Freaking Out at Fitness Magazine’s #FitBlogLA 2013!

#FitBlogLA – Fitness Magazine – Annenberg Beach House, Santa Monica

Last week, your favorite fitness fatty was fortunate to attend Fitness Magazine’s #FitBlogLA Blogger Meetup and Tweetup event at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica. My new pals Melissa (The Valentine RD) and Lindsay (Fit & Awesome) had flagged this event to my attention, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. All I knew was that I should wear workout wear. No problem. Any day I don’t have to wear business clothes is a win!

The event started at 10:30am, and thanks to LA traffic, two car accidents, I was late. I did catch most of Tony Horton’s interview with EIC (Editor in Chief) Betty Wong. (Can I stop here and say “Holy sh*t, there is more than one Asian American magazine EIC in America!??” Has hell frozen over? No, they’re that good. Boom. *fistbump* to you, Betty!)

Speakers – Fitness, Healthy Eating, Bloggers

Tony Horton created P90x. [I’m not good at DVD workouts but my aunt is a devoted BeachBody advocate. She went from a Size 16 to a Size 4 with Horton’s program(s), so they really do work.] Horton mentioned he liked his FitBit, which garnered applause and approval from the crowd. He encouraged us to work on form and go slow rather than to rush reps and increase weights all willy-nilly. Totally agree with this. I’d rather do squats correctly with a 20lb barbell than do it all wrong with a 40lb barbell.

One thing he advised was to work out more than 2-3 times a week, more like 5 times a week. He likened it to brushing your teeth 2-3 times a week. He and Taylor Swift have the same thought – 22 is a good number. He strives for 22 workouts per month. (He’ll scheduled a workout every day and if he misses one, it’s not a big deal because his goal is 22 per month.) Horton also warned us that eating pancakes and waffles is the same as eating birthday cake (same ingredients). But I like pancakes, waffles, and birthday cake….

I forgot to bring water with me, and I was thirsty. So after Horton’s session, I grabbed a Camelback insulated bottle with a filtered straw! I LOVE this bottle! I needed a new water bottle for travel, and this was perfect. I especially like the filter because, let’s be honest, sometimes those water fountains in airports are disgusto.

The next guest speaker was Alyse Levine, RD whose talk was about ditching the food rules and eating what you love. I liked this talk. I found Alyse’s acronym’d guide to be something that everyone should abide by: CLEAN.

C: Choose Real Foods. Don’t eat boxed stuff if you can help it.
L: Lose the Diet Mindset. That’s easy. I have no diet mindset. I eat what I want.
E: Eat Mindfully. This resonated with me especially because being mindful is something I remind myself to practice every day.
A: Assess Your Hunger.
N: No Deprivation. If you feel bad about eating your “cheat” food, then you are sabotaging yourself. You have to stop having a “cheat day” – just allow yourself to eat a little bit of what you want, and don’t feel guilty.

After lunch, Pam O’Brien (Fitness Executive Editor)  interviewed fitness expert to the stars, Harley Pasternak. He discouraged us to do cold pressed juice cleanses because they’re not healthy and they’re full of empty calories. I disagree. I liked my 3-day juice cleanse with Pressed Juicery, and I felt like I reset my body. Maybe it’s a placebo effect, but I’d do it again. I can agree to disagree. I also like cold pressed juices in general – it’s an easy way for me to get my veggies in, and it complements what I’m eating. I have grabbed a cold pressed green juice as part of a snack, again getting those veggies in!

Pasternak felt smoothies were better because the blending broke down fruits and veggies for easy digestion. I love me some smoothies too. He energetically encouraged us to take 12,000 steps per day, and to really think about being active every day. This perked me up – that we live in a society where we’ll do 45 minutes of exercise but sit on our asses the rest of the day. We now live in a world of exercise but not of activity.

