Face it, we are all busy. Those of us trying to juggle a family and our countless other responsibilities may feel pulled in many directions. With such time constraints it is often easy to put ourselves and our individual needs last.

Unfortunately this attitude can take a toll on not only our fitness but also our health. Do you feel like you don’t have time to work out? No time to prepare a healthy meal? You are not alone. With some planning and by incorporating a family fitness journal into your life you can make your health and the health of your family a priority.
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As parents, one of our main concerns is the health and safety of our children. We want them to eat foods that are good for them and that isn’t always easy to get them to do. A fitness journal might be one way to help them see the importance of nutrition and to find foods that they enjoy.

Many children don’t like to try new foods, but by having them write down their meals and asking them to plan healthy foods to eat, you’ll open the door to better food choices. For a finicky eater a goal might be to try one new food each week. To help them stick to it, you’ll have to show that you are working equally as hard toward your own goal.

When your family gets together to share something like a fitness journal, everyone is a winner. You’ll encourage communication, goal planning, accountability and a celebration when someone succeeds. There are just so many reasons to start a family fitness journal that it’s sure to become a fitness trend.

A fitness journal doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as recording your goals and daily activities. There are several easy things that you can do to ensure that your family fitness journal is a success.

• Keep your goals simple and appropriate for your family. Although tracking your weight can be a useful personal tool, your family fitness journal is not the best place to keep track of this. Try to keep the focus more on healthy habits. For example, a family fitness journal would be a great place to have a simple, healthy goal such as eating vegetables with dinner every day.
• Make sure everyone is involved. Everyone in the family should be involved in all aspects of the family fitness journal. Choose your goals as a family. To the extent possible plan meals as a family. Be sure everyone is involved in recording. Add a notes section for children to comment on what they think is important. If you have very young children, colorful pictures, such as pictures of fruits, can be a very useful to keep them interested.
• Take individual photographs of everyone. Make a special page for each member of the family and add their before photograph to the page. Whether your children are overweight, underweight, or just right, they’ll notice subtle changes in their bodies from month to month. If they are adding new sports and eating better, they may notice changes in their muscles, skin and hair. Teens especially, will be anxious to see the changes in their bodies when they begin a fitness program, so the journal will be a great way to keep them involved. Even if they want to start their own private journal, encourage them to take part in the family fitness journal.
• Take turns planning meals. If you give your kids a chance to plan some of the meals, they will take more interest in healthy eating. Make it like a game, where each meal has to consist of protein, but needs to be low in saturated fat. Older children can even read food labels to determine daily percentages and make meal plans based on these. Not only will it help them to become more responsible about the foods they eat, it will provide lessons in math, science and reading.
• Reward yourselves for success. Rewards don’t have to be large. Something as simple as putting a sticker in your fitness journal when you have met a small goal can be a fun reward. Everyone will enjoy celebrating not matter what the reward. Healthy eating makes everyone look better so most adults and children will feel their own rewards in the way that they carry themselves and the amount of newfound energy they have.
• Children thrive on family involvement. As I stated above, it’s important to involve everyone. Young children love family involvement and if you start while they are young, they won’t mind so much when they become teens. But even if your kids are older, helping them make wise decisions about weight loss or muscle building can be very important for your teen’s health. Too many times, teens begin fad diets or worse, binging and purging. Warn your kids about taking drugs or supplements that make them gain or lose weight too.
• Make it fun! Work together as a family to make your family fitness journal fun. Your ultimate goal is to have a fit, healthy lifestyle for your family but there is no reason you shouldn’t have fun in the process! Plan fun, active family outings such as a play time in the park or a trip to the local pool. Be careful to stay involved rather than just watching your children play. Try swimming and playing with your children and you will not regret it. They love for you to get involved with sports and enjoy an active life with them.

Using a family fitness journal is a great way to work toward a healthy lifestyle for your entire family. Despite our busy lifestyles we must find time to take care of ourselves and keep ourselves fit and healthy. Not only does this benefit us but it benefits our family. A healthy parent is a parent that feels good and ultimately has more energy to enjoy time with their family. So what are you waiting for? Start teaching your family healthy habits for life while bringing the family closer through a family fitness journal!

