Disclaimer: I am not a licensed personal trainer or nutritionist. My knowledge comes from my experiences bodybuilder in the NPC women's division.

Instagram has a terrifying way of overselling reality, painting a fancy facade over the imperfections of daily life. With a rising trend in "fitness models." It creates an alarming amount of misinformation into the fitness community. Most of the misinformation is extremely predatory towards women and their needs.

Misinformation circulates daily promoting alarming fad diets, fat burners, magic fixes, weight loss pills, and more. Unfortunately, there is only one scientific food staple that changes your body is caloric surpluses and deficits.

Weight loss can truly be as simple as managing your macros and lifting, with the proper form of course, and incorporating a healthy lifestyle.

Aside from the nutritional aspect, there is a rise in "fitspo" Instagrams taking flights, and with every launch comes with a widespread of poor information. Often times these accounts rise from poor, or little, knowledge. I can relate fully, I fell for the Instagram trends and I can't even count the number of times I walked into the gym with an Instagram inspired workout that I thought would solve my problems, and yet, I had no idea that trap I was falling for until it was too late.

Now, after years of weight lifting and even a season of bodybuilding, I have learned so much more and am aware of the fads that do more harm and far less good.

For one, massive amounts of cardio and a 1,200 calorie a day diet is not a sustainable lifestyle, and after months of that it becomes known as "chronic dieting." For some reason, this is the most common "health" trend that women fall for when beginning their new lifestyles. Chronic dieting slows your metabolism and eventually, your body adapts to this and stalls out. Also, it's quite literally impossible to build muscle at this caloric intake, and muscle building is the key to body recomposition.

That's just one explanation, also, to sum up, a very long drawn out topic, eat carbs, not in excess, but definitely, don't see them as the enemy and cut them out. Carbs are fuel and you need them to grow muscles, have energy, and do most any interaction in your daily life. So many diets, fads, and trends promote low carb lifestyles, and while this seems like a fast solution, it is not a sustainable solution.

Lastly, with as many false sites are out there, there are equally as many good Instagram handles that can provide knowledge on proper form and lifestyle techniques. The dangers of lifting without proper technique, which many "fitspo" pages often show in recorded videos, can range from major joint issues to life long injuries. They are professionals in the industry and don't prescribe or promote an unhealthy level of fads. I highly recommend:

@australianstrengthcoach

@sydona_lifts

Both of these individuals strive to promote knowledge and proper lifting form and have spent time promoting serious education and sustainable lifestyles.

This topic isn't expressed enough to women, and the truth is it needs to be more widespread. The dangers that come from lifting without proper splits, form, and food can cause long term damage to your body and mental health. So many women, and men live their life with food restrictions and alter their daily lives based on a wealth of misinformation. Taking the time to learn the in's and out's of a healthy lifestyle can alter your life for the better for so many years.