If you suffer from heart disease or have had a heart attack, exercise is one of the most important things that you can do. So why do so many of us set out with good intentions but soon lose motivation.

It is normally down to two factors

1) Your progress is slow and we do realise the benefits that we are getting.

2) you miss a few days and your exercise program goes to the back of your mind.

There are no doubts about the benefits. There have been a number of studies that show that exercise after a heart attack will speed up recovery time, contribute to a better quality of life and increase survival rates. This also applies to heart disease and exercise.

The benefits include

1) Weight loss

2) Increased circulation

3) Lowering of Cholesterol

4) Overall fitness levels

5) Emotional benefits

6) Increase in confidence

The challenge is not normally the actual exercise; it is the fact that you need to exercise regularly over a period of time.

When you are first diagnosed with heart disease symptoms, or are recovering from a heart attack you are full of good intentions. You notice the small increases in your fitness levels, you are pleased with the couple of pounds weight loss, and you are over the moon when you can walk another 10 minutes without getting breathless.

But as your fitness improves, your improvements become less dramatic.. As time goes by, the original reasons for your exercise program fades in significance and your incentive become less. So one day you don't exercise and soon you are not exercising at all. You go back to your old ways and within a short period of time your health has deteriorated again.

So how can you keep on track?

By keeping a journal of your progress, your reasons, your starting point, your goals, every small benefit; you will see how much progress that you have made. This alone is usually enough to keep you on track in the short term.

The long-term benefits of journalling can be even more beneficial. When you look back at entries that you made twelve months earlier you will have one of two reactions. You will either be so pleased at your progress that you will have a renewed enthusiasm to achieve more, or you will get such a shock at how you have slipped back into old habits that you will be motivated to set new goals.

The most beneficial way to keep a health journal is use a simple, yet powerful software program that enables you to record daily entries, but which also give you the facility to have separate notebook style entries that enable you to set up pages that are topic related and not stored by date.

The best programs also have facilities to include photographs, links to news items, appointment reminders, and many other facilities which makes your journal much more powerful and will help you to stick to your health regime.