Fitness Magazine #FitBlogNYC Meet & Tweet Recap 2013
/Hey party people! What a fantastically crazy busy two week I just had! I just flew back in to NY a few hours ago from an amazing long weekend trip back home to Jacksonville, FL with my family. We spent every day either laying out by the pool or the beach and soaking up the beautiful weather we had. It seriously couldn't have been nicer down there, not too hot and beautiful clear skies, it was truly a gift from god! I am still trying to process everything that happened over the last two weeks and have a lot of catching up to do with the blog, school work, my new clients, and some other fun projects that I have in the works. Life can get really crazy sometimes even when the craziness is all mostly fun stuff!
If you are already following me on Instagram and Facebook, then you probably already know all about most of my fitness adventures around NYC. So on Thursday May 16th, I was invited to go back to Fitness Magazine's #FitBlogNYC Meet & Tweet event at the Mercedes Club in NYC. I had the chance to go last year and it was so much fun it, blew my mind! At the time, Exsoycise was fairly new and I had just become an Ambassador for FitFluential the month before the event so I didn't really know anyone before besides recognizing a few familiar faces from social media. As nerve racking as it was, I stepped out of my comfort zone and made some new blogger friends just by going up and awkwardly introducing myself. Scary huh? We ended up having a blast together that day and continued our newfound friendship through the year.
I guess I grew up a bit over this last year, which I actually think has a lot to do with me going to school at Integrative Nutrition and meeting people I do not know ALL the time, so by this year when I went to the Meet and Tweet event I had lots of fellow blogger friends who I had met on my own throughout the year who were there as well. I also met up with a really amazing group of girls before the event for coffee and we all introduced ourselves and blogs and then walked over to the event together. It felt like a big school reunion!
Just some of my fave peeps... Mari from NamasteMari (top left), Jill from JillHanner (top right and middle left), Christy from Chocolate Covered Diamonds (middle right), Courtney from Treadmill Runway (bottom left and middle), and Bex from BexLife and the super amazing Social Academy! (bottom right)
Mercedes Club was absolutely beautiful! We walked up a stairway which led us into a very modern gym lobby, which was surrounded by glass walls overlooking the many outside patios covered in astroturf, one of them had a pool and deck that was to die for! We signed in and got our fancy event badges and lanyards which had a sticker on the bottom representing which workout you would participate in later. Mine was a little yogi, the other two options were running and a dance class and I'm not really big on either. :) They told us to grab some breakfast and make our way out to a patio to enjoy. I grabbed a green smoothie from Elixir and two hard boiled eggs. I had actually cut out eggs since that Monday, but because it is so second nature for me to go for the healthy egg option, I grabbed them and chowed down on them. Oh well! The green juice was very earthy but good in a weird way. Believe it or not, that was only the second green juice I've ever had in my life!
We grabbed our food and a spot on the long benches, then I walked around and met up with some of my buddies from social media. I finally got to meet fellow blogger and #imagreatist Ambassador Katie from HungryRunner. It's always fun to put faces to names especially after you feel like you've known people for so long via social media.
Top 3 beauty secrets: Sleep well so you stay rested, wear a tinted moisturizer and tinted lip balm to cover redness, and wear the same color tone on lip and cheek.
Hot summer looks: Bright colors, buy a couple seasonal trending pieces per season, Pastel on eyes, and Vibrant color on lip.
Hot to get ready at the gym in 5 minutes: Use a good dry shampoo, put your hair up in a fun bun, put on a cute headband and top with a peach blush instead of a bronzer.
Dr. Jennifer Ashton MD,Ob-Gyn (middle left), is an ABC News Senior Medical Contributor,women's health expert, author of Your Body Beautiful and The Body Scoop for Girls.
Her top woman's health tips:
Your gyno should be a partner in health and should treat the WHOLE body not just treat one body part.
Move, rest and be nourished! Be the captain of YOUR own body!
Woman should be aware of the amount and the frequency of alcohol they are drinking. Alcohol is not a friend to the breast!
Dr. Ashton recommends a healthy eating plan where you eat a strict healthy diet for 5 days a week and then use the 2 weekend days to relax and have a treat, she says this way you never feel deprived and eventually you won't crave your usual weekend guilty pleasures.
Then they had Deb Perelman @SmittenKitchen, Dana Weiss @Possessionista, Jill Hanner @JillHanner, and Erin Whitehead @FitBottomedGirl on a panel to talk about My Blog is My Business (middle right).
Their top tips for turning passion into profit were:
Dana said don't blog for money, blog what you love and make money later. When it comes to sponsors you don't always have to say yes, do what is right for you and your readers.
Deb said not to waste your time worrying about what everyone else is doing, be unique and don't be afraid to be different!
Jill said not to obsess over your blog follower numbers.
