The holidays are a tough time to maintain or start healthy habits. With temptation around every bend, even the most diligent eaters and exercisers can get thrown off.

But this season, I’m trying to lose a few. Not because I’m worried about how much I actually weigh, but because after 5 months of eating like a breast-feeding mom (read: wolfing down every treat I come across) and barely exercising, I’m finally ready to give this area of my life some attention.

I’m not going to set big goals or even count calories – because both of those things turn me into a crazy person – but rather use my favorite food & exercise journal (which you can get for 20% off here using the code EME20) to jot down what I’m eating and plan ahead for exercise. I have a feeling that simply seeing my habits on paper, and attempting more deliberate behavior, will really give me the push I need to get back into a healthier lifestyle.

My goals for the next 6 weeks are to:

1. Consciously indulge in treats. This means saving my indulgences for things I really love or things I know are coming up later in the day or week.
2. Move around for at least 30 minutes everyday. Most days this will simply be walking Lucy to school (2.7 miles round trip with some BIG hills), but I hope to also fit in some strength training and pilates when I can.
3. Drink more water. Even though I’m breastfeeding and need more water than usual, I haven’t been making this a priority.
4. Sit down for meals. I’ve been eating most meals standing up in the kitchen as I make food for the rest of the family – this is the opposite of what I believe in and never very satisfying.

Here’s the tool I’ll be using:

fitbook lite is the newest fitbook family member and designed to help people make small tweaks that add up to reasonable weight loss over the course of 6 weeks.

(Let me quickly say that this is NOT a sponsored post and I’m only sharing fitbook with you because I think it is such a wonderful tool).

The tweak I’m most excited about – and think I really need right now – is the “Stop by 9” rule.

So often I find myself snacking, blogging, shopping online, zoning out to the TV, and staying up way too late simply out of habit. I think addressing this part of the day could really improve how I feel, how I sleep, and even increase the amount of quality time I spend with my husband – novel idea!

Monday was my first day of journaling. Even seeing one day on paper helped to shift my habits for the rest of the week.

If you’re in need of something to help you lose or maintain weight during this holiday season, I highly recommend getting one of these little journals.

My friends at fitbook are kindly giving Eating Made Easy readers 20% off everything on their site, with the discount code EME20. Now’s the time to stock up or do some holiday shopping!

I’ll be sharing how I’m doing this month on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. If you decide to work at some similar goals, we can do it together and keep each other motivated!