When Clarks Grove man Bill Webster first heard of HealthNutz Nutrition Club in Owatonna, he’ll admit he was skeptical.

His girlfriend stopped into the nutrition club a few months ago because she had been struggling to lose weight. She was given a smoothie and some green tea, and she was impressed.

Webster said he had just lost his job at Viracon in Owatonna, so he was looking not only for a physical energy booster but an emotional energy booster, too.

“I tried the product for energy not the weight. I didn’t go in there expecting to lose anything,” he said. “But I lost 28 pounds in the process.”

And that was just a few months ago.

He said he thought if the product, Herbalife, was going to do so well for him, maybe he’d make something of it. He did some research on it, went to training about it and became a distributor for it, and now he’s opening up his own HealthNutz Nutrition Club in Albert Lea promoting it.

The club, which will be at 152 Bridge Ave., between Fountain Warehouse Liquor and Papa Murphy’s Pizza, is expected to officially open Monday.

How does Herbalife work?

Webster said people who are following the Herbalife program will have an Herbalife shake for breakfast and for lunch, limited healthy snacks in between and then a sensible dinner. They usually also have green tea, which is just 5 calories per serving, that has a natural caffeine in it that speeds up metabolisms.

Webster said at the nutrition club there will be about 25 different varieties of smoothies available to people. The smoothies have about 27 vitamins in them, and people can come in on their lunch hour or when out running errands and pick up one.

The HealthNutz owner said in the next few weeks he plans to start a 12-week weight-loss challenge at the club, where there will be weekly and overall prizes based on weight and inches lost. He is looking for businesses to sponsor prizes and maybe even fitness clubs to join as well.

He wanted people to know that wellness evaluations will also be given at the club, during which people can find out their body mass index, their percentage of fat and percentage of muscle.

“Most people know they’re overweight, but they don’t know by how much,” he said.

The wellness evaluation will break down peoples’ percentages of fat versus muscle and will offer suggestions for healthy levels.

The front part of the club will have couches and other tables for people to relax and socialize.

Webster said so far he has gotten a positive response from people who know about the club opening, especially from women.

He said there are two HealthNutz clubs in Owatonna and 13 in northern Minnesota under a different name. There’s about 400 other nutrition clubs similar to HealthNutz across the country that are run under the Herbalife concept, and there’s about 30,000 worldwide.

Local hours will tentatively be from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Appointments can also be made after-hours.

The club can be reached at 318-8590.