Today was travel day for the Nutrilite Sport Blogger Event which means there were no scheduled activities and we were all on our own to do as we pleased.

I had a 9:00am flight from Minneapolis that was totally uneventful, even considering I was carrying on my CPAP machine. At the security checkpoint I was pulled aside by TSA as expected but they cleared me through very quickly without any grief.

At LAX met our driver along with Steve and his wife, who doesn't use her name on her blog so I'll call her Pharmie like she does there. Coincidentally we graduated from the same University and she's a pharmacist (hence "Pharmie") like my wife. That's about where the similarities ended, I'm afraid. They are young, fit triatheletes and I'm old, fat desk jockey. Bleh! But just talking to them about their races got me really focused on need for fitness, so that is good.

After about a 30 minute drive we arrived at Hotel AVIA in Long Beach. Beautiful boutique hotel that only just opened in August. I got checked in quickly, rummaged through a little gift bag that the Nutrilite team left for me, donned my Nutrilite hat and headed out for lunch and a long walk.

As I was leaving the hotel I was flagged down by Lindsay and Andy from Nutrilite and we chatted for a little while. In another coincidence they actually flew in from Grand Rapids, Michigan and I'm going to be flying out there this Monday for business. Small world!

I walked down to the harbor and looked for a place to have a little lunch. There were tons of chains like Bubba Gump Shrimp, Chilis, Bostons, Famous Daves and PF Changs but wanted something I could not get at home so I settled on Gladstone's, which I guess is a small chain in California but I've never been to one before so chain or not it was a good candidate. I had a couple of fish tacos and an iced tea.

After lunch I spent a couple of hours walking all around Long Beach, following a bike path that went up into downtown, then followed that along to the beach and back through the Harbor. It was a great day for a walk. I wore shorts and a t-shirt and the weather was such that probably everyone that was in a similar attire was a tourist and all of the locals were in pants and a windbreaker, but for this Minnesota boy the weather was great.

Here's the Queen Mary, permanently docked at Long Beach since 1967:

At one point on my walk I found myself on Ocean Blvd. Kudos to you if you know without Googling why I tried to see if I could find a 461 Ocean Blvd., but alas I could not.

I really liked this area by the lighthouse where they were restoring some natural dunes and grasses:

Here's a cute fellow. Pelican I'm guessing. Wish I had used my AV setting correctly to get the background blurry though:

I like this more modern view of downtime Long Beach:

I suppose I should show a picture of the actual beach:

Now it's past 7:00pm and I'm back in the hotel room. Have started my fast in preparation for the bloodwork tomorrow morning.

Looking forward to a fun and educational day tomorrow at the Nutrilite Health Institute Center for Optimal Health.

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Post from: John Is Fit - Personal Weight Loss Blog

Walking around Long Beach – Nutrilite Sport Blogger Event

Earlier this summer I was invited by Nutrilite to a Blogger Event in Los Angeles at the Nutrilite Health Institute Center for Optimal Health. The event looked really fun and educational and included an opportunity to watch a professional soccer match featuring A.C. Milan – having played and coached soccer this is something I would have really enjoyed. Alas, I couldn't make the event fit my schedule and I was not able to go.

But good news! They are hosting another event this weekend and I'll be there at their Sport Blogger Event representing the out-of-shape weight loss bloggers. I'll probably feel a little out of place among a bevy of fitness geeks, but fortunately fellow weight loss blogger Israel from Fat Man Unleashed will be there as well. Although he weighs less than me now so I don't know if that is a good thing or not!

If all goes as planned I'll be putting up some posts with pictures from the event over the next couple of days. I leave for Los Angeles in a few hours and will have plenty of opportunity today to wander around a little bit before I have to start fasting at 7:00 tonight.

"Fasting," you say? Yep – the first thing we are on the hook for doing tomorrow morning at the start of the event is a complete health assessment which includes a body fat analysis, flexibility test, grip strength, bone density check as well as a complete blood draw. I've had my bloodwork done recently but it never hurts to have a second opinion. And the flexibility test is going to be interesting to say the least.

The remainder of the day will be spent participating in a number of presentations on fitness and nutrition as well as a tour of the facility. There are also some joint exercise opportunities scheduled with the day culminating with a group dinner. Then Sunday morning I fly back home.

