Starting Your Own Fitgram Could Be The Key To Reaching Your Workout Goals

If you go through Instagram currently you can find a multitude of diet, fitness quotes, workouts, wraps, pills and anything under the sun to improve your overall wellness. We all have those few friends who spread their health and wellness cheer all over Instagram keeping us posted on their current meals, latest gym outfits and commitment to becoming a better them.

If you are struggling with getting into a fit lifestyle, it can seem daunting if not impossible to find somewhere to start, much less document on social media. At times, it can be overwhelming. Other times, you can find yourself being filled with motivation and inspiration to really get on that treadmill you've been avoiding for a few weeks.

Becoming dedicated to loving your body and loving fitness can be hard, even if it's something like meal prepping that can be easy but time-consuming. I'm with you. There are days I barely can bring myself to take a selfie much less have an ultra hip photo diary of my gym workouts, but I decided to give it a try and was pleasantly surprised by the results.

I'm not world class athlete or personal trainer, and I don't have the ability to make working out look sexy. What I do have is experience, time, love and an evolving education about my body that has been a never ending cycle of trial and error. It's been a long road that I'm sure many of us can attest to when you're trying to figure out how to love your body and what combination of food and exercise can benefit it.

When I first started to create a fitness Instagram separate from my personal one, I thought, "No one cares. Your friends don't want to see you all sweaty and struggling in the gym, but well I'm not going to do it for them, I'm doing it for me. If people follow me, great. If not then it can just be for me to look at, document and keep myself motivated by seeing a steady progression of my goals."

Here's why having a fitgram can keep you empowered and motivated toward your overall fitness goals.

1. You are creating your own timeline of progression.

I truly believe there is no better satisfaction than knowing you've made actual leaps and bounds with your health, especially if you've been working at it for a while. Whether you did an additional five minutes on the elliptical or increased the weight you used for your squats, knowing how far you have come can serve as a reminder that your stamina and strength is growing. Maybe you weren't able to do five lunges when you first came to the gym, but now you're doing 50, or you were scared to try weight training, and now you can hang with the best of them. Having your own fitgram can provide its own sense of pride in seeing where you came from, where you are currently and where you want to go.

2. It can jog your memory.

As you go through different pics and videos from your various workouts, it can help you remember what you liked, hated and loved from that fitness experience. Personally, I'm the "try anything once" type of lady in the gym, so whether it's boxing, cycling, weight training or TRX, I like to experiment and see what challenged me and what wasn't working.

There are days I walk into the gym and really don't know if I want to hit weights or climb on the stair master, and looking back at my fitgram can help me decide if I have no set plan in mind. I can create my own workout looking back at different exercises that worked for me or even decide to challenge myself by going back to a machine, instructor or exercise that I didn't conquer as I'd hoped.

No one can tell you what works for you physically and mentally, so this visual reminder will help decided where to take your next step.

3. Ditching the scale never felt so good.

We all have a love-hate relationship with the scale and it truly can set you up for failure if you mentally aren't prepared for what may appear on the screen. The scale sucks, and it's like an SO that you can adore one moment and want to toss out the window the next minute.

Having a photo diary of your progress, even if it's just twice a week, is the only reminder you need about where you're at with your body. You can be the judge of what body parts you want to train, whether it's getting a rounder butt or more defined arms from a picture. Having a fitgram gives you a sense of empowerment and motivation. Unlike the scale, which can be fickle depending on so many factors, pictures are not. After about four weeks, you can visually see where you have improved in your fitness, and it doesn't have to be this scary or intimidating moment of dread.

Be empowered. Be bold. The good about Instagram is that it can be private or public if you choose to share it with people. If you only want five friends to see what you are wanting to accomplish, that's OK. You can even add and follow other fitgrams of everyday people just like you trying to motivate and keep themselves inspired without feeling like they have to live up to any expectations or scrutiny from people who are only going to judge them. We all start somewhere and your fitness journey doesn't have to be a scary one.