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The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast
If you've tried all the fad diets and are sick and tired of not achieving your health and fitness goals long-term, you've come to the right place! Welcome to the Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast with me, Kristy Castillo. I'm here to help you break the annoying diet cycle, gain confidence, and reach your health and fitness goals.
This podcast will show you how to be proud of the body you have, build the body you want, and enjoy the process along the way. I'll cover topics like how to get the most from your workouts, the importance of feeding your body what it needs, and key mindset shifts that will empower you. I've broken through the BS surrounding diet culture and built my dream body, all while being a busy wife, Mom and business owner, and I know you can too!
Connect with me on Instagram at @kristycastillofit
Learn more about working together by visiting my website: https://www.kristycastillo.com/
The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast
153. Social Media Authenticity: My Take on Sharing Personal & Professional Life Online
The world of social media is definitely complex. As someone who started out using social media just for ‘fun’ years ago, to then building a business online, I’ve had quite the journey!
While I’m incredibly grateful for social media, it can be freaking HARD to navigate - especially as a business owner. I know many people view me as a fitness influencer, but I have a bit of a different take on that. If I’m going to influence you to do anything, I hope it’s to live a healthier life!
Honestly, I am super careful about what I choose to share on my platforms. Building a business and brand online is hard enough, and I’ve learned that people are going to pick you apart no matter WHAT you choose (or choose NOT) to share.
For me, I’m going to use my platforms to bring awareness to health and fitness - end of story. I will ALWAYS be authentic with you (wherever we’re connecting), but I don’t feel the need to broadcast every.single.thing either, you know?
Regardless of how you use social media, I hope this episode gives you some food for thought the next time you’re on your favorite platform. Here’s to being mindful of what we’re consuming (and sharing) online, and just practicing more kindness & empathy towards others!
In this episode, we cover:
- My start with social media + how it feels now as someone who primarily ‘works’ on social media
- My thoughts on being an ‘influencer’ vs. being ‘influenced’
- Going from everything being perfectly curated, to being more relatable & authentic on social media
- Being mindful of what I choose to share about & educate on my platforms
- A reminder about social media etiquette
Links/Resources:
- Join FIT CLUB, my monthly membership with workouts you can do at home or the gym
- PRIVATE COACHING is my 1:1 program (choose 3 or 6 month option)
- Connect with me on Instagram @kristycastillofit and @unfuckyourfitnesspodcast so we can keep this conversation going-be sure to tag me in your posts and stories!
- Join my FREE Facebook group, Unf*ck Your Fitness
- Click HERE for my favorite fitness & life things!
Welcome to the Un-Fuck-Your-Fitness Podcast. I am your host, Christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy. Let's go, hey guys what's up.
Speaker 2:Welcome to today's episode of another Friday episode. I hope you are super excited for these short, sweet and spicy. I'm going to be talking to you today about social media, but in a little bit of a different way, kind of like a my take on things and a my view, in case anyone cares. Social media is such a weird place and I think it's kind of confusing and I want to just kind of bring a little awareness to you guys so you know about me and how I use my social media and what I think about social media and maybe just a little bit of like how to look at influencers and what I think that means, and you know the use of social media, because it's different for everyone. So who knows where this episode is going to go? But we like those right, so let's just take the ride together, shall we? So social media is hard, I think, in terms of what I use social media for.
Speaker 2:I use Instagram for my business Basically. For my business Basically, christy Castillo Fit is my. You know it's where this all started. I started it just as a regular human being account for, like fun, whatever posted, family, that kind of stuff. And then when I started Beachbody Coaching. I used it and Facebook as well, maybe even more Facebook at that time because you because Beachbody wants you or wanted, I should say, when I was a Beachbody coach they wanted you to use your community and Facebook was more of my community. It was more local people that know, like and trust me, right, that's the whole thing you buy from people that you know, like and trust. So it's a little business lesson there for you. But essentially, in that world and you know, learning to sell and all that stuff online, it's like I had to be, people had to know and like and trust me, and so I was taught to like, use my the circle I already had of people, right? So I used Facebook more then. But I really like Instagram because it's different. It's not so family, it's, you know, like. I do have a great amount of people on my Instagram that I would probably actually say are great friends and family, but it's just different. So, anyway, I use my Instagram for work and post on there for work. And Facebook I don't really use anymore. I do have a Facebook group, obviously there that I use and I like that.