I don't know much about Nutrilite, vitamins or supplements and I am truly hoping to learn a little bit about how supplements could help me on my weight loss journey. Here are a few things I have learned about Nutrilite so far:

• Nutrilite is the world’s leading brand of vitamin, mineral and dietary supplements.
• Nutrilite recorded $3.1 billion in sales over the last 12 months.
• Nutrilite is the only global vitamin and mineral brand to grow, harvest and process plants on its own organic farms.
• The Nutrilite brand controls the development of its supplements from seed to finished product.
• In 1934, Carl F. Rehnborg sold the first known multi-vitamin/mineral in North America. In 1939, he founded California Vitamins, Inc., which was later changed to Nutrilite Products, Inc. The Amway Corporation acquired controlling interest in Nutrilite Products, Inc. in 1972.
• The Nutrilite brand encompasses more than 200 products including nutritional food supplements in liquid, powder, food bar, tablet, and capsule form. The newest Nutrilite product line in North America is Nutrilite Sports Nutrition, providing products that balance nature and science to fuel the body for peak performance.
• The Nutrilite Health Institute is a collaboration of more than 100 scientists that is led by Dr. Sam Rehnborg and the Scientific Advisory Board to keep the Nutrilite brand on the forefront of innovation and to contribute to groundbreaking nutrition research, quality assurance testing, and new patents to the brand.
• Together with Interleukin Genetics Inc., the Nutrilite brand is a leader in the field of Nutrigenomics, developing technology that enables people to look to their DNA for genetic predisposition to certain physical conditions and benefits of good nutrition.
• The Nutrilite brand is a world leader in plant-based phytonutrient research, evaluating hundreds of plant concentrates each year.
• The Nutrilite brand has been a leader in anti-oxidant research since the 1970s.
• Nutrilite brand products are sold in more than 50 countries.
• Nutrilite is available exclusively from Amway Global Independent Business Owners in the United States and Canada or by visiting www.amwayglobal.com.

I didn't realize until I started looking into Nutrilite a little more that it was an Amway product. I remember years ago I attended with a friend a pitch on becoming an Amway independent distributor but at the time I think it was mostly focused on cleaning products. Whatever your opinions of Amway are, and any MLM company has many a friend and foe, I think you have to give them credit for being such a successful company.

And I will tell you that so far from what I have seen from interacting with their team setting up this event that they do things First Class all the way. So I am excited to share with you what I learn, and hopefully will have a great time out west.

Stop by again (or subscribe!) to check out the pictures!

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Post from: John Is Fit - Personal Weight Loss Blog

Going to California – Nutrilite Sport Blogger Event

Well I'm here to report that it's almost bed time and I had a good day. I almost got off to a bad start when I decided I was going to eat leftover pizza for breakfast. We had 3 slices of Margarhita pizza left over from the night before when we went out celebrating my daughter's Volleyball championship with her team and they were sitting in the fridge literally calling out to me. Who can avoid the siren song of cold leftover pizza for breakfast? I know it's hard for me but today I did it. I had a single piece of leftover pizza (leaving two in the takehome box, very rare for me to leave leftovers like that), an avocado and a small glass of V8. I didn't try to add up the calories but overall I call that a good start to the day.

For lunch I bought a couple of deli sandwiches for me and someone I was meeting with over lunch, I had a roast beef sandwich that was pretty small and plain, a few potato chips and an apple. Very modest lunch. I had a protein bar in the afternoon for a snack.

I'm staying in a hotel tonight for business and instead of having dinner at a restaurent I stopped in at a grocery store and bought some lettuce, turkey, cheese and avocado and made a couple of lettuce wraps for dinner. Also had a pint of assorted fruits. Just water to drink.

Overall feel pretty good about my eating.

The really cool thing about today is that I packed my exercise clothes knowing there is a gym at the hotel. I packed clothes assuming I would get a workout in tonight and tomorrow morning. Any of you who have done this yourself knows it is a hell of a lot easier to pack your exercise clothes than to actually get into them once you are settled into the hotel but get into them I did as I put in a little cardio tonight before dinner. True it was just a little, 15 minutes on the treadmill and 5 minutes on this bike thing, but trust me just the act of getting out of the hotel room and down to their gym is a huge victory for me and I'll take full credit for it. My goal for tomorrow morning is to get 30 minutes in.