Erin said not to worry about internet negativity.
Top blogging tips and tools:
SkimLinks - Converts words and links into money making affiliate links.
When you change your blog URL, make sure to place an automatic redirect so you don't lose followers.
YouTube tips for beginners: good lighting and sound, be aware of background noise.
Brett Hoebel is a celebrity trainer featured on The Biggest Loser season 11 and is the founder of Hoebel Fitness (Bottom left)
Brett talked about the extreme fitness trend today and how people do crazy workouts for bragging rights which has increased the popularity in events such as the Tough Mudder and CrossFit.
He said 20 minute intense workouts get the job done better than long drawn-out sessions. If you want the results you've got to "Train your ass off!"
I actually ran into Brett in the UES the next day and snagged a picture with him! Such a nice guy!
Rocco DiSpirito is the author of Now Eat This! Italian and is the star of Now Eat This! Italy Web series on AOL (bottom left).
His top tips for eating well and losing weight:
He says to slash the fat and not flavor when cooking, go for salad dressings that have more vinegar and less oil.
He believes that you can eat what you love and still lose weight as long as the ingredients are fresh and you cook at home. People are more likely to cook something healthy at home rather than when ordering take out.
Stop eating at the computer, when you eat in a social setting, you are more likely to slow down and eat mindfully.
A common myth is people say Italian food is bad for you. Eating smaller frequent meals made with fresh ingredients is key to losing weight.
During the Q&A with Rocco, I asked him what was his favorite recipe with the least amount of ingredients was. He first answered with a recipe for a soy dish so I didn't bother to write it down, but then he came back to me later and gave me his favorite strawberry Italian ice recipe (video) which had only 4 ingredients: Strawberry, sweetener, lemon and xanthan gum (bacterial slime)
I later thanked Rocco for the recipe and asked to snap a picture together.
After all of the speakers were done, we were invited to have lunch (which sadly I couldn't eat any of it because of it either having soy or cheese, but I luckily had a delicious protein shake and some almonds with me), socialize with each other and then walk around to meet all of the event sponsors such as Athleta, Camelbak, Fiesta Movement, Marmot, Reebok, Saucony, Tonalin, Vichy, Smart Balance and Crystal Light.
When I got home that night, I pulled everything out of my bag. It was like Christmas all over again! This year we got two pairs of sneakers, Reebok Sublite and Saucony Kinvara 4, which is much appreciated because I was in need of some new sneaks! I also got some really nice smelling Votivo candles, beauty products, headbands from Sparkley Soul and Athleta , a very cute bracelet, healthy candy (gave them to Chris), S.W. Basic vegan lip balm, Camelbak water bottle, a Reebok yoga top, a hair brush, Kombucha Wonder Drink and plastic iPad Chef Sleeves to use while cooking! It was all so amazing to receive!
Ford Fiesta Movement took these amazing photos of us with The Bosco photo booth during the event. Click here to see Jill, me and the girl's photo come to life!
Click here to see Mari and my Bosco photo booth come to life! I can't get enough of these shots!
Last but not least we had a really cool yoga workout with the very fun Tera Stiles of Strala Yoga out on the astroturf roof deck. It was so hot out there and all of our feet were burning so badly but we all had fun out there on the lawn together! I think this was the first Yoga class I've taken to hiphop music, so cool!
It was such a long fun day and it didn't stop there! After the event Courtney and I went back to her hotel to freshen up and then made our way down to Physique 57 in SOHO for our second workout of the day with Diana and Kayla who were also at FitBlogNYC. This was my very first barre class and I really wasn't sure what to expect! I don't take classes in general so I was actually a little nervous. You would be surprised by how uncoordinated I am! Emily Zuzelski was our instructor and she was cute as could be. So upbeat and motivating! She had an assistant who walked around and helped us all with our form, I need a LOT of help actually. The class was a full body workout. It incorporated cardio, weights, yoga-type stretching, and then of course the barre where we used stretching bands and balls. We held onto the barre while squatting and standing on our toes AND doing pulsing movements. I seriously thought I was going to die! But we had a blast, there were definitely a lot of laughs coming from our side of the room ;)
Organic Avenue treated us with some delicious juices after our class. I was in love with their chia coconut water juice!
To wrap up that fabulous day Courtney, Kayla and I went to my favorite restaurant in the whole world, Bareburger. We all grubbed on some amazing organic grassfed hamburgers and french fries, and enjoyed sitting outside on the patio. It was both of their first time going to Bareburger and I think they enjoyed it as much as I did.
Wowwweeee what a day! I hope you enjoyed this mega long post and it made you feel like you were right along side me through the whole day!
Have you ever taken a barre exercise class? Did it kill you like it did me?
Who is your favorite health or fitness celebrity?
