Is Instagram turning into fitness guru?

With more than 75 million daily users, Instagram is like bread and butter for almost every teen and professional alike. And that’s indeed a healthy breakfast. Instagram and health?Scratching your head to make a correlation!

Log on to social networking app and chances are high that at least one of your friends has posted a photo of his or her workout regimes or healthy meals. Every hour, you’ll see people or community sharing their success stories related to healthy lifestyle, healthy eating habits or a rejuvenated self.

Carl Daikeler, CEO of at-home workout company Beach Body which introduced iconic programs such as Insanity, P90X, and 21-Day Fix believes that Instagram is spurring the biggest shift the fitness world has seen in decades. He says, "It's been so easy to make a healthy lifestyle optional because it wasn't in your face before. Right? You go about your life, you've got to do your job, your kids are expecting everything to you, but the one thing that was very easy to skip is exercise, and it was very easy to justify grabbing pizza because you worked so hard today and your boss yelled at you and you were under so much pressure that you just need a little gratification."

That's not an option anymore."However, the rise of Instagram and now, Facebook, and now seeing people like you are fitting it into their day and they're putting in the effort and they're enjoying their life and doing things they never thought they could do," Daikeler adds.

Autumn Calabrese, a trainer also shares the importance of social media and says, "For me, coming from being the trainer, I think that it's huge in the fact that it is all about sharing your success or sharing people's success. And you can look through these hash tags and not only see people's results but see what they're doing to get them. You can see the meal prepping, you can see them sweaty at the ends of their workouts, you can see them on days when they're tired on the floor and are like I don't want to do it' but still push play on the DVD."

"Social media has kind of made it easier to come together. I think that they say, 'misery loves company' and not that it's miserable to work out and, maybe it is for some people, but the fact that they have other people to hold them accountable and to say like, 'great job,' 'did you push play?,' way to get those workouts done!' and they have other people that they can share those results with and other people cheering them on it sells the product itself."

Calabrese further adds, “Marketing that comes directly from the customer is arguably more authentic than a commercial. When women see other women share their own journeys, it undeniably can intrigue them to want to try that product too."

Apart from people, brands have also profited from the Instagram community, such as Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide program, which has cultivated a massive community mainly because of the highly shareable photos and recognizable hash tags on Instagram.