Back again with more about my NYC / Dr. Oz experience!

First of all, my "semi" big news: For a few short hours, before ever leaving for NYC I blew through 200 and weighed in at 198 the morning of SuperBowl Sunday! But then my home-made chili and a few other relatively healthy, but higher calorie foods struck! 204 the very next DAY!, 203 the next, 202 the next...so I'm going to keep working on this, but seeing my recent pictures from my travels has me feeling pretty good about my accomplishments and ONEderland doesn't have *quite* the magical lure it used to...feeling pretty good about where I'm at these days! Of course, since I DID technically break through 200 I'm STILL making plans for my bicycle upgrade...lol!

We stayed at a pretty reasonably-priced, yet well-maintained, pleasantly-staffed hotel...The Hotel @ Times Square, 46th St. near 6th Ave. Little did I know that this stretch of 46th is referred to as "Little Brazil"...some of my favorite music comes from Brazil! They offered a basic continental breakfast and discounted parking at the garage across the street...$30 / day instead of $50 (BOTH prices blew me away...lol!). Best of all it was only minutes away from Rockefeller Center and NBC studios...although it felt like a lot MORE than a few minutes sloshing our way through the wind, snow and slop!



There was a decent workout area in the basement with two treadmills (LifeFitness) a stair stepper, stationary bike (broken) and a first for me: The Power Vibe...!

www.powervibeusa.com/com
munity/video

VERY strange gadget...didn't stay on it for long...shakes the living daylights outta ya! Not LARGE shakes, but fine, FAST vibrations...at least my fillings managed to stay in place...lol! Kind of hard to fathom the health benefits, although I believe Coach Nicole once reviewed this and selectively vouched for it.

Managed to work in my treadmill time Tuesday night, Weds. and Thurs. keeping up my 5 mph jogs for 40-45 mins.

Food? Kept it VERY simple! Had a cooler full of veggies and healthy stuff. Ate not a SINGLE meal out about in the Big Apple...! Wanted to keep it CHEAP and HEALTHY!

On to the SHOW! Of course, no pictures were allowed inside the studios where the filming took place...have to wait for the show to air to see this. The stories, tips, strategies shared by folks were all VERY familiar and you will see much of yourselves and hear things that have very much been echoed by many here at SparkPeople. Some of the 100 have gone on to become personal trainers. Some are blogging away to help others. Helping, caring and supporting others...this was the GREATEST common denominator that I heard throughout the show!

Say what you will about Richard Simmons...roll your eyes, poke your friends over his schtick, but I was truly impressed by HIS story, his SPIRITUALITY and HIS motivation! There has been a lot of talk among those of us who have reached our goals about the challenge of maintaining. Richard has been maintaining for 40+ YEARS! I figure he may have learned a thing or two along the way...?

He spoke of an obvious motivator, that of going public and having ALL of his fans, etc. looking up to him: How could he POSSIBLY regain?!?! But then he also spoke of the tremendous BOOST he receives by having inspired so many others to go on and make wonderful changes in THEIR lives! Yes he's all hyperbole, but he truly is the REAL DEAL...! And he helped me to better understand my own motivation. Hat's off to Richard!

Trivia: His first studio was named "Slimmons," cute, eh? :-)

Dr. Oz expressed some great Pollan-isms such as his preference for food that is as least processed as possible and closest to "real" food...sentiments which ALWAYS go over well with me!

The staff of the Dr. Oz show were all very positive, pleasant, respectful. All seemed to really enjoy their work! I had to wonder about the comedian / master of ceremonies guy though...could you imagine the CHALLENGE of waking up everyday knowing you had to go into the studio and yuck it up with the crowd, keeping things all lightness and bright 5 days a week, all year long...?!?! I think I just thought of a story line for a new flix...lol!

Here are a couple of pics of me at NBC Studios:





It was a TRUE pleasure to meet up with BOTZZZ and match up our REAL selves with the VIRTUAL ones we'd known up until then...! :-)



BOTZZZ was kind enough to take a pic of me with Richard, which I'm posting, even if I DO have a goofy look...lol:



Here are a few pics of the skating rink @ Rockefeller Plaza:





A few of Times Square during our snowy night-time walk:











So I'm back home, instead of traveling on as we originally planned to visit our son in GA...too many stories of snow & formidable weather everywhere...! Scrapped those plans for a sunnier time later in the year.

Been keeping up the pace on my 'mill at home, with an hour @ 5 mph, 10 incline both yesterday and today.

Spark ON Everyone! Have a happy, healthy heart-filled weekend!

Don

ps...bonus! My favorite mp3 player, the SanDisk Sansa® Clip MP3 Player 8GB is on sale for 50% off! Price: $79.99, Sale Price:$41.99. Of course, I'm a card-carrying member of the anything-but-iPod club...lol If you're looking for an excellent, really handy mp3 player, I love mine!:

shop.sandisk.com/store/s
diskus/en_US/DisplayProduc
tDetailsPage/parentCategor
yID.13027500/CategoryID.13
937600/productID.110771300