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Sometimes getting fit can seem like an impossible task to achieve. There are so many different obstacles to overcome, so many life changes to be made. Then you’re faced with the big question: where to begin? The most important step in your journey may be starting a fitness journal. In it, you can log your progress and, more importantly, make goals.
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Many people, when they start working to become fit, have a clear goal in mind, some final number of pounds to be lost or an ideal weight to be reached. That final goal, though, can often be daunting on its own, so it’s important to give yourself the benefit of smaller, more achievable goals that you log in your fitness journal.

Say, for example, there is a specific amount of weight you want to lose. Instead of having that potentially intimidating number running around in your head, why not give yourself a deadline for that big goal and then split the overall weight loss into weekly chunks? Writing these smaller numbers in your fitness log will help you to feel more confident in your ability to achieve your ultimate goal.

There’s also the problem of bad weeks. No quest for fitness will ever be without bumps in the road, and having your fitness journal by your side can help to keep you from becoming upset when you encounter these rough patches. Because you are aiming for more frequent and smaller goals, missing one of these milestones is not as horrifying as staring at a single number which never changes. Also, adjusting your small goals in your fitness journal in order to compensate for the one you missed can be a motivating experience, a real opportunity for you to reaffirm your commitment to becoming healthy.

Another benefit of creating small steps is the sense of accomplishment you feel whenever you meet your goal. There is no better feeling than setting a goal and then pulling it off. Remember to allow yourself the opportunity to acknowledge those accomplishments. This acknowledgement can be as small as putting a large check next to the goal in your fitness journal. Or perhaps you’ll allow yourself a treat, something you save for just this occasion. Whatever the case, the good feelings you receive can help you become even more motivated towards realizing your final goal. So remember when beginning your quest towards a healthier life: smaller, more achievable goals, faithfully logged in your fitness journal, are the little steps you need to help you towards your ultimate fitness goal.

Once you’ve set your goals, begin recording your daily activities to include everything that you eat and drink and any exercise that you do. If you want to count calories, keep track of protein, sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol, a fitness journal will make it easy to do.

A journal gives you so much more control over your life. By writing everything down, you become accountable for all the food that you put into your body. It is up to you to make the right choice for your fitness goals. Before you eat that piece of cake, or that doughnut, ask yourself if this will bring you closer to your goal.

When you feel tempted to eat something that you have decided to avoid, take out your journal and read through your goals, if you still want to eat it, go ahead and eat half, then take time to write in your journal. This little interruption may be all you need to help you regain your willpower.

The journal is an excellent tool for keeping you on track all throughout your life, but especially when you are just starting a weight loss program. Many times people will start off strong, lose some weight and then start to slack off, before long they give up and sometimes end up regaining the weight that they lost. The fitness journal can help to keep you from falling prey to that behavior.

When you write in your journal everyday, you form a connection between your mind, body and the journal. It tells a story of your dreams, struggles and victories. It keeps you connected to your fitness program and brings overwhelming success.

It has been proven time after time that people who use a fitness journal to record everything they eat and drink and all of the exercise that they do, have a far greater chance of successful weight loss than those who do not.

Keeping a journal is all of the things that I’ve mentioned so far, but I find it to be a fun and rewarding activity too. It not only relieves my mind of the burden of so many thoughts, it’s just fun to see if I can reach the goals that I set for myself.

Some weeks I can, other weeks I’m not as successful, but the best thing is to keep trying. Physical fitness is not just a phase—it is a healthy way to live better and longer.  I believe in alternating my fitness program with three days of aerobic activity alternated with three days of strength or resistance training.

The aerobic activity can be anything that you like to do from walking, running, skating, biking swimming or playing sports. These activities raise your heartbeat for cardiovascular health. The best results are achieved by engaging in these activities for at least 30 minutes.

Check out my Exercise section for my resistance training exercises that build muscle to make you stronger, longer, leaner and meaner. Be sure to record these exercises in your fitness journal. You can challenge yourself to take the exercises to the next level by recording your goals in the journal.

Fitness4Her is a complete diet and exercise program designed for women. The journal is the other part of the trilogy and it will help to ensure your success. Take the 90 day challenge to Empower Beauty® and let the journal be the tool to help you get it done.

Journalists, tell us and our readers about your journaling experiences in the comment space below:

So you’ve decided to go on a diet. Perhaps you hope to lose a few pounds or maybe you need to lose a substantial amount of weight. But regardless of your size and shape, there is a reason that you have decided to go on a diet. But, do you know the reason why?
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You might say that you have decided to go on a diet because you want to lose weight. Well, unless it’s an extra ten pounds that you are trying to shed, the desire to lose unwanted pounds is not just some fleeting thought or wish.

