Hi there!
This week's Fitness Friday is all about accountability. I've never been one to write a diary but this year I really wanted to start writing one and noting down my meals, as well as attendance at any classes and any subsequent improvements I've made to show my progress in that respect.
My plan is to write out the following:
1) my meals and snacks each day - even when I've gone way over what I should have eaten. I don't count calories but occasionally I do add my food into an app like My Fitness Pal to calculate my calorie intake and see if I need to increase or decrease my intake of total calories, proteins, fats and carbs.
2) my exercises, classes, run distances and times, weights used, reps increased - basically anything that I've done. I know that I've improved over time but I would have liked to have seen the improvements over the months and years if I had written them down initially. It's greatfor giving you a boost when you're having a bad gym day and can't even do one rep.
3) quotes - Pinterest, instagram and any fitness type of person on twitter will guaranteed have a few quotes up their sleeves. Motivational, inspirational and pretty much anything to get you up and moving and not giving up. I've got tonnes of screenshots on my phone of these, they're really helpful on some days when you need a bit more to get you through. At the back of my diary there's a notes section with a lot of spare pages; I fill these with any kind of quote that inspires me.
I might go days without seeing anything new that makes me want to push harder and then come across 12 quotes that relate to me and my journey perfectly. So I scribble them all down for when I'm at a low point and I need them.
I've never been one for consistency when writing a diary. But I've begun to find it quite therapeutic to end each day writing down my food and fitness accomplishments for the day, plus anything that's inspired me. As well as the quotes in the back I also try and tie in any lapses in my food/exercise with work or social arrangements rather than leave it blank so I know in future what to fix when things start to go wrong.
So how has it been going since January the 1st?
I've had a few bad days of not writing things down but to be honest it's not a big deal; I know if I've eaten badly and when I need to cut back. I think the food part for me will probably be intermittent, when I've been slacking off and cheating a few times a week and need to reel in my snacking, or if I've been out a lot with friends for food and drinks and want the next week to try and make up for it.
What I really want is to create consistency in my plan and show myself my progress when I feel like throwing the towel in.
What I'll need is quotes to keep me going and inspire me.
I am looking into getting a fitness tracker in the next month or so but I do love the manual writing out of progress, and the Alice in Wonderland diary was just too cute to ignore!
What do you think of writing out your own progress? Would you write a diary to help you on your way and keep you focused? If not, how do you keep yourself on track over the long term?
L xxx
