Posting pictures of your food on Instagram makes you eat more, health influencers claim

Bigger portions + more toppings = all the likes.

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Everyone knows that a plain stack of pancakes isn’t going to set the world on fire on Instagram.

So what do you do to make your brunch Insta-worthy?

Why, you add a dollop of nut butter, a handful of artfully placed strawberries cut into heart shapes, a drizzle of maple syrup (preferably poured from a height and drizzling down the side of the pancakes), some raw chocolate squares and a slice of cheesecake for good measure.

That’s how you know you’re going to reel in those all important likes.

But it’s easy to forget that adding all these finishing touches to our meals in order to make them look more impressive also results in us eating a lot more than we need to.

And now, one fitness influencer has hammered that point home in a striking post.

Amanda Meixner, 26, is a health blogger from Ohio trying to raise awareness about the importance of portion control.

In a recent post, she contrasts the “right portion” for her with the “Instagram worthy” equivalent.

Whilst the balanced meal consists of oats, a handful each of strawberries and blueberries, 20g of chocolate and a sprinkling of cinnamon and Stevia, the more Instagrammable dish contains twice the quantity of oats, blueberries and strawberries as well as a crumbled up protein cookie.

This means that the Instagram-worthy breakfast clocks in at 716 calories compared to 320, which would be an appropriate portion.

“The moment when people post oatmeal and they’re like ‘kept it super simple today’ and it’s like caramel chocolate, matcha toffee coffee oats with cocoa nibs, star fruit, bewitched peanut butter with bananas captured in the trees of Narnia,” Meixner wrote.

“In all seriousness, I’ve been guilty of this before! When you try to make your food extra pretty and overkill for the gram but really it’s way out of portion.”

But Meixner is not the only fitness influencer to have spoken out about the risk of overeating when trying to make your food look good for Instagram.

Chi Pham is one of various Instagrammers who have also highlighted this issue.

Eating healthily is to be commended, of course. But if you’re trying to burn fat and are working out but not getting anywhere, the chances are you need to look at your portion size.

Don’t be fooled by Instagram - not every meal you make has to be sprinkled with fairy dust, drizzled with unicorn tears and decorated with a glitter garnish.