How Social Media Affects Athletes’ Body Confidence and Mental Health (+ 10 Accounts to Follow)
Chances are, you’ve heard that social media is detrimental to mental health and body image. This is one of the most common criticisms of social media, and there is truth in the statement. However, social media’s power can also be harnessed for good—especially for athletes.
Social media is a part of our world, whether we like it or not. Knowing what to do with it and recognizing the importance of the media we engage with is crucial for our holistic health. Platforms such as Instagram, Tik Tok, and Threads allow us to interact with people from all walks of life, learn about topics we’re interested in, and connect with countless people in our communities. They can also provide us with stereotyped information, unrealistic expectations, and negative messaging.
What we interact with through our phones directly impacts our brains and our psychological well-being, for better or worse.
How Social Media Shapes Body Image in Athletes
Have you ever scrolled through your feed and felt like you didn’t measure up to the “ideal” athlete’s body? Between media highlights and social media reels, it can often feel as though there’s a narrow “athletic body” ideal that many of us don’t see ourselves in.
Further, there are often sport-specific body ideals, such as needing to be short and muscular to be a gymnast, tall and thin to be a runner, or large and buff to be a football player. These sport-specific body ideals can create a gap between what we see in ourselves and what we think we should look like. This gap can:
Undermine our body confidence
Affect our training mindset
Erode the positive link between sport psychology and self-image
When we consistently compare ourselves to an athletic body ideal, we often feel as though we are not enough. We may:
Adjust our training to be more intense or rigid
Adopt a diet to cut weight
Struggle with the enjoyment of the sport
Lose confidence in the capabilities of our bodies
Develop a poor relationship with recovery and rest.
Gone unchecked, these behaviors can cause serious consequences.
When we allow the messaging of what we should look like to take over our actions, we become prone to injuries, eating disorders, low energy reserves, and psychiatric disorders.
While this may sound intimidating, there is something we can do about it. When we interact with social media presences, we have the power to choose whether the messaging we are receiving is helpful or harmful. We can choose to engage with those who center body functionality over appearance, promote body acceptance or positivity, and demonstrate healthy rhetorics of who an athlete can be.
Looking for more ways to support your own body confidence, check out our guide on Body Image and Body Confidence for Athletes.
How to Curate Your Feed for Better Body Confidence
It’s not just about who you follow—it’s about how you engage with their content. Ask yourself:
What messages am I internalizing from content creators?
How does this content impact my body image and confidence?
How diverse is the sample I'm pulling my information from?
How do I let others’ content enter my mental ecosystem?
Here are some Actionable Tips to Curate your Feed:
1. Follow with Intention
Pick a few athletes whose messages align with body neutrality, body confidence, and your own athletic values
Follow athletes who represent diverse body types and backgrounds from multiple sports
2. Regularly purge your feed of those who do not align with your values
Unfollow creators who promote body stereotyping, over-training, or dieting
Question how those you follow are affecting your own thoughts about your body and ability
3. Shift the Comparison Focus
Rather than comparing physiques, compare progress:
How far have you improved in your strength, endurance, or skill?
What is possible now that you weren’t able to do before?
Put energy towards thoughts that serve you and increase confidence. Instead of endorsing thoughts of “I don’t look like them,” shift your focus to thoughts similar to:
"What can I do that my body can achieve today?”
“I am an athlete, and my body supports that.”
“My body allows me to do the sport I love.”
4. Engage Mindfully
Reflect on how content impacts your thoughts and feelings.
Limit time spent on accounts that trigger negative self-talk.
Interact with posts that align with your values and boost your confidence.
For more tips on managing comparison, check out our blog on The Comparison Cycle.
Skadi’s Top 10 Recommended Athletes to Introduce into your Social Media feed:
These athletes embody self-acceptance, realistic training lifestyles, diverse backgrounds and body compositions, and self-love.
Jessamyn Stanley (@mynameisjessamyn)
Jessamyn is a yoga instructor who consistently posts content promoting physical activity for all body types, feeling at home in your own body, and loving yourself for the way you are.Amanda LaCount (@amandalacount)
Amanda is a dancer and choreographer who has made a guest appearance on Dancing with the Stars and America's Got Talent. Using the #breakingthestereotype, Amanda is constantly defying what it means to look like a dancer with her messages of body positivity and dedication to showing her talent with the body she’s in.Louise Green (@louisegreen_bigfitgirl)
Founder of Big Fit Girl, a fitness app designed for those who are often overlooked, Louise advocates for accessible fitness and destigmatization of exercise for people in larger bodiesIlona Maher (@ilonamaher)
Ilona, a 2x Olympic rugby player, uses her platform to promote strength over thinness, along with advocating for greater representation of all body types in athletics. She’s spoken out about being told she was “overweight” despite being an elite athlete.
Ibtihaj Muhammad (@ibtihajmuhammad)
The first Muslim female medalist in Olympic fencing, Ibtihaj has openly discussed the adversity she has faced from being a Black female athlete who wears a Hijab. Mattel created a Barbie doll of her, a constant reminder to young girls that athletic success is possible for people of all backgrounds.
Marley Blonsky (@marleyblonsky)
Co-founder of All Bodies on Bikes, Marley has made it her mission to advocate for people of all walks of life into the cycling community. As a self-proclaimed fat adventure cyclist, Marley is paving the way for inclusion in the cycling industry.
Brittney Griner (@brittneyyevettegriner)
Brittney, a WNBA player, is a constant reminder that athletic success is not dependent on gender expression. She has discussed what it was like growing up being taller than her peers and the consistent questioning by others of her gender identity.
Mirna Valerio (@themirnavator)
Ultramarathoner and Tough Mudder competitor, Mirna is an advocate for greater inclusion in the running community. She shares her journey with all forms of exercise, demonstrating the importance of fitness for people of all sizes and shapes.
Keri Harvey (@kharveyfit)
Keri is Brooklyn-based powerlifter who shares her lifting journey and self-discovery through accepting her body and all of its extraordinary capabilities. Her content shares her appreciation of fitness for life, not fitness for weight loss.
Jordan Chiles (@jordanchiles)
A 2x Olympic gymnast and Dancing with the Stars contestant, Jordan has opened up about the body shaming she received from a very young age due to “not looking” like a gymnast, and her struggles with eating and body image that followed.
By following creators such as these, we broaden the scope of what an athlete “should” look like to what an athlete does look like. Incorporating athletes from diverse body shapes and sizes into your feed will ultimately allow you to deconstruct the thin-ideal stereotype which has prevailed for decades.
The Bigger Picture: Your Body Is Your Vehicle
Remember: your body is built for what you train it to do, not how it looks. By following athletes who embrace that truth, you can:
Deepen your connection with training
Improve your body confidence
Align your sport psychology with authentic performance
Social media doesn’t have to be a source of negativity. With mindful engagement and intentional curation, it can become a tool for growth, inspiration, and connection.
Stay curious. Stay courageous. Own the fact that your body is your home, not your obstacle.
Ready to take the next step? Explore our 1:1 sport psychology services to deepen your mental training and unlock your full potential.
