For me, being able to keep track of what I'm putting into my body and what exercise I'm doing is a massive incentive for me to be as healthy as I can. There's something about writing down all the crap you've eaten which makes you feel very dissatisfied and kind of guilty. I'm not saying one piece of cake will be the end of world and how dare you consume such a thing, I'm just saying taking more time to think of what you're eating on the whole will benefit you greatly, and will make you feel super good when it comes to logging it. I picked up a food and exercise journal from Kikki K at the beginning of the year in the hopes to cross off my super super cliche new years resolution...I think we can all take a guess of what it might have been...it has definitely made me more aware of how much movement I'm doing, or sometimes not doing, and the meals I'm putting together. As it's been about 8 months since I set out on this goal, I thought I'd share with you my reasons for investing in a fitness journal.




You can see how far you've come
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If you've set out your goals and a time frame in which you want to achieve those goals, it feels great to either tick them off, or know how much closer you are to achieving them. I swim for my university and a lot of the fitness goals I set myself were to do with my training and upping my stamina. Since being home for the summer, and not having those regular training slots, I found it easy to slip out of my routine, and my fitness levels definitely suffered. Making the effort to go swimming while I'm at home, I can really see my stamina improving as well as my technique which is a great feeling. This can be the same for running, cycling or any form of exercise, it's all about maintaining a routine and making the effort to workout so you can keep seeing results. It's also nice to look back through the weeks and see how much father you can run, or how much more weight you can now squat etc.


You can see where you may be going wrong
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If you feel like you aren't dropping the weight as quickly as you thought, or maybe you wrote yourself a fitness goal which you're struggling to reach, look back through what you're eating and how much you're moving and see what you can improve. For me, I was eating way too many snacks than I needed to, and having that visual reminder was really helpful in cutting back. Now I tend to only have one a day when I hit that 4 o'clock slump. As far as exercise goes, maybe try upping your reps or weight if you go the gym, or for cardio try extending the distance and intensity. It's also easy to spot whether or not you're being too repetitive with your exercises. It's really important to switch things up every now and then to challenge your body and get it working to it's full potential, you don't want to get use to the same old exercises. 

It will push you to try harder
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If you know you're going to be writing down everything you eat and all the exercise you do, you're a lot more likely to eat better and work out more. Personally, I think of it as a diary, if anyone else were to have a look through, I wouldn't want them to see how much crap I may eat, and that I sit on my bum the whole day, so even 20 minutes of exercise a day will make you feel better, and it's not hard to fit it in. Similarly if you see how close to are to achieving your goals, maybe you want to cut out dairy, or you want to run 10 miles in a certain amount of time, seeing the progress you're making will really motivate you to keep going.