND Fruit and Nut Bars from Cavegirl Confections!

Congrats to all of you!!!

Thanks again for participating and we hope to bring another challenge to you in the future!

Namaste…

For Boston….

I couple of years ago I went to Boston with Missy to visit some bloggers for a day trip and I instantly fell in love with this city. I would move there in a “NY Minute”

When I heard what happened yesterday, I was in shock. As a runner all I can think was "these are my people".  I sat glued to the television for most of the afternoon with tears streaming down my face. As a social media person, I kept searching the net to see If there was anything we could do to show our support and that's when I saw a friend post about a virtual run.

And of course I was all over this so this morning I ran for BOSTON! And I proudly wore my "Green Monster" shirt. I am also joining other runners today and wearing one of  my race shirts.

I know this is not much but this is how I show my love to everyone out there. Be kind today.

Namaste…