hello from the west coast. well, the race is here. m in california, the race of the malibu triathlon along with seven cnn viewers. they've been training right along with me. i will tell you the sport of triathlon is growing and growing fast. in fact, the number of people racing in triathlons has increased ten-fold in the last decade. one of the all-time greats is going to be along to share tips about keeping your head in the game. also i'm going to explain something everyone will love, how people can get more fit, lose more weight without working out less. there's a story we've been following for a long time in new york. you may have heard about this. mayor michael bloomberg launched a crusade to ban large sodas in restaurants and delis. he got what he wanted this week. a ban of the drink larger than

16 ounces. i spoke with mayor bloomberg earlier from new york. mr. mayor, thanks so much for joining us. i wondered. a lot of people have been talking about what's happening in new york city obviously. i wonder if you could sort of take me back to the beginning for your you. when did this become something that you were thinking about seriously? >> well, over the last few years obesity has become a bigger and bigger problem, not just in the united states, but around the world. thing this is the first year in the history of the world where more people will die from the effects of too much food than from starvation. and it's fascinating. it is also, we think, the first disease in the history of the world that has gone from being a rich person's disease to a poor person's disease. >> it's pretty astonishing, as you mentioned, mayor bloomberg. we've been reporting on this issue for some time. was there a perj personal story for you? did you have the effects of

chronic obesity your family? yourself? >> no, but i can tell you and i think i speak for almost everybody, if it's in front of me, i eat it. i love cheese-its. if you put a bowl of -- a two-pound box of cheese its in front of me, i'd probably eat it all. that's probably not very good for you. but if you eat anything in moderation, there's no harm, almost anything. so if you put a small bowl of cheese its in front of me, that's fine. we all do the same thing. all we're try dog with full sugared drinks is to have a smaller portion in front of you. if you want to take a smaller portion, you can. nobody's banning you. in fact, you can buy two 16-ounce cups or four 16-ounce cups any time you want and take them all back to your seat or your sniebl when you were sitting down with your team and thinking about the future, at the beginning of all this, what was the biggest obstacle to getting this done that you envisioned? >> well, i actually think this is relatively simple.

i think when people think back on what happened with smoking, smoking was very controversial to ban it in public places, but when -- if you go around now and say, well, who was against the smoking ban back then, you can't find anybody. everybody remembers that they were for it. the big difference between smoke and obesity is that if you smoke and i'm in the same room, get hurt. if you and i are in the same room and you're obese, e don't get hurt short term but i do have to eventually pay your medical bills because that's actually what happens. >> so you make the argument that this is a public health issue in addition to being a personal health issue. you know, it strikes me, mr. mayor, listening to you talk. you're obviously a man who has great wealth and rye souresourc you could have chose on the try to address these issues in many different ways but as a major through what you're doing, i can sense the sense of satisfaction in your voice as you're getting

these things done. >> somebody said to me, what legacy would you like to have? three years' improvement of life expectancy for 8.4 million people and others around the world. certainly the smoking ban got copied. western europe, big countries like brazil, smoke-free. even in china where the governments own the tobacco companies, the 150 million people who moved to middle class are focusing on this. so a lot of lives are going to be saved and maybe that's a pretty good legacy to have. >> not a bad one at all. mr. mayor, thanks so much. i hope you join us again. i really do want to keep on top of the story. thank you, sir. >> thank you for having me. >> i should note the ban doesn't, in fact, take place until march. and what we're going the wait and see is if this move, in fact, makes new york city any healthier. in the meantime here in malibu, our lucky seven, they've already made the commitment to get fit. how about you?

up next we're going get advice from one of the greatest endurance athletes of all tim there she is. plus my out of this world challenger, my na sa astronaut. she decided to race me from 250 miles high in the sky. we'll explain. wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy. when the doctor told me that i could smoke for the first week... i'm like...yeah, ok... little did i know that one week later i wasn't smoking. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitaon, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix

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as the two astronauts travel high above the south pacific ocean, about to head over parts

of ecuador, colombia, and venezuela. >> and there's my friend and nasa astronaut, sa nita williams, spacewalking like a pro last week. but, you know, she's got another challenge ahead of her this weekend as well. she's decided to raese the triathlon from space. i spoke with her earlier and asked her to show me how she's, in fact, going manage that bike ride. >> sure. i was talking about the bike when you were visiting us before because luckily here in space we don't need a seat. all we do is put our feet in the pedals. i'll demonstrate here. we have a computer to dial in the resistance and speed and also just for health purposes take our heart rate as we're riding so we can -- this is how i'm going to simulate the bike ride. sore if the hills, i can increase my my resistance to match the root that you're going

to talk because i would assume that malibu is not flat like houston, right? >> not flat at all. she's absolutely right about that. now, about the course out here. i want to give you a sense of what we're up against. we'll give you a sneak peek with cnn fitness producer. >> reporter: look at those choppy waves, this is where we're going to be beginning our weekend. we're going to be swimming here in the ocean. it's the first time in the history of the fit nation triathlon challenge that we've ever done a race in the ocean. i'm talking freezing water like low 60s. we're going to be swimming a half mile here all the way down this beach. the bike course is pretty difficult. that's because it's 18 miles of rollingills along the pacific coast highway.

