Insta Posing Progress Pictures

“Are you snapfacing on Instatwitter again?” asked my husband, Henri.  God love him, he is the only person on Earth who makes me feel young; he knows even less about social media than I do!

I’ve been making a concerted effort to learn Instagram recently and was rewarded with 500 followers.  Yay!

Did you know that there’s a hashtag for everything?  (People over 40: a hashtag # is basically a filing system for the internet, i.e. – If you wanted to find pictures of bodybuilders type in #bodybuilding.)

And unlike Facebook, people can be total instasluts and post nude pictures, and they pop up in the most unexpected places.  Like once I searched #Disney and some naked lady posted that she was a bad girl and to call her for a good time, and I was like, ‘On #Disney?  Really?’  But what do I know.  She had like 2 million followers.

Other people only post good pictures of themselves.  That’s kind of boring.  No one looks good every single day.  Shoot, I can go a solid week of looking downright frumpy until my family and friends perform an intervention.

I usually search the following hashtags for motivation:  #instafit, #fitmommy, #bodybuilding and #girlswholift.  A recent article in the Huffington Post said that looking at all those fit people can lower your self-esteem, because you subconsciously compare yourself to the other people in the picture.

Sometimes I feel this way, but usually it’s by impressive mommies and not bikini competitors.  Like when I’m looking at a gorgeous woman in designer clothes who posted that she saved a puppy from drowning while homeschooling her three kids and just won the lottery, but plans to give it all to charity instead of spending it on herself.  That makes me feel a little inferior.

But most days I look at the top bikini women #ifbbprobikini and figure out what I have to do to get my physique better so I can beat them.  I guess that’s Type A behavior.  Or maybe my thought is that I’ll never win Mother-of-the-Year, but I might win my pro card, so let’s focus there.

#Progresspictures are the most fun for me to see because they give me hope that with time and effort things will work out.  Plus, it’s an example of you competing against yourself and (hopefully) winning versus doing a #hater post where you compare yourself against another person.

With that in mind, here is a progress picture of my #bikiniposing. 

The blurry picture on the left is from 2012, after my first competition.  The picture on the right, by Sal Robles Photography, was taken during the Texas Shredder this April.

I think it’s a good example of how just a slight twist of your waist and arch of your back can make you look a whole lot better.

As for snapfacing on Instatwitter, I’ll try to post more pictures like this one, behind-the-scenes of what it’s like to prepare for a bodybuilding #competition, and keep it real.  Except for selfies.  For those I use the beauty face filter ’cause I’m over 40 and trust me sometimes soft focus is a good thing.

How about you?  Do you find Instagram motivating?

Lisa 😉

P.S. – Please check out (and follow) my Instagram account, Lisa Traugott.

Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two. Her book, “She’s Losing It!” is available at Amazon.com (and has a 5-star review rating!)

ShesLosingIt.com (c) 2015 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, video, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission.