My Experience with Misinformation in the Realm of Fitness Content

In the era of short-form content, misinformation has run rampant on social media. From Instagram reels with explosive claims about diet and exercise, to TikToks that promote the latest supplements with promo codes—but likely without any evidence of product safety or effectiveness, it’s easy to follow Alice down the rabbit hole while navigating this part of the internet. Admittedly, I have fallen victim to baseless marketing campaigns, fear mongering, and empty promises. The worst part? In almost all cases, there was someone on the other end profiting from my internet-induced confusion.

In order to understand fitness content, we first need to understand the nature of content on the internet. Content can be divided into two categories: short form and long form. There's many different markers we can use to define these terms, but I like to keep it simple. Short-form content is anything that's focused on delivering information fast, such as a TikTok, Instagram Reel, or Youtube Short. Long-form content would be more in-depth information and analysis of a topic. It’s important to note that, objectively speaking, both of these forms come with their pros and cons. It’s in how we interact with the content that matters. And “there’s the rub,” for the recent explosion of short-form content on the internet has been generally problematic due to the superficial and often exploitive nature of the information with which the user is provided. It’s also important to understand what fitness content is composed of: diet and exercise. Diet content would likely involve recommendations on what and how to eat. Exercise content would be focused on how to exercise.

Most people know that diet content, likely the most popular of the two fitness content domains on the internet, has the potential—with its links to nutrition, body image, and mental health issues—to be the most problematic. Like many teenage boys seeking the size and strength not afforded by my DNA, I was overwhelmed by the plethora of diet advice on the internet, especially since much of it was contradictory. If I could take my time machine to offer my younger self some advice, it would include a healthy dose of skepticism about the purported claims of extreme diets. Content demonizing innocuous and sometimes necessary carbs and fats and contentions related to some foods being “fattening” while others are “fat burning” are often ill informed—even misleading—marketing ploys.

Weight loss and weight gain is simply a game of calories in versus calories out. If we eat more than we burn over a long period of time, we will gain weight; if we eat less than we burn over a long period of time, we will lose weight. Claims about foods increasing one’s metabolic rate, with buzz terms like “hyper charging your metabolism,” are equally problematic. However, it was only after years of consuming fitness content online that I realized the truth: Long term solutions don’t get the clicks that quick fixes and fades do. This is where short-form falls short (forgive the pun), as it takes a one-size-fits-all approach that lacks nuance and depth, making it even easier to sell instant gratification to impressionable people.

Like diet content, exercise content has also suffered in the age of the short-form reel. I was that 12 year old doing 10-minute abdominal workouts that promised to give me “abs of steel.” Needless to say, I’d make it through airport metal detectors without setting off any alarms. Then there are the “spot reducing” programs, falsely promising to target fat on certain parts of our bodies by working the muscles in that area. This is a myth, as is the belief that we can “turn fat into muscle.” Exercise doesn’t burn fat; rather, it burns calories, which can potentially help achieve a calorie deficit. This is how we lose weight.

It’s also disappointing to see how the fitness industry specifically targets women. Chloe Ting workouts, along with those of other influencers promoting dangerous routines and hawking dubious products with photoshopped images of results, promise to give women the “toned but not bulky” look they desire (another myth, as body composition is primarily determined by muscle mass, body fat percentage, and where our bodies store fat). And these forms of exercise, often promoted specifically to women, are just less effective and healthy than simply lifting weights. The most outrageous of their claims (and that’s saying something) is that weight training is going to make their muscles blow up suddenly, exploiting women’s fear of being too big or too masculine looking. That skinny twelve-year-old boy in me laughs at the notion that it’s easy to get “too bulky.” It takes years of hardwork and dedication to achieve that look, usually with rather demanding dietary requirements and supplement (or worse) intake regiments.

My advice to women—and anyone—who wants to improve their health and body composition is to learn how to lift weights, eat, and optimize their routine to fit their schedule, ability to recover, and specific goals. There are legitimate sources of online content--both short and long form--that can offer sound, scientifically-based advice. But that also requires that we put as much time and effort into researching our exercise and diet routines as we spend scouring reviews on AirBnB for our next vacation home, or on tirerack.com for the safest tires for our car, or, even on Amazon for the very blender in which we’ll make our protein shakes. It’s definitely a learning curve, but a rewarding one worth the time and effort, the research and the scrutiny.

And once you find what works for you, stick with it. In Camus’s Myth of Sisyphus, the titular character is condemned by the gods to laboriously push a boulder up a mountain, only for it to roll back down just as he reaches the peak…and repeat for eternity. But it’s not only an allegory of human suffering, but also of resilience. Camus says, “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” Acceptance and complacency can (and should!) be mutually exclusive. This is a long game; patience and consistency leads to results--not the quick fixes of magic elixirs and snake oil promised in much online content. But on that journey to the ever-elusive peak, stop and smell the roses and appreciate the little progressions made along the way. Just try and get a little better every week. It all adds up. At the risk of sounding ironic, I promise!

Jake Popken