137. Real Talk: The Harsh Effects of Social Media on Your Fitness Journey

I know that I've put out episodes weekly , but last week and the week before , episodes were with Erin , which were amazing , amazing episodes , and I would love for you to continue to let me know , send me DMs letting me know how much you benefited from those , how helpful they were .

I've really loved hearing your thoughts on them , and it was my first guest episode . So , yeah , I just I loved hearing your thoughts on them and it was my first guest episode . So , yeah , I just I loved hearing your thoughts on them and please continue as you go back and listen to them , or as you're listening to this one .

If you're like oh yeah , I never went and told you how I thought about that , christy , please do . I would love to hear from you , but we recorded those episodes , you know , like the week before they came out , and so I just feel like I haven't talked to you guys in a while .

So I'm happy to be back , even though I didn't really go anywhere , and you're like yeah , we didn't miss you that much , christy , but here I am , anyways , all by myself this week talking to you about the harsh effects of social media on our fitness journey .

This is going to be just some real talk , just kind of me sitting down with you , my best friends , and chatting about this , because , I don't know , lately social media has honestly just been pissing me off .

I'll just be real with you , and I've posted a couple of different things on my stories on Instagram , on my Christy Castillo Fit page that's where I post most of just my thoughts and things like that .

But it's been really annoying lately , and so I want to kind of just talk about how annoyed I am with it for one and I know that a lot of you will feel the same way , because when I do post about it , I do get a lot of messages saying I feel the same way or yes , this is annoying me too , and I think that , more than just being annoyed with social

media , I realize that obviously , if something is annoying you , then it's causing you a little bit of stress . You're thinking about it like it's just being present in your life , and I think that's not great . Social media isn't ?

I mean , it is something that you can cut out of your life , but at this point it would be really hard to do so so , yeah , I just want to rant about it , I want to talk about it , I want to bring it to your attention and kind of just talk through some things that have been kind of driving me crazy .

And then , of course , related to health and fitness . A lot of it's going to be related to health and fitness .

That is pretty much all I consume on social media is fitness content , and right now , as I'm recording this , the World Series is still going on and we're kind of obsessed with the Dodgers at my house and so , thanks to my son and so we're big into that , so we're sending each other reels of Dodgers , baseball content .

Baseball content will probably always be kind of on my radar , which is totally fine , but that's kind of all I really consume on social media .

So if you don't only consume fitness content which I assume not everyone does , because everyone's not weird like me then some of this won't apply to you , but I think a lot of it will , because a lot of my clients , a lot of you , my listeners , do consume fitness content , and so fitness content comes with mindset and it comes with self-esteem and it comes with

self-love and all comes with self-love and like all that stuff kind of goes together , and so I think it's just really important that we talk about it . I want to start by saying I pretty much I do have a TikTok account , but I'm not really . I never open TikTok on my own .

If my kids send me a TikTok or something to watch , I will get on there and watch it , but that's not a place that I scroll . If my kids send me a TikTok or something to watch , I will get on there and watch it , but that's not a place that I scroll . If I'm scrolling social media , it's Instagram , and I have a Facebook account .

I don't really use it and I'm going to get into that in a second , but I think the only reason I still have a Facebook account honestly is because of my kids' school page . Their sports pages like announcements , athletic stuff is on there . For whatever reason we decided to do that , I don't know .

And then also , I do have a Facebook group on there , which I do enjoy running , but as far as like my own personal Facebook , I don't ever scroll Facebook anymore , and here's why and this is where I think I first got irritated and one of the things I want to talk about is the ads that are everywhere .

I used to love social media because I would get on and see my friends or see my family or see people I at least knew and what they were up to , and I guess I liked that for a while and then after a while I thought I genuinely do not care what anyone is doing , so that wasn't really fun .

And now when I get on Facebook , it's either to add someone to my Facebook group or get into my Facebook group and hang out in there or to check a time or something for my kids' events my son he's the only one in high school now but when I get on Facebook , there are groups . Now Everything is a group and everything is an advertisement . Everything is .