What I’m getting at is that you have been gaining weight or carrying extra weight around for a while—am I right? So what is the reason that you have you decided to start a diet in order to shed some of the weight? What do you think is the turning point for you? Why, after gaining weight for months or years, have you decided that it’s now time to lose this weight?

For most of us, there is some sort of awakening that causes us to make a significant change in the way we think. No longer satisfied with the way we are, we begin to shift our way of thinking and to envision something new for ourselves.

It’s a nice place to be, you know. That confident, ecstatic feeling that comes from knowing…this time it will be different. You know the feeling that I am speaking of.
It’s the difference between a diet that works and one that doesn’t.

How many times have you started a diet, only to have it fail? Some of us even lose weight for a while but then “fall off the wagon” and retreat to our old ways. It’s hard to break free of former habits and adapt to a new way of thinking. But that’s exactly what it takes to successfully lose weight. It requires a re-birth of sorts. Your old way of doing things must change, you can’t indulge in sugary foods and fat-laden comfort foods if you really want to make a permanent change in your weight.

Now that’s not saying that you can’t have a treat every now and then, but if your past eating ways have included a milk shake every day, you know that type of eating behavior has got to change. You may have to gradually taper back from eating sugary or fatty foods. But by making a decision each and every day to cut back or cut out certain foods, you are positioning yourself for success.

Actively thinking about the choices that you make engages your mind to take ownership of this whole concept of dieting. This is the only way that you can succeed. The way that you think about dieting and exercising, whether you approach it with trepidation or with enthusiasm, can be real factors that determine your success.

Consider these scenarios:

Janet had begun to gain weight after the birth of her second child. Busy with two children, she found it difficult at best to find any time for exercise. She didn’t like what she saw when she looked in the mirror, but her inability to do anything about it made her anxious and depressed.

To make herself feel better, she often reached for a snack of potato chips and dip or chocolate chip cookies. This was her reward for being a good mother. She deserved something good, and she equated that need into something to eat.

As her weight began to escalate, the doctor warned her that she needed to start exercising and dieting before her weight got more difficult to manage. Janet heeded the doctor’s advice and bought a mat and a tape to exercise with. She grabbed the sample diet that the doctor offered, but the foods were not anything that she normally ate. She took one look at the meal plans and automatically decided it was not for her.

The first few days, she tried hard to cut back on some of her favorite foods. She tried exercising on her mat, but watching the tape made her want to go and get a snack. It didn’t seem like anything was going to work. Janet didn’t want to eat the foods on the diet and spending time exercising was torture at best.

What do you think happened next with Janet’s diet plan? Have you ever had a similar experience with dieting?

Heather was working her way to the top of her district. Long hours at the office and weekends spent working from home, allowed little time for exercise and healthy eating. Most of her meals were from take-out restaurants and she barely tasted what she ate because she was constantly working.

A girl on top of her game, Heather began to notice her clothes getting too tight and her appearance beginning to suffer a bit. Too much time spent on work and not enough time dedicated to her own well being was beginning to show in the way that she looked. It was time for some tender loving care and she needed a big dose of it.

Heather consulted a fitness trainer and began working out at home, following the trainer’s advice and weekly support call. Heather addressed the whole issue as she would a project at work. She wrote everything down. She weighed and measured herself in the beginning and recorded these numbers in a book. Next she made a list of all the reasons that she wanted to lose weight. This included things like, “fit into all of my clothes,” to “prove my strong will power to all of my colleagues.”

Heather kept her journal with her at all times; constantly making notes and reading the entries that she had recorded. She wrote down everything she ate and drank and the type of exercise that she did each day. Not only did she look forward to writing in her journal, she began to adapt a new way of thinking when it came to the foods that she ate.

Even though she still worked long hours, Heather began to take a new notice of healthy food venues and recipes for healthy eating. She would stop working every few hours and stretch, lift weights, run in place or do jumping jacks. It wasn’t long before she was etching out 30 minutes each day to exercise and those 30 minutes soon turned into 45 minutes and then an hour.

Heather was looking for ways to transform her life and combine a balanced diet and an active lifestyle with her career. Each day was a challenge; but her journal was her proof that change was possible.

Who do you think has a better chance of real change? Is it Janet who feels it necessary to lose weight but finds food a reward for the loneliness and depression that many women feel after childbirth? Or is it Heather, who approaches the whole concept of healthy eating as she would a project at work? What’s the real reason behind your diet? Can you identify the “moment of truth” that affected your decision to lose weight?

