The #1 Mindset of Weight-Loss Winners

By | Amina Khan
As a fitness instructor and personal trainer, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients, friends and family members who have health-related goals or hope to get back into shape. Of course, each person is unique in their level of seriousness in striving towards these goals, as well as their behaviours and mindset throughout the process. However, there are some people who behave, act and think in victory-conducive patterns. These winners may not have a smooth journey; they may struggle with common yo-yo dieting traps or sticking to an exercise program. But these winners are resilient; they work towards improving their health, one step at a time, until they inevitably succeed. In observing such winners, there are some qualities and characteristics that can be extracted as defining traits of those who overcome hurdles and reach their health goals.

When aspiring towards self-improvement, it is imperative to create mindsets optimized for success. Lofty goals require mental spring-cleaning; out with the negative thought processes; in with the positive attitudes that breed victory. The following mindset is one I encourage health hopefuls to try and cultivate within themselves to reach their goals, break plateaus, and start seeing better results.

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Winners understand that flexibility is the secret to overcoming excuses. 

Winners do not require all circumstances to be just perfect in order to carry out desired tasks and outcomes. Winners understand that given the daily grind, work, school, family and all other demands of life, conditions will never be completely perfect to foster the ideal environment for self-development. Winners understand that chasing after elusive ideal opportunities cost them any opportunity for improvement at all. Winners make use of the limited time and spaces that can be squeezed into the breaks of a hectic lifestyle to accomplish their goals. Winners understand that flexibility in their objectives is the only way to make all the pieces of their busy life fit together.

There is no better example of the need for flexibility than when it comes to making sure activity is a constant part of your life. I have heard many a friend complain that they simply cannot work out because they do not have access to a gym. Or, they don’t have proper equipment at home. Or, their equipment is broken.

These excuses always baffle me, because exercise is, at its core, the simple act of expending energy.

Movement is a fundamental part of human existence. Yes, it is possible to create sophisticated exercise programs that result in targeted fat loss and muscle gains; that is also our role as fitness instructors. But these advances seem to have fooled the general public into mistaking sophistication for necessity.

To set the record straight: Equipment, gyms or even large amounts of time are completely unnecessary to move your body the way it was meant to move.  

A person could complete a solid workout by standing in a locked closet and hopping on one foot until their muscles fatigue. A person locked in their car could perform dips off a seat for their triceps.  A person stuck in a tree after being chased by a bear could follow up this period of burst cardio by hanging from a tree branch to develop arm strength. There are opportunities for movement all around us in every aspect of our lives. We can march in place while brushing our teeth. We can walk around the living room while watching TV. We can jog, rather than walk, to the bus stop; all these small additions add up to bigger energy outputs, which can substantially improve a person’s overall fitness.

The “weight-loss winners”, the people who get in shape and stay in shape, understand that they should not—and can not—wait for the “perfect workout opportunity”. This perfect opportunity will never happen! The winner is flexible and