"Train like a beast, look like a beauty." -Cassey Ho
(photo: property of ogorgeous.com)
Fitness is an important part of my life. I ran cross country for three years and for about 2 and a half years I swore off soda. Cassey Ho is a pilates instructor who has a YouTube channel called Blogilates. I discovered Blogilates about two years ago (around the time her Call Me Maybe workout came out) and I haven't looked back. Although I am not an avid POPster who does all her videos, I still stuck around because she is so positive and enthusiastic about living a clean, healthy lifestyle and that is the kind of motivation that I need in my life. People probably don't think I need to lose a lot of weight (I'm 5'6" and weigh around 110-115) but I have a pretty unhealthy diet and I don't really exercise that often. I want to be able to run long distance and do an entire pilates workout without stopping. I want to say that I ate clean for a whole week. And I want to have fun doing it.
Enter, the Blogilates Fit Journal
I bought this at Cassey's online shop for $30 (http://www.ogorgeous.com/product/blogilates-fit-journal-1). It's is a 12 week journal that you use to record EVERYTHING about your diet and fitness routine. I started this on February 10th so I have finished my first week.
I love everything about this fit journal. The color, design, art, layout, EVERYTHING!!! As you can see in the picture above (yes, it's my journal) I listed some weekly goals, none of which I had accomplished...but I have 11 more weeks to redeem myself. It lists all the days of the week to which I wrote the actual day and any holidays. I wasn't sure what else I could put in the space but I really want to utilize all the blank space (any ideas??). It has a place where you write your weight and cute smiley faces that you color in when you ate a healthy meal/worked out.
Each week starts out with an introduction, the photos vary week by week but the overall layout is consistent. The colored pages are made of a cardstock-like material and these white pages are like computer paper. As you can tell, I am definitely the kind of person who uses and abuses colored pens. Be thankful they only came in 4 colors. But they came in a pack of 10 and so far none of them have run out. The last time I bought colored pens they lasted me all through high school and there were only four of them. Aside from that little story, this is what the inside of the journal looks like. As I said before, I absolutely love the layout. Cassey definitely thought of everything. I didn't even think about things like water consumption and sleep. She has outlined everything so well that I'm forced to write weird things in the notes sections like what the weather was like outside or maybe my moods and feelings (Internet-High-Five for cat calls, gotta love college life). Meals are a priority and writing out what I eat and when I eat it has definitely made me more aware of what I'm putting in my body. You can also tell when you overeat when you can't fit everything in the lines provided. I also love the workout section. There are different ways to get your daily fix. It's actually kind of perfect because I have 3 ways to workout: running, which is my cardio, yoga, helps my flexibility, and pilates, which gives me a strength workout. You can see that on Valentine's Day I did some strength workouts by doing some of her pilates videos and on February 15 I did a 30 minute run.
At the end of each week there is an evaluation page which I think is really important (another reason Cassey is a genius). It is almost like a school worksheet. I basically looked at my daily pages and decided what grade I should give myself based on my performance. I think that is crucial. And after evaluating my week, I then list some pros and cons. Week 1 acted as a baseline to see where I currently was and now that I have looked back and analyzed my habits, I can work on improving myself. Thanks Cassey! You have taken away the chore of healthy eating and exercise (well...some of it). You are so amazing. I don't know if you will ever see this post but on the off chance that you happen to stumble onto this blog, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I never thought I would have so much fun with this. I get to be a 13 year old and play with my colored pens and relish in the accomplishments of writing down my workouts.
After I have gone though all 12 weeks, it won't stop there. I want to buy another fit journal and do it all over again. I can imagine it takes a lot of work to put these together and to get the art made, but if you could release another edition of the fit journal with new designs and colors that would be the cherry on top. Maybe a year or two from now I would have a collection of fit journals, like diaries. I probably wouldn't go back and see what I ate on my birthday, but I think I would use it as a symbol of the hard work I had done all those weeks. But I understand you are a busy busy person so I guess this one will do for now.
Eleven more weeks to go.
