I’ve created an entirely separate journal just to hold myself accountable and stay inspired with my fitness. See what I’m tracking and what pages I’m including in my May 2019 Health and Fitness Journal Setup.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure for more information.
TW: This post mentions some ED related topics and issues. This post was written by The Petite Planner founder, Erin.
If I told you that I have been struggling to lose the last 10-15lbs. for two years, would you judge me?
Welp… there it was, so judge if you must.
Much like other people, I typically start the month off strong with my health and fitness. I’m all over the crazy HIIT workouts, tracking my calories, avoiding overly processed foods, etc.
But, right around the 15th-ish, I get a little too comfortable. I jump on the scale and see I’ve lost a few pounds and think it’s time to treat myself.
This ultimately leads me on a 3-7 DAY binger where I would estimate that I eat 5,000+ calories per day. After I feel like I have control of my eating again, I get the guilt.
I’m talking about guilt that makes you want to cuddle up in your bed and sleep for a week straight. Obviously, with littles that’s not possible. But, sometimes that guilt manifests into me depriving myself of food in an attempt to rectify the overeating.
If you have ever struggled with binge eating, you likely know exactly what I’m talking about. I hope you don’t and never do, though.
But, over the past 6 months or so I have done a lot research, been more mindful of my triggers, and started to try to tame the beast, so to say.
Still, I struggle. Still, I fail occasionally. And still, I persist.
So, for May I decided I wanted to take my knowledge and experience with bullet journaling and put it into a separate health and fitness journal.
In that past, I always just kept my health and fitness goals and accountability in the same journal that I keep my business goals, personal goals, and day to day planning. My bullet journal (you can see my May bullet journal setup here).
But, because my health is currently one of my top priorities, I wanted to dedicate an entire journal to it. Somewhere where I wouldn’t be bothered by what I still had to do for work or if the laundry needed to be done.
A place where I could take a few moments a day to refocus and remind myself why my health is important.
And I’m sharing this with you in case you are going through something similar. Hopefully, you can get a little inspiration and see that you and your health is important too.
May 2019 Health and Fitness Journal Setup
Supplies
- Archer & Olive A5 notebook
- Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens
- Tombow Dual Brush Pens
- Ecoline Brush Pens
- Zebra Mildliner
- Tombow Fude Pen
All of the above are the supplies I used to create this month’s health and fitness journal. I’ve linked all of the products on Amazon (minus Archer & Olive) in case you want to snag any of them. However, you don’t need any of these supplies.
You can grab a lined journal or plain notebook, and whatever pens you have on hand. Add color with your children’s Crayons or colored pencils. Use faux-calligraphy instead of calligraphy.
And, if you don’t want any part in designing your own health and fitness journal but still want the accountability and analog tracking system, I have a health and fitness printable in my shop.
This printable kit includes 6 pages. Weight and measurements tracker, health and fitness goals, 12-months of healthy challenges (2-pages), 30-day water challenge tracker, and an annual activity tracker. It’s available as either dot grid or blank.
Goals & Main Goal Tracker
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, one of the things I have struggled with the most over the past couple of years is binge eating. While I’ve never been diagnosed with an actual eating disorder, my eating habits coincide with binge eating disorder.
After months of narrowing down my triggers and reading up on binge eating, I decided it’s time to take control and face my demons.
This page serves as my goals page. The box on top is where I write down my health and fitness goals for the month. Normally, I would include a specific number of pounds that I wanted to lose.
But, I now know that goals regarding weight loss usually leave me disappointed and frustrated. And ultimately, that leads to disordered eating.
So for May, I have not included any weight loss specific goals. Instead, my goals focus on my health. My number one goal is to end my binge eating. In order to do this, I have created action steps and smaller goals for myself.
Below my goals section is a large scale habit tracker. Each day that I don’t binge, I will color in the corresponding square. The concept is the exact same as a habit tracker.
But, the difference is that this one stands alone, making it seem of higher priority and also making it more rewarding to fill in every day.
If after May I feel I have significant control over my eating habits, I will adjust this tracker to another goal. Maybe it will be my splits practice, running, etc.
*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Disordered eating should be taken very seriously and should be evaluated by a professional. I am not attempting to claim that journaling can cure an eating disorder.
If you think you may have an eating disorder or have any concerns about your eating habits, please consult your physician or talk to a professional.
Calorie Tracker
On the second page, I created a calorie tracker to hold myself accountable and also be able to see the month at a glance.
The days of the month are labeled vertically along the left side of the page. Moving to the right, each square space represents 100 calories, starting at 500 and going up to 2,100 calories. Each day I will draw a line from the day to the number that represents how many calories I consumed.
I have also added gray dotted lines for my target calorie goal each day. I intend to stay between 1200-1500 calories per day for the entire month. On days with less physical activity, I will eat fewer calories, and on days that I do an intense workout, I will eat on the higher end.
*Disclaimer: These are just my personal daily calories based on my current weight and my height. If you are looking to recreate this spread, please do so cautiously. Check with your doctor to see how many calories you should be consuming each day for a steady and healthy weight loss/gain.
On the far left, I have a place to write in my total calories each day. And then on the far right there are green boxes spaced seven days apart, starting on the first. These will be my weekly weigh-ins.
I thought it would be good to see how my eating habits play into my weight loss all on one page.
Weekly Journal and Meal/Workout Planner
The last pages of this setup are similar to a weekly spread, but solely dedicated to health and fitness.
Unlike a weekly spread that starts on Sunday or Monday, this spread starts on the first (Wednesday) and runs to the seventh (Tuesday).
There are a total of seven horizontal boxes. I actually divided the two pages into eight equal sections and then used the top box on the left-hand page to write the weekly header.
From here, each box is divided into 3 sections. The largest section is my daily journal entry. This is used for a reflection of the day, motivational quotes, affirmations, etc.
The next largest box is for my daily meals. I will plan these out at least one day in advance. And I try to plan out every single meal or snack I’m going to eat. So, for me, this usually includes breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and then dinner as my final meal.
The smallest box in green is for my daily workouts, which will also be planned out in advance. I have two lines because I typically do cardio or strength and then yoga, for a total of two workouts per day.
This section will have to be made weekly, but it’s very simple and I can set this spread up in under 10 minutes.
Watch the Full Video
In order to show you how I set this up, I filmed May’s setup for you. The length of this recording was originally 35 minutes. So, you can see that this entire setup doesn’t take that long.
You can watch the condensed and sped up version below.
Did you enjoy this post? How do you currently keep track of your health and fitness in your bullet journal? Let me know in the comments below! I’m always open to new methods that I haven’t thought of and I would be grateful for any ideas.
