Love ’em or loathe em, it turns out selfies could be the key to staying motivated and achieving fitness and weight loss goals.
Anyone who has an Instagram account probably has a fair share of #fitspiration and #transformation posts clogging up their feeds, but according to a new study published in the Journal of Interactive Marketing sharing your fitness and weight loss goals on social media platforms can actually help us stay on track. The study followed two communities of weight loss groups over a four-period and found that we’re more likely achieve success with goals when we make a public commitment to achieving them.
Tired of your friend’s constant before-and-after pics? Jabbering to your colleagues or your girlfriends about your health and fitness aspirations might not have the desired effect: unlike real life, virtual communities strangely allow us to keep a relative level of anonymity which keeps us motivated and accountable. “Not everyone can get the support they need from the people they interact with in person on a daily basis. It is helpful that technology can support community building and goal achievement in virtual spaces,” said one of the co-authors of the study Dr. Sonya A. Grier.
So get snapping if you’ve got those #summerbody goals to achieve.
