health tips

To take photos that accurately track your progress, ones you can actually show to friends (or send to us), here are the five essential tips you must follow.

Take your shirt off, even in the Before photo. Yes, you should feel embarrassed. You’ll have that much more motivation to make a change. But leave your pants on, please. Or wear shorts. Do not, under any circumstances, pose in your jnderwear — you’re not in a Calvin Klein ad… yet.

Its OK to look pathetic in your before shot and triumphant in the after but don’t accentuate it by blowing out your stomach or grinning like a madman. You’ll get a better sense of how much your body has changed by standing in the same positions for both rounds of photos. Once you begin your transformation, take a new set of photos every four to eight weeks, so you can see your body’s gradual changes.

Don’t flex or act crazy. But you can try some of the “mandatory poses.” Stand relaxed with your shoulders back, and take pictures of you from the front, sides, and back.

Use a digital camera — not a 35mm, not an old cell phone, and definitely not a Polaroid. Stand against a white or light-colored background without anything else behind you and pick a
well-lit room so you can avoid using a flash. Or at least take one with and one without, so you have a couple of options to decide between.

The picture should be of you alone — that means no friends, pets, or tropical paradises in the background. These don’t convey a realistic idea of the transformation.