Free Fitness Nutrition Journal Plus the 5 Things You Must Do to Get Started
1. Get a Journal
Or you can download this freebie that I made for you! It follows the exact template that I use and have used for almost 10 years. Keeping track of your workouts in a journal is so important and you'll need to stick with it.
2. Get Started Now
Make today Day 1. Don't worry about what you had to eat and drink for breakfast this morning if it's not "perfect". Spoiler alert, there is no such thing as perfect in nutrition. The only thing you can do wrong is think that nutrition doesn't matter in fitness. What you eat is important with every single fitness goal. The sooner you get journaling your fitness and nutrition the better.
3. Write Down the Time You Ate
Give yourself a time stamp each time started to eat. Don't let the standard labels like breakfast, Mid AM snack, lunch etc. keep you from knowing where to put what food. You could easily just think of each section as meal 1, meal 2, 3... you get the point. So no matter what time you break your fast just put that time next to the first section titled breakfast.
4. Get Specific
Write down what foods you ate. The more specific you are here the better. For example, if you ate a sandwich write down the type of bread, the fillings you used, and any condiments. The one thing that keeps people from really benefitting from journaling (or any kind not just fitness and nutrition!) is not getting specific enough. You're not going to learn enough about your eating habits if you don't get specific. So get super specific.
5. Know Your Portions
It's not just what you eat important. In fact, your nutrition choices is ranked last on the Nutrition Priorities list. Your nutrition portions are more important because eating too much or too little can make or break your workouts. In order to know your portions, you're going to need measuring tools. Cups and spoons measure volume. Food scales measure weight. Food scales are much more specific so I recommend that first.
In the next blog post, I'll teach you how to document your workouts.