Now more than anything else in human history have we been more focused on healthy living. But on the other hand, we have also been troubled by so many different health concerns. From the bad eating habits, less nutritious food choices, general pollution and the way of life which is less active than it used to be. Due to modernization and high technology people now barely have to get out of their homes to do daily shopping, work, or exercise.

And of course, social media also plays a part. It can be a positive thing. People don’t have to spend money and time on gym memberships and fitness classes. It can all be done in your own home. You can join a virtual class or even a session with a dietician or a nutritionist. All through your computer or a smartphone. You can see ads for weight loss regimes and personal diet plans every single day. Joining groups on social media where people focus on losing weight or joining a diet regime has become the norm. It’s a supply and demand market where now we have salesmen and women trying to interest us in their products and services. But sometimes for people who are so focused on solving their health and weight issues, it can be challenging. Because social media has started doing marketing more than reaching serious results. Weight loss gurus and health influencers have started making promises that they can’t deliver. Selling services that are not effective on normal people. Promising results is not achievable but for them, it’s all about the numbers. Numbers of paying customers, numbers of potential views, numbers of people who will buy their products. But not the number of people that will actually reach their goals. And sometimes the products don’t work. And the services they provide are not effective.

Social media and weight loss

I would be the first one to recommend to people not to spend a lot of money on expensive fitness and weight loss regimes. There are so many free options and videos online that you can try to become more active and aware of your health issues. You can choose from a vast array of different activities such as yoga, pilates, cardio workouts, dancing, and Zumba. Most of them you can watch for free and if you plan to join an online class they come with a small monthly fee.

But what I don’t like about them are the ways they are being promoted. Now imagine you are an ordinary person who just wants to lose weight. Maybe you don’t fit into your old clothes. Maybe you feel self-conscious and you just want to look like you before you had children. Or the way you were 5 or 10 years ago. We all have issues with our own bodies that we don’t like. And social influencers have started to prey on our vulnerabilities in a way that I find detestable. Almost all the headlines in fitness videos promise you a straight belly in 30 days, losing 5 kilos in a week or 20 kilos in a month. Is this achievable? Even if you tune up on such videos they are almost always led by people who have 0% body fat, are super fit, and have abs to crack nuts with.

For people who are already vulnerable and feel poor about themselves, poor enough to try to find a solution to their problems can be very misleading. In no healthy way can you lose that much weight in such a short amount of time? And I love it when they promise that they can target any part of your body to make it strong and fit when we all know it will never work. You can join their fitness plans but the goals are simply not achievable. And when after the set amount of time you see that there is not much difference and you haven’t lost as much as you were hoping for they just tell you that you didn’t try enough. They try to shift the blame on you and your lack of dedication. And it’s completely okay for them if you give up because they have so many new people joining daily that you are not a significant concern in their lives. But people get disappointed. They honestly start to think that there is something wrong with them. Some even can become depressed and start to hate their own bodies because they accept the blame.

The truth about weight loss

So next time you look for help through social media you need to focus on a couple of things. Decide what type of exercise is best for you at the moment. If you haven’t been active for a while I suggest focusing on light beginner routines to help you with mobility and building your body strength and endurance before you transition to more active routines.

Don’t believe the promises about how much weight you should lose. Weight loss is a personal journey different for each and every person. It starts slowly and progresses more as you implement more change into your life. If you want to set any specific goal I would suggest you start by deciding on how much of your time you can dedicate to being active. Is it going to be a couple of times a week or every single day? Once you have decided and arranged your schedule then just follow it.

Do not focus on only one type of exercise. It will become boring with time. It’s good to always combine it with some things you have never tried before like dancing or Zumba to keep it more fun and engaging. This way you will train different groups of muscles in your body and bring change to all of them.

Most importantly it’s not enough to just exercise. You need to drink more water, pay more attention to your food choices, and make sure you have enough rest. No exercise should cause you pain. Yes, you will feel muscle pain especially if you haven’t been active in a while. But no pain should last more than the end of the session. So always make sure to pay attention to your body. Don’t try to do too many things too fast. Your body will thank you for taking things slow and not being so focused on the goals but on the journey. Any exercise to have an effect needs to be done for at least a couple of months. You should feel more toned, stronger, less tired, and have more energy.

Social media and health

You need to understand that social media today is a perfectly wrapped present. It looks amazing and colorful on the outside but you don’t know what it hides. When you see all the influencers looking amazing and perfect. Doing heavy things without breaking a sweat and not ruining their perfect makeup and hair is a norm for them. We don’t know how many hours they have prepared to do a single video of 30 minutes for everything to look perfect. From fitness to healthy food, everything will look without a flaw. But real life is not like that. People have kids and loved ones to interrupt them. They have pets and live in small apartments. They can’t spend hundreds of dollars on expensive workout clothes or fancy tumblers. Take everything in with a huge grain of salt.