It's like it's the algorithm , right , trying to get me to join a group or trying to get me to buy something , and it's so annoying .

And the people that I have on my Facebook page and this is my fault back in the Beachbody days , when I was working for Beachbody , they encouraged you to add basically anyone and everyone onto Facebook , befriend them like a couple of their photos , comment on something and then dive right into their inbox , right ? That was how it was done .

So I have so many people on my Facebook that I literally do not know and would not speak to in public because I don't know who they are . I would say hello , but I don't know anything about them . So Facebook is just annoying to me .

So that's one thing where I get on Facebook and I add people to my Facebook group and I get in there and then if I click out of it and just kind of look through my notifications , I'm thinking I don't even know who these people are .

And then if I go to scroll , it's an advertisement for something or advertising to be in a group that I don't want to be a part of . And if I did join said group I get like sports photo moms .

I am part of a gym girly group , which I like , but also overwhelming , and half the stuff no , 90% of the stuff in there is so stupid and not true , it's false , it's terrible advice that people are giving each other and that stresses me out . So , anyway , social media , as far as that goes , for me is just it's not fun anymore .

Facebook has sucked the life out of anything that I used it for personally . So that's one thing . Number two well , number one being that there is just ads everywhere . I guess to continue on to that with number two would be Instagram . There are ads everywhere now on Instagram . That is also driving me freaking crazy . I'll be scrolling someone .

I'd find a new fitness influencer and I'm like , oh , maybe I want to follow her . So I click on a reel and then I scroll to her next reel , scroll to her next reel and then the next one's an ad , and then the next one's an ad . Everything on stories . You know , you go a couple stories and then there's an ad and then there's another ad .

Oh my God , and it is so overwhelming to me that I am constantly being sold to , not only by ads , but everyone is an influencer . Now and this is something I don't even have on my notes but I do want to talk about I realize that I maybe fall under the category of an influencer , because I don't know , I don't know .

I don't even know what that means to me . An influencer is someone whose job is to literally influence you to purchase something , purchase clothing . Really , it's like that's what I think of as like a beauty influencer or clothing influencer or a home decor influencer . I don't know . Maybe I'm a fitness influencer . I don't really understand the terminology there .

However , I follow this one particular female lady girl I don't know she's not that old so I wouldn't say woman , but anyway and she used to be into fitness big time and loved her account and it's fine that people grow and evolve and change . But now she talks about absolutely nothing , but she has a code for everything .

She's working with every company under the sun Every single day . Every single reel is selling you some clothing or some colostrum or some greens . It's insane and I'm thinking there's no way you use this stuff for one . I mean , if you do , you didn't use it long enough to figure out whether you actually liked it .

You literally are just trying to sell it to make money , which I appreciate people trying to make money . I'm not ripping on people for using the internet for making money . I get it . I'm just sick of every person that I follow on social media .

I don't want to sound fake when I say this , but I'm sick of all of them having a code for every single thing that they use that they talk about .

Just get on there and talk about your life , or show me your day , or show me your workouts , or your dog or your cat or your kids , I don't care , sold something all the time like , oh my gosh , I just put this on my face and I just thought I would tell you the benefits about it . And here's my code .

And I say that standoffishly because I do have a code for a couple different things and I do post about things that I like , and when I do it I feel gross . I'll be honest . I know I need to because I really like the products that I use , and I know some of them do too , so I get that .

What I'm saying is kind of like opposing thoughts here , but I'm going to say it anyway , just because if you're feeling the same way of like , all the influencers have all the codes and all they're doing is selling , and all Instagram is is selling , selling , selling , selling .

Something's being thrown in your face to solve a problem that you didn't even know that you had two seconds ago . It's so annoying to me , and so that's driving me crazy , that I'm always being sold something .

Usually it's a subscription , so if you do sign up , you're going to be screwed in two months when you're still paying for it and you're not even using it or whatever . But that's beside the point .