Speaker 2:But anyway, I was talking to my husband about this because I was talking on an episode once about how I don't see myself as an influencer and someone wrote to me and said and I'm like you are basically like no, you are an influencer. Like, shut up, you influence people, you are an influencer. And so I wanted that just kind of sparked a thought in me. Where it's, it's just so tricky to be in the space and I don't want your sympathy or anything like that. I just kind of want to bring awareness to how it feels and like what social media is for people who work on social media, right. So when you're taking in my content, when you're taking in other influencers' content, I want to give you an idea of kind of how it feels and what that's like for us.
Speaker 2:So for me, I know that I influence people, but the difference for me on social media, I feel I don't. This does nothing to do with how you feel. Unfortunately, I'm giving you my thoughts. To do with how you feel, unfortunately, I'm giving you my thoughts. So if you differ, cool, but I influence people. I know that because everyone does right, I can see someone who's literally just on Instagram, just to be on Instagram like a teenager, I don't know, and I could say oh my God, I love her shirt. That is so cute. I'm influenced to buy it because she's posting super cute photos and I think it's so cute. She influenced me to buy that shirt, but she is not an influencer To me.
Speaker 2:An influencer to me again, to me an influencer is someone who, who their job is right, is to post hoos and makeup and skincare and clothing, like that is what their account is, it's links, it's you should buy this outfit. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. What I'm saying is just that's the difference between them and me, where, yes, I have a semi-large following and, yes, I do have that I guess power is the word that was kind of put to me Like you do have that power to influence. Well, I know that. I guess power is the word that was kind of put to me. Like, you do have that power to influence. Well, I know that, but everyone does so when I say, like I'm not an influencer, that's what I mean. I don't purchase clothes from Amazon to put on, give you the link and send back. I don't purchase things to influence you to buy them. I hopefully influence you to live a healthier life and all that kind of stuff, but that's the difference in my world. So when I say that, that's what I mean and that's how I view myself, quite frankly and that's what I want this episode to be about is kind of me. I view myself as a personal trainer, using my Instagram to end this podcast to reach out to you, help you grow, do all these things and if you are influenced by me, fantastic, I hope in a good way. And all of that right.
Speaker 2:Here's where it gets a little tricky on social media and I remember being told to share your struggles. Well, first, I was taught by business coaches and whatever to be perfect. Basically, I want to be the person that people look up to, so I want to post, I want my feed to be beautiful. I don't want to share any struggles. I want to only share like five pillars. Like I want to talk about things that I like. So I really like budgeting at the time and I liked my kids I would talk about, I would talk about workouts, I would talk whatever. There was like a couple of different things I could like talk about, and it was very, very basic. No feelings were shared, no authenticity, it was just very, very structured. So that was kind of how I learned.
Speaker 2:Then I was taught that you need to be more relatable. So, like you know, show a little more of your home life. It's very structured. Okay, I'm not saying this is like this for everyone, but this was my journey into. It was like first I thought I had to be perfect so that I could teach you. If I'm not perfect, why would you want to hire me or trust me if I'm not perfect? Then it was like no, you need to be more relatable because now you look untouchable because you're so perfect. Whatever that no one wants to. You know they don't relate to you. So now, be more relatable. My God, what a freaking whiplash.
Speaker 2:And then it's like share your life on social media, but don't share too much of your life on social media. So it's hard because and kind of the point that I'm trying to get across here is, everyone puts on social media as their business. I don't know what people put on social media. No, that's not true. Everyone puts happy things on social media. Right, some edited. I mean, we're not going to post it, doesn't have to be edited or changed in any way, like altered, necessarily. But I even me, I'm not going to post a picture that I look at and go like Jesus, that's the worst picture I've ever seen of my face. What is happening with my eyeball, one of them's clue, you know, or something. I'm not going to post that. I'm not going to post the absolute perfect picture of myself, but I'm not going to post the fucking shittiest picture of myself either, and it's the same for everybody else. So we're all putting out this prettier side of reality on social media. So I want you to be very careful when you are obviously and we all know this, but I'm just kind of bringing this more awareness to you Be careful when you are consuming social media.
Speaker 2:Now, people who obviously are just using it for fun, that's kind of different, but a lot of people use social media for work and it's hard because even for me right, you want me to be authentic, which I am, but to be completely authentic like I've been sick for a month. If I was being completely authentic on social media, I would have posted myself in bed or throwing up or at urgent care, which I guess I did post. That, you know, like my life has not been pretty for a month. I have not been motivated, I have hardly worked out at all. I've hardly eaten anything I have thrown up. I had pneumonia. I couldn't breathe, I coughed all the time. I could hardly speak, I could hardly get out of bed.
