Social media can be an amazing tool and motivator, or it can be a magnet for procrastination. The experience is 100% up to you. I love finding new fitness pages to follow and get inspiration from. If I see someone at the gym doing a fun workout, I want to be there too, and I’m significantly more likely to go and exercise. The same idea goes for meal prepping for the week. Sometimes all it takes is seeing a delicious meal idea and I’m suddenly sprinting to the kitchen to make enough for 5 days. I consistently find motivation in a few pages that I’ve been following for a while now. They’ve helped me get to the gym, have more meaningful workouts and reconsider my relationship with food while expanding my palette.
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Amanda Asette (@veganbaby_ and @amandaasette)
Photo via Amanda Asette on Instagram
I recently found Amanda’s page on Twitter and immediately had to follow both her personal and fitness Instagram pages. On her food-dedicated Instagram page, she shares vegan meal ideas and recipes that will make even a dedicated carnivore drool. Her highlighted Instagram stories include recipe walk-throughs and premade food recommendations. On her more personal page, Amanda shares progress pics, bits of her personal life and workout clips. A lot of her captions encourage her followers to love themselves, and she actually gives tips for how to reach a greater sense of self-love. She has a dedicated story highlight for workouts and tips, pictures of food and more! On top of running two amazingly inspiring Instagram accounts, Amanda is a personal trainer and has two different “boot camps” that you can sign up (and pay) to participate in. She also has digital recipe books for sale on her website that are linked in the bio of both of her pages.
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Danielle Jackson (@fitwdanielle and @daniellejjackson)
Photo via Danielle Jackson on Instagram
Danielle was one of the first “influencers” I ever followed, and I did it on accident, too. I first found her back in the good old days when everyone with any form of social media wanted to be a Tumblr girl. Her Instagram fit the aesthetic perfectly, and I got a lot of inspiration from her page as I saw her photography and editing styles change. She’s around the same age as I am, so it was really cool to watch her grow up with me. Only recently did she make a dedicated fitness account. However, she still shares a lot of her fitness content across both of her pages. On her account “fitwdanielle” you’ll find workout inspiration and food recipes, as well as protein powder reviews and progress pictures. Danielle is one of the more interactive influencers that I follow. She lets her followers ask questions multiple times per week and actually answers them. She has a lot of partnership codes too, for things like protein bars and active wear! Her daily workouts are hardcore enough that you’ll definitely feel the burn the next day, but with proper technique you aren’t going to hurt yourself. As a bonus, a lot of the recipes she shares are plant based, but if you do eat meat it would be an easy swap.
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Amanda Rocchio (@Meowmeix)
I found out about Amanda Rocchio over the summer when I was trying to get back into shape after a long, hard freshman year. Her page is dedicated to teaching followers how to gain muscle and lose fat in a healthy and productive way. She stresses balance and letting yourself eat snacks while keeping portion sizes in mind. Her Instagram features infographics on different food and fitness topics, recipes and wellness tips. If you look to her highlighted stories, you’ll once again find a range of tips, workouts, recipes and other useful information. Amanda Rocchio has an Ebook, meal plan app and a podcast under her belt. She’s a huge fan of meal prepping, which means you can get all of your pre-made meal inspiration in one place. Her recipes aren’t all plant based, but she does start with mostly whole food ingredients, and eating whole foods that are in season is often the cheapest way to eat.
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Healthy in the Burgh (@healthyintheburgh)
Photo via “Healthy in the Burgh” on Instagram
Last but not least, you need to be following Healthy in the Burgh, especially if you are a fellow Pitt student. This page is run by a semi-anonymous student who is making massive strides when it comes to muscle gain and healthy weight control. She emphasizes balance and following your gut, literally. She often points out that she listens to her body and if she feels hungry, she eats. This intuitive eating approach helped me over the summer more than counting calories and macros. In case you weren’t sold on the motivation factor yet, she gets up and goes to a boxing gym at six in the morning before class. That is the dedication I need to see first thing when I scroll through Instagram. On top of being dedicated to her gains, she shares both homemade recipes as well as food she buys. I really enjoy Healthy in the Burgh because seeing someone my age who goes to the same school as I do makes me even more motivated to get out there and work.
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Even though this was a quick run through of each of these pages, I truly believe that scrolling through each page yourself is so important. Fitness Instagram can be a daunting place, and it can really hurt your self-esteem sometimes. These ladies are not a part of that damaging culture, and even if you don’t know them personally their pages make it feel like you are their friend and that they have your back. Every time a post from any of these accounts pops up on my feed, I feel so much more motivated to get to the gym or do a workout in my dorm and eat a little bit healthier. I hope that at least one of these amazing girls will help you find the inspiration you need to make healthy changes in your life.