Fitness Magazine Meet and Tweet LA Event Recap!

What a day it was yesterday at the Fitness Magazine sponsored Meet and Tweet event here in LA!  It was held at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica.  The weather was absolutely perfect!  I thought it might have been a bit overcast, but it was mid 70s, clear and sunny skies!

The event took place upstairs of the beach house, and the above photo is taken from the balcony area down to the pool area where all the vendors were set up on both sides of the pool.  Lunch was also served there.

I ended up wearing my blue Splits59 ginger crops with white burnout Under Armour Achieve tank and Lululemon Free To Be bra in laceoflage under it, also my bright orange Nikes!

I also wore my Hardtail open-back hoodie in the beginning but it wasn't necessary at all:

The event started at 11 am and ended at 4, with lunch time between 12:30 - 2 during which time you could go visit all the vendor booths by the pool.  I have no idea how many bloggers they invited, but I'd guess around 70 - 80.  They had 2 guest speakers for the morning session - Tony Horton (creator of P90X) and Alyse Levine (Nutritionist).  They each talked for about 45 minutes.  I got stuck in worse-than-predicted LA traffic on the way there so I missed the beginning of Tony Horton's talk.  When I got there, he was talking about the benefit of interval training and resistance training.  I couldn't believe it when he said he was 55 years old!  He looks at least 10 years younger, if not more.  He talked about eating whole foods, scheduling minimum 22 workouts a month (I've been averaging 26 workouts a month since May!), and not to be afraid of carbs.  He was a good speaker, and gave good info.  But none of it was new to me.

Alyse Levine gave 2 good tips.  She talked about not counting calories, and changing our perception of food groups.  i.e. "good" and "bad" foods.  She was all about "listening to your body".  No set standards, just eat more one day if you feel hungry, and eat less when you don't.  Do not deprive yourself so there won't be cravings and you won't experience the yo-yo diet effect.  Of course, I think that is easier said than done.  Somebody actually asked how she can tell if she is really hungry or if the feeling of hunger is triggered by something else, such as boredom, depression, etc.  She said the best test is the fruit test.  If you are feeling hungry and a piece of fruit sounds good to you, it's probably an indicator that your body is really hungry.  If you only want candy or chips, then you probably aren't.  That's interesting to me.  I think I should test this theory out!  She also gave a tip about portion control - divide your plate into 4 somewhat equal portions.  Eat each portion at a time, then take a little break and reassess.  Am I still hungry?  Or am I eating because there is food in front of me and I am on autopilot?  I think this is a good way to control your intake, and I will put that to practice as well!

After lunch, they had Harley Pasternak (celebrity trainer) and 4 popular bloggers:  Cassey Ho (Blogilates), Sarah Moore (Skinny Runner), Monica Olivas (Run Eat Repeat) and Whitney Lauritsen (Eco Vegan Gal).  Harley Pasternak talked about the benefit of having smoothies vs. juicing which strips the nutrients.  He also talked about not being a fan of crossfit/bootcamp type of classes because of the level of injuries that can occur from people performing exercises in bad form.  He said that he would never let any of his clients do push-ups, which I thought was interesting.  His reasoning was that we are all stronger in the front than back because we're constantly hunched over.  So he'd have all his clients focus on making the back side stronger.  Then I got to thinking... hey that's interesting, my trainer never has me perform any chest exercises either.  But I'm working my back like a maniac!  I actually liked Harley Pasternak a lot.  

The bloggers were very nice, and they were talking about all kinds of things you could do to make money from blogging and do it full-time.  Such as getting sponsorships from companies, different ads to use, and building a social media presence.  You know, I started my blog purely for fun and I didn't even put any ads up for years.  But the idea of being able to blog and get paid enough from it to live off of is pretty cool.  I could be wearing yoga clothes all day and sit outside in the sun!  Go to the gym during non-peak hours, and have much more time to prepare food... hehe.  But, blogging is actually a lot of work.  A post you can read in a couple minutes takes much longer to compose.  For now, I have to balance the time I spend on it vs other things, since I only have 2-3 hours of free time in the evening after I'm done with work and gym.  I try to post every other day, but it is definitely not enough if I want to do it for a living!  So it's kind of a catch 22. 