Speaker 2:I'm not posting all of that on social media because it's my job to show up on social media and create posts and put together workouts and inspire you in my stories and kind of tell you good things. Right? It's not my job to get on there and show you that I'm sick every single day for a month. So, behind the scenes, you didn't know that I was as sick as I was. I was posting on Instagram that I was sick.
Speaker 2:But just like and I hear this a lot like you should show up completely authentically, but that's not a job. So, even when I was a hairstylist, if I didn't feel very good that day, I'm still going to go to work, I'm still going to have a great conversation with them. I'm still going to put on a happy face. I'm kind of going to pretend that I feel good, pretend that I want to be there, right? It's the same thing for social media, for influencers, for people who work online. We're not always in a good mood, but we have to show up and we have to put certain things out there for you to keep you coming back, to keep you trusting us. Whatever it is, it's our job at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:But then there's this other fine line that I was talking to a friend about. People would ask you know, am I going to use my platform? I would get DMs asking during the election, during the wildfires, during floods, during anything that happens in the world, I will get messages saying are you going to use your platform to talk about X, y and Z, y and Z? And that's hard, because letting you get to know me is important and I want you to get to know me. But things that I say and things that anyone says on social media are going to get picked apart.
Speaker 2:If I were to talk politics, if I were to talk about certain things, right things around the world, any kind of topic, any kind of issue, if I were to give my stance on certain things, I would get so much kickback. And that's fine. We all have our opinions. It's safe for me to have my opinion. It's safe for you to have your opinion. It's your social media, it's mine. We can both, you know, like freedom of speech, but it really doesn't matter. I'm here on my platforms to unfuck your fitness, to teach you about health and fitness, to inspire, to do all these things right. It really doesn't matter what my political views are. It really doesn't matter. You know, if I'm going to use my platform to raise awareness for X, y and Z, I use my platform to raise awareness for health and fitness, like that's what I do.
Speaker 2:So for me to put other things out there, it's hard because, yeah, I want to be authentic and I want to be able to say how I feel, but someone is always going to pick it apart. Someone's always going to have a problem with it and that's okay. But I have to protect my own space and my own mental health and my own being, because if I put things out there, they're going to get picked apart. I can put the most basic thing out on social media and I have a small following. I have like 11,000 followers. Imagine people with 200,000 followers, 500,000, a million followers. I can't even imagine the shit that they get in their comments and their DMs. And it's really hard because we're we are just people and we are just saying you know, what we think is just our opinions. We should be able to say that, but we get so much kickback and it is hard to hear. It's hard.
Speaker 2:So I just wanted to kind of explain, like, the reality of the situation, where I do want to say certain things on social media. I'm not even talking about politics and all that stuff anymore. I do want to you know like I use my platform to talk about how I feel and what I believe and encourage you and all the things. But even the way that I say something about protein or the way that I say something about you should lift weights, then people are like well, I should do cardio too, and cardio is good. Like I didn't say that, it wasn't, I just said that you should lift weights. You know anything that someone says with. I don't even know how many people it would take to have like following you to get shit in your DMs, but it's just a really hard line and I want you to know that. I want you to know that that's kind of something that people struggle with. I want you to also be cautious.
Speaker 2:I now know being in this position and I wasn't anyone that would ever hate comment anyway, but if you don't agree with something that someone is saying it's okay for you to keep scrolling and no one's making you follow someone on social media. You can unfollow them. You don't have to watch their content. You don't have to argue with them. If you see a shitty comment, you don't have to argue with it. You don't have to. It doesn't matter what someone else believes and what someone else says and what someone else posts you may or may not agree with, but fighting about it it's not going to do a lot of good. So you're more than welcome to comment on it as well. But it's okay for you to not agree with something that someone is saying and not comment on it, not argue with them. And it's okay for someone in my position on the internet to not say things. It's okay, at the end of the day, it is my job and it is a fine line.
Speaker 2:But when you think of people, a lot of people will say, well, influencers are fake and they never show blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, yeah, when you go to work, you don't tell people all about your life either. This is just their job. They're showing you just enough to get you to know, like and trust them and then sell their product or buy into their course, or whatever they can do to help you. That's our job and hopefully that's their goal. Right is to do that and to do that in a good, clean, healthy way, but at the end of the day, that's all it is.
