At 6:30 a.m. Alaura Hernandez’s alarm clock begins to buzz. She turns on the light and laces up her Nike Frees. As the sun rises, she heads out into early morning Evanston for her workout. Though this ritual may not only belong to Hernandez, a sophomore in Medill, the notifications that light up her phone throughout her day are.
“I created my fitness Instagram to keep me accountable,” Hernandez said of her account on the popular, photo-sharing application that launched in 2010. “I started posting regularly and ... I have a lot of really good motivators now.”
Having always struggled with her weight, Hernandez turned to Instagram's online fitness community to help keep her committed to her fitness goals and has found success. She has lost 30 pounds since starting her account in June.
“On Dillo Day, I heard a frat boy laughing at me after some wind blew my shirt up a bit,” Hernandez said. “And then when I saw pictures from Dillo, I just snapped. That’s when I decided to commit myself to being fit.”
The World Health Organization considers more than 1.4 billion adults over the age of 20 “overweight.” “Fitties,” or health and wellness-minded individuals like as Hernandez have seized upon Twitter and Instagram, attempting to motivate themselves and others to strive for health. Through hashtags and interacting on the different mediums, “fitties” find each other and come together as a sort of make-shift fitness family.
“[It] has inspired me in countless ways,” Kayla Banks, an active member on Twitter, said. “There's nothing but support and love, and the compliments are constantly coming and going in every direction.”
Banks, 30, was not only able to achieve her goal of running more than 6 miles, but also found the motivation to change her diet, now eating mostly vegan. These achievements and lifestyle changes are not uncommon in the community, where support and inspiration are abundant.
“We are all so supportive of each other,” Sarah Rosaschi, a 21-year-old member of the Twitter fitness community, said. “I realized this less than a week after I made my account. It was Monday morning and I was really beating myself up for the weekend. Someone responded telling me it [was] okay and to move forward.”
The fitness community online is not only a source of support for “fitties,” but a sanctuary where they can openly and honestly share their dreams, goals and hopes for the future that they may feel uncomfortable sharing with people they know personally. Hernandez, specifically, hopes to compete next year in the Arnold Classic Fitness Competition near her hometown in Columbus, Ohio. She has also experienced an outpouring of support on her account that she lacked in her real life.
“While I have gotten some support from people [at Northwestern] I have also faced hate,” Hernandez recalled. “People just really enjoy hating on other people’s success. People make fun of me for not going to Cheesie’s with them anymore and not going to the dining hall that often.”
And while a few of her friends from campus do know about her account, her experience on Instagram has been defined from the outpouring of love, support and encouragement from other fitness accounts. Though still a relatively new account, Hernandez has more than 300 followers waiting for the next update about her journey toward becoming fit and healthy.
Having suffered from an eating disorder in high school, Hernandez found solace in the online community, discovering healthy ways to lose weight as opposed to her tactics before.
“I used to convince myself that if I just went a few months not eating, that I could lose all of this weight and then go back to normal,” Hernandez recalled. “I dropped close to fifty pounds .... I remember going to bed at night and being proud of myself for not eating at all that day.”
After recovering from her struggle with anorexia, Hernandez’ weight swung from one extreme to another, due to her damaged metabolism and worsening depression.
“I was depressed that I was gaining weight, and then I would comfort myself with food and I gained more than I weighed to begin with,” Hernandez remembered. “And then college happened....”
Through not only her followers but also the accounts she follows on Instagram, Hernandez has learned not only how to eat healthily, but has also brought fitness into every aspect of her life. All of the accounts she follows have attained their health goals through healthy training and eating, a vastly different approach to fitness than she had attempted in high school.
“I just learned that I could do it a healthy way, that that was better and more sustainable,” Hernandez said. “I could lose weight while still fueling my body, and eating. Shocker!”
Now, with nearly 300 followers seeing her daily posts, Hernandez has a solid support system not only keeping her accountable for her future goals, but keeping her from slipping into any unhealthy habits from her past.
“I can’t post about me not eating,” Hernandez said. “I want to be really, really honest with my followers. If I were to post that I wasn’t eating enough, of course they’d be like, ‘What the hell are you doing, Alaura, eat more!’”
While maintaining her lifestyle at Northwestern may be difficult, Hernandez stands by her decision to devote her life to health and wellness. Walking past hamburgers in the dining hall or finding time to meal prep or spend an hour at the gym can be tricky when crammed between homework, classes and other campus obligations, but Hernandez sees it as well worth the work and the effort.
And while not everybody on campus may understand or applaud her mission, Hernandez takes solace in the fact that love and support can always be found at her fingertips.
“It sucks not being supported and sometimes people get upset, but it’s because they’re not moving in a positive direction,” Hernandez said. “This is my new lifestyle and they can kiss my abs next year.”