If you are looking for videos to help you with cooking recipes that are low-carb or no-carb. No sugar, lactose-free, gluten-free, taste-free, it will all look so appealing. But when you look at the list of the ingredients they are always trying to promote a specific brand that is oh so good for you. It can be a shake powder, slimming tea, food supplement, energy drink, or vitamin water. You name it they will sell it. Influencers promote products to make money. They are paid to do that same as sales promotion people stand in your supermarket ails to make you buy something. Same insurance sales people calling you on the phone to sell you insurance plans. There is no difference. Or maybe there is a huge difference. You see we never know when influencers are doing a paid promotion. There is rarely any sign to tell us that they are actually being paid to promote this brand. So the insurance salespeople are being more honest.

The dark side of social media

The most concerning thing for me is the fact that this is such a one-sided transaction. What it means is this. If you get a call from an insurance agent they usually know your name. They would have some basic information about you such as your age, phone number, and current insurance plan. I mean they don’t call and ask to talk to your teenage daughter. That is not allowed or a moral thing to do. But when social influencers sell their products and services they do it to a general audience. And we are not all the same. Some of us have issues that make us vulnerable. We feel bad about our bodies, maybe we have eating disorders, traumas, or just unhealthy situations that make us more open to predatory techniques that are starting to be employed. Sometimes people even have a wrong image of themselves that is distorted. They think they are too fat, too ugly, too ordinary. Especially young people who are just starting to be aware of the changes in their bodies. Young mothers, teenagers, adolescents, male and female.

What happens is that influencers don’t care who are they targeting. For them is all about the numbers. And I find it unsettling. You might say that it’s not their fault. People should be careful about what they are watching online. But let me tell you this. If they have time to make a 30-minute video talking about how to do a proper plank or a perfect no-carb, no sugar, no lactose ice coffee with 0 calories. Then they should have the time to take 10 seconds and just say by the way if you are not really overweight or your body mass index is really normal you shouldn’t be concerned about losing weight. I know that they would probably lose some business over this but it’s just common decency. I mean every time I recommend people to have some honey I will say please don’t give this to children under 1 year of age. It’s not recommended. Not because I have to. It’s because I care enough to share information that I think is important for people.

Social influencers are actually not really healthy. It’s all about the image but the content is very much lacking. I’m not saying that some of them are not doing a great job. But lately, because of such aggressive ways to get more market share and more views, it has become simply impossible to differentiate the good ones from the bad.

How to stay safe on social media?

Social media should just be used as a tool. Same as you join a gym for the first time. There are so many different machines that you don’t even know how they work. Most of them you will probably never even use. Not because you don’t know or can’t learn how to use them. It’s because you probably don’t need them at all. You will focus on the ones that suit you and you like.

It is the same with influencers. You can search and choose the things you like. Routines that make being active more fun. Products that seem interesting or have great reviews. Don’t look at how they appear, what they have to say, how many times they try to sell you things. Focus on your own needs and your own journey. I know it can be hard sometimes because we all want to look like someone else. And when you see someone so fit, perfect, and beautiful it makes you feel like you’re not worth much. But at the end of the day, they need you more than you need them.

Sometimes even social contact is better, especially for children and teenagers. I would always recommend for the parents to enroll them in sports or community groups with other young people. Because the children are so easy to be influenced. Their awareness of their own bodies is still not developed. And if all they see is perfection all the time they will start to think that is the norm. That is the way it has to be. But our differences are the one thing that makes us special. Be it our body shape, hair color, freckles, pale or dark complexion, height, or any other thing. We should cherish the things that are given to us by our parents and family. I’m proud if people say I look like my mother, sister, aunt. They are amazing and strong people.

We need to learn that the virtual world is not the real world. And people that are being part of it are setting a stage where they will perform a role that will make them money. We can be a part of that world temporarily to take what we need and then we leave them behind and join our real world. In which people have imperfections. I know how bad it feels when we can’t look the way we used to. I know that maybe you don’t want to take photos or you just miss out on things because you don’t feel good about yourself. Life happens. We get older but also wiser. Now when I look back I wish I had taken more photos. I wish I enjoyed it more and didn’t worry about how big was my belly or how large were my hips. Because it is the memories that count. And if you feel bad about yourself all the time you will miss out on so much. It’s okay to do something about it. It will make you happier and healthier. But don’t miss out on life waiting for that new fitness regime to make you happy. It won’t.