5 reasons you need Instagram in your life

Inspiring and motivating, Instagram is not simple a photo-sharing app – here are the 5 reasons you need Instagram in your life.

In the health and fitness world Instagram has become a tool for posting pictures of health food dishes and images of people working towards their fitness goals by keeping their followers updated on their progression, and it can be a fun way to show off fitness gear by hash-tagging. When you scroll through your Instagram daily, do you ever wish you could have that crop top, those wash board abs or that delicious salad? Well we have put together 5 ways for you to appreciate your Instagram as a useful free tool for helping you reach your fitness goals!

It gives you fitspiration

Fitspiration is a term used to describe the inspiration you can glean from fitness bloggers. It can be hard finding the motivation to do any exercise or eat healthily, so we suggest following fitness fanatics like @zannavandijk and @natalieglaze. We love following their fitness tips, where they’ve been working out and what they’ve been eating. Having a role model helps to give yourself goals and inspires you stick to them so that you can achieve what they have, and feel great about yourself. Also watching how other people workout and maintain a healthy diet can be educational and improve your lifestyle.

You can get expert advice for free

Instagram can also be a great alternative if you don’t want to pay for personal training or other forms of expert knowledge. Bloggers can give you free fitness tips and you will find you are subconsciously absorbing knowledge about how to live a healthy life, just from images and comments. For example, blogger Fitspiration posts inspiring quotes, recipes, fitness fashion must haves, and workout demonstrations.

Fitspiration says, ‘I made a resolution to myself to lose at least a certain amount of weight and to be more healthy. I’m on my way but sometimes a little inspiration and motivation is helpful.’

It helps you lose weight

Social networking is not just being used for wellness in the social world, but also in the business world. A huge 90% of companies with more than 5,000 employees use social networks to deliver their fitness programmes. This encourages light-hearted competition between colleagues and a chance to keep track of their improvements. Dr Rajiv Kumar, founder and chief medical officer of work-fitness programme ShapeUp, says that ‘peer accountability has a big impact on human behaviour’ because if someone you know is striving to lose weight, you are more likely to want to do the same.

It gives you a support network

Following Instagram bloggers and receiving followers is the same as building a support network, and evidence has shown that social support is important for achieving success with your fitness goals. Think about it, by gaining many followers the whole world is watching, so you will feel less inclined to give up especially if you have gained followers who think that you are inspirational! Following a fitness blogger is like gaining a fitness buddy, and working out with someone else is always more fun. So we suggest following TOWIE star Lucy Meck and signing up to Results with Lucy, where you can watch unlimited workout videos for just £12.99 a month!

You can give someone else a boost

Not everyone likes to work out alone, so when you’re feeling like skipping the gym get on Instagram and look at some motivational pictures to remind yourself of what you want to achieve, put your favourite music on and your best running outfit and show everyone what you’ve got – and you’ll in turn give someone else motivation to do the same. Just don’t forget to hashtag!