It’s easy to set yourself up against all of the things that we see on social media; the tiny waists, six-pack abs, and legs for days…

But why put yourself through all of that worrying when you probably have different goals, genetics, and nutritional needs as the person you’re comparing yourself to?

Sometimes you’re gonna feel fat on that bulk, and it’s not gonna look like you have lean abs when you’re wearing a belt and bracing correctly. You have to eat to support your sport, and a healthy amount of body fat is necessary for balanced hormonal health. 

Your body is under a lot of pressure to perform and train hard, more than the average bear. Therefore, you need to eat more and maintain more mass than the average bear. Not everyone can do the things that you can, and that’s pretty rad. 

Strength training is a world filled with expectations, competition, and physique changes. Wanting to change something about yourself in a healthy way can be a good move toward a higher quality of life, but when it becomes obsessive and self-degrading, that’s when we need to take a step back and assess what is leading us to feel this way.

Social media has become one of the main ways we spend our free time, so it is important to pinpoint the things that trigger anxiety or evokes decreases in self-esteem. 

Ways to avoid feeling like crap after checking social media:

• Don’t follow losers who make you feel like crap

• Limit your time on social media

• Use social media as a creative outlet; what art, music, or designers do you like?

So please, give yourself a break. Your mental health is important, and something as petty as social media really shouldn’t determine your self worth.

Chances are, we’ll all find an aspect of ourselves to complain about no matter what we look like, so why not just appreciate what you got?