Progress photos aren’t a requirement to lose fat.
Sure, they help.
But a great coach can get a good idea of what’s going on just by monitoring how well you nail the daily process, combined with a few basic measurements and feedback on how well your clothes are fitting.
But if you do take photos—excluding someone VERY lean and/or preparing for a physique contest—MORE frequent is seldom better.
Truth be told, frequent progress photos can be incredibly demotivating, especially for beginners.
A very real challenge with photos that gets zero attention is LIGHTING.
Everything from the type, temperature, and direction of the light will have a DRAMATIC impact on your perceived body composition. Many dramatic “before and after” shots have been taken 5 minutes apart with nothing but a different source of light and proper posing.
To make it worse, most of us are taking selfies with unforgiving frontal lighting that leaves the body looking washed-out and FLAT.
And we haven’t even factored in considerations like outfits, flushed skin, water retention, “food babies,” or the fact that yesterday’s pics were taken with a raging pump.
But my main issue with frequent progress photos is psychological: even under perfectly consistent conditions, the difference between pictures taken even two weeks apart might not reflect all the hard work you’ve put into the process—leaving you more than a little deflated.
Think of it like this, a watched pot doesn’t actually boil any slower. But it sure as hell FEELS like it does.
Your body isn’t much different in that regard.
So keep the selfies to a minimum, or at least stop looking for the changes.
Watched pots don’t boil.
Watched bodies don’t change.
— Coach Bryan