We use our bullet journals for keeping track of daily to-dos, birthdays, mental health, appointments, etc. Why not incorporate your fitness goals, and while you’re at it, smash the hell out of them.
*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure for more information.
According to Statistic Brain, 41% of people make New Years Resolutions every year, and of those people, 21.4% set goals to lose weight and eat healthier. It comes as no surprise that less than half actually stick to or achieve their goal.
But, with a little creativity and [still] a lot of dedication and hard work, it’s possible to slay your health and fitness goals. Have a look at my post on motivational bullet journal spreads for health and fitness and you will probably want to run 10 miles… or one. Maybe we can just do some yoga instead. But really, your bullet journal can be one of the keys to your success, and yes, I’m going to show you how.
First, let me say, you do not need a gym membership to get in shape and lose weight. You don’t need a personal trainer or a dietician either. Instead of spending $50 per month on a gym membership, invest in a one-time purchase of some adjustable dumbells
But you said you were going to teach me how to incorporate my bullet journal into this adventure towards health.
Have patience, young grasshopper. We’re getting there.
BULLET JOURNAL FITNESS & HEALTH
First, start a fresh new page. Grab your favorite pen. Put a nice header at the top, like “Fitness Goals”. Now, you need to decide what your ultimate goal is. Are you trying to lose some weight? How much? Write it down at the top of the page.
That was easy enough, right?
Now, how the hell are you going to get there? You’re going to make a realistic, detailed, action plan. Some examples might be:
- I’m going to workout 3 days a week at home for 20 minutes each time, OR, I’m going to walk for 30 minutes, 4 times a week.
- I’m going to download My Fitness Pal on my phone, track all of my food intake, and stay below my calorie budget 5 days a week.
Be Realistic! I like to consider myself an Almond, aka, a health nut. I drink protein shakes, lift weights, go running, take half-naked selfies in the mirror for the purpose of progress tracking, blah, blah, blah. But, I still like to indulge in baked goods and fried foods sometimes. I also like to sit on my butt and binge watch Netflix. So, I don’t set myself up for failure by saying I’m going to stick to a super strict calorie budget or diet every single day for the next three months. Be realistic with your action plan; give yourself a little wiggle room, because unless you’re signing up to be a bikini competitor, chances are you aren’t going to stick to eating broccoli and chicken for every meal, every day, for the next six months.
Now, you have a goal and an action plan.. but there’s more!
It’s quite possible that you will make this beautiful goal page with every intent of looking at it regularly and being motivated to reach your goal, only to index it and forget that it exists. I’m not judging. But, instead of falling into that trap, you can build off this page and incorporate it into your weekly/daily spreads, habit trackers, and even monthly spreads.
Bullet journaling serves as a tool to get shit done, am I right? The same applies to health and fitness. So when you add actionable steps into your daily planning, you are much more likely to hit those benchmarks and achieve your goals.
Here are a few ways to stay on top of your health and fitness goals in your bullet journal:
- Head over to this post, and download and print the workout stickers. Cut them out and use them in your daily or weekly spreads in advance to note the days you are going to workout. It’s a big colorful reminder to move.
- Add ‘exercise’, ‘under calorie budget’, or ‘10,000+ steps’ to your habit tracker. I find that being able to mark those things off every day encourages me to do them more frequently.
- Add a simple meal plan to your monthly or weekly spread. This doesn’t need to be elaborate. I have three columns; one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. It might also be helpful to include a column for snacks. Then, down the side are the days of the week/month. Take a few minutes each night to plan your meals for the next day. Again, this works on the concept that if you have it written down, you are more likely to follow through with it.
- Go hit up my Physical Health and Wellness Pinterest Board, find a few home workouts and copy them into your bullet journal. I love doing this! I have quite a few workouts written in my journal. When I don’t know what to do exercise wise, I have these as resources. Then, there’s no excuse not to get in a workout.
- Create a weight loss tracker. Start with your current weight, draw a box around it, and then count down to your goal weight, boxing in each number. Ex: 159, 158,157…125! Then, every time your lose just one little pound, it will feel like a big victory because you will be able to color in a box. It’s a great way to see how far you have really come and also serves as visual motivation.
- Add fitness challenges to your bullet journal! You know, those fitness challenges you see on Pinterest, like 30-Day Squat challenges, or 30-Day-Ab Challenges? Transfer those to your bullet journal in a way that you can mark off each day that you complete the challenge. P.S. I’m currently doing the ’30 Burpees a Day for 15 Days’ Challenge, and it’s about 1000x harder than I anticipated… I don’t know how you crossfitters do what you do.
You can take the extra initiative and add more health and fitness related trackers and pages to your bullet journal, too. Check here for a huge list of collection and tracker ideas. Make up your own ideas. Find what motivates and inspires you, and include it in your journal. If you’re motivated by rewards, add those in for when you reach benchmarks.
Remember, the beautiful thing about bullet journaling is that it’s totally customizable. There is no right or wrong way to do it. There is no guide– well there is, here, but beyond the basic backbone of the bullet journal, the rest is up to you. Use it to make your life better, more productive, and happier, no matter what that looks like.
Speaking of guides, next week I’m starting a new series on The Petite Planner called Bullet Journal 2.0. I’ll be covering the basics and beyond in depth in a series of different posts over a 10 week period. There will be one addition to the series each week. If you would like to follow along and receive updates on Bullet Journal 2.0, go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter!
