fitbook fitness journal {& giveaway}

I recently met Angela, the owner and founder of fitbook, a fabulous fitness + nutrition journal, through a networking group I joined.

Seeing that I am now officially training for my 3rd half marathon as part of Team Tiny Oranges to benefit pediatric cancer research this coming May 1st I thought it might be a great tool to use in my training.   So Angela kindly gave me one to try and it has been completely eye-opening.

Incidentally, Angela is also going to sign up to run her first half marathon with our team on May 1st! Go Angela! I love it!

fitbook helps you to track your goals, workouts, nutrition, water intake and so much more. And what makes it even more beneficial, it also gives you the space to journal how you felt AFTER each workout, meal or snack, so you can start to track patterns.  This is HUGE.

One of the most useful tools for me is the food pyramid tracker at the bottom of the page, which counts servings of the different food groups, glasses of water, vitamins, etc.

When I started journaling in my new fitbook I realized how balanced (or unbalanced) my diet was. As it turns out, I was having on average only about half of the servings of vegetables I should be on a daily basis.   Big “a ha” moment.

I was also not drinking as much water as I *thought* I was.  It seemed like I was drinking water all day long.  But when I actually tracked how many times I filled up my Intak water bottle and counted my ounces, I was not having the recommended 64.

I have also found the patterns interesting, because if I have a bad workout in the AM, I can then go look at the day and even week prior to look at the possibility that maybe I wasn’t hydrated enough, or other clues affecting how I felt that day. For me, getting enough water each day has made a big difference in my training.

Plus,WRITING down everything you eat and every time you workout makes you ACCOUNTABLE!  Did you know that writing down everything you eat can cut your daily intake by 500 – 1000 calories? Now that I have been journaling, I believe it!

Like do I really want to eat that Twix from my daughter’s Valentine candy stash if I HAVE to actually write it down and check off a sugar?  By the time I think about it, the urge has usually passed. I really don’t want to see a Twix in my little snack section!

This is an absolutely fabulous tool for anyone wanting to lose weight, get in better shape or train for an event.

The opening quote in the book is, “an idea is just a dream until you write it down…then it’s a goal. – anonymous”  Love this. So true.  I know fitbook will help you reach your goals too.

Click here to visit their store and buy it – cost is $22.95 for a 12 week journal.

On February 11th I was part of their Blog Your Heart Out campaign along with the Go Red for Women American Heart Association to raise awareness of heart disease and women.  As a result of my participation, I was chosen along with 5 other bloggers to give a fitbook away to one of my readers!

Hooray! It’s a Tiny Giveaway!

To enter to win a free fitbook, please leave a separate comment for each entry option. Contest runs through Mon., 2/28/11 at 8pm PST.  I will contact winner via email so please leave your email address is the email comment field. Good luck!

1. Simply comment below & tell me what you would use your fitbook for! – 1 ENTRY

2. Join the Go Red for Women campaign and email five friends to spread the word on heart disease.  Click HERE to sign up, then comment with the first names of the 5 friends you sent it to! – 1 ENTRY

3. Follow @fitbook on Twitter – 1 ENTRY

4. {Like} fitbook on Facebook – 1 ENTRY

5. {Like} Tiny Oranges on Facebook – 1 ENTRY

6. Follow @TinyOrangesOC on Twitter – 1 ENTRY

7. Join the Tiny Oranges Team to participate with Angela & I in the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation Run/Walk on 5/1/11 and raise money for a great cause and have a ton of fun while doing it!  Click “Join Our Team” at the top of this LINK.  Then tell me you are on our team! – 1 ENTRY

Good luck and happy weekend everyone!

www.getfitbook.com