Photo Tracking Made Easy – Make Massive Fitness Gains with a Simple Click

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I recently wrote about how daily tracking can help you make the changes you want in your life.

Today, I thought I would provide an option that might work better for you than the written check list, especially if you are a visual person.

(Not familiar with the Hawthorne Effect? Go check out the last article to see how this principle can make the changes you want happen almost automatically.)

Photo tracking is simply a different way of recording your progress. Instead of a check mark or dash, simply take a photo at pre-determined times.

These photos serve three different purposes: they help you become more aware of your choices, act as motivation to get started, and help to continually build your motivation as you progress.

It can be as simple or involved a process as you like.

Simple Diet Tracking

Let’s say that we have someone who wants to lose weight. To this end, they only make one change.

They don’t go on a diet, start a new exercise routine, or begin taking some magic pill.

They simply take photos of everything they eat, before taking the first bite. In fact, they don’t even have to set up a time to review all of these photos (though that would be ideal and make it much more effective).

Simply by taking a picture of everything they eat, they become more aware of their eating habits. Because they were forced to be conscious of what they were about to eat, some choices became less of a default.

Our hypothetical person doesn’t want to take a picture of a bag of M&M’s, so they decide not to have a snack, or choose a healthier one instead.

Initial Motivation

Perhaps it is a photograph that serves as the initial motivation to get started.

The same person might have had a picture taken of themselves and realized that they didn’t like what they saw. Instead of throwing the picture away, they hung it on the refridgerator door as a reminder and resolved to make the necessary changes to become the person that they wanted to be.

(Furthermore, every time they wanted to go and grab a snack they are forced to confront themselves and are reminded to stay strong and reach their goal.)

Positive Encouragement

Photo tracking doesn’t have to be all negative, however. By visually tracking something you can actually see the progress that you are making, which will make you excited and raise your morale. This uplifting cycle will help you stay motivated.

Instead of a diet, our example person decided to start exercising and takes a picture of herself on the first of each month. That first photo still goes on the front of the fridge as a daily reminder. The second photo, however, is used to see how much progress has been made.

How much thinner they look, how much more muscle can be seen, etc. “I look great! I can’t wait to see what the next photo shows!” The third photo continues the process, further reinforcing the cycle.

Before and after photos can help make huge changes possible.

Necessary Equipment

In today’s world, you probably already have everything that you need in your purse or pocket. Many cell phones come with built-in cameras. These are more than sufficient to snap the photos that you need, whether you decide to record what you eat or your physical appearance.

It is often fairly simple to transfer them to a computer, as well, so that you can place them into a separate folder and organize them chronologically. Then you will have an easy way to see your progress.

How can photo tracking help you?

This post was written by Fit Marriage contributor Matthew. Be sure to follow his adventures as a motorcycle riding minimalist who loves his life at Adventure-some.com and on Twitter. Matthew is also part of the team over at the all-new Fit Nation.

(photo source)