The resolution bandwagon and a giveaway

Alright, at the risk of a cliche New Years Resolution, here goes nothing:

I need to eat healthier.

Here's the thing though...it's not because I want to lose weight. I'm quite content in that department (despite the fact that I read the other day that the average female runner's body fat percentage is around 12.4%. Is that a joke? I'm pretty sure I'm double that...)

No, I want to eat healthier because I'm sick and tired of the food hangover. You know, waking up first thing in the morning and going "ewwww ugggh I can't believe I ate that strawberry shortcake smothered in whipped topping at 11:30 pm last night " (true story). Or the "ugggh that cheesy quesadilla feels like a brick in my stomach....maybe I'll just sit on the couch for a bit and digest before my worko....zzzzz" (that's me in a food coma). Ughh it's so gross. The holidays got the best of me. I ate the junk, oh it was so good. I became a "holiday weight gain" statistic. I managed to somehow get myself re addicted to the Mountain Dew despite being soda free for MONTHS.

Most importantly, I want to eat healthier because as an athlete, I want to fuel my body in the best possible way. Minus of course, post race celebratory margaritas with my Trakkers Teammies.

Nutrition is most certainly my "do as I say, not as I do" weakness as a soon to be fitness professional. I know without a doubt what is good for me and what is not. I got an A in nutrition. But as you've seen time and time again on this blog, I am a sucker for the high fructose corn syrup and highly refined white carbs.

YUCK.

(is anyone else getting that deja-vu feeling? Ahhh I'm so bad at this eating stuff!)

So it's time to practice what I preach. AGAIN. I don't foresee this blog becoming one of those awesomely crunchy organic foodie blogs (because frankly, I cant' cook) but I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Now, one IMPORTANT aspect of nutrition and athleticism, is proper hydration. I was recently sent this really kick butt water bottle called the "Hydracoach" from sportline. Basically, you tell it how much water you want to drink in a 24 hour period (or, enter your weight and it will pick a number for you) and then it monitors how much water you drink from the bottle. Not only that, it calculates your hourly average consumption. It was designed by a couple of athletes, who found it hard to keep track of their water consumption while hiking ridiculously large mountains, and one fell ill from dehydration at 13000 feet elevation. That's a bummer, no doubt. What hydracoach says about their bottle:

The HydraCoach hydration monitor is a revolutionary interactive fluid measurement device that automatically calculates, monitors and provides instant feedback on fluid consumption for athletes, medical professionals and other health conscious individuals. Determined by a users weight and duration of exercise (sport version), the product will generate a personal hydration goal for the day. The monitor can be further adjusted manually in the setup mode to accommodate other known hydration factors (i.e. intensity of exercise, heat, altitude, pregnancy, etc...) to meet each user's specific hydration needs, or the recommendation of one's coach or other nutrition expert

That's all fancy talk for "DRINK UP!"

Frankly, nothing motivates me quite like numbers (well numbers and race medals, but that's another story), I'm sort of obsessed. So it's almost a little competition with myself to keep drinking water until I hit my 63 oz for the day!

I really did not realize how LITTLE water I drank until I started using the Hydracoach. This is a great tool and I am excited to use it on my epic battle against the evil junk food.

Sportline was awesome enough to provide an extra bottle for me to giveaway to one of my lucky readers! Want a chance to win?


To Enter:

1) become a follower of my blog

2) comment and let me know your BIGGEST nutrition/hydration strengths and/or weaknesses

3) tweet, facebook, blog, dailymile, etc about this giveaway (leave a comment for each)




Contest enters one week from today, Thursday Jan 13th at midnight EST. Winner will be chosen randomly via random.org and announced the next day... and I swear I will get this bad boy in the mail ASAP. I've really slacked on sending things lately, LOL, forgive me loyal readers but the post office is never on my way (and I'm forgetful). Add that to my resolution list...

GOOD LUCK and hydrate well my friends!!