Can Twitter get you fitter?

We live in a society where sharing every minute detail of our lives with the world has become the norm. The once sacred personal information we guarded seems to be out there on every social platform, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. But not all information shared is a bad thing, in fact it could even help you shed a few pounds and most importantly, keep them off. So could sites like Facebook and Twitter get you fitter? Sabi Phagura takes a closer look…

Next time you’re online, take a closer look at your Twitter feed or Facebook homepage and somewhere in between the party photos, LOLs and selfies, you’ll be sure to find a record number of your virtual (and real) friends logging kilometres cycled, miles jogged, gym workouts completed and healthy meals cooked. But before you dismiss these posts as mere ‘bragging’, they may just help you lose weight. So while sitting on our backsides behind our laptops might sound counterproductive to any weight loss goals, it does in fact help you keep motivated and provide you with a support network to encourage you to stick to your fitness goals. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, participants who used Twitter to monitor their own weight loss had lower body mass indexes after six months than those who didn’t. Meanwhile it found that personal trainers use it as a useful tool to motivate clients towards their goals and clients use it to push themselves that much further.

So exactly how can you benefit from having health and fitness support at your fingertips? Personal trainers aren’t cheap but with Twitter you have access to a wealth of fitness experts. You can interact with them, learn new techniques, get advice, sign up to free challenges and feel accountable and motivated again without paying any earth shattering costs. Finding motivation from the other like-minded keep-fit community is another way of keeping your head out of the fridge. Posts from fellow healthy people, which boast about running stats, taking up fitness challenges, healthy selfies, and pictures of mouth-watering healthy dishes can all help to get us off the couch and into the great outdoors. Discovering running, fitness and healthy trends is only one side of the coin.

Food is of equal importance and alongside exercise, the internet is brimming with healthy eating blogs and recipe inspiration. There are even healthy desserts you can make with the help of bloggers like Deliciously Ella and Naturally Sassy, who have created delicious desserts such as brownies made from sweet potatoes and cookies loaded with chia seeds.

And after all that effort and a sense of accomplishment such as a completed gym session, 10k run, a pilates class, it’s a must to log it all on tracking apps such as Nike +, Mapmyrun or MyFitnessPal. Well you really have earned the bragging rights so why not share and get others motivated to get fitter on twitter?