How long do you have your clients keep a food log?
That definitely depends on the goals of the client. As has been stated here, if weight loss is a goal, I definitely provide my client with a food log that’s in a user-friendly format because I know what a hassle it can be for most people to keep a food log. It’s difficult sometimes to get clients to understand that the research shows that people who keep food logs lose more weight on average and keep it off. I’ve found that most of the time, people will look at what their eating and if they’re sensible, they can look back and say… whoa… I’ve been eating terribly/well/whatever.
Sometimes you have to know when to cut your losses and try a different approach because some people just will NOT fill out a food log no matter how important or relevant you make it appear.
I have yet to have a client that didn’t completely fill out at least one food log within the first two weeks, which is a good track record in my opinion. Even if I only have one week to go off of, it’s usually enough to make a pretty good judgement about eating habits.