How to know what health and fitness information to follow. (This post was originally published in 2018, and this is an updated version with the latest and greatest.)

When I wrote this post a few years ago, it took off. I loved to see that, and I know it happened because we’re all overwhelmed with the health and fitness information we see on social media.

If you’re anything like me, you might gravitate toward consuming health and fitness content, and thus you see dozens of different approaches and methods every day. And typically, the person pushing each approach claims their way is the only way that works. This can be very confusing, if you’re not sure who to believe or what to do for yourself. 

That’s why today, I want to offer up some criteria you can use to gauge the credibility of the sources of the content you consume. Hopefully this criteria can serve as a filter for you as you scroll and decide what to take in and what to leave behind.

How to know what health and fitness information to follow

Let’s get to it …

How can you tell who to trust for advice?

What to look for in a fitness professional …

First and foremost, you shouldn’t take fitness advice from a fit-looking Instagrammer, just because they have a hot bod. A body is not a billboard. It’s a body.

You should only take fitness advice from a currently certified personal trainer who has worked with clients in the past or is currently working with clients, and who stays up to date on research and is providing information tailored to your needs. Just like most professional credentials, fitness professionals need to do continuing education to stay certified every two years. If someone gets a personal trainer certification once in their life, that’s not enough — they need to keep learning and keep re-certifying. You may not be able to know this from looking at someone’s pictures, but check their bio or website or straight up ask them.

You should also make sure that the fitness professional you’re following specializes in your demographic. For instance, a male personal trainer focused on elite male athletes may not be the best trainer for you, if you’re a postpartum mom who’s never worked out before. Why? Because he’s male? No. Because he doesn’t specialize in pre- and post-natal and the intricacies of repairing a healing body, he specializes in sports performance. 

You also can’t base everything on pictures or appearance. Believe it or not, there are totally legit, credentialed and skilled personal trainers who may not have perfect photos on Instagram, and they also may not have perfect bodies. That doesn’t mean they can’t create an awesome program to help you, or provide you with fitness tips. Being fit and looking fit are not the same thing.

Here are a few more things to know and some reminders:

• Only work with someone who holds a current personal trainer certification from an accredited agency, like NASM, ACE, etc. Go to that person’s bio page on his or her website and read about their experience, as they should have some listed there. If they don’t, ask them about their experience.
• Also, for workout advice, you want to rely on a certified personal trainer, not a fitness instructor. Group fitness instructors have some knowledge and can direct you in a class, but personal trainers have much more education on creating individualized workout programs. (Some people, like me, are both. And group fitness is the most fun, so there!)
• Blanket advice is also not always the best, so try to look for a fitness professional who is providing tailored advice to your body type, gender, abilities and goals. If you’re purchasing an online program, there should be a place to discuss goals and current abilities with the trainer, perhaps even a video assessment of you and your form, etc..
• If you’re in a gym setting looking around at trainers, ask the personal trainers you’re interested in working with about clients like you that they’ve worked with before. Ask them about their approach and education and experience and make sure it sounds like it would mesh well with your needs and wants. Do they have clients that stay with them for a long time or do people tend to quit after the first package of sessions? This information matters.
• If you’re interested in buying a popular online fitness program, read the reviews, read the logistics and the FAQs, find out if there is a way to get help with moves and get your form checked. If it’s a program without two-way communication, maybe it’s not the best for you if you’re just starting out.
• Consider investing in a couple private sessions. Everyone can benefit from at least a couple of sessions with a personal trainer in their lives, whether that’s in person or online. It’s awesome to have someone assess your movement patterns and tell you whether you’re doing things right — in fact, getting a few tweaks from a personal trainer could make the difference for you in the rest of your workouts once you know how to move better.

What to look for in a nutrition professional …

It’s important to remember that you shouldn’t take nutrition advice from someone who likes to cook or plates a pretty dish for Instagram. You also shouldn’t take nutrition advice from someone, just because you like the way they look.

If you need help with your diet, you should enlist the help of a registered dietitian or a certified nutritionist. 

