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How social media can help you lose weight
Considering how much time we spend on social media, filtering out negative or discouraging content is important.
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In a fitness plan, online groups can support you through struggles you will have throughout your journey, like “falling” off your diet plan. (Shutterstock/fizkes)
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onsidering how much time we spend online, filtering out negative or discouraging content from our social media is important. This can be helpful when we are trying to reach a goal like losing weight. Here are some ways you can reach your fitness goal with social media, as compiled by Reader’s Digest Asia.
Saving healthy inspirations
Pinterest is great for making virtual boards for projects – whether that’s a new home, a new wardrobe or a new lifestyle. You can browse and pin fitness routines, recipes, motivational quotes and workout outfits that will motivate you to make it a part of your lifestyle and give you inspiration to get fit your way.
“Seeing inspiring pictures of what you want in your life will encourage you to start creating that and take inspired action,” said dietitian DJ Blatner, adding that "you become what you surround yourself with" over time.
Online support groups
Things are always more fun when they are done with other people. Having a community of people with the same goals will not only let you have “friends” that understand what you are going through but will also motivate you to reach your goal.
For fitness, online groups can support you through struggles you will have throughout your journey like “falling” off your diet plan. A study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface concluded that online dieters who checked into weight-loss websites and have other friends who are dieting lost eight percent more body weight in six months than their peers.
Read also: Nine reasons why your diet might have failed
Journaling your progress
The road to fitness is not linear. There are days where you follow every single step of your plan, and there are days where you are just unable to do any of it.
Writing about this process (both good and bad) will allow you to see what happened during these days and what you can do to improve. You can keep these logs private or public, but having it written down and being able to reflect on it will help you see patterns that ensure you’re back on track the next day.
Unfollowing those that don’t match your goal
Just as important as creating a positive online environment is removing negative content, like accounts of people who overindulge on food or post excessive recipes that don’t match your goal.
A study published in the journal Brain and Cognition has shown that consistent exposure to virtual food may exacerbate physical hunger and may even decrease the enjoyment when you actually have the food. By removing this type of content from your feeds, you will no longer be tempted to eat these kinds of food, nor will you be disappointed when you actually get to have them. (car/kes)
