As easy as it is to ignore, with high angle selfies, avoiding mirrors and wearing the stretchiest and baggiest of clothes, I've had to take an honest look at my weight and health this week and make plans for some changes. My back has been great this year, I've learnt what I can and can't do and how to stretch out poorly muscles, so it's totally manageable now and I don't feel its holding me back any more. My weight though has got a bit out of control and I've had to take an honest look at myself and take some realistic pictures to see where I'm at and it wasn't great. My life is going really well otherwise, so now it's time to refocus on my health and shift the pounds before I make myself poorly.
I've started by tackling my over eating and snacking which I'm delighted to say has finally got under control. I found myself eating until I felt sick again all the time, but now I am back to eating meals and having healthier more 'normal' snacks when needed. I'm also drinking more water, more squash and less fizzy drinks. When it comes to food, I won't be putting myself on any strict diet or restricting what I can and can't have. Denying myself 'treats' for weeks on end just makes them all the more desirable, so I'll be eating a little healthier, adding more fruit and veg, upping my fluids and logging my progress as I go.
One thing I've done to help keep me motivated is to create some weight loss journals that I'm now selling on Amazon. When looking for a weight loss journal myself, I found that they were all quite expensive, over complicated or dated, which meant that if you wanted a week off for any reason then you wasted pages, so I've tackled this with my first design which comes with three covers. Here's the obligatory affiliate links!
So the journals themselves are very simple. A front page to record your stats such as start weight, measurements and dress size, with an area to add quarterly results for the first year. There's also boxes to write about why you want to lose weight/get healthy and to set some targets and rewards along the way. Setting small achievable goals breaks down the large targets and keeps you motivated along the way. The targets can be anything such as lose XXlbs, fit into my size XX jeans, walk upstairs without being short of breath etc. Rewards can be anything that will motivate you, new clothes, day trip, spa weekend, nails done etc etc. It's all about planning long term, setting small goals and recognising your achievements.
After the initial logging page, there are 100 pages of weekly logs. Each week, you can log your start weight, current weight and goal weight, your results from that week, notes about what you did well/struggled with and a box to plan for the following week.
I wanted something that wasn't dated like a diary, so if you have a bad week or need a weeks break then no pages are wasted. The journal will last 100 weeks but you can use it for as long as you like. I've kept the price low at £3.99 per journal, with free postage if you're a Prime member too! This isn't a big fancy notebook, but a little motivational journal you can stick in your bag and keep track of your journey. Here's a peek of the inside...
I'm going to be updating monthly again and letting you know how I'm getting on with my journey as well as using the new journals. Let me know how your journeys going and your thoughts on the journals in the comments below.
