Scripted Reality…Not Just for TV?

Let me start out by saying that I have three children ages 8, 6 and 4. Obviously, having three kids so close together takes a bit of a toll on the body. I have hangy bits and squishy bits that I try to keep in check by working out. There is a HUGE community on Instagram of people who work out, want to work out, teach you how to work out and try to sell you work out programs. Oh…and there is a lot of “fit food” – A LOT! So, I have found a few people that I like and I occasionally try out new workouts from Instagram and sometimes even recipes. It was all going so well UNTIL I found out a lot of it is fake.

I don’t think anyone I know would call me naive. I am a pretty skeptical person and I guess I believed it when my Instagram work out buddies said they just worked hard every day and ate the right things. I believed them when they said that I could do it to! Well, then came the day that one of them said she was bulimic and that she had struggled with eating disorders her whole life. What? So, unless I throw up…I really can’t look like her? I was so disappointed. They came another blow to my trust in Instagram fitness. I followed a great married couple who worked out together and ate all the right things, posted workouts and also posted that they were BOTH on steroids. I reread the post several times and yes, they were both on low levels of steroids. Ok great…steroids and throwing up will get the body I dream about. Let’s not even talk about the fake before and after photos found on so many posts.

What is most distressing about this is not what it did to my faith in Instagram fitness, but what it is doing to all the young girls out there who are striving to get the perfect #thighgap. Like so many other things, Instagram fitness is an illusion. Who posts the best selfies with a filter and skinny arm. Who has the best tan and who has the most followers. Even on Instagram the bottom line equals money. Those with the most followers get freebies sent to them all the time. Free workout wear, supplements, even “fitcations”. What’s a little vomit and artificial hormones compared to money, followers and notoriety?

I’ve learned a few things on my quest for fitness on Instagram and unfortunately one of those things is how to #unfollow.