Each person has their own story when it comes to fitness and health. Some have struggled with weight their whole life, varying from one extreme to the other. The weight loss industry doesn’t help with the struggles, they just increase the stress and anxiety that goes along with it. Some have never struggled with weight, but with the ideal body shape, how we are lead to believe that being too strong and built is not feminine enough, but being thin is not appealing. Some feel that fitness is a chore, they only do it because it is good for them, but they are unmotivated and are just counting down the minutes for it to be over. Whatever your health and wellness story is, it is always hard to trust who to believe on social media and who not to. Now a point that we always try to make clear is that the health, fitness and wellness industry and the weight loss industry are two different things. Although the health and wellness may demonstrate how a person has become healthier, their body size being a part of that, they are not promoting going to the extremes to lose the weight, but are promoting health and wellness, like how I always say: be the healthiest you you can be ♻.
Below is a list of Fitness Icons to follow on social media, they are the top three that can empower you in the most authentic way.
Cassey is real. Her video “The Perfect Body” went viral, everywhere I went people were talking about it. I had been following her for a while before then on social media. I liked her workouts, her clothes; blogilates was fun, new, and exciting. I watched that video and I cried, and as I sit here, writing this blurb about Cassey, I can’t help but tear up again. Cassey is authentic, and everything about her website, blog, videos, workouts and herself, is authentic, she is real. She talks about real issues, real life and she talks about food! This is what made me check in with her social media on the regular, she encourages you to be healthy, but doesn’t tell you to restrict yourself all the time, and she leads by example.
I cried when I watched “The Perfect Body” because I did that to my body, now I obviously could not photoshop myself, but I jeopardized my health because of what others were saying. Watching that video made me realize what I had really done, and even though I had asked for help and was recovering, it still made me realize how lost we get in the comments. Watching her morph her body into something that wasn’t hers anymore, was like watching myself back then.
Cassey knows how to empower you and show you that being yourself is what you were born to do. She is an inspiration.
Emily Skye is another empowering figure, because following her on social media is about the most authentic you can get. She talks about her struggles in the past and present, and leads by example to listening to your own body.
What makes Emily Skye really inspiring is her transparency. If you follow Emily Skye on Instagram you get more than just fitness advice, you really start to connect with her as a human being. She shares her struggles, the journey of how she got where she is (some of it heartbreaking), and of course her family and the life that she is leading. She is real with her followers and isn’t trying to be something she is not, those who relate to her, follow her and those who don’t, don’t. But if you relate, you get a whole whirlwind of motivation to be a healthier you.
Molly Galbraith (Girls Gone Strong)
Molly Galbraith was actually introduced to me by my father. I really enjoy weight lifting and crossfit, it pushes your body through a whole new challenge, but I was having a hard time with the stigma that went around women who lifted heavy, which I, of course, talked to my father about because we come from a non stereotypical family. He came across Molly and her “Girls Gone Strong” movement and I was a changed person.
Molly talks about the struggles that women face daily with body image, health and wellness, and so much more. She shares workout programs, courses, quotes, body and mind activities. Most importantly she shares her story, her background and is honest with how she feels about herself and the world around her. She catches onto things that, at first, we don’t realize we may be saying that we shouldn’t be, because society has given us one “ideal” way of being human, and she is telling you not to listen.
These women share a lot of commonalities, but the strongest one is their ability to empower the women around them. Some women are not strong enough to battle the world on their own and go against societal norms that have been set, by who? We don’t really know anymore. And these women not only share their ability to empower, but empower by being transparent and authentic, these women are real. When we follow them on social media, they allow us to feel like we have a real connection to them, that they are our friends.
I don’t know how many times I have looked over to my partner and said “oh, look what Cassey posted! I can relate!”; “When we have kids, I need to take notes on how Emily does it.” or “Wow, Molly just posted something that I would have never thought of.” These women become a part of your daily routine, not because you are obsessed with what they post, but because they are relatable, and help empower you to become the healthiest you you can be ♻.
I advise you to follow them, they will encourage you to become the best you, to fight for your right to be the woman that you want to be, not the woman that society tells you you have to be, and that’s what I hope I will do too.