A registered dietitian has a ton of education in order to get that title, and they are truly the only nutrition professional who can provide you with a specific meal plan. 

A certified nutritionist or a nutrition coach can offer healthy eating principles tailored to you based on your needs, but they can’t prescribe a precise meal plan. They can, however, coach you to learn and adopt better eating habits for your lifestyle and needs. Personally, I’m a certified Precision Nutrition Coach, and a lot of my peers use this certification to support lifestyle changes for their clients — not through prescribed meals, but through adopting healthier habits.

It’s important to note that a personal trainer cannot tell you what to eat, unless they also have a nutrition credential on top of their fitness credential. And this is an area where a lot of trainers overstep their expertise. If you see a personal trainer selling workout programs combined with a prescribed meal plan, and they are not working with an outside registered dietitian to create the meal plan, then technically, they aren’t supposed to be doing that.

The thing is, just like fitness, nutrition should be based on your needs, lifestyle, goals and individual preferences. No eating plan should be one-size-fits-all, so it’s especially important to find someone to follow or work with who understands you and your situation.

If you’re just looking for a well-balanced nutrition professional to follow, check their credentials for at least one certification. Once again, a nutrition professional with a current credential and who has experience working with clients is what you’re looking for. And remember, if someone is pushing a certain kind of diet as the best way to eat, it’s likely because it works for them. That doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Here are a few more things to know and some reminders:

• If you’re looking for guidance on what food to eat, you want to rely on a registered dietitian or nutritionist, and RDs have much more education than nutritionists. You could also rely on your doctor, although from my experience, doctors don’t have a ton of insight into diet, which is a little bit of a shame.
• Once again, nutrition advice needs to be tailored to you and your exact needs, so blanket one-size-fits-all advice is not ideal. You should have a meeting or online session with your RD, be able to ask questions, share about your lifestyle, and perhaps even do some blood-work too to make sure everything lines up.
• Check the bio page for the person you’re thinking of working with to make sure they have credentials. Ask about their experience if you don’t see what you’re looking for.
• Remember: Really good RDs may not have perfect bodies or perfect pictures on Instagram. That doesn’t mean anything. They can still be great at their jobs.
• It’s probably helpful for everyone to seek the assistance of an RD at least once in their life for a tailored assessment and plan, as well as just a chance to have an outside party look at what you’re eating and whether it’s fueling you properly or not. I’ve actually never met with an RD and would like to one day.
• Also, if you’re reading about nutrition, remember that websites and articles touting specific diets are always written by someone with a bio and an agenda, so check the writer’s background and do some research on them before believing everything you read. And if there’s a study referenced, click on the study and see if it seems legit. A sample size of 12 young males would not necessarily apply to you if you’re a 30-year-old woman. The best kind of study is a peer-reviewed study.

What criteria should you use to judge the health and fitness information you’re consuming?

Guess what? You don’t have to follow anyone’s advice if you don’t want to. Our bodies are so unique that what works for one person may not work for you. The best way to know what will work for you is trial and error in your own life. See what feels good and see what gives you results.

You do you, friend.

I mean, just because you like following some hot young yogi on Instagram and she does the keto diet, doesn’t mean you should do the keto diet to look like her. In fact, you don’t really know everything that she does behind the scenes to look the way she looks, because it may be way more than you have the appetite for, if you know what I mean. Six-pack abs and flexibility do not equate to real health on the inside, and real health on the inside should always be your goal.

Here’s how you should know what to follow …

If it’s something that works for your lifestyle.

If you like to eat dinner with your family every night and breakfast with your kids in the morning, then intermittent fasting, in which you have a very small eating window each day wouldn’t work for your lifestyle. Do you want to sit idly with your family and not eat while they eat each day? No. It’s not for you.

And now that we’re talking about intermittent fasting, I’d like to be clear that from what I understand, much of the research saying that intermittent fasting is the best way to live has been done on the male body, and the benefits are only in males. When in fact, the women’s body, and the women’s hormonal make-up do not thrive on shortening the eating window too much. Here’s some research to back up the statement that intermittent fasting works for men and is potentially more harmful for women, with less benefits.

