How to use a photo diary to get better results for customers

Here is an unpopular opinion …

Registering and tracking macro-style foods (consider: MyFitnessPal) is NOT the best way to educate your customers about nutrition.

Here, I said it. Now listen to me…

I have been a nutrition coach for more than 10 years and have worked with more than 1000 clients. I now use my knowledge and skills to help fitness owners and trainers develop and systematize their own business, so I can see how coaching methods work on a large scale.

I have tried many different styles of nutrition coaching over the last decade: entirely macro-based, habit coaching s food tracking and entirely based on habits without any macros.

What if I told you that when I stopped clients from counting macros, they experienced:

• Better results
• Higher compliance
• A happier trip
• Less stress
• Better to eat intuition
• Longer coach / client relationship

Well, that’s exactly what happened.

Make no mistake: I don’t hate macros. They definitely have their place.

(Connected: The complete guide to using and learning macros.)

But for 99 percent of customers, I just think there is a better way.

So what is this?

Photos, people. Photos.

I have clients who watch what they eat by photographing their food.

It’s simple, easy and effective – and you get high compliance as a result.

But the best part? It provides more information and training opportunities than conventional tracking.

I know what some of you are saying:

“You can’t determine calories or macros with photos alone!”

Does not matter.

When it comes to food, there are more important details than WHAT customers eat.

And the photos help you see what macro-tracking can’t do: the full picture.

However, to get the most out of them, you will need to know what to look for.

I have a method for this.

I call this method 5 Ws.

Who, when, where, why and what.

Let me explain each one, along with the coaching opportunities they present.

(And for more nutrition, health and coaching tips, sign up for PN’s FREE weekly newsletter, The smartest coach in the room.)

1. Who do they eat with?

Who someone eats with can affect the choice of food they make, as well as the amount of food they eat.

Have you ever had a friend who eats super healthy? Have you ever made healthier choices while eating with this person?

The opposite is also true. It’s more tempting to go crazy on a Friday night when your friend, partner or colleague is also indulging.

Sometimes just helping your client realize that he tends to overeat around a certain person can change the game. (And no, I’m not proposing to end the relationship.)

2. When do they eat?

Did your client (inadvertently) wait for lunch until 3 pm because he was busy or not planning properly?

Here is an example where this type of information can be extremely useful. If you find a pattern of missed meals, you can see why this happens and:

• Option 1: Help your client build more structure in their day to prevent food shortages
• Option 2: Invent “if-then” scenarios when this happens. Example: “If I miss my lunch, then I will receive an XYZ meal / snack”

3. Where do they eat?

You can learn a lot by looking at your client’s nutrient environment.

➤ Do they sit at their desk in front of the keyboard and work at noon? They may not take the time to chew their food thoroughly, which can lead to overeating.

Here you can work on eating up to 80 percent full as the next step.

(Find out more: How to eat up to 80% satiety)

➤ Do they sit on the couch and watch TV? They can eat pointlessly, another reason people overeat.

In this case, you can focus on learning to eat slowly.

(Look: The 30-day slow eating challenge.)

➤ Do they eat at dinner table? This is great! They seem to take time to eat and develop great habits here. (Can you tell the bright spots?)

➤ Does their food seem to come from their own kitchen or is in containers for export? If your customer registers chicken, broccoli and sweet potatoes in a traditional food tracking diary, you don’t know if it’s homemade or taken from a local fast-food restaurant, potentially loaded with hidden oils and lots of sodium.

This could be an opportunity to teach them different cooking techniques and explain why home-cooked food may be a better choice for their purposes.

4. Why do they eat?

As coaches, we would really benefit from asking this question more often.

Do people always eat out of hunger? Hardly.

People eat for many reasons and hunger is often not the driving force. For example, people often eat because they are happy, sad, stressed, tired, thirsty or bored, or it may be due to the environment, habit, culture or tradition.

If you find that this is a customer stressful eating, you could help them find ways to better manage their stress, such as meditation and exercise.

Or maybe they are a social butterfly for them too, nutrition is part of the social experience.

You can work with your client in ways to make the best possible choice while celebrating with friends and family, instead of feeling like they need to stay home.

Ignoring the many reasons your customer eats can make them feel that something is wrong with them. Instead, help them develop the tools to lean on their WHY in a positive way.

5. What do they eat?

For me, this is the least important question. Because I don’t think there is a great opportunity for a coach here.

If your customer doesn’t make a great choice, you’re more likely to play one of the other 5 W’s.

How exactly does it work?

Here are some practical tips for putting this strategy into practice.

➤ Use photo registration when you join customers. During the first two weeks of working together, I have clients who take pictures of their meals every day.

They then upload the photos to folders organized by meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks, for example.

After the first two weeks, I let the client choose if he wanted to continue taking pictures.

➤ Look for models. You may notice that your customer often skips breakfast or snacks while feeling hungry throughout the day.

These models provide a great starting point for your coaching.

(You can encourage your client to look for patterns while eating by using resources such as Precision Nutrition Journal of Food Behavior and Newspaper How food feels.)

➤ Do it together. I don’t usually do official “reviews” of diaries with photos of clients.

You never want your customer to feel valued.

Instead, try asking questions about their photos, instead of making statements about what you see.

For example, you might ask: How did this breakfast work for you? How did you feel a few hours later?

➤ Let your customer suggest the next steps. After working together to identify some areas for improvement, ask your client how he or she feels he or she can change with confidence.

Here they decide a new action to practice.

My goal is not to persuade you to abandon macros.

(Especially if this approach works great for you.)

Rather, I want to share an alternative tool that has profoundly influenced the way I train.

I’m trying.

I know it can be scary, but in my experience with over a thousand people, you will end up with better results and much happier, more balanced customers.

If you are a coach or want to be …

Learning how to educate clients, patients, friends or family members through healthy eating and lifestyle changes – in a way that is personalized for their unique body, preferences and circumstances – is both an art and a science.

If you want to learn more about both, consider Level 1 precision nutrition certification.