Soon, those comparisons weren’t just being made in the gym but online as well. I didn’t look like the women on Instagram who all seemed toned and glowing in their post-workout pics. I looked red and sweaty and quite frankly a bit of a mess. For a while, exercising felt like such an embarrassment that I was almost – almost – put off doing it at all.

I’m not the only person who has felt this way. According to a survey conducted by Nuffield Health, almost a third of Brits feel that social media is harmful rather than helpful when it comes to encouraging people to get fit, and a 2019 study from the Psychreg Journal of Psychology found that women’s perceptions of beauty, of their own body and on motivation to exercise were all negatively impacted by exposure to social media.

Considering the pressure so many of us feel to post ‘perfect’ images online, is it any wonder that looking at other people’s gym selfies or pictures of our favourite stars in their athleisure is putting us off pulling on our trainers in the first place? Or forcing us to exercise through fear and comparison?

Running facts: “Like most people, I look terrible when I run – and that’s OK”