I was scrolling Instagram a few weeks ago when I came across a video that stopped me mid-scroll.

A woman in her 60s, with gorgeous silver hair, was giving fitness advice from her bathroom while getting ready for the day. She felt inspiring, relatable and real. 

After watching a few seconds of her video, I noticed something felt off, and it turns out….she’s not a real person.

She’s an AI-generated influencer. A completely fabricated person, built to look believable and give advice that gets engagement. 

There were hundreds of comments asking her for tips, thanking her for her advice and sharing how inspired they were.

This is the new world we are living in.

This influencer isn’t real. But the influence she’s having is very real. And that concerns me.

I’ve spent 15+ years in the online wellness space. 

I’ve watched the industry evolve from airbrushed magazine spreads to Photoshop to Instagram filters and body shaping apps to now…AI avatars that most of us can’t even identify as fake. 

The tools continue to evolve, but the goal has stayed the same: sell you something by making you feel like you’re not enough.

Most wellness brands show an ideal version of reality in the name of effective marketing.

And we know this, we’ve been seeing it in ads for years. 

But that doesn’t mean we aren’t affected by the content we consume…

The “before and afters” are often edited or fabricated. 

The bodies are altered. 

The “results” are staged. 

Advice and testimonials are coming from people who may not even exist.

(ai-generated before and after found in Instagram)

I don’t say this to scare you or to be cynical, but instead to remind all of us to be wise consumers so that we aren’t misled in our genuine pursuit of health. 

So what do you actually do with this?

A few things I’d encourage you to sit with:

Notice how content makes you feel. If you consistently leave a feed feeling worse about yourself, unsubscribe and unfollow. 

The goal of a lot of wellness content is to create a problem so they can sell you the solution. Or it’s often meant to be so aspirational that it taps into your insecurities in a way that makes you feel something. If it leaves you feeling negative, you don’t have to keep consuming it.

Look for the real. Real practitioners. Real bodies. Real stories. Real results that are sustainable, not spectacular. 

The algorithm may not prioritize this content, but we’re out there – sharing genuine content in order to make an impact. 

Engage with it, like it, save it, share it – doing so will train your algorithm to show you more REAL people and sustainable advice. 

And if you’re still unsure, check their links, website and Trustpilot reviews.

(I am so proud of Lindywell’s trust score!)

Be skeptical of perfection. The more polished something looks, the more worth questioning it is. If it sounds too good to be true, do a little extra research.

Real wellness is messy. Real bodies change slowly. Real progress isn’t always shown in a dramatic before and after photo. 

Trust your gut. If something feels off, it probably is.

When I started Lindywell back in 2009, I wanted to create change. 

I was tired of being lied to and feeling terrible about my body because it didn’t match the photoshopped images in magazines that weren’t even real. 

I was tired of unrealistic workout plans that required 2 workouts a day and a heavy dose of guilt and shame in order to be “healthy.”

I wanted to create something different.

So I made a commitment from day one: keep it real.

That means showing real, diverse bodies in our content. 

Not using filters that change the way I actually look (trust me, in a sea of Facetuned faces, wrinkles stand out, and I’m trying to be okay with that). 

Not making false promises. Not showing you an “ideal” lifestyle but a real one, one that works in the middle of carpool and exhaustion and all the things you’re actually navigating.

Sometimes I watch my Pilates workouts back and cringe a little. The wobble on the mat, the hair sticking straight up out of my ponytail, the extra baby weight… 

But in those moments, I remind myself that my mission with Lindywell has never been about showing perfection or trying to pretend that I am.

My mission has been to show up, as I am, imperfections and all, so that you feel permission to do the same.

At the end of the day, I’d rather you trust me than be impressed by me.

And the same goes for the Lindywell brand as a whole. 

In a world that’s increasingly fake, I hope you know that Lindywell is committed to keeping it real. 💛

What is one thing that makes you hesitant to trust a brand right now? I’d love to hear your thoughts.