According to new research, your greatest weight loss tool may be your camera. And no, it’s not so you can remind yourself about how you look, it’s about recording the food you eat.

Instead of the traditional method of keeping a written food diary, researchers tested the idea of keeping a visual food diary, where you take photographs of everything you ate. And it proved to be a success!

The team of American scientists asked the group of 43 dieters to record what they ate in words as well as pictures. After one week, the dieters were convinced the photos helped them make better choices.

One dieter told the researchers, 'I noticed that there weren't too many greens in my diet, which means I should try to eat more vegetables and fruits.'

Another spoke of the desire to eat less simply because they were too embarrassed to take the photos. 'I was less likely to have a jumbo bag of M&Ms. It curbed my choices. It didn't alter them completely but who wants to take a photo of a jumbo bag of M&Ms?'

Past studies have shown dieters have up to three times more success when they simply make notes of what they eat. Drag out your digital camera, and you may just be able to increase that success rate.

What a shame we don’t have the excuse of running out of film anymore.