I just feel like social media has become this breeding ground of always selling me something , always making me wonder if I'm good enough , if I'm sick , if I'm dying , if my skin is good enough , if my body is good enough , if my hair is good enough , because there's always a product for something that someone is shoving into my face , making me feel like I need

that . She's pretty , I need that , she has really pretty hair , I need that . And it's like I don't like that . Because I feel like we're always feeling like we need to buy something and we're always subconsciously feeling like we need that or we're not good enough or we're wondering like do I need that ? Right ?

And that goes into things that so much of the information on social media is false or unnecessary . It's either false and that's like influencers saying things that aren't true reels being posted by fitness influencers of them doing workouts that I know because I'm in the field .

I'll see them posting workouts and I think there's no way you do that workout or you do that workout now , but that's not the workout that got you the body that you have , and people are going to think that it is , and so it's misinformation or it's unnecessary information , or just be very , very clear about it .

These are the workouts you need to do for a flat stomach . No , you need to clean up your eating for a flat stomach . There's no workouts that you can do for a flat stomach . It's false and so it just is . It's creating this cycle of we need . It's creating this cycle of comparison . It's creating this cycle of . Is what I'm currently doing good enough ?

I'm currently doing good enough . It's just , it's a lot , and lately I have felt so overwhelmed by it and I've been posting a couple of things . I saw an ad for dry water . I don't know what this is , but this , this , I posted it on my feed the other day . I can't remember what it said . First of all , dry water .

I don't understand , because water is quite literally not dry , but I understand that it's a powder that you put into your water . So , okay , the wording for me was just like but I guess that was catchy and made me look into it . Right , so they won . Their marketing strategy won Okay , dry water . And then I'm sure it was some kind of an electrolyte .

It was something about you know , the water that you're drinking isn't enough . Like plain , regular old water is not good enough . You need to have this dry water , you need to have electrolytes . You see that all the time , electrolytes .

Every fitness influencer has been pushing electrolytes , not so much now but recently , and that was one thing that pissed me off , because most people are not active enough to need electrolytes Like just drink water , and it's not cheap .

My daughter and I were actually at the store and she picked up I don't remember which brand Element T or I don't remember which brand , but she picked up a box of the little packets of electrolytes and she grabbed them like she was going to put them in the cart and in our shopping cart . And I'm like I said , do you know what that is ?

And she's like well , yeah , they're electrolyte packets . And I said , for what ? And she's like well , you know , to give you , like , the benefits of drinking more water . And I said , well then , just drink more water . And she's like well , these are supposed to be good for you .

And I'm I mean we're literally standing in Walmart and I'm like you don't even work out . What do you mean ? You don't need electrolytes ? I don't understand . And then I said something about if you put those in the cart , you need to go for a run every single day , like you need to start working out and running every single day .

And she looked at me and I said they're quite literally not going to do anything for you , child , you do not need them . So she put them back on the shelf . But , like I know that , but someone who doesn't know that is looking at this product , thinking , oh my gosh , regular water isn't good enough for me .

I need electrolytes , I need this dry water , I need X , y and Z Insert any company that tells you that water is not good enough , right . And most of us , like I said , are not moving enough daily to require electrolytes . Yes , I realize they're great for you , don't get me wrong .

I'm not ripping on them as a whole , but a lot of us aren't out slamming weights in the gym for two hours dripping sweat , losing you know , losing body water .

Like we're not out running miles and miles and sprinting at the track in the full sun and , you know , exerting our bodies with this energy that would make us be lacking of all the salt and the nutrients that we need . Like most of us aren't even moving enough . So we don't need electrolytes , we don't need dry water . Literal water is good enough .

So it's just crazy to me the things that we're being fed and we're being shown and we're being seen and we're in a . I guess we're vulnerable enough to think that we need it , and so ads are driving me crazy .

It's just , I follow a lot of fitness accounts , like I said , and so I'm seeing a lot of these supplements and a lot of , you know , helping you sleep and burning fat in your sleep and just all kinds of things , and so I want to just I'm just like I said , I'm literally just ranting , but I know you're seeing it too and I want you to know that I'm

seeing it and it's driving me crazy and I want you to be very , very cautious . Driving me crazy and I want you to be very , very cautious . Another thing , like the third technical thing I want to talk about , is being cautious of what you are being shown as far as weight loss , as far as diets , as far as workouts , things like that .

