Habit Tracking tool
Hopping on for a quick post on my favorite new way to keep things consistent!
Lately, I’ve been talking a lot with clients who are trying to figure out a way to stay consistent in the long run. For most people, logging every minute of exercise and/or every bit of food they eat is time consuming and unsustainable. Plus, this approach tends to lead people to focus solely on limiting their intake and restricting themselves rather than on adding healthy habits into their daily routine on a consistent basis.
After talking with clients to see what might be helpful, I created a simple weekly habit tracker. I’m definitely not the only person who’s thought to make up a habit tracker. If you like the idea but don’t love this one, do a bit of searching and you’ll find some other options. This is just my version with my guidelines.
Reasons this tool works -
Establish consistent habits - the habit tracker is easy to fill out, that means you’re more likely to keep doing it. You can take 5 mins at the end of the day to quickly check off your boxes. This also gives you a chance to refocus on your goals in the evening (the time of day where people tend to lose focus and fall into unhealthy habits).
Focus on small, sustainable changes - the tracker encourages you to set small goals for yourself each week. You’ll reflect on your goals at the beginning of each week before making a new copy for the new week. If they were too easy, just add one or two new things. If you didn’t come close to accomplishing them, back down and commit to something challenging but more attainable.
Learn about current habits - the first week I tried this I didn’t really hit any of the goals I wrote down! I was still really happy I tracked things as it showed how often I was doing the things I wanted to change throughout the week. For example, I thought it would be easy to just cut added sugar, but after tracking that habit I realized I was eating something with sugar almost every day. After realizing this I knew it was important to focus on, but decided on a more attainable goal to start with (a limit of 2-3x per week).
Incorporate healthy habits - I love that the tracker makes it easy to focus on adding healthy habits rather than just restricting unhealthy habits.
How to use the tracker:
Check out the tracker - then email me to let me know that you want a copy sent over (either PDF or google doc, depending on how you prefer to edit it). Ask me to share my own tracker if you’d like some added accountability.
Set some goals, you’ll see some suggestions on the second and third pages of the PDF if you need inspiration. Try to focus a goal on exercise, a goal on healthy eating, and one on something outside of food and exercise (self care, sleep, water intake).
Commit to sit down every night and fill it out quickly! Don’t worry if you didn’t achieve all your goals, just be sure to fill it out either way.
On Sunday, download a new copy and revisit/revise your goals!
Bonus - consider setting a long term goal (i.e. training for a race, losing body fat, gaining strength) or reward (“I will get myself x if I complete my habit tracker each day for a month”) to give your weekly goals a direction.
Simple habit tracker template.
The beginning of my weekly habit tracker. I’ll fill out the column of the day each evening.
This weeks goals:
Exercise
Follow ½ marathon training plan
Strength train 3x per week: 1x chest, 1x back, 1x legs
Yoga 2x per week
Food
Added sugar -1x per day (strict, includes flavored yogurt, protein bars, etc)
Gluten/simpler carbs - 2x per week
Alcohol - 5 drinks per weeK
Limit processed foods
Eat out -2 dinners per week
Wellness
Complete this tracker daily
7-8 hrs of sleep per night
3 liters of water per day