WEEK 31
Day 211: On a Simple Adherence Hack
Photograph all meals or snacks prior to eating. Subjects who use food diaries lose three times as much weight as those who don’t.
Photographing all that you eat will make you more aware of what you put in your mouth. It will make you pause and think before you cheat because there will be a clear consequence of it: a picture that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that you didn’t stick to your resolutions.
Such a simple hack can provide tremendous benefits or even be the single thing that will finally make you stick to your diet in the long term.
I can attest to the benefits of this approach: when I was on a diet, I used to track my food intake to make sure that I hit my nutritional targets for the day. If I ate something, it had to be noted in the spreadsheet. This made it more difficult to cheat because I could immediately see when and how much I was exceeding my planned caloric intake for the day.
This trick doesn’t just apply to dieting. You can also use it successfully for other goals. For example
:
- If you want to become an early riser, take a picture of your clock the moment you get out of bed.
- If you want to become more fit, record a video of your every workout or jot down the exercises you did, the amount of weight that you lifted, the number of reps, sets, and the duration of your session.
- If you want to save more money, photograph any purchase that isn’t a necessity.