Episode 94Jul 7, 2026· 6:46

Stop Scrolling Fitspo: Why Comparing Your Progress to Others Is Sabotaging You

▸ Show notes from the creator

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About this episode

Ashley Grant discusses social comparison in fitness contexts, using the term 'compareschlager' (from Marie Forleo) to describe the mental derailment that comes from scrolling Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok and measuring your progress against others. She reflects on her own experience of feeling inadequate watching fitspo content and knowing people who started later but have lost more weight or built more strength.…

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Who this episode is for

This episode may resonate with you if:

You've been scrolling through fitness accounts and ended up feeling worse about yourself than when you started — like everyone else is transforming while you're standing still.

You're showing up consistently — going to classes, putting in the work — but someone who started after you is already further along, and it's eating at you.

You've caught yourself doom-scrolling fitspo and feeling like crap, and you know it's not helping, but you keep doing it anyway.

You're struggling to feel proud of your small wins because they don't look like the dramatic before-and-afters you see online.

You're somewhere around a year into a fitness habit and you're trying to figure out how to measure what you've actually accomplished — not by the scale, but by showing up.

Questions this episode wrestles with

Is it normal to feel like you're falling behind even when you're showing up?

open question

Ashley shares that she personally struggles with this — watching people who started after her lose more weight and get stronger — and admits she's still working to accept it rather than offering a clean resolution.

"are a lot stronger than I am. And it's hard to remember that. other things could be going on"

How do I know if the fitness progress I'm seeing online is even healthy?

answered

Ashley points out that you genuinely can't know — the person you're watching could be skipping meals, in an extreme calorie deficit, or binging and purging, and none of that shows up in the post.

"you're watching could be. Skipping meals. The person you're watching could be taking supplements or shots and pills. They could be in an extreme calorie deficit and they're making themselves sick. Or could be doing binging and purging."

Does progress count if no one else can see it?

open question

Ashley doesn't resolve this cleanly — she's approaching day 365 and actively forcing herself to look back at her calendar and count wins that never made it online, sitting with the tension between needing to see progress and trusting what's private.

"in. I'm doing my best to celebrate every win, even the small ones that you guys don't see online. Even the small ones that don't make it on this podcast. Because I know... That the more I focus"

Setting expectations: This episode is not a structured guide to breaking social media habits or a research-backed breakdown of comparison psychology. It's a short personal reflection from Ashley about her own experience doom-scrolling fitspo, feeling like crap watching people who started after her lose more weight, and trying to stop drinking what she calls 'compareschlager.'

Tone & style

Ashley starts by framing fitspo scrolling as something she's done herself and that made her feel like crap. The pivot comes when she reminds herself — and listeners — that there's no way to know what's behind other people's posts (skipped meals, extreme deficits, purging). She lands on her gym buddy Marilyn's shirt slogan — 'look in the mirror, that's your competition' — and her own practice of reviewing her class calendar as she approaches day 365, choosing to celebrate small wins over comparing outward results.

Personal experience and self-reflection from someone actively working through the same struggle she's describing. Not fitness or medical advice.

toneCandid & warm

focusAshley works through her own struggle with 'compareschlager' — comparing herself to others on social media — while approaching day 365 of her fitness journey and trying to focus on her own calendar instead.

stylesolo_monologue

energymedium

complexitybeginner

pressure Levellow

emotional Texturehonest, self-implicating, encouraging

Notable quotes

"-schlager, when you're drinking compare -schlager, you are comparing yourself to everybody but the"

— Famous Ashley Grant

"yourself to. For all you know, the person that you're watching could be. Skipping meals. The person you're watching could be taking supplements or shots and pills. They could be in an extreme calorie deficit and they're making themselves sick. Or could be doing binging and purging."

— Famous Ashley Grant

"in. I'm doing my best to celebrate every win, even the small ones that you guys don't see online. Even the small ones that don't make it on this podcast. Because I know... That the more I focus"

— Famous Ashley Grant

Episode transcript

Organized into 4 chapters — open any part to read the full text.

0:001. Introducing 'Compareschlager' and Social Media ScrollingAshley introduces the concept of 'compareschlager' — a term from Marie Forleo — describing how scrolling fitspo on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok and comparing yourself to others further along can derail your progress and make you feel like you're not doing enough.1:372. You Don't Know What's Behind Other People's PostsAshley points out that the people you're comparing yourself to could be skipping meals, taking supplements, in extreme calorie deficits, or binging and purging — you have no idea what's actually going on behind those reels and posts.4:163. Ashley's Own Struggle With Comparing Her ProgressAshley shares that she personally struggles with this, knowing people who started their fitness journey after her but have lost more weight or gotten stronger — and reminds herself that genetics, stress, diet culture, and other factors could explain the difference.6:464. Close the Apps and Focus on Your Own ProgressAshley urges listeners to close social media apps, compare themselves only to who they were yesterday, and celebrate small wins — referencing her gym buddy Marilyn's shirt ('look in the mirror, that's your competition') and her own practice of reviewing her calendar as she approaches day 365 of her journey.

Open full transcript

Mentioned in this episode

personMarie Forleo

The person Ashley credits with the term 'compareschlager' — she has mentioned Forleo previously on the podcast in relation to 'shoulding all over yourself.'

personMarilyn

Ashley's gym buddy who wears a shirt that says 'look in the mirror, that's your competition' — cited as an example of the right mindset for self-comparison.

websiteInstagram

One of the social media platforms Ashley warns against doom-scrolling for fitspo and comparing your progress to others.

websiteFacebook

One of the social media platforms Ashley mentions as a source of comparison-triggering fitness posts and reels.

websiteTikTok

One of the social media platforms Ashley lists when describing the habit of scrolling and comparing fitness progress to others.

Key themes

Drinking 'compareschlager'

Ashley uses Marie Forleo's term 'compareschlager' to describe the act of measuring yourself against everyone except your past self, framing it as something that actively derails progress.

Doom scrolling fitspo

Ashley describes her own experience of going through fit inspiration content on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok and feeling like crap about herself as a result.

Comparing yourself only to yesterday's you

Ashley references her gym buddy Marilyn's shirt — 'look in the mirror, that's your competition' — as the frame she's trying to adopt herself.

What's hidden behind the posts

Ashley points out that people you're comparing yourself to could be skipping meals, in extreme calorie deficits, or binging and purging — and you have no idea what's actually going on.

Ashley's own struggle with comparison

Ashley admits she personally struggles with this, knowing people who started their fitness journey after her but have lost more weight or gotten stronger than she has.

Factors outside your control explaining other people's results

Ashley lists genetics, stress levels, eating less, and subscribing to diet culture as possible reasons why someone else might be further along — not because they're doing it right.

Closing the apps

Ashley urges listeners to literally close social media apps when they catch themselves going down rabbit holes watching other people's progress.

Approaching day 365 and reviewing her own progress

Ashley shares that as she nears a full year of her fitness journey, she's been looking back at her calendar to count classes taken and effort put in rather than measuring against others.

Celebrating small wins that don't make it online

Ashley mentions doing her best to celebrate wins that her followers never see — ones that don't appear in her accountability posts or on the podcast.