Speaker 2:No one has to share things on social media. I don't have to share my views, I don't have to raise awareness. I don't have to do anything just because I have a big following. Would that be nice? And sometimes I do absolutely, but that's not my job. That's not my job. That's not why I use social media, and I think it would be different if people didn't pick each other apart. But since everybody seems to have an opinion and they keyboard warriors, just will say whatever, right, it's hard. So I just wanted to kind of take this opportunity to explain a little bit of that and that's what I and just kind of make clear too. I started my Instagram, you know, with, like I said, as a personal account and went to Beachbody and like now I've gotten a lot better with it and I know what I feel safe posting on there and if I post something and I change my mind, that's fine too, like I know what I feel good about, but I'm still learning. I still post things that hurt certain people's feelings and people don't agree with, and I'm just going to always have to you know kind of deal with that.
Speaker 2:But this podcast specifically, I started with the intention of unfucking your fitness. I don't want it to be extremely scientific, I don't care if it appeals to the masses, I don't care if it's you know. I want it to be easily digestible. I want it to be something that you can come to and say, oh my gosh, I relate to that. That's how I feel you can find very scientific fitness podcasts. You can find everything out here on podcasts and on the internet.
Speaker 2:I want this to be me sitting down with you, my friends, chatting about things that I know. I don't want to talk about subjects that I don't feel really good about, that I don't either know about or I haven't been through. I don't feel really good about, that I don't either know about or I haven't been through I don't want to talk about. I don't want to like do extensive research on things to bring you that education. Other people do that and those people know way more than I do. I want to talk about real life things and my real life voice without having to, you know, dumb it down and just make it so black and white. I want to bring in the gray areas and I want to make it relatable, and that's my whole goal with this is to be someone who, yeah, you don't know every single thing about my life, but you know that I'll tell you the truth.
Speaker 2:For example, I was posting about frownies the other day, and I'll end with this. I was posting about frownies the other day, which are these forehead patches? Anyway, it helps get rid of fine lines on your forehead and other areas of your face too, but I just use them on my forehead and I posted about them. I'm obsessed with them already. I've used them for a couple months, but I posted on there that I really like them and actually I posted that I got them in the mail. So I got a lot of DMs saying asking me do you like these? Let me know if you like these, do a tutorial, let us know how you feel. And I've responded to all of them saying I've already used them. I love them. I'm actually trying to get a discount code for you guys because I really, really like them. But anyway, I had a couple people ask do you mind telling me? Sorry if this is too personal, but do you mind telling me, do you also have Botox? And I'm glad that they felt comfortable asking, because I genuinely am like, yeah, I'll tell you the truth, I do have Botox around my eyeball too, because I'm going to be 44 this year.
Speaker 2:But I just went and got. It was right around. It was actually a couple days before Christmas because I had a black eye, if you know. You know friends. But I went and got Botox. So I went in and said, like my eyelids are sagging, everything is just going south. Right, I'm getting older, but anyway, would Botox help me kind of lift my eyelids up? And so he said yes. So I got three little dots I don't know what they're called Units. I got I don't know how many units. I got three little dots on my eyebrow and three little dots on my crow's feet, but none on my forehead. So I'm very open and mighty.
Speaker 2:I'm saying, yes, I do have some Botox around my eyeball, but none in my forehead. So every forehead picture you see of mine, it's mine and it's just the frownies. But anyway, what I'm trying to say is I'll be very authentic with that. I'm not going to say, no, I don't have any Botox, this is all natural and it's all frownies and it's all my skincare. Like I don't mind being real with you, but I'm also don't feel like I don't need to broadcast things, right? Does that make sense? Like if you're asking me questions, like, yeah, I just said it here on the podcast, so it's common knowledge, you know, as someone on the internet who works on the internet, we don't have to broadcast everything, as long as we're being authentic and like real, you know, behind the scenes, with clients, with friends, things like that. So I hope that was just kind of a fun little spicy episode. It wasn't actually that spicy. I could have got a little more spicy there.
Speaker 2:Christy, no-transcript, you know it can bring out insecurities, so I don't have my shit together by any means. I'm not always, always confident. I don't always know what I'm doing online. Like it's scary. It's a scary place to look at stories and see how many people just saw a picture of me, you know, and can just pick me apart or whatever. Like it's creepy. So keep that in mind as you're watching people on social media. But for the most part, you guys are all fantastic. I love talking to you now twice a week. How amazing is this, and thank you for listening. Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo Fit. I will see you next time. Bye.