Anyways!  So aside from the speakers, the other details of the event were nicely done as well.  I am a huge huge fan of infused waters - I have 2 water bottles that allow you go put fruit pieces in... lol!  So I was thrilled to see this:

The orange and strawberry one was soooo good!

They kept filling up the waters all day so we could stay hydrated.  Much appreciated!!!  I do not go anywhere without my water bottle, and I was considering bringing 2 with me since I drink 4 liters of water a day.  Then I figured they would probably provide water bottles.  Well, this was way better than expected!

They also had these pretty bouquets with fruit skewers in them, made of strawberries, black berries, blue berries and raspberries!  Also yummy granola bars.

Lunch was soooo good as well!  It starts with a shrimp salad - can't go wrong from there.  They had roasted tomates and beans as side.  Chicken and salmon as entree, and this amazing garlicky hummus and toasted crispy bread as well.  Dessert was fruits and cookies.  Everything was so yummy!

My plate, which I loaded with all 3 protein choices lol:

On top of it all, the vendors had tons of swag to hand out to us at lunch time when we visited their booths, in addition to the big gift bag we got at the end!  It was amazing!  I left with a bunch of stuff!  It was also a great time to mingle and meet other bloggers.  Everybody was so nice, I met some awesome ladies!  Oh yeah, the women to men ratio there was like 99-1.  Hahaha!

Here's everything but the clothes... I like the big tote bag they came in as well.

As you can see, I got Saucony Guide 7 shoes, Oakley aviator sunglasses, Birkenstocks, beach towel, this bed of nails roller, lots of Dermalogica products, other beauty products, snacks, bars, headbands, and an awesome Camelbak waterbottle.

These are cute and on the sporty side, came with a nice case too!

This Bed of Nails roller looks intense...

Roxy was one of the vendors there.  I didn't even know they made workout clothes!  But they were so generous to give out 1 top and 1 bottom piece.  They had crops and full length tights for bottoms.  They had bras, tanks, long sleeve shirts and jackets for tops.  They were like puffy jackets too!  Looked super warm.  I have no need for something like that.  I actually really like the crops!  They are called Get Faster Crop, in a charcoal gray color called castlerock.  I got size S and I think they fit well.  The price tag says $72 retail.  They are very comfy, but not super compressive.  The zipper pocket is on the front of the waistband vs the back like everybody else does.  There are reflective lines on both sides, and I think they are a flattering cut. They have something that looks very similar to Lululemon's circle mesh on the back of the legs for ventilation.  

I also got their awesome long sleeve top from Roxy!  It's called Daybreak LS Tee and I loooooove the back!  It's also super soft on the inside.  Feels like Lululemon's brushed luxtreme, but thicker.  Love the color too, it's called grape juice.  Also got size small.  Price tag says $48.  Not bad at all!

Lastly, I got this Heidi Klum for New Balance tank called Vision Tank.  I didn't know Heidi Klum had a New Balance line either!  They had this tank in black and red.  I picked red, but black was also very pretty.  It's a super lightweight and flowy material, with cords that you can tie on the hem.  No built in bra, so you can wear your own.  I like the design of this tank.  This is a size small.

Athleta was one of the vendors as well.  But they didn't give us any of their gear.  They had a rack of clothing you can try on and take a picture with to post on one of your social media sites with a certain hash tag.  Then you are eligible to enter to win a gift card.  So I did it.  I picked their brightest top!  Hehe.  It actually felt pretty nice on.  It's one of those seamless styles which is also a comfortable knit material.  Here I am in it!

Hmmm I think that's about it for the event recap!  They ended the day with a 3 mile run on the beach.  But I skipped it... LOL!  I did go workout in the morning before I went there though!  So I didn't want to stay till rush hour and sit in my car forever to get home.  

It was such a great event!  I had tons of fun, and I can't wait to try out all the cool stuff I got!  That definitely beat going to work on a Tuesday.  :)

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