When it comes to fitness, if you want to purchase a workout program that calls for 1-hour workouts seven days a week, and you already know your job and commitments won’t allow for it, then don’t do that program. You don’t have to work out every day, and certainly not for an hour. You could get very fit doing just four 30-minute sessions a week if they’re the right sessions. Once again, choose what will make sense for you.

Finally, as far as diets, if you’re a huge fan of dairy and have found no problems with consuming it, then don’t follow the Paleo diet just because your favorite influencer doesn’t eat cheese. Life is too short to be on a strict diet if you don’t need to for health reasons.

If it’s something that works for your body type and hormones.

Once again, I’m not a doctor or registered dietitian, but from what I’ve researched and read, it does seem that a lot of the popular diets out there have been tested mostly on men. Women are different. Although we’re equal in importance, intelligence and station in life, we have slightly more sensitive systems. This is the truth.

If you are a young woman of child-bearing age, then you need to be extra careful not to follow advice of a program that is far too stringent and intense for your body and hormonal system. That means carb cycling with super hard workouts a few times a week may not be for you. If you try it and find that you have no adverse affects with your energy levels and your menstrual cycle stays completely normal and regular (and you are not on birth control, which would give you a false sense of normalcy), then perhaps you can handle it. But if you see your skin taking a hit, your sleep taking a hit, and your irritability going through the roof — perhaps the program is not right for you right now, even if it’s delivering on the aesthetics goal.

It’s best to do a program that is tailored to your goals, needs, abilities and access to equipment. And remember that as you consider various programs and plans.

If it’s a realistic goal. And it’s a worthy goal for you personally.

What’s your why? 

Is it just to look good? Or is it to feel stronger or have more energy? You need to know why you’re choosing to consume certain information and whether it relates to your personal goal or it relates to someone else’s goal.

For fitness, I happen to love performance goals, like learning to do a pull-up, or learning how to properly use gym equipment. Working toward performance goals can be very motivating.

For diet, rather than saying you want to cut out certain food groups, it could be very valuable to set a goal to eat more whole foods and reduce your consumption of processed foods.

Yes, there is some very valuable health and fitness information out there in the world!

I know I’ve said a lot of things to avoid in this post, but I want to tell you with certainty that there is a lot of great health and fitness information out there to be consumed!

I read a ton of health, wellness and fitness articles each day and follow quite a few wellness influencers who have great information to share. When I see something that interests me that I may want to try in my life, I typically do a bit more research on it on my own. Then I ask myself whether I really want to make the changes that it requires, and if it’s worth it to me.

Things I’ve picked up from various influencers and health professionals with a platform? Taking daily collagen peptides in my morning tea. Drinking room temperature water with sea salt every morning before anything else. Meditating. Scraping my tongue with a tongue scraper. Being consistent with my rest days. Focusing on sleep to improve my overall health. Just to name a few … these all work with my lifestyle, make me feel good and have proven benefits.

A good rule of thumb for us all to follow when consuming health and fitness information

It’s totally okay to be inspired by some of your favorite fitness and wellness accounts on social media, but you don’t have to emulate them totally, and you need to ask yourself why you like what you see and whether or not it’s beneficial or realistic for you in your life.

When in doubt, know that health doesn’t have to be all that complicated. And it also doesn’t have to be about bikini bodies or six-pack abs or following the trends on social media. It’s a lot more simple than that … trust your gut and make good choices most of the time!

Thanks for reading this post about how to know what health and fitness information to follow, my friend. I want you to be empowered to make your own decisions, make educated choices and seek the help of credentialed professionals when you need them.

Also, come say hi to me over on Instagram!

Other posts you may like …

• Fit girl problems
• Five common fitness mistakes I see people making
• How to choose the right athletic shoe for your workouts

Questions of the day for you

Where do you get your health and fitness advice?

Who’s your favorite fitness inspo account to follow?