Share your weight loss ideas in the comment space below:

Many life coaches will ask their clients this question, “If money were not an object what would you do?” It provokes all sorts of thoughts, dreams and ideas and is great for motivating people to challenge themselves and take risks to bring about positive change.

So today, I ask you, “What could you do, or would you do if you were thinner?” Do you have any idea? Have you ever allowed yourself to imagine what life would be like if you were thinner?
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Let’s define what being thinner might mean. Well, for starters it means that you weigh less than you do presently. Now, since this is a total exercise of pure imaginary creation, you can envision whatever shape you like. Try to keep your ideal model of the same height since that aspect will remain the same unless you are a growing child. Other than your height, there is no restriction to the body that you can imagine for yourself.

1. What would your ideal body mean to you in the way of day-to-day life?
2. How might people treat you differently?
3. How might you feel about the new you?
4. Would your love life change?
5. What exactly would make it change?

People will treat you differently when you lose weight. Some people will notice your efforts right away and be quick to compliment you and offer moral support. Others might feel vulnerable. Strange though it sounds, friends can feel threatened anytime you try to make positive changes in your life. Perhaps it’s because they are worried that once you don’t have the stifling handicap of excess weight, their leverage will be gone and you will no longer need their friendship. They fear that you will move on and leave them behind. Family members and spouses sometimes experience these same feelings of doubt.

I’m sure many of us have experienced similar feelings. Either with a friend who seemed to wish us failure or in the reverse case where we become the saboteur with our own self-doubt, wishing to disrupt the efforts of a friend.

These insightful feelings that seem to spring up out of nowhere, have roots deep within our psyche. Though we often confuse these feelings with jealousy, they are actually evidence of fear, afraid that we will be left behind, afraid that we are less than what even we think we are.

But what would you do if you were thinner? Would you buy the latest fashions? Would you wear a bikini? Now be honest, there are no restrictions to how skinny that you can imagine yourself. This is your own mind game—so now that you see yourself—would you wear a bikini or is the style just not for you?

How about a fitted evening dress or a pair of jeans you had back in school—can you envision your imaginary body wearing any of these things? Don’t stop to think if it is a viable thought—just allow yourself the act of imagination.

How would the new thin you act at home? If you have a husband or partner, how would they react to the new thin you? More than likely, love making would take on a whole new dimension. Oh sure, there would probably be no change in the amount of love, or the way you love or are loved, but there will be something new. Your own self-image will release your inhibitions and you will feel more relaxed and contented about making love. When a girl feels pretty and sexy, she can perform much better in bed.

Now that you have your new imaginary body, how would you act at work? Do you think with your new thin body that you would have more confidence to go in and ask for a raise? You know, slimming down most always makes a positive impression on those you work for, unless of course they begin to feel threatened.

That’s because everyone knows that losing weight is hard work. It takes commitment, dedication and perseverance—three attributes of a successful business employee. So there are monetary reasons why your boss might be impressed over your weight loss efforts.

What could you do if you were thinner? You might be able to squeeze onto a couch full of people or get photographed with others without the need to turn sideways. What about when trying on clothes at your favorite boutique—would you feel more comfortable about walking out of the dressing room to show off a new swimsuit or new pair of jeans?

How would you move about if you were thinner? Remember, you can be as thin as you want. Would you run marathons? Would you wear incredibly high heels and strut your stuff? Maybe you would want to take up ballet or ballroom dancing.

What would you do around a swimming pool if you were thinner? Would you be more apt to sit out or walk around without a cover-up? Would you wear bright colors or a certain style?

What sports could you participate in if you were thinner? Would you take up dance, tennis or golf? Would you go to the gym more often just to show off your body?

There are so many possibilities when we use our imaginations. There are just as many possibilities when you use a journal to record your day-to-day happenings. Especially a fitness journal, aimed at making you thinner, healthier and happier.

If you have never used a fitness journal before, I urge you to try one now. It has been proven time and again, that people who use a journal to write down everything they eat and drink and to record all of their physical activities have a far greater chance of successful weight loss than those who do not.

The journal is a constant reminder of where you started from and how far you have come. It is your own personal “thinner you” dream, and if you commit to using it daily, it will help you succeed. You see, the constant writing connection is much like the spark to get your imagination soaring. It’s the magical thing that happens when you start to write. Your creativity will explode.

