Have You Tried the Picture Diet?

July 28, 2010 admin 45 comments

: Image via Wikipedia

Hi,

Have you tried the picture diet?

No you don’t have to eat a picture of your food. But, you do have to take a picture of it.

Now there are several ways to help you stay on your diet. And support from others is a great way to help you.

After all if someone else is going through the same thing, you are actually motivated to help them and to do better yourself.

A coach is also another way to help you. Now you have somebody to answer to. This is another motivation.

Many people have used online support groups to help stay on their diets.

That doesn’t mean just fitness or diet sites and forums. Although these are great places to meet others that have the same motivations and desires as you do.

Even sites like Twitter and Facebook have plenty of people dieting and trying to get fit. You can find them easily with the built in search engines on the sites.

But, getting back to the picture diet. A study from my old alma matter – the U. of Wisconsin in Madison – had the research subjects take a photograph of everything they ate.
This actually helped them lose weight. The actual proof of what they put on their plates helped them stick to their diets.

Part of the reason was they focused on what and how much they were eating. If they had too much food they felt guilty.

If they had nothing but french fries, they realized that it was not a balanced meal.

This – in your face – proof of what they were eating and how often they were eating helped eliminate one of the problems of under counting calories.

Under counting calories is one of the main problems with diets. Most people say they have reduced their calories, but how do they really know unless they keep a food dairy and take their calculator and scale with them everywhere they go.

Seeing a picture eliminates the need for all of that. Now they can’t fool themselves into thinking they didn’t eat very much. If they have pictures of a day of eating a lot of food and not so good for you foods, then they know.

This is great motivation.

To take this a step further, post your pictures on your favorite social networking sites for all to see.

That will be another step in the motivation factor.

Dieting is not just about the physical. It is about your whole essence. This includes the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of your life.

Dieting is hard and it goes against your very nature. It is about depriving yourself. So if the picture diet helps you, then use it as another tool in your arsenal to get rid of those extra pounds.

Thanks,

Mike Val