Do Fitfluencers Damage Your (Mental) Health?

Hiii,
Firstly I just want to say that I hope you are all doing well during this awful time. If anyone ever needs to talk or needs any help I am always free :) I wanted to do a piece surrounding something that has been on my mind for a while but will also become a more prominent debate with people spending more time on social media.

(I also want to say that this isn't to criticise fitness instagramers (fitfluencers) in any way. I appreciate they do often provide content that is useful and genuine. This is all my opinion and my experience)

At the start of last year (2019) I began getting into fitness again. I'd always been sporty since I was literally 3 until I was 18 but then uni came and I must of thought I'd get all my exercise in through tequila influenced dancing. As soon as I started exercising regularly again I realised the lack of activity I'd done in the past two years had really taken its toll on my mental health and going to the gym became a bit of a coping mechanism to stay afloat. After about a month I got fed up of my basic routine and wanted to find more challenging exercises. It was at this point I delved into the realm of fitfluencers.

It's easy to think that these accounts are adding positivity and motivation into your life. At first I didn't see any issue with the information I was absorbing and I just thought these girls were showing me how to use cable machines, how to successfully exercise my glutes on the stepmill and how to count my 'macros'. However gradually I found myself comparing my (very slight) progress to these people who had completed different builds, completely different lifestyles and completely different diets. This never occurred to me and I remember training 4 times a week at some points and eating only steamed veg for lunch and spoonfuls of peanut butter (for  protein). I seemed to follow everything these accounts did and recommended and I did this for over a year, and although my body was stronger and more toned, I still didn't look exactly like them.  Although of course this isn't entirely their fault, often a lot of fitness influencers, knowingly or not, through their constant posting of themselves and their bodies imply that if you follow their regime and meal plan, you'll look exactly like them. This obviously isn't the case however I was so invested in this idea that I would one day finish a gym session and have a bum that would compete with Kylie Jenner that it began to get me really down when my progress seemed to not include changing my entire body shape. Every time I went on my Instagram I felt like I should have been exercising. I remember showing my boyfriend a photo of one of these girls at one point and him saying "yeah but you have a completely different build to her" and that was when it began to hit home that I was pointlessly putting myself down and bringing negativity into something that began as an escape.

From that point I decided to unfollow the accounts that I realised were affecting me negatively and I think the situation could have spiralled a lot more than it did if I hadn't realised this early on. I thankfully never fully dipped into the meal plans of these accounts but I have seen some recommend eating as little as 600 calories on 'cool days' from the gym. These recommendations can facilitate and begin serious eating disorders and shouldn't be promoted so frivolously online. Now, a few months on from this point I enjoy my exercise again and I don't see it as something I have to do. I eat a healthy balanced diet and I do some form of exercise 3/4 times a week and I feel good about it.

I'll never have the same bodies as some of these girls but every time I exercise I know that I am getting stronger and healthier, physically and mentally, and I've realised that's enough for me and it should be enough for you.

Hope this was insightful in any way. If anyone has an opinion on this I'd love to hear it! I'll be posting on here a bit more than normal to give people some more ramblings to read while we are all at home. Really want to do a food post so might do a post recommending my favourite independent restaurants that are delivering during quarantine.
Look after yourselves and everyone around you,
Rxchz