and we're going to be making our way along the streets in this area. afterward there is no rest for these tired legs because now it's onto the run, four miles along the pacific coast highway. we're going to be running down zuma beach. we'll make it to the finish line where we get our well-deserved medals. as we say this, i realize i'm racing this weekend so i need go ahead and get some training in. but, sanjay, i will see you at the start line. >> i will be there, caitlin, i can promise you that. here in malibu, the athletes come at all levels. one is four-time iron man champ chrissy wellingtingtonwelington. you probably know her. it took her from being a casual runner to a globe-trotting backpacker to becoming one of the greatest endurance athletes of all time. you're looking at the world's greatest female athlete. chris si welington.

she took the world by storm when she took the 2007 iron man championships. it was only her second iron man race ever. she raced local triathlons to stay active and it wasn't until she started winning that she thought about going pro. despite her success, welington says she's made plenty of mistakes and there are lessons for everyone to learn from her journey. and chrissie welington is here now. thanks for joining us. i love watching the images of you. it's quite a moniker to be one of the greatest athletes of all time. the there's so much to learn from you. you talk about training your brain. what do you mean by that? >> i firmly believe to be a good athlete, whether professional or otherwise, you have to be physically strong but you have to be mentally strong.

you have to have a mind tat's able to overcome, you know, the down times, the hard times, and the discomfort, and i believe there are tools and strategy that you can use as an athlete and that use can actually develop. whether it's visualization or a bank of really positive inls in your mind of family and friends or pizza at the finish line, you know, you've really got to keep a very positive mental output and that has helped me become four-time iron man champion. >> there's a point in the race for everybody where you dwloink don't think you can dig any deeper and that's where the mental kicks in. something else, chrissie, a lot of people thing of this as a fringe sport or dangerous sport and you sate's safer than a lot of other endurance sports. >> when i had first gotten into the sport, i had never ridden a road bike. and that wasn't that long ago.

that was in 2004. i thought, wow, you have to be absolutely crazy to do an iron man. i think triathlon is open to anybody, regardless of their background or physical ability. i didn't grow up with a platform of sporting excellence, you know. i was a casual runner. >> right, right. >> and, you know, i found triathlon, i found that it was something that i was good at. but what the cnn fit nation team is really showing is that you can come from all backgrounds and go through that sporting journey and go on to achieve your goal. >> thank you so much for helping our team along. as you know, none of them have done a triathlon before. what they're going do now, just recommend questionly, you also say rest is very important. that makes sense. but you say in order to grow stronger, you have to rest. >> absolutely. of course, you need to do the physical training, the swim, bike, and running, but it's not that training that makes you stronger. it's recovering from the training. that's something i've had to learn as i mature as an athlete.

so you do need to incorporate rest and recovery. you need to focus on nutrition. >> i love hearing all that because a lost people thing it's all intense all the time and it can be, but there's all this as well. how many iron man champions did you win? >> i've won four. >> four, that's right. yes congratulations. thanks for joining us. >> thank you so much. >> great to have you here. also men's fitness magazine called him one of the 25 fittest guys in the world. not me. just kidding. how he turned his life around after 40. row how you can as well. stay with us. well, i had all the classic symptoms... like the elephant on my chest... he thought he was having a heart attack. she said, "take an aspirin, we need to go to the hospital." i'm on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm very grateful to be alive. aspirin really made a difference.

five years ago a california lawyer turned himself into one of the fittest men on the planet. he's an inspiration for everyone, i'll tell you, especially dads like myself. we want to improve our diets and overall health. he's also written a best-selling health. "finding ultra." to earn the title, you have to beat thousands of other competitors in a suction-mile swim, followed by a 260-mile bike ride and then a 53-mile run. rich rohl, a lawyer, father of four is one of those.

