We are at peak bathing suit season and it seems like all I see is fitspo splattered on the walls of my digital realm. I love it some days and other days I have to pinch myself to remind myself of what reality is. I always want to be healthy and fit and motivated but the reality of it is that as many gym pictures that you see aren't the reality of what most common gym goers go through. We're not all super pumped to be there all the time and not all days are good days.

Here’s what’s behind some of the fitspo pictures:

1. The 10 minutes- 3 Hours it took to actually get up and work out. I know I’ll feel better once I do it but actually doing it is an entirely other thing.
2. The amount of time it even took to get out of the house and go to the gym.
3. What I ate this morning and why I actually have to go to the gym. Let’s be honest, the fitspo lifestyle is all about the pretty breakfast and snack bowls and sometimes life is more left over pizza and burnt toast. Either way, as long as you’re trying, you’re winning and it’s always a win to manage to get a work out in.
4. The first 10 minutes of cardio or warm ups where I’m debating whether or not to just die or keep pushing through. Ok, I’m being dramatic with the whole die part, but doesn’t it feel like it sometime around the first moments when you choose to start running or working out?
5. The 5 breaks I’ve taken already in an hour to drink water and groan both internally and externally, because who hasn’t been there?
6. Me actually gasping for breath because working out hurts and it burns and like it’s great, but holy crap at what cost?
7. That point in the month when a ten-minute workout is really all you can manage. We’re not always performing at our best and there’s no use in pushing ourselves to our breaking point when we can take a break and recuperate but that’s rarely included in the captions. It’s OK to take a break as long as you come back and try again.
8. That entire week off that had to be taken off and hey that’s OK. Sometimes we need a vacation and yeah you can totally work out while vacationing, but you don’t have to and even though it’s sometimes discouraged, taking some time off is OK.
9. The negativity. Let’s be honest, a healthy lifestyle isn’t easy. Sometimes we are our worst critics, but working out shouldn’t be a punishment for ourselves. Even though it’s rarely mentioned, sometimes it turns out to be that way. We run because we feel guilty instead of running to feel better and we deprive ourselves of things just because we feel like we don’t deserve them. We criticize and we bring ourselves down and it’s a wrong part of the fitness mentality. We’re here to get healthy and get better, not get mad at ourselves.
10. The progress that you can't see in pictures. You feel better slowly but surely. Work outs get easier and you start reaching small milestones that you don't even realize you're accomplishing. You can't capture every moment but looking back you'll remember all the moments you overcame and conquered.
    
    There's a lot between before and after posts that isn't talked about, but should be because we're not just before and after's. We're everything that's gotten us to where we are. We're everything after the after shots and more. It's a nice idea to believe that all we are is smoothie bowls and avocado toast, but we are so much more than that.