THROWBACK THURSDAY! WHY THE EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IS IMPORTANT IN FITNESS.
Every day you go on social media, there is a hashtag trending in relation to the fitness industry, with people attaching photos or quotes to accompany the hashtag. These posts are either to help motivate others or a way of showing that someone is proud of their own accomplishments. Both can play a massive role in helping other people on their journey, or even help push themselves on their own path.
While training, people see themselves every day, making it more difficult to notice any changes in yourself. Different things, such as the changing sizes of your clothes or measurements, can help someone notice a difference. However, there is nothing quite as clear cut as visually viewing the change of your body, to notice that progress is being made. This is where the importance of hashtags and social media come in.
By using the popularity and social culture of posting progress pictures, it encourages people to use photography to track their progress more. Posting consistent updates can also act like a diary, and provide a timeline for your fitness journey. By seeing the changes to your body, and the progress you are making, you are more likely to continue on journey, stay on the wagon, and not just become someone who worked hard, only for all their good work to be undone. As they say, the proof is in the pudding, and pictures showing progress are the proof that hard work in exercise and diet will give youth results you want.
With the use of hashtags, you are also able to browse through other people’s journeys and transformations, allowing you to take inspiration from others’ success. No matter who you are, where you may be starting from, I can guarantee you there are others in the same boat. The beauty of the hashtag is that you are free to search the world of social media, and find people from around the globe who are on a similar journey, and with the specificity of hashtags, you can narrow your search down to key words directly related to you and what you are trying to achieve. You will find real life people, who have gone through real life struggles, and, whether you reach out to them for help, or simply use their story as inspiration for your own journey is your choice. But,you’ll be surprised how many people are willing to help you become a better you, even if I is just a couple words of advice!
Social media has given people the platform to be more vocal and expressive about their fitness journey, goals and transformations, and being accepted and praised for it, as opposed to being criticised for it and branded a show off. People now have a platform to show the world that, no matter the obstacles, there is always a way to charge down your fitness path!
Dieting For Weightloss
No matter how hard you train, you won’t be able to out train a bad diet. The more active you are, the more your body will crave the proper foods to fuel it. You wouldn’t run a petrol car on diesel, so why would you fuel a body training to be healthy with unhealthy foods? Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a pizza just as much as the next person, probably more so. I still enjoy pizza, I simply enjoy it in moderation.
Now, different trainers will have different views on when to eat the foods you enjoy oh so much. The three methods of dieting to lose weight you will most probably come across are:
The “If It Fits Your Macros” way of looking at things. This is where you have a set number of calories, and a precise number of grams of macronutrients (proteins, carbs and fats) you can eat a day, and, if you can make any food fit within those numbers, you can eat it.
A more basic version of this is simply calories in versus calories out. Simply put, if you burn more calories than you consume, you’ll lose weight, no matter where the calories you are consuming come from.
Other trainers will go with the commonly used “Cheat Meal/Day”, where you can simply eat whatever you want, and however much of it you want, on one specific day, or for one meal, a week. You then go back to eating healthily for the rest of the week.
Now, all three of these methods have their benefits, and all three have their flaws. There is no right or wrong way to lose weight. All methods will work, it’s just about finding the method which works best for you. I, personally, am a big fan of not eliminating your favourite foods from your diet. This simply makes you crave them more, and is more likely to lead to a binge, possibly turning the cheat day into a cheat week. Or, you may not be able to control your urges, and you’ll end up having an extra bar of chocolate, totally throwing your macros off.
It is important to build up your knowledge of different types of food, reading labels is the best way to educate yourself without consulting a professional. By making smarter choices, such as eliminating fizzy drinks or cutting out the sugars in the teas or coffees, losing weight will seem a whole lot easier! Finding the diet plan that works for you, and doesn’t feel like a diet is the best way to lose weight, and keep it off!
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Managing Standards and Expectations
Throughout your lifetime, you’ll be met with several instances of tasks or events which will require you to set, employ and manage both standards and expectations. Whether it be organising your gran’s 70th birthday party, the standard to be a respectful, demure…a classy affair, and the expectation as a laid back, enjoyable affair without any outrageous behaviour. Then to the other end of the spectrum… organising your best friend’s stag/hen party… standards…eeeeeh….standa- there’s none, don’t know why i’m pretending. Expectation, let’s face it, is pretty simple in that it’s generally to humiliate and embarrass (and intoxicate) the stag/hen as much as humanly possible.
My point is here, that specific environments and goals require SPECIFIC standards and expectations.
Let’s relate this to fitness and lifestyle. If your “STANDARD” is to walk into the gym, straight to the treadmill for a 30 minute supported incline walk, followed by 15 minutes on the cross trainer then 10 minutes on a recline cycle, and your “EXPECTATION” is to be a strong, ripped, muscular god/goddess… then maybe its time to realise that your expectation is unrealistic and your standard is too low.
Sometimes it’s not nice to be told you’re not working hard enough when you’ve convinced yourself for so long that you’re working as hard as you can. It’s as this point however, that you need to ask yourself, “am i really working to the standard i need to be to reach my goals?”.
There HAS TO BE a correlation between your standards and expectations, otherwise i promise you, you’ll get nowhere. The expectation that because you see a personal trainer, you’ll automatically reach your goals, while your standard of working out is to quit any time things get tough… well I’ve got news for you, it’s probably time to re-evaluate spending your hard earned on a trainer.
I’ve personally worked with people from both ends of the standards spectrum and from experience, i find that those who set expectation BASED on their standard are not only more realistic, but also more successful in the pursuit of their goals.
Nobody says that your initial standards have to be your only standards, just as your expectations can change as your effort and commitment levels become more focused on your ever changing goals.
So, here’s my guide to being successful
Realistically evaluate your effort levels when you’re training (along with the effort put into managing your diet)
Instantly work a lot harder than that.
People are their own worst enemy and become discouraged or give up because they haven’t reached their (unrealistic) goal, settling for the fact it’s never going to happen , instead of asking “why isn’t it happening?”. But look at the most motivated people in the gym. The ones sweating, pushing themselves, driving to their goal and leaving it all on the floor (sometimes literally when you have to mop up sweat…) then going home to manage their diet and lifestyle, all in aide of reaching their goal, the look they want, the feeling they want.
So the next time you step into the gym/a session with the image in your head that you want, either put the time and effort in, or change the image.
Set Expectation BASED on Standards, and set Standards BASED on Expectations and you’ll get to where you want to be a whole lot quicker than you think.
Keep Working, Keep Motivated, Keep Moving