One of the most effective tools we use in helping clients lose weight is to encourage them to keep of daily journal or log of everything they eat and drink.  This serves several important and key elements in the weight loss process including how many calories you’re eating (food volume), what kinds of foods your eating (proteins, carbs, and fats), and the proportion of processed versus whole foods you’re eating.

It’s a fact… people who consistently keep a daily food journal lose TWICE as much weight than people who don’t and “wing it” when it comes to sticking to one of our weight loss eating plans.  And keeping a Daily Food Journal or Log and tracking everything you eat and drink can be done by actually writing it down or by using an online food log system like DailyPlate.com, FitDay.com, or Cronometer.com.

But you can now take your daily food journaling to a whole new, more effective level that also trains your brain over time to become more “food intuitive” so that selecting the right foods and portions become automated.  How?

Simple: Take a picture of everything you eat with your Smartphone and email it to someone who will keep you accountable.

Now at first glance, you may be wondering how this could possibly help you stick to your weight loss eating plan and ultimately get you to your weight loss goal.  But the research and our own professional weight loss coaching experience demonstrate that it can be even more effective in helping you lose weight… FASTER.

Research shows that the act of taking a picture of your food BEFORE you take a bite helps you to be more conscious of what you are eating and is more effective than keeping a written food journal.  Actually “seeing” the food encourages you to make healthier choices and encourages proper portion control.

Here Are The Facts…

  • If you are looking to lose weight, you will tend to make better food choices, knowing that it will be photographed.
  • Having to take a photo of your food will force you to think consciously about what you are eating, and keeps you focused on your nutrition goals.
  • When your food intake is photographed, areas in your diet that need improvement may become more obvious.
  • It will help to keep you honest. You cannot ‘forget’ some items or pretend that certain calories don’t count, as you may with a food diary.
  • The food photos can serve as a reminder about nutrition goals such as having the right servings of fruit, veggies, protein, good fats, and certain starches each day.
  • Making a “live record” of your meal images and sending them by email to your coach allows them to “course-correct” almost immediately when necessary to keep you on the path of reaching your weight loss goals in the timeframe you have set for yourself. By seeing your application of the recommended Eating Plan directly in your daily lifestyle, it allows your coach to help you implement it more effectively, identify gaps in your diet, and give better feedback on the quality and portion sizes of your choices.

But That’s Not All…

Taking a snapshot picture of every “major” meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) before you eat it using your cell phone’s camera not only provides instantaneous intervention BEFORE diet damage is created at a particular meal, but it further trains your brain to become visually acute in building meals you’re going to eat both at home and when eating out.

It is your “visual” food journal and has widespread positive implications in accelerating your way to reach your weight loss goals.

And by sending a snapshot of each of your meals to a person who will be your “accountability coach” on a consistent basis, you end up becoming more intuitive in what you eat and how you eat it.  You’ll find that a picture can be worth 1,000 calories and this “food awareness training” will empower you to take charge of your eating once and for all and more easily maintain your weight once you reach your goal.  You can even do this with a friend who also has to lose some weight and you can be each other’s “accountability coach.”

Want Even More Sophisticated…

If you’re a Smartphone user and really want to take control of having a “visual food log”, then consider purchasing an app that will help you keep your meal pictures logged and organized right on your phone.  With a simple app called dietSNAPS, you can take your meal pictures, label them, organize them, and email them too… right to your favorite weight loss coach.

For more information about the dietSNAPS app, visit dietsnaps.com

Thanks for stopping by to read this post.  Let me know what you think by dropping me a comment below.

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