this is rich four years ago. 50 pounds overweight. >> you know, i had a moment on these stairs where i had to stop and take a break before i could get to the top of the stairs. i was winded. >>winded. >> reporter: that night he committed to change and his transformation to ultra man began. >> i couldn't have imaged. didn't think it was possible. it wasn't even anything that was on my mind. >> you were sitting on the couch watching television? >> yeah. >> eating pizza. >> cheetos. a lot of dairy. >> the bad food is was one of the first things to go. >> this was a big part of your change, in the kitchen. >> this is the cockpit. this is the hq. >> reporter: today he fuels his body completely on plant-based vegan diet eating fruits and vegetables as close to their natural state as possible. month more meat. no cheese. no eggs. no fish. no dairy. >> the number of calories you burn, especially when you are training hard, has to be

immense. you feel this can satisfy what you need? >> oh, i mean, i know it can because it has. >> reporter: he exercises on average about two hours a day. he credits his high performance and new vitality to the diet. >> after a training session, the most important thing to help your body recover is to get electrolytes, replenish your glycogen stores and provide your body protein. >> beets, kale, pumpkin seeds. >> in temz of what fruits can do, you are proof that it can be done, that it actually happens. >> i can say that i have never felt better. my body has never performed better. as an athlete and as a father and as a human being. cheers. >> and rich joins me now. it's incredible to watch those images. congratulations on everything, the book and your accomplishments. i get the question a lot about

being a vegan. people say if you are a vegan, you can still be wildly unhealthy, lack energy, and not do what you are able to do. >> yeah, certainly. that's part of my story, too. just because you're on a vegetarian diet or vegan diet or any number of diets, doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy. you can certainly be a junk food vegan. you can drink coca-cola all day long and it's not necessarily healthy. for me it's been a journey to discovering plant-based foods close to their natural state, getting rid of the processed foods, sugary drinks and all of that, and really getting back to nature. that's been the key to my health. >> thanks for all your help. with the lucky seven as well. >> congratulations. >> still ahead i'm going to tell you how to work out less, lose more weight. who doesn't want this? much more in a moment. hmm, it says here that cheerios helps lower cholesterol as part of a heart healthy diet.

that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios ...but you still have to go see lioutdoors, or in.ight. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. vsp members can save on all authentic transitions lenses, including our new transitions vantage and transitions xtractive lenses. experience life well lit. ask which transitions adaptive lens is best for you. i'm also a survivor of ovarian a writand uterine cancers. i even wrote a play about that. my symptoms were a pain in my abdomen and periods that were heavier and longer than usual for me. if you have symptoms that la two weeks or longer,

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you know, each year viewers from all around the country have been sending us videos wanting to join our fit nation team because they're ready to make a 180 degree change in their lives. i will tell you it's not just about weight loss. also the mental and physical health as well. well, this weekend we're racing the nautica malibu triathlon, and all these people, i will tell you, have been transformed.

>> my name is nancy, and i'm sending you this video on a really chilly november night here in afton, minnesota. >> reporter: it was nancy's mental health that made her submit that video. recently separated and now an empty nester, she was struggling. >> i am finding it really hard to generate the energy needed to get through the day. love to get some really good regular exercise. >> nancy is at the front of the pack. she's lost 20 pounds, regained her confidence, and hopes to finish the race in two hours and 17 minutes. when pastor glen keller, a truck driver by trade, sent in his video, he was 315 pounds. >> i'm at least 100 pounds overweight. i think the first thing i need to make a difference is. >> now is he down to 265. feels better than he has since his military days. denise lost her leg after a tragic accident. >> i have always prided myself on being a top notch athlete, and i miss that, and i desperately want that back. >> reporter: she's taken it back

by force. swimming, biking, running. even making an appearance on the u.s. open. radio host jeff dahler said he was tired of being the funny fat guy. >> i realized that one of the only things that any of us can control in our lives is our bodies. what we put in them and how we take care of them. >> down 25 pounds now, jeff says he still has one major problem, which is fitting what he calls his big head into a swim cap. but physically, he is doing great. >> carlos was battling type ii diabetes while also trying to inspire his fourth grade students. >> lucky seven. >> i want to be able to show my students that if you have diabetes or that if someone in your family has diabetes, you don't -- you can break that chain of ever getting it. >> reporter: now he is down 80 pounds, has gotten off almost all his diabetes medications and launched a run club at his school. more than 100 of his students are already taking part.

rick morris is a web designer and volunteer firefighter who was also a smoker. >> after my career in the army, i started smoking and quit exercising. i don't want to die young from controllable circumstances. i want to live. >> reporter: he crushed his last cigarette on our show in february, and he has been smoke-free ever since. and adrian was determined to lose weight and get in shape for her wedding. >> biggest gift i feel like i can give him is starting our life in fitness and in health. >> reporter: just two weeks ago 40 pounds lighter and now a vegan, adrian and chris got married with pastor glen officiating the ceremony. >> really i told you would be inspired and just transformed by everybody here. congratulations. ready for the race? >> yeah. >> one thing i want to point out, we've learned that if you work out a little less intensely and monitor your heart rate, it can make things easier for you. quick formula, you