Fitness4Her

Women's Fitness

Journal Your Way To Fitness

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One of the most popular fitness trends is wearable technology—you know those devices that keep track of how many steps we take each day and the number of calories burned. These are just some of the benefits these great little gadgets feature. The main benefit of these recorders is that they make us accountable for our actions.

Accountability is the main driver for a successful fitness program. When you take accountability you make it easier to change behaviors you don’t like. For instance, when you come face to face with the number of calories you consume in a day, you can no longer look the other way and claim you don’t know why you can’t lose weight.

One of the best ways to take responsibility for your fitness and health is by keeping a fitness journal. I have been journaling for decades. The advantage is that I can go back a year or more and read what I did then. I can determine what worked and what didn’t and how my body, mind and soul have undergone major changes throughout the years.

Keeping a fitness journal is by far one of the most liberating exercises that I can think of. There is power in the pen that records the truth of my labor. By writing down my exercises and my goals to become stronger—I actually set a plan in action. My mind and body are eager to see my goals become reality.

If you have ever kept a diary or journal, it will be easy for you to begin journaling for fitness. The secret to successful journaling is to be honest with yourself and write down everything you eat and drink and every activity that you do, this also includes your snacks. Many times, it’s those one bite snacks that throw our good eating habits off kilter.
There are some great looking fitness journals available online or in book stores. If you are eager to get started and haven’t found the perfect fitness journal for you, just grab a notebook and started writing. Each day, write down everything you eat. You might be surprised at how much food you actually eat. Be sure to include condiments, such as salad dressings, as these accoutrements can add a substantial amount of calories.
Journaling is one of the easiest ways to successfully manage your weight. It has been proven that people who keep a record of everything they eat and drink, have greater success in losing weight and keeping it off than those who do not. Start journaling today and be accountable for your life.

Fitness Journals Take The Guesswork Out of Dieting

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Many women who have successfully lost weight and kept it off have attributed a lot of their success to keeping a fitness journal. It can make or break your training progress. Not only does it help to keep you accountable, a fitness journal also helps to improve discipline and perseverance. Keeping track of your exercise, in particular, helps it to become a routine.

Logging in your food intake each day, helps to organize your meals and monitors your intake daily. You can determine the amount you are eating and whether you are getting the nutrients needed for your body. When consuming calories, you want to make sure you are getting the most “bang for your buck.” In other words, will the food you eat provide the energy you need without excess fat storage?

Keeping a fitness journal will take the guesswork out of dieting. Fitness journals make it easier to diet; it’s a wonder that everyone is not journaling on a regular basis. It doesn’t take that much time, and it adds an extra layer to your diet and fitness program.

It generally takes me about 2 minutes after each meal to update my food log. I write in my exercise routines after my workout, taking about a minute or two, more. Certainly, you can dedicate an extra 10 minutes per day to improve your focus and invest in your fitness program.

For times when you might not be seeing the results of your efforts as quickly as you like, your fitness journal can provide you with the boost you need to keep you working towards your goals. By comparing where you were last month or last week to where you are today, will help you to realize just how far you have come. Remember, fitness is a life-style with benefits that will last a life-time.
Keeping a fitness journal helps to determine your exercise patterns. If you have been struggling with a mixed workout schedule, you can look back through your journal and see what times have proven more successful. Do you have a better workout in the morning or in the afternoon?
You can nip complacency in the butt with your fitness journal. If you find yourself losing interest in exercising and making excuses not to work out, you can use your fitness journal to create a plan for better consistency.
Use your journal to determine your emotions. Different types of exercise can affect the way you feel. You may notice that each time you do a particular type of workout you end up feeling elated for the rest of the day. Finding what works best for you is the key to prolonged success.

Be Honest With Yourself

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Journaling is honest. It’s a wake-up call to what’s really important in your life. Journaling helps reveal any negative thoughts that might be holding you back. Feelings or thoughts you may not see until you become aware of them through writing. Writing can also help you unveil the dreams that are ready to be born within your heart and soul. Writing those daily thoughts on paper gets you one step closer to making your dreams a reality. Write it down!

