The Women's Guide to Health (eBook)

CHAPTER 1 JOURNAL

Your journal will inspire you and will be a pivotal part of your success in reaching your health goals!

Improving your health depends on becoming an expert on your own mind, body, and spirit. The key to becoming such an expert is being rigid about organization, note taking and record keeping, and time for personal reflection. Women who are most successful in achieving their health goals have cultivated the habit of recording four variables each day: sleep, exercise, food, and health numbers. We believe the reason these women are so successful in achieving their health goals relates to their habit of keeping a health journal that harnesses focus, attention, motivation, and insight. A journal is not only essential for gaining knowledge about yourself. The act of gathering the data and recording in your journal is the most important action you can take because it activates your problem-solving brain, giving you control over your daily activities and food choices. This puts you in command of each area of your health, every day.

The health journal prompts you to record daily and reflect weekly. Each day has the following four parts: sleep metrics, exercise matters, food score, and meal log. In addition, there is a three-part weekly report card to help you summarize progress, chart important health numbers, and hone in on what works for you.

The health journal is designed to help you navigate meaningful conversations with your doctor. Sharing your journal with your doctor helps in the following ways:

Your doctor reviews information you feel is important to your health and well-being.

Your doctor has better numbers upon which to base medical decisions.

You are an active partner with your doctor in recognizing trends and patterns related to how you feel.

Getting Started: How to Create Your Own Starting Line Using the Health Journal

Where are you starting from? Knowing this will help you develop the right expectations of yourself and others. It will also give you a better understanding of your progress when you look back over the weeks and months.

What you will need:

•a digital scale that can also measure body fat composition

•a flexible tape measure

•a pedometer or other device that counts steps such as a smart phone or watch

•commitment to filling out the health journal for 7 consecutive days starting with Monday

Your starting line consists of the following measurements:

1.Body weight

2.Body fat composition

3.Waist circumference

AND

4.One week of recording sleep metrics

AND

5.One week of exercise matters

AND

6.One week of recording everything you eat

Step 1

Locate the Starting Line Journal Pages in the appendix. Tear them out and copy them (or use the originals). Look for the table shown on the following page.

Step 2

Record your starting body weight and body fat composition. Starting on Monday morning, get up, pee, and get onto the digital scale. Weigh yourself in the nude before taking a shower, then record it. Record your body fat composition percentage, a number you get from your digital scale.

Reasons for knowing your starting body weight are self-explanatory, but why should you also know your body fat composition? Two reasons. First, body weight fluctuates. From day to day, the amount of water our bodies hold changes our weight without giving us much information that pertains to health. Second, in the first few weeks and months, your weight might not change at all. This is because as you exercise, your muscles will strengthen and grow. Muscles weigh more than fat, so as you lose fat, you might not lose weight. Nevertheless, you’ll be healthier than you were before you started. One way to measure this healthy trend is by checking to see if your body fat composition goes down. Health, not weight loss, is the real goal here.

Step 3

Before you put on any clothing, measure your waist circumference. To do this correctly, stand up straight. Your waist is located above your belly button and below your rib cage. Hold the end of the tape measure just above your belly button and...