Mental Health

While working towards your fitness goals, everything you read, view, follow, or watch on fitness will affect you somehow.  When I first started my fitness journey, I was unaware of how big an impact social media would play on my mental state. I didn’t realize that following people with the wrong energy or imagery could have a negative impact on my healthy mindset.   My goal is to provide you with some great pointers so that you build a positive social media network that will support your fitness goals and encourage you to continue moving forward.

Follow People Like You too!

When you are working hard towards your fitness goals and don’t feel that you’re achieving them fast enough, it is easy to become negative, especially when you are viewing other people’s success.  However, you must understand that not everyone on social media is truthful about how they obtained their body goals. Some may leave out facts about what they did to achieve their goals and others may have even had cosmetic assistance or taken steroids. And yes, this includes women fitness inspirations as well.

You must also realize that not everyone is at the same fitness level you are. There are fitness inspirations all over social media that have been training for 10+ years, and you should not expect to look like them without investing the same amount of time and consistency that they have invested.   Instead, you should follow ordinary people like yourself. I suggest following smaller pages and people who are trying to figure it out just like you are.  This will give you a good, healthy mix of people to follow that understand the fitness struggle.

How to find new people to follow!

Searching by hashtags (#) is the best way to find everyday people to network with. On Instagram, you can now follow hashtags! For example, following #Healthyeating or #Womenwholift can connect you with people around the world who are using that hashtag within their post.  Please remember not to get caught up on how many followers someone has. In fact, the people with the least number of followers usually have the most realistic post, and they’re typically less commercial and cliché sounding. Focus on looking at the content they are sharing. If they share a similar mindset, hit follow to gain more encouragement. On Facebook, a good way to find new people is by joining groups.  For example, you can perform a group search for “Health and Fitness”, and the search results will provide you with group suggestions, some of which may even meet in your local area. Once you find a group you like, join it! This will give you a new circle to mingle in.

Follow People Seasonally!

I recommend following people seasonally because it provides motivation based on the fitness goal you’re trying to achieve at that time.  If you are trying to get lean for the summer, then I would only follow people talking about and posting pics that scream, “GET LEAN!” These seasonal followings will help you keep tunnel vision and eliminate distractions.

If you are in a season of gaining healthy weight and trying to build muscle mass, then follow people who are trying to do the same thing. I would not suggest following people who are shredded because you need to focus on gaining healthy weight(muscle) before you try and shred. I have found that cycling who I follow, based on my goals, has helped me keep things in perceptive and provided me with an extra kick of encouragement.

Remove Negativity!

There are tons of pages and people out there that are not really helping you stay focused. Don’t be afraid to unfollow pages that are not helping you get closer to your goals. Your fitness success depends on your healthy mindset and on you surrounding yourself with positive influences. Remember that the key to continual progress is protecting your energy!