The other day I shared on my feed . I didn't put any thoughts about it or anything . Honestly , I just really haven't had time lately to kind of get my thoughts on things on social media . So I share it and I got some DMs about it , but I don't remember the exact wording of the reel , but it was a dad and a son .

If I remember correctly , the son was in his late 20s , probably something like that . So the dad you know 40s and 50s . We'll say so this is not a young child , but , okay , a son in his 20s , dad , 40s , 50s , like an older dad and son . And the son said he had lost .

I think the dad actually said this is my son and he's lost 40 pounds in however many months and they were very excited about it and this you know . Tell him how you did it or whatever , no-transcript . And he was eating one meal a day . I don't remember what time .

He said he was eating one meal a day and it was equal to either 800 or 1,000 calories and then he would fast the rest of the time . And so basically , the real was kind of getting at the fact that intermittent fasting and keto was working so well for him and then I think he had met his goals . So he was going to go into a maintenance phase .

He was going to open up his eating window a little bit and eat maybe like 1200 , I don't know calories but still do keto . It was insane and the person who it was John something .

Shoot , I should have looked into that , but there was a fitness influencer that I really really like shared it and he went on to say no , the reason that you lost weight is not thanks to intermittent fasting or keto . It's because you were eating in a calorie deficit .

You were starving yourself , essentially , and that's not something that we should be celebrating , that's not something that we should be proud of and , quite literally , keto and or intermittent fasting are not to be . That's not the reason that you lost weight . They're not to be thanked for that .

So , basically , this you know , this real is implying to people who don't know any better that if you do keto and if you do intermittent fasting , you'll lose weight . And that's crazy and that pisses me off , because , yeah , you absolutely will .

If you starve yourself , you will lose weight until you start to eat again , and then you will put that weight back on because your metabolism has now slowed down , because you're only giving it 800 to a thousand calories a day , speaking about this sun situation , and now your metabolism slowed down , so now it's functioning on 800 to 1000 calories .

So when you bump up , it's going to , you know , it's going to rev up , of course , and that's going to be a good thing , but most people don't increase their calories slowly back into a reverse diet we go back to .

We're freaking starving , we miss all this food that we used to have , we don't want to eat within this window anymore and and we're going fucking crazy . And now we've gained all this weight back , and it's just . There's a lot of false information out there , and so , for one , probably spend less time on social media .

For two , please pay attention to what you are watching , and if it sounds stupid , and if it sounds like it's something that's unsustainable , or if it sounds literally not true , if it sounds like something I would make fun of or tell you to not do , don't do it . Scroll , use that thumb and keep on scrolling , okay , because there is a lot .

Like I said , there's a lot of fitness accounts posting workouts they don't do . There's a lot of fitness accounts posting workouts they don't do .

There's a lot of fitness accounts saying keto and intermittent fasting are the way to go , and yes , you can lose weight doing keto and yes , you can lose weight doing intermittent fasting and yes , those both have benefits outside of losing weight . But what I'm saying is the normal general population doesn't need to do those things .

Also , there's a lot of filters . I don't follow fake accounts . I don't follow the posing and just the cheesy . I don't . I follow fitness accounts of real workout coaches , personal trainers that actually give a shit and actually post real , really good content , or girls like women that I aspire to like , look like or I think like .

Oh , that you know she's a really good example of eating a lot of food and eating cleaner and , you know , having balance and working out and going to the gym and lifting heavy . I don't follow fake accounts that are just like posing , but I do see some that have like a lot of those accounts . They have filters on their photos . They have edited their photos .

They themselves have bbls , which is a fake butt . Okay . A lot of people are talking about glutes and how to grow your glutes and a lot of their glutes are fake . A lot of them have actually had lipo as well , because when you get a bbl , they have to take the fat from somewhere else in your body and put it on your butt cheeks .