So what would you do if you were thinner? Probably be kicking back and reading all the energized entries in your fitness journal … that is … if you were thinner.

Are you ready to start slimming down today? Grab a towel, a bottle of water, tuck your journal in your bag and let’s get going. There is a thinner you and it’s going to emerge real soon!

We appreciate your input.  Please leave a comment below:

In search of the perfect fitness journal, I’ve found many great examples along the way. There are journals that include pages for counting calories, sodium, protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Some allow space for exercise while others are strictly diet oriented. I like to include my exercise and meals in the same book and preferably on the same page. There is so much to compare from one day to the other that I like it as simple as possible.
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I prefer a cover that looks good, usually one that is colorful. Colorful covers are eye-catching and make it easy for me to find my journal. An appealing cover is like an invitation that beacons my creativity. I never throw away my journals, even after they are filled up. Each past journal is kept on my personal bookshelf so I can easily go back and read some of my prior entries. These historical memoirs provide a certain amount of inspiration and motivation combined with a bit of humor.

The other thing that I look for is the way the journal is bound. I prefer a nice comfortable spiral because of the ability to lay the book out flat so that it is easy to write in. If it has a spine it won’t lay as flat. When I say, a nice comfortable spiral, that means I don’t want any wires sticking out, no rough edges and if possible plastic covered so that it is comfortable in my hand.

Size is always important. I want a book that is big enough to comfortably write on but compact enough to fit in a purse or gym bag. I’ve found journals from pocket size to full-magazine size. If your journal stayed stationary, the bigger one would be nice for writing lots of notes.

I like to have pages dedicated to my weekly goals. I find that making new goals each week is the best way to stay focused. On these pages, I write down my weight and measurements and current size. My goals include any weight or inches that I want to lose. The entry may even include if I’m trying to drop a size and might be motivated by a new outfit. I’ll even write notes to myself about a particular event in my life that has prompted this reason to change my size.

My goal pages offer so much inspiration and motivation. This is where I take liberty of just dreaming and imagining what all is possible for me. I find that as I write down my hopes and beliefs, the words take on a whole new meaning. Released from the confines of my own mind, the ideas that I write emerge with a life of their own. No longer just a thought, these heartfelt words, written in my own hand, command me to perform better and achieve higher feats than I thought possible before.

For my perfect journal, the daily pages should have space for my meals with columns for the following contents: fat, carbohydrates and protein. Having the columns already in place gives me incentive to include these important numbers in my daily appraisal. I want ample space to record my activities and the amount of time that I spend exercising that day, too.

What I find helpful is to read over my prior week’s journal pages before I make my goals for the upcoming week. This helps me in many ways: First, it gives me a complete assessment of what’s going into my body and what’s going out. How much I’m eating versus the amount of calories expended through exercise. Second, it helps me to realize if I eat more due to the amount of physical activity that I’m doing. Am I hungrier now that I’m exercising? Are the foods I’m eating satisfying my appetite?

Another thing that I rely on my journal to tell me, is how much sleep I am getting from night to night. Sleep is crucial for rejuvenating the body, especially in women. We spend so much time tending to other’s needs that many times we deprive ourselves of much needed rest. I like to make a notation each morning regarding the amount and quality of sleep I got the night before.

Keeping my body hydrated is something I have to think about often. Because I exercise regularly, I need to drink water throughout the day. I fill my water bottle up several times a day, plus usually drink water or tea with my meals. Then I keep an account in my journal of what I consume, including the amount of water that I drink.

Water is vital to our lives. It helps to hydrate our bodies without adding any calories, fat or sugar. Drinking water helps with digestion and weight loss. It’s best to aim for at least eight glasses of water per day, but if you exercise and perspire a lot, you’ll probably need to drink more.

The perfect fitness journal…I’ve yet to find exactly what I am looking for, but I’ve come close to designing my own. The important thing is that I maintain a fitness journal and I believe whole-heartedly in the effectiveness of keeping a daily journal. It may seem like more work added to your already hectic day, but if anything, I hope my journaling posts have opened your mind to the very valuable part that a fitness journal plays in successfully transforming your life.

Let’s face it girl, if you are looking to change your size, get ready to transform your life. With a whole new look and attitude, you’ll find more has changed than just your dress size. There’s a new you on the horizon and all it takes is 30 minutes a day, once you start working towards your goal, you’ll be eager to record your results. Begin today, making a difference in your life, write your own success story in a fitness journal that is perfect for you.

Journalists: Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.