Last Updated on February 19, 2022 by Keri
Bullet Journals are a great tool for setting goals, and weight loss goals are no exception! Using your Bullet Journal for weight loss can help you plan, keep yourself motivated, and track your progress all in one simple place!
Whether your goal is to lose 50 pounds, or just to get healthier, the layouts you create in your Journal will help you accomplish your fitness goals!
How Can a Bullet Journal Help You with Your Fitness Goals?
Whenever you are setting goals, there are many different things to consider.
- What steps do you have to take to achieve your goal?
- Will you need to implement any lifestyle changes?
- How will you track your results?
- How will you overcome any resistance or roadblocks?
The secret to setting goals in your Bullet Journal is all in the layouts! You can create different layouts for just about anything, and there are endless possibilities! Sometimes, you just have to get a little bit creative.
Related: The Ultimate Guide to Setting Goals In Your Bullet Journal
There are 7 things I like to include in my layouts whenever I am setting a new fitness goal!
1. The Specific Goal
It is extremely important, whenever you are setting any kind of goal, to set a very specific goal. The clearer you are about your desired result, the more likely you are to take very specific actions towards that result.
Your goal should include the exact details of your desired results, as well as the timeframe in which you wish to achieve these results. And including this goal right in your Bullet Journal layouts will help you keep it top of mind!
2. Meal Plans
As you may or may not know, changing your diet will play a big role in how much weight you lose. 1 pound is about 3,500 calories, which means you will either have to cut 3,500 calories, burn 3,500 calories, or a combination of the two!
One of the best ways you can help yourself lose weight is following a healthy meal plan, and this is a great thing to include in your layouts! Spend some time planning out different meal and snack ideas that will keep you full, and take away any decision making so you don’t have the opportunity to revert back to bad habits!
3. Exercise Plan
Your layouts should include your exercise plan! Whether you are following a certain program, seeing a personal trainer, or creating your own plan, there are many layouts you can create that will outline your plan, and help you track the results of your daily exercise.
4. Trackers
Trackers are very common in Bullet Journals, and they are the perfect companion to goal setting! You can use a tracker to track your results, your change in habits, as well as your daily activity. This is perfect for fitness goals, and will keep you motivated to continue filling everything out!
5. Plans for the Roadblocks
It is very normal, no matter what type of goal you are setting, to feel resistance or hit a roadblock at some point in your journey.
Throughout your fitness layouts, you should try to include plans for roadblocks you think you might hit. Or motivation techniques you can use when you feel resistance.
Again, keeping these accessible within your layouts will help you overcome, and ultimately, achieve your goals!
6. Journal
While trackers are great for seeing results, statistics or patterns, they aren’t always great at seeing emotions or circumstance.
Be sure to include some space in your layouts where you can journal! Here you can write if you had a really bad day at work that affected your workout. Perhaps you were feeling under the weather so you ate some chicken noodle soup, instead of the salad you were supposed to eat!
You may find a lot of comfort in your journal, which is why I highly recommend you use one!
7. Rewards
Finally, it is important to have rewards anytime you set a goal! It will help keep you motivated and push you forward!
Be sure to include your rewards in your layouts!
My Bullet Journal for Weight Loss Layouts!
Now that we have had a chance to go over some of the things you should include in your layouts, I thought it would be fun to look at my current Bullet Journal weight loss layouts! Hopefully, these will give you some inspiration, and show you how simple these layouts can be! My Bullet Journal tends to be very minimalist, with a focus on planning and results!
For anyone who is curious, I am currently following the BodyBoss Method to lose weight. The exercises can be done at home, and don’t require any fancy equipment! The meal plan is also amazing and comes with so many great recipes! If you want to learn more, head over to their website here! (This is NOT an affiliate link. This is just the program I happen to be using right now and wanted to include the link for anyone who is curious!)
Layout #1 – Goal Overview, Measurements, and Reward!
This first layout includes a couple of things, as they did not require their own pages:
- A quick overview of my specific goal. Each layout that follows the timeframe as set out in my goal, so it was important to me to put this first in my layouts.
- Measurements! This is one of the ways in which I track my results!
- Reward! Here, I detail my rewards. (At the time I took the pictures, I had not set a reward for myself yet!)
Layout #2 – My Weigh-In Tracker
The second layout is another tracker, specifically, a weigh-in tracker.
The purpose of this tracker is to keep a log of my weekly weight. First thing Monday morning, I weigh myself and fill in this tracker. Hopefully, by the end, I will have reached my target weight!
Layout #3 – Meal Plan
This layout is two full pages, and just includes my meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, snacks, smoothies, and alternate foods to help me beat my cravings!
Changing my poor diet habits is by far my biggest roadblock! So, I kept my entire meal plan very simple to avoid falling off the wagon! My meal plan only contains enough meals to last a week, so it is just a weekly rotation. This takes away any decision making, so I am more likely to follow through.
Cravings are also something I really struggle with, so I included some “healthier” alternatives to beat my cravings. Again, this takes away some of the decision makings, and therefore, some of the temptations!
Related: 5 Layouts To Better Meal Planning In Your Journal
Layout #4 – Exercise Results
Since I am currently using the BodyBoss fitness guide, I do not need to create an exercise plan! However, there was still one thing I wanted to include in my layouts for this fitness goal!
BodyBoss is HIIT circuit training three times a week, and then light cardio two times per week. My main focus is the HIIT circuit training, and I really wanted to track how long the circuits are taking me to complete!
Last time I followed this program, I was extremely motivated to see that I was spending less time on the circuits each week as I got stronger, which in turn kept me really motivated! So, for these layouts, I decided to dedicate an entire layout to track how long each circuit is taking me!
This layout is also where I included space to journal about my exercise at the end of each week!
Layout #5 – Habits Tracker
My final layout is a habits tracker that I will fill in over the entire 25 weeks! This tracker is a bit of a different layout than what you would typically see, as I wanted to track my entire habit journey over the full 25 weeks on one page.
The habits I am tracking here are;
- Food – Did I follow my meal plan?
- Water – At least 2L throughout the day!
- Exercise – Did I complete my daily exercise as outlined in the program?
My weeks go down the side of the page, and the days of the week go across the top of the page.
Related: How To Reach Your Goal With A Habits Tracker
As you can see, my layouts are extremely simple, and focus solely on the goal itself and the results! Your layouts will probably look very different, just depending on your individual weight loss plan.
But the one thing your layouts should have in common to mine are the 7 points outlined above;
- Your specific goal
- A meal plan
- Your exercise routine
- Trackers
- Plans for your roadblocks
- Journal
- Your reward
These 7 points are key to helping you succeed with your fitness goals!
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, this has given you a foundation for setting fitness goals that you can accomplish in your Bullet Journal!
Of course, simply creating these layouts is not enough to lose weight. You have to put in the effort. But if you follow the plan you have created for yourself, I know you will see some amazing results!
If you have any questions or want some advice on how you could set up a specific layout, be sure to leave a comment below, and I will brainstorm some ideas for you!
Until next time!
Great read! My point is, losing weight and keeping it off for good as well as getting fit is HARD. It is more than eating less and exercising more. It is wanting something and working hard towards it. It is not losing your patience. It is learning to eat less and healthier. It is learning to LOVE your body and nurture it.
Hi Jennifer!
I couldn’t agree more!! Losing weight is SO hard, and you really hit the nail on the head. You have to really want to lose weight and be patient. It is going to be tough, but by being prepared, you are even more likely to see success!