The last panel featured four fitness/healthy living bloggers: Cassey Ho (Blogilates), Sarah Moore (Skinny Runner), Monica Olivas (Run Eat Repeat), and Whitney Lauritsen (Eco Vegan Gal). They discussed blogging as a business. Words of wisdom: You have to love what you do/write about. Get that media kit up and running. Be nice to other bloggers. Join an ad network. (Did you sign up on Shareasale? Do it. Get paid for your content.)

Sponsors and Swag

#FitBlogLA – Fitness Magazine – new products for review!

There were many brands that set up their booths down by the pool area. Marlita (Marlita on the Run), Nicole (SoCal Savvy Mom) and I walked toward the Saucony booth to try out the very new Guide 7 running shoes! I have a 2010 version, so I was super excited to try this season’s model. (They officially debut on November 1st!)

Clif Bar debuted their new flavors  -pecan pie, sierra trail mix, white chocolate macadamia, and coconut chocolate chip. I have yet to try all the bars, but I will. (I always have a bar in my bag because of my hypoglycemia.) I also visited the Birkenstock USA booth where the ladies fitted me for a new pair of sandals, in my blog color! (My first/only pair of Birks were retired after years of water damage in my 20s.)

It was glaringly, blindingly bright at the beach, so much so that my sunglasses that I was wearing were making me blind. Oakley Women let us try on two different pairs of polarized sunnies. When I switched out my old sunnies for a pair of Oakley Women “Pulse” sunnies, it was like a miracle. I could see clearly without squinting! I was so blown away by the polarized lenses! I am a convert!! What have I been doing with non-polarized glasses!!??

Polarized sunnies by Oakley – miracles.

I also headed to see a Dermalogica skin expert to get my crackass, zit-chin face assessed. I left with a goodie bag as well as a set of notes on products that would work on my skin. I don’t know much about the brand but they are cruelty-free – bonus! Crystal Light also tabled with their new Liquids. As I was sipping my flavored water, I was thinking that this would be perfect with Perrier!

The women at Roxy gifted each attendee with one top and one bottom. For me, they sent me home with a pair of awesome capris and a puffy jacket that fit me to a T. Amazeballs. (I took both items on the road the next day! Reviews coming soon for that!)

More beach fun at #FitBlogLA – Fitness Magazine

Athleta was also there, encouraging attendees to pose with their new line of clothing. Ford’s Fiesta Movement was a popular spot as there was a photo booth that created an animated gif out of four photos you took. You can see my silly gif here: http://thbs.co/m/SZY7F9

I finished the rest of the day catching up with one of my favorite bloggers, Marlita (Marlita on the Run). We left the event with Fitness Magazine’s own swag bag filled with more goodies and products for me to try and review. Jen (Real Mom of SFV), Melissa, Lindsay all have great recaps and photos that captured the event!

Marlita and me! #FitnessBlogLA – Fitness Magazine

You can also check out the photos posted by fitness/health bloggers on Instagram here!

The only thing that clouded my day was the parking ticket I received from the lovely city of Santa Monica. That’s ok – I’m going to fight it. I have the permit as proof.

Regardless of that little problem, I had a wonderful time, re-learning fitness and healthy eating habits and meeting new (to me) bloggers. I will have to reset my pedometer and work on 12,000 steps every day. I will work on not eating birthday cake for breakfast. 😉

Major thanks to the team at Fitness Magazine who put on a terrific event and all the Sponsors who gifted practical products for us to try!

Here’s to a new season of awesome products to test and review, a refreshed look at how I eat, and hopefully solid relationships with all the sponsors and Fitness Magazine! Fitness, if you’re listening, I hope this becomes a multi-city blogger tour – there are so many great lifestyle/fitness bloggers all over the country that would also appreciate your event!!

Disclosure: #FitBlogLA 2013 was sponsored by Fitness Magazine. There was no requirement to write, tweet, Instagram or holla about this event or its sponsors. I wrote it because it was an awesome event I experienced. Some of the links posted are affiliate links – ie. if you purchase an item off the link, I may receive a small commission. W00t! Help a sister out.