There are two versions of this weight loss challenge. One is for those who tend to binge eat and are considered emotional eaters. The other is for those who are not.
Choose the version that best describes you. Not sure if you are an emotional eater? Read up about it here. I was looking for a solution on how to stop emotional eating and I couldn’t find one that helped me so I made this journal to help myself. I am hoping that it might help others too. I find that when I sleep enough, express gratitude and do nice things for myself every day I don’t want to binge eat. The problem is that sometimes life gets hectic, stress gets in the way and I land up eating again. This 30 day journal keeps me accountable and ensures that I do the things that make me feel good. When I feel good about myself, I want to give my body nutritious whole foods instead of processed foods and foods with added sugar.
The regular 30-day challenge does not deal with wellness, self-love and gratitude. However, even for those who don’t binge eat, these are things that are important to incorporate in your day-to-day life and can improve your mood and outlook on life.
47 Pages
41 Pages
This 47-page booklet includes the guidelines for your challenge, planners to help you track and stick to the 30-day weight loss challenge, and tools to help you when your willpower fades. Each person will have different goals and objectives which is why this booklet is totally customizable so that it works for YOU. Each page has various options to enable you to choose the best option for you. There are many 30-day challenge ideas for weight loss in the journal. Feel free to skip pages that you don’t think will be helpful to you. Go through each page below and if you don’t want to print it then you can select another version that works for you. Put all the pages together and file them in a binder. To print another version of any page, click on the link next to that page where you can select another version of that printable and customize it before you print it.
If you like to color and embellish your journal then feel free to make it yours!
What to do when you want to binge
Motivational Quotes
There are many motivational quotes in the journal. Print them all or only the ones that you like, They will keep you motivated.
Water Tracker
Workout Tracker
Decide on a workout routine that will work for you and schedule it in this workout calendar for the next 30 days. Each day, mark the workout once you complete it. There is a key on the right-hand side. Mark cardio workouts with any color – say pink. Then, when you schedule a cardio workout in the calendar, use a pink pen or a pink highlighter.
Which workout should you do? If you are lucky enough to have a personal trainer, then your trainer can help you schedule workouts according to your fitness goals. If not, find a fitness program that works for you. There are many programs online for different difficulty levels.
If you don’t have time for a long workout each day, then why not try the 7-minute workout for Apple or Android. With these apps, you’ll feel like you have a personal trainer since they guide you on proper form and motivate you. The Apple app even gauges your fitness and motivation level and recommends different workout programs along with intensity increases. They include fat-burning exercises as well as those that develop your muscles with your body weight (you don’t need dumbbells or any other equipment). If you have a mat, then that’s great but you can do them anywhere without any equipment.
If you need more detailed workout logs you can find them for free on this site.
Don’t forget to consult with your doctor before you start exercising.
The Rules – 4 Habits you will work on for the next 30 days
This is a 30-day challenge but that isn’t really the goal. The goal is to get a taste of a new lifestyle that you can sustain forever. In order to do this, we will need to change old habits with new healthy habits. Remember, if you don’t make any changes then nothing will change!
When I first did this challenge, I decided that I would go 30 days without sugar and from the second week I would give up white bread as well. The next time I did it I cut out white bread from day 1. Make rules that will work for you.
Sleep Tracker
If you don’t have this problem, then feel free to skip this page.
Motivation
This section is important for your mindset. It will help motivate you to complete the challenge. If you have moments when you want to abandon your new healthy lifestyle then open this section and read it again.
Add a picture that motivates you
What are the reasons you want to lose weight?
When you need motivation then look back at these two pages.
Commitment Contract
Another way to get motivation is via a commitment contract. This is not part of the journal but you can print it and add it. Open the Commitment Contract and either type in your details before you print or fill out the printed form afterward. Don’t forget to sign it as this is a binding agreement!
Weight Loss Tracker
These weight loss tracker printables will track both your weight and your measurements. Sometimes we don’t see a loss on the scale and we get frustrated. Make an effort to add your measurements to prevent this frustration if it happens.
Add your measurements of your arms, hips, chest, waist, and thighs (right leg and left leg) before and after the challenge.
Self Love and Gratitude
There are many pages to express gratitude and to encourage self-love. When I feel better about myself I want to respect my body and feed it nutritious food.
Week 1, 2, 3 and 4
The next sections of the weight loss journal are divided into four weeks. Each week has the following pages:
Menu Plan and Food Log
This section is related to nutrition but there are no diet plans here. Either consult with your doctor or choose a diet plan that you know works for you. Whatever you do, don’t deprive yourself. Prepare delicious food that you will enjoy without too many restrictions. It is better to lose weight slowly and to keep it off than to lose more and gain it back when you start eating “normally”. Try to make healthy changes that you can stick to long term. I personally try to eat according to Michael Pollan’s book “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” where his motto is to “eat food mainly plants”. The idea is to eat real food (as opposed to processed food) and eat mainly plants (for each meal your plate should be more than half full of vegetables).
This is a menu plan to plan your meals.
This is a food log to log what you actually ate. When I write down what I eat, I tend to eat less. There is a section for breakfast, lunch, supper, and a snack or two.
Grocery List
In order to start this 30-day challenge, you need to ensure that you have the healthy foods that you commit to eating at home. Choose the grocery list that best suits your needs.
Make sure that you go shopping before you start if you are not stocked up with healthy foods for the first day at least.
Make a Bucket List for the 30 days
One of the most difficult parts of a 30-day weight loss challenge is overcoming cravings for the things that you are not eating during your 30-day challenge. My goal for the challenge was to go without sugar for 30 days and there were times when my kids’ candy bars were tormenting me. I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
The goal of this bucket list is to think of a few things that you will do during the 30 days to shift your focus on to other things that are not related to the cravings that you might have during your 30-day challenge.
Here are some ideas from my bucket list (feel free to add my ideas to your list or to make up your own list): try 2 new fruits that I don’t usually eat, try 5 new vegetables that I don’t usually cook, make 2 new healthy recipes that I haven’t tried before, go snorkeling, play basketball with my kids (besides spending quality time with my kids it keeps me busy and burns calories but somehow I rarely take the time to do it), have a picnic dinner at the beach, buy one new product that I have never tried from a health store and use it, go ice skating with my kids.
If you are looking for things to keep yourself busy during the 30 days then you can use this time to create a longer bucket list for the rest of your life.
Print a Bucket List
Journal Pages
There are some blank journal pages to write as often as you want to. There are many benefits of journaling.
For example, you can write about the following:
List of Things to Do When Your Willpower Fades
There will be times when you want to stop the challenge because your willpower fades and you will consider starting “tomorrow”. A craving is a feeling that passes if we let it and don’t act on it.
Make a list of things to take your mind off your cravings when they hit. My list includes things like taking a bubble bath, manicure, or pedicure, going to try on clothes at my favorite store, making a healthy smoothie, tidying my cupboard, watching a movie, going for a walk, calling a friend, experimenting with makeup.
Try to think of things that will make you feel better about yourself.
Are you wondering if this is not the same as the bucket list that you prepared earlier? That list is for things that you want to get done even though you don’t usually do them. This list is for things that you know that you love doing but might not think of doing when a craving starts. For example, a bubble bath isn’t something that you would put on your bucket list but it will probably make you feel better until your craving passes.
If you have any more 30-day weight loss challenge ideas then please leave a comment below.