Journaling is one of the best tools to help you succeed in just about anything you want to do. Whether you are trying to exceed your current fitness level and move on to the next or if you are just starting a diet and exercise program for the first time, keeping a journal of everything you eat, drink and all the physical activities that you engage in will help you take control.

For some, journaling may seem like another chore. I urge you to give it a try. Not only does it help you to be honest with yourself, it also frees your mind, and allows your dreams to soar. When I am worried about my health, weight management or even finances, I have found that putting pen to paper is the best way to un-clutter my mind and allow it to function more effectively.

There are some beautiful journals available to get you started on your journaling journey. But you don’t have to invest heavily, if you just want to give it a try. Purchase a composition notebook to get you started and begin by writing down everything you eat and drink, every single day. Be sure to include all of your snacks, condiments and keep track of how much water you are drinking, too.

It has been proven time and again, that people who keep a fitness journal and who are honest about their eating habits have a greater chance of losing weight and keeping it off than those who choose not to. With those types of statistics, it’s certainly worth giving it a try.

Journaling removes the mystery behind weight management. If you are honest with yourself and diligent about keeping track of your dieting and fitness practices, you will have all the facts you need to shape a diet and fitness plan that will work for you. If what you are doing presently is not giving you the results you desire, your journal will provide the guidance to help you make any changes you feel are necessary to bring you closer to your goal.

Achieve Your Fitness Goals Through Journaling

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If you ever feel as if you aren’t progressing in your long-term goals, keeping a journal will show you evidence of your hard work. You will be surprised at how much you have achieved since you first started your workout plan. It’s often easy to forget the level we were working from when we began.

When you are serious about your fitness goals it is just logical to keep a journal. You can record your level when you start and what you are working to achieve. Whether you want to lose weight or build an exercise program to fit your needs, keeping a journal is the key to your success.

It has been proven time and again that people who keep a fitness journal stick to their diet and exercise plans and have a much better chance of reaching and maintaining their goals than those people who don’t. Journaling is one of the simplest and most reliable tools you can use.

For best results, keep a journal nearby to record your food and beverage intake. Be sure to log in everything that you consume. This will help you monitor many things including caloric intake, hungry times throughout the day, nutritional value of your meals and homemade versus dining out/delivery/take-out. While it’s not impossible to stick to your diet plan when eating out, logging your meals in your journal will make you aware of the foods you eat and keep you accountable for your success.

Journaling allows you to make short-term as well as long-term fitness goals. I have found that making monthly, weekly and daily exercise goals keeps me focused and I am less likely to stray off path than if I just make longer term goals. Every day is a chance to succeed; if I fall short one day, I can rejoice in the knowledge that I have succeeded before and will do so again. My journal is proof that I have achieved much and am dedicated to my own success.

Discover How a Fitness Journal Can Work for You

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Maintaining a fitness journal can have a great impact on your workout. It helps you plan and maintain your focus for better results. By keeping a journal and monitoring your achievements, you can get a good idea of what exercises work best for you.

If you have ever kept a food diary, which is crucial when dieting, you know to keep accurate recordings. Throughout the day, write down everything that you eat. By doing this, you are taking responsibility for the food that you put in your body. You can include the caloric intake if you wish, but the important thing is to remember to record everything you eat and drink in your journal.

There are two problems with basing your diet on strict calorie-counting: 1) some find it difficult or dull, and dieters with the best of intentions often give up on calorie-counting after a few days; 2) it’s almost impossible to do with any great degree of accuracy.

Just as calorie counting is difficult, it is not always easy to track how many calories are expended by exercise. Most treadmill and other aerobic machines will do this for you, but if you take a walk around the neighborhood, engage in a set of tennis, or roller skate for an hour, you can only guess how many calories you’ve burned.

Remember, it’s not so much the exact amount of calories burned that you need to track, but the trends in your exercise. Is exercise becoming easier and more enjoyable? Are you increasing the sets and reps? When you have start adding weights to your workout be sure to log in the amount of weight you work with each time.

When training for any fitness goal, be it losing weight, body building or completing a strenuous boot camp program, a fitness journal is the secret to greater success. It keeps you accountable offers proof that perseverance and commitment, mixed with lots of hard work and sweat, really will make a difference in your life.