Elf4Health

I love support groups and having others encourage me and encouraging others. With the holiday season coming up a fellow blogger posted about a challenge coming up called Elf4Health. Basically we are all assigned an "elf" or buddy for two weeks. Our goal to motivate the other person and support them through blogging and e-mails. I was so excited to look at the nicely created spreadsheet by Elle and Lindsay. They are working hard behind the scenes to create a successful event for all of the 800 participants involved.

My Elf for the firs two weeks is a lovely woman named Crystal. She is a fabulous person that is so full of life and enjoys communicating with me. I enjoy receiving e-mails from her on a daily basis, once in the morning and another at the end of the night. While we are only two days in, I like having that constant contact and be able to see where we are struggling. I am using the perspective that I am telling her what my plans are and I cannot let her down. Almost as if this was a relay and we are relying on each other to hit a home run with these two weeks.

Each week we all receive an e-mail with the upcoming events and challenges for each day. This week is not looking too difficult.
Monday: Go meatless. I was able to do this except at dinner because of the 2 pieces of bacon I ate.
Tuesday: Unsubscribe to at least 3 emails. I was at 75 and am down to 25. 
Wednesday: Try a new workout
Thursday: Call someone to tell them you are grateful for them
Friday: Track your water intake
Saturday: Treat yourself
Sunday: 100 Burpees

I have been re-motivated to finish 2013 off on a high note. Not to mention I want to crush my Diet bet challenge and see 175 for the new year. My other challenge for the week is to burn 3,500 calories. With have a pre-Thanksgiving feast tomorrow night and then Thanksgiving on Thursday, I do not want there to be a question with weigh in. I am knocking it out of the water.

I have not felt this inspired in a while. Keep your mind open to everything around you and inspiration will come to you when you least expect it. If you want to participate in the Elf4Health, there is still time. You can join the next round which will happen in two weeks. Cheers to taking the steps to make your life better.

The Chew

One of my friends posted on Facebook last Sunday that she had an extra ticket to go sit in the audience of The Chew on Tuesday. So, I decided to jump on the opportunity and spend the morning in NYC at the taping. I was so excited to go, and not just for the fact it was my first time at a taping but also because I was able to take the train in to the subway over to 66th street.

Now some of you may not know but I grew up on Long Island, so I jump on the chance to get back into the city whenever I can. I could not help but take pictures of my exciting day. Lower Manhattan on my train ride in. The tallest building is of course the Freedom Tower. It was BEAUTIFUL and such a great sunrise! 

I got off the subway at 7am and walked over to Columbus Avenue and 67th street. On my walk over, I was excited to see one of the news shows. 

My friend Catherine and I were able to get in quickly. We got our tickets and we were number 15 and 16. They moved us from the street to a white room to wait until we could move to the studio. They started calling numbers and so we got in when they called 1-20. We all walked down a long hallway before getting to where we sat as an audience.

This was my view from where they put us, the third row on the right. Which means, that you will be able to see my beautiful face a lot during the show. It was tough not looking at yourself in the camera that was showing the audience what they were looking at.

So we all were sitting and the Emcee was pretty hilarious. He kept us laughing and entertained while getting ready for the taping and in between segments. There must have been 8 segments and each was about 5 minutes so they had music and Carla Hall was up dancing and enjoying herself with the audience.

During the segments, we were not allowed to take video or pictures so we waited until the end. Curtis Stone was not on the show and they had a guest come in. They were all great for standing and letting us take pictures of them.

The whole taping took about 1 hour. The audience members at the end of the show were given 3 coupons for green giant vegetables and a $90.00 gift card. I am still debating on what I want to do with mine. I have so many options.

Catherine and I decided to snap a picture at the end of the segment. I loved that we were able to go and experience this together. It was such a blast!

I researched a good place to eat brunch since we were out of the studio by 10:30 am and I was hungry especially since I ate sporadically starting at 3:45 am when I got my butt out of bed. So we went to this cute Morningstar Diner on the corner on 57th and 9th Avenue. I would certainly recommend it to anyone, the food was great and since the windows were all glass, the sun was shining on us giving warmth.

Catherine and I journey back to Penn Station so I could catch the next train back out to New Jersey. Luckily I did not have to use my subway card so I will certainly be heading back out to the city soon so we can go see a show or something. In true tourist fashion *eventhoughIamnotatourist*, I had to take a picture of the Empire State Building.

I will certainly be meeting up with Catherine again soon. I predict a Broadway play in my near future.

But, if you want to see the episode that I am in, check out The Chew on Monday November 25th at 1pm EST on ABC. I will be there in my purple shirt, smiling from ear to ear. If you have never been in the audience before, I suggest you do it. It is such a fabulous experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Weather Struggles

Colder weather has always been something that I have enjoyed. As a young child, I enjoyed going out and making snowmen and hanging out in the snow. I was warm and looked like a little Eskimo. 

We would sled down the driveway or the dirt bike trail behind our house. I did not mind going out and shoving the driveway with all the annoying blue stone since our driveway was not paved. 

Things started to change for me last year though. Since starting to lose weight, I never seem to get warm even in the hottest days of the summer. It is only mid November and the cold has hit me hard. 

1. I have not exercised since the end of October. Why? Because it is too cold in my house and I rather sit under blankets than actually move around even though I will get warm. 
2. Eating is sporadic. Unless it is warm, I do not like eating it. Nope, no ice cream, not into yogurt. Milk? Forget about it. 

What does the winter mean to me? Well, I need to get my butt moving, whether I want to or not. I have to get in the mindset that I will not be this cold next year. I need to get to goal weight so that I can be firm with my clothing outfit purchases and not worry about dropping sizes from one year to the next. I am only 33 lbs from goal weight, so close and yet it feels so far. I need to kick this cold weather's butt so that I can prove to myself that I am totally worth it.

Cheers to the winter, with all the lovely holidays, and cold weather. Cheers to my continued journey of looking and feeling healthier than ever.