Some of them have also had lipo . There are fake bodies everywhere .

There's unrealistic expectations everywhere and you have got to be careful when you are scrolling what , you are listening to what is happening , who you are watching , what you're comparing yourself to and that's a big one , because you're not going to be like , oh , I'm sitting here comparing myself to them .

You're not doing that on purpose , but you are doing it subliminally . So social media has a place and it's a good place . I like social media for the fact that I've met so many people and I have a podcast . Now I have a career . I coach women . I meet so many women .

I'm able to spread my knowledge and reach so many people because of social media , so I'm very thankful for it . But there's a lot out there that I see and a lot of my clients struggle with things that they see online that we have to work through because of the bullshit that is also on social media . So it's just . I just wanted to talk about it .

So thank you for listening and also please send me your messages about this . I would love to hear . I can always do another episode about this with your stories and with your thoughts , and because I know there's so many more . I actually I think it was when I posted the ad for the electrolytes dry water . You know I was like send me some .

And somebody did and I should have shared it today . But I , you know , I was like send me your funny ads or whatever that you see that catch your attention . And I got a couple , but please send me , because you know , the more we notice something and say , oh my gosh , I should send this to Christy , it's kind of funny the more we'll know .

Okay , this is fake , right ? That's kind of what I wanted to put out . There was like okay , dry water , electrolytes , regular water is fine . Before you buy something to make your workouts harder and buy more equipment to use in the gym , start showing up at the gym , start showing up for yourself .

Before you buy supplements to hit your protein goal , try to hit your protein goal or at least get a little bit closer right . Or at least track to see where you're at before you try to buy something else . Least track to see where you're at before you try to buy something else . It's like we just keep seeing ads for things and it just .

It can go on and on and on and we're always comparing and so before you go , look outside of yourself for something , try getting back to the basics and try looking at yourself and seeing like , do I even need that ? Do I even need electrolytes ? Do I even need to lose weight ? Do I even need to tone up ? Do I even need bigger glutes ?

Like , do I even need any of this shit that are on these advertisements that people are showing me ? Like , is this even a problem that I have ? I'm already . It's like I'm already thinking about purchasing a product for a problem that I'm not even sure I have .

But I'll do it because my favorite influencer said and she has a 20% off code , so I need to get it right now . It's just crazy . So be aware of what you're watching , most importantly . But also it has gotten out of control .

I do want to just say that the ads and stuff on there are just out of control and I do miss scrolling and seeing friends and seeing people's kids and they've grown up and all the things that used to be on social media . I miss following accounts and knowing that I could trust what they're saying and doing . And now I have to wonder if that's even true .

Did they grow that booty or did they pay for it ? It's fine either way , just be honest about it . So I don't know . I did just want to talk about it and say that I relate with the frustration , and I know that it does wreak havoc on a lot of things , and so I'm fully aware of that .

So this was just a really good topic to ease my way back into chatting your ear off without a guest , and I think it's a really a really good topic . So , seriously , please reach out to me . If you don't already follow me at Christy Castillo Fit , follow me there and send me all your thoughts . You can also follow me at Unfuck your Fitness Podcast .

Things are changing a little bit on my accounts . Christy Castillo Fit is the same . The podcast page is going to become more of a community vibe , so I'm going to be posting some quotes and things about different podcast episodes that I've had or different thoughts that I have , just kind of some encouragement .

So please go follow the Unfuck your Fitness podcast account , because I'm going to just be posting some good stuff over there , not so much workouts and things , but more like the mindset and encouragement . I want to make that a really important community page . So some things are happening with Unfuck your Fitness and with Christy Castillo Fit .

We're going to be merging some things , we're going to be changing some things , and it's going to be fun . Everything won . We're going to be changing some things and it's going to be fun .

Everything won't fully transition until probably the first of the year , but just to give you a little notice , things are going to be changing and it's going to be amazing , so get excited , all right ? Well , it was fun chatting with you again . I will talk to you next week .