So a good start to the week. Need to keep thinking about this and writing about it, and perhaps I can string a few days and then weeks together.

Post from: John Is Fit - Personal Weight Loss Blog

Good Start to the Week

• Diet starting weight: 299
• Week starting weight: 299
• Today's weight: 298
• Week weight loss: 1 lbs
• Total weight lost: 1 lbs

Well if I'm really going to do this I've got to get back to my Sunday updates, no matter how ugly they may be. I started my diet a couple of years ago at 295 and now this week I've hit my high of 299, so I'm truly starting over and then some. Sucks. But just the act of writing this update is giving me good past vibes and maybe I can learn from that and get going with this weight loss thing once again.

Things I did well this week:

• Did 30 minutes of cardio on Monday and Tuesday until a blister caused me to stop for the week.
• Ate no fast food in my car.
• Wrote a Sunday update!

Things I did not so well this week:

• Need to get back on the water kick.
• Snuck too much halloween candy – good thing only one kid went out this year.
• Bought 3 pounds of grapes yesterday. Today they are gone.

I was pretty happy about not eating fast food in the car. I got my car detailed last Friday and here it is over a week later and the only thing I have eaten while driving is a couple of protein bars. Definitely makes it easier to stay away from McDonald's when you have a clean car.

As luck would have it I get a challenge to start the week because I'll be on the road for business Monday night in a hotel, then at the end of the week I'll be in Los Angeles for something health related that I'll be writing more about. But the travel won't make it easy to be good.

One day at a time.

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Post from: John Is Fit - Personal Weight Loss Blog

Weekly Update – 11/08/2009

Photo credit: peasap

After reading about John’s recent diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and his new Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Machine, I thought about how hard he is going to have to work to cure his OSA. One of the only ways to cure OSA is to lose weight. However, to lose weight you must get a good night sleep. Obviously, getting a good night sleep is difficult when you have OSA.

Weight Loss

The old weight loss equation was simple. If you wanted to lose weight, all you would have to do is consume fewer calories and burn more calories. Unfortunately, 98 percent of Americans, who tried to lose weight and keep it off, were unable to do so with that equation.

My new weight loss equation is a little more complex, but still simple. If you want to lose weight and keep it off you must:

• Eat less
• Move more
• Stress less
• Sleep more

Sleep

63% of Americans sleep fewer than 7 hours every night. That statistic is surprisingly similar to the stat that 67% of Americans are either overweight or obese.

Obviously, sleep deprivation is not the only factor in the United States’ obesity epidemic, but it is a significant contributor. Sleep deprivation causes weight gain and inhibits weight loss. Lack of sleep does this by:

• Creating imbalances with your hormones
• Increasing your stress levels
• Slowing your metabolism
• Decreasing your energy levels
• Increasing the time you have available to eat

Hormonal Imbalances

Lack of sleep creates imbalances in hormones that are essential to obtaining and maintaining a healthy weight.

Sleep deprivation increases your levels of:

• Ghrelin – One of the hormones that increases your appetite
• Cortisol – One of the hormones that signals stress

Sleep deprivation also decreases your levels of:

• Leptin – One of the hormones that decreases your appetite
• Growth hormone – One of the hormones that encourage fat burning and muscle growth
• Serotonin and Dopamine – Two hormones that encourage the consumption of unhealthy carbohydrates

Sleep deprivation boosts your stress levels and increases your appetite for all foods especially unhealthy foods. Lack of sleep also discourages fat burning and muscle growth. Who knew that losing a few hours of ‘shut-eye’ could be so bad for you?

Stress and Energy

Lack of sleep causes fatigue. Fatigue increases stress levels. Increased stress levels causes overeating. Fatigue will also decrease the productivity of your work-outs. If you are tired, you will not work out.

Fatigue encourages you to eat more and work-out less. That is the anti-weight loss formula.

Metabolism

Lack of sleep slows your metabolism by preventing muscle growth and fat burning. This slowing of your metabolism will decrease your body’s ability to burn calories all day.

Sleep is essential to permanent weight loss. So, get your required seven to nine hours of sleep and achieve your weight loss goals.

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Post from: John Is Fit - Personal Weight Loss Blog

Sleep More to Lose More