A healthy diet and regular exercise are essential parts to a healthy lifestyle. To ensure your diet stays on track and you stay motivated to exercise properly, make the commitment to keep a fitness journal. Writing down everything you eat and what exercise you participate in will keep you accountable for what you did today and challenge you to compete for the next level, tomorrow.

Living healthier is on everyone’s minds today. Healthful eating has become a trend that I hope continues. Making healthy choices about what you eat and making conscious decisions about how much you eat can help you to lose weight permanently. The ideal way to lose weight is to change your habits but make the sort of changes that you can live with. It doesn’t do much good to lose weight by depriving yourself, only to gain it back when you start eating normally.

Eat to live, and enjoy your meals. Learn to make substitutions that have fewer fat calories, sodium or sugar. Expand your menu choices and try new foods. Keep your diet exciting; boring foods can lead to diet failure.

A fitness journal will allow you to see what foods and exercise help you to lose weight and maintain a flattering figure. It will also help you determine what behaviors make you gain weight, too. Record your weight and measurements in the beginning and write down your weight and measurements each week of your fitness program. Do you eat more or less on the weeks that you don’t work out? If so, perhaps your body needs more protein to keep you from getting so hungry. Even if you skip your workout, be sure to record everything that you eat.

Choose a fitness journal that is easy for you to use. If possible, keep your fitness journal with you throughout the day. If carrying around a journal is not acceptable, you can always record your food and activity on your phone and then transfer it to your journal when you get home. I stress the act of writing in a journal as a reinforcement to keep you accountable. If you find it easier to keep track of your daily food and exercise in a digital format, do whatever works best for you.

Live healthier by staying active and eating healthy, stay motivated with the help of your fitness journal. It has worked for so many women; I know it will work for you if you just give it a try.