Let's Get Fit Together!

Today's tutorial and free download is a fitness log!

All right, a fitness log might seem to be an odd choice of a download for a crafty blog, but given my recent post of putting some balance in my life, it actually feels just perfect to me. Life is not all about the latest clever card-making technique, after all!

One thing that always helps me keep on track, fitness-wise is if I have to log what I do. The fact that I'll have to record a big goose egg under exercise for a day is one way to motivate me right out the door for a quick walk. I've been working out diligently for about two months now and I'm ready to share this with you!

First, download these two pdfs:

• Fitness Log Pages
• Fitness Motivation Pages

You're more than welcome to download them and print as many as you need for your own use, to share with friends or whatever! I do ask that you not sell them, of course, or make a product for use in resale (that would just be rude!).

Print one copy of the Motivation Pages and as many copies of the Fitness Log Pages that you think you'll need. Perhaps start out with eight sheets -- this will get you through 32 days and a month seems like a good start. Plus it makes a cute-sized book.

Cut all the sheets in half one way and then in half again. If you want to keep things simple, you can just staple the sheets together on one end, adding in a front and back cover to make it a little fancy. Another thing I've done is take the whole stack to Kinkos and have them bind it into a little book with spiral binding -- super cute! But today I'll show you how to make a cute cover from the comfort of your own home with just some cardstock and a stapler.

You'll need two pieces of card stock. Cut your cover to be 4.25" x 5.5" -- in this case, this is my yellow cardstock.

Cut the other (green) piece to be 4.25" wide and about 7" long (it will be cut down shorter than this).

Score the green cardstock 5.5" down and fold on this score. Line your stack of paper up against the fold and mark the thickness of the stack of your pages. Score the cardstock again at this mark. Make another score 1/4" away from this last score. Cut the end of the cardstock another 1/4" away from THAT score.

This sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Just look at the photo on the far right in the middle row: the first score is 5.5" in, then another score the height of the stack of paper, then another score 1/4" away from that and then cut 1/4" away from that.

Straighten your stack of pages. Put the cover (yellow) on top of the pages. Line the newly cut edge of the long cover with the left edge of the stack, on top of the yellow cover. Staple the entire stack close to the fold. Then fold the green cover over and around.

So cute! I love this kind of binding where the cover folds to hide the staples -- I used this technique on my own wedding invitations, a few years ago.

I'm a simple kind of gal, so I've left mine as it is, but I know a lot of you papercrafting lovers would enjoy embellishing your cover to your heart's content.

How to use it: the motivation pages are meant to keep your focus on your goals and remind you of why you're doing this.

Where I'm going is the page you'll fill up with your goals (I want to lose 20 pounds! I want to get in shape to run a 5k in the fall! I want to fit into my skinny jeans again! I want to walk into my class reunion and make heads turn!). Put it all in -- be as descriptive and detailed as you possibly can make it -- you want to make it more enticing than, say cheesecake!

Where I've been is where you'll note what you want to leave behind (I couldn't keep up with my nine-year old biking. I outgrew every pair of jeans in the house.). Again, pour yourself out here!

I will is what you'll be doing to achieve your goals. Instead of saying you want to lose X pounds here, this is where you put in how you will get there (I will do a 10-minute mini workout every morning before work and a 30-minute run on alternate days after work. I will pack a healthy lunch and snacks for work every day. I will allow myself no more than 100 calories worth of indulgence a day (even if that's just one bite of something decadent). I know I will fall off the bandwagon occasionally and if that happens, I'll get right back on again!).

I won't will be where you'll list all the potential stumbling blocks that have plagued previous efforts (I won't snack after 7pm. I won't eat the leftovers off the kids' plates. I won't defeat myself with negative thinking.).

The Fitness Log Pages

Use the fitness log pages as you wish, but try to log every single day. For me, weight loss is trying to keep my calories in lower while maximizing the calories out, so that's how I've organized things.

I put in a space for a mini workout (this could be a set of tricep dips off my desk chair at work) in addition to cardio and weight training. I log my minutes, but you can do as you like!

One of my biggest hobgoblins is evening snacking. I put in a spot where I'd have to mark whether or not I succumbed to this particular issue. Just having this there would make me hesitate about dipping that spoon into the ice cream...

I put in a generic temptation notation for you to use as you wish.

However you use it, the important thing is to use it! Keep it with you always (in your purse, handy with a pen -- if you find yourself early for an appointment, walk around the block and then log that extra walking time!).

I hope you like this download! Enjoy! If you use this or would like to share your own fitness goals and ideas, I'd love to hear from you -- please leave a comment!