Losing weight can be challenging for a lot of people. However, there are many creative ways to make it fun and manageable, including using a weight loss journal.
A weight loss journal is a physical or digital fitness tracker in which you document different parts of your weight loss journey including what you consume on a daily basis, your plans, and it’s a way to keep track of your progress.
Having a weight loss journal could make your weight loss journey more exciting and more manageable. When you plan stuff out, it helps you stay motivated, set goals, build healthy habits, and it enables you to reach your weight loss goals.
In this post, I’m sharing a round-up of weight loss journal ideas and ways to fill it out, so those ideas can motivate and inspire you to stay on track with your weight loss journey and help you reach your fitness goals.
7 Weight Loss Journal Ideas
Goal Setter & Tracker
One section you could have for your weight loss journal is a goal setter & tracker. You can use those pages to write out all your weight-loss goals. Make sure you have a big goal (which would be your main, overall goal) but also be sure to include smaller goals (which are steps that take you towards your main goal).
For your goal and fitness tracker, you’ll want to include a monthly goal, a weekly goal, etc.
Having a goal setter that includes your smaller goals makes it easier to track, and it also helps you mentally, as you’ll be able to reach your small goals much faster than your big goals. Plus, having something to celebrate helps you stay motivated. You’ll always be proud of yourself when you reach any goal you set, and a weight loss tracker helps with that.
You could make the goal setter & tracker page in a bullet journal layout, as a bullet journal page, or as a regular layout. You can even choose to have a bullet journal for weight loss instead of a regular journal, or you can mix and match certain sections.
Meal Planner
Another great component of a weight loss journal would be a meal planner. Basically a part of the journal where you plan your weekly meals, or even monthly if that’s what you prefer. Taking the time to plan out your meals is a proven way of helping you lead a healthy lifestyle.
You can design the section any way you want, but a great idea to add in would also be an ingredient list. You can also have a section where you just brainstorm meal ideas, and then later on you’ll put them in actual meal plans for the week.
Here’s an example of a realistic meal plan for weight loss.
Meal Log
If you don’t like meal planning, you can have a meal log, where you log everything you eat throughout the day. That way, you can look at your whole day’s worth of eating, and see if your meals are balanced and if you’re missing protein, fiber, or something similar. Having a meal log helps you see in plain sight what you consume on a daily basis, and over a 30 day period, you’ll be able to get a bird’s eye view of what worked and what didn’t work for you when it comes to reaching your fitness or weight loss goals.
Water Tracker
Water trackers are great for those who struggle with drinking enough water throughout the day and looking to bump up their water intake. Make a goal of how much water you want and should drink each day, and then track all of that in your journal.
Workout Planner
Using your weight loss journal as a workout planner is another great idea. No matter if you want to go to the gym, you need some sort of physical activity in your life, not just for weight loss, but for your health as well – so your workout could be a dance class, a walk, a run, a bike drive, a pilates class, a home workout, etc. Whatever you enjoy doing, plan it out in your workout planner.
And if you plan on working out in the gym or at home, write down specific workouts you plan on doing, in what order, how many sets, etc.
Workout Tracker
If you don’t want to plan out your workouts, you can track what you did every day. Also, you can include a step tracker here as well.
Mood Tracker
Your mood can be the reason for binge eating, for not eating enough, for eating bad food, etc. So tracking your mood each day might help you realize how your mood affects your eating, which can help you prevent emotional eating.
How To Make A Weight Loss Journal
Get Inspiration Online
There are tons of examples and ideas online for weight loss journals – you can try Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, etc.
Then save sections and pages you like, so either do those or recreate them in your own way, or use them as inspiration for coming up with your ideas.
Sketch Your Journal Layout
It might help to sketch your journal layout before actually creating everything, just so you can see how everything flows together, and determine if you like it or not.
Make Your Tracker Colorful
Making your trackers colorful helps you visually see everything you’re tracking. It’s fun to look at and it also helps you quickly realize patterns by just glancing at your tracker.
Weight Loss Journal Template
Here’s a template for the meal planner version you can use as inspiration, or even print out.
