A JOURNALING JOURNALIST

It comes as no surprise that I like writing. I mean, I do it for a living, so words are my thing. (Excel spreadsheets? Keep thee away from me. *makes cross signs*)

But beyond writing, what really gets me excited about journaling is that I get to really sit back and take stock of everything that I've done, and record the feelings I had along the journey. 

So it felt my birthday had come early when Alex told us to collect our journals for the FFL program! 

And it's also not a big surprise that I spent yesterday's lunchtime filling in all the records and thoughts I'd squirreled away for the first week, and logging my entry for the day. 

So. Cathartic. 

The journal is really easy to follow, with learning pointers to jot down every day, a workout and nutrition log, a sleep counter and a mood recorder too.

Plus, lots of other useful tidbits like where to get groceries, a breakdown of the program's phases and the types of training we should be doing to mix things up.

I'm such a visual person that when I looked at everything I'd done in the first week, it became so much clearer to me all at once. I could see the exact days I felt like I was doggone drained, when I had dull headaches, when I was especially low in energy, when I started feeling more like a regular human again, and also precisely when ketosis started to kick in for me and my body started to turn to fat as a fuel because my glycogen stores were depleted. 

If I ever need something to remind me to stick it and say NO to fries during the program, this will be it. Nothing deters more than reading about your transgressions in your own handwriting.