Lately, I found that I’ve become more focused on calories than healthy, clean eating. To move my focus back to healthy eating, I’ve decided to take a break from MyFitnessPal to try something new, DietSnaps.

DietSnaps combines my need for an online food log with my fondness for Instagram. Essentially, it’s like any other food journal, except that you take pictures of what you eat and drink instead of writing it down. But unlike MyFitnessPal and other online journals, it doesn’t detail calories and nutrition information. And more importantly, it doesn’t give that “mess with my head message” of “If every day were like today, you would weigh ### in five weeks.”

I started using MyFitnessPal to journal my food intake and provide a weekly report to my nutrition counselor. It’s great for that, and I also love the social aspect of it. But I found myself worrying more about that message than what I was actually putting in my mouth. I was starting to obsess with calories, and at least for me, that isn’t a good thing.

After two years with a nutrition counselor – not to mention years and years of “dieting” – I know what to eat and what not to eat. I know to avoid fast and processed foods, eat more vegetables and plant-based foods, and treat myself well, but sparingly. That, along with regular exercise, is how I’ve gotten healthier and lost 90-something lbs. Yes, calories were important, but not emphasized. If I ate/eat like I should, the calories take care of themselves.

If that’s the case, some of you may ask why even do a food log then? Experts agree that recording what you consume is a vital part of losing weight and keeping it off. It’s as simple as that.

I’ve just started using DietSnaps; today is just my second day. But already, I feel less pressure on meeting that “magic number” of calories. I’ll check back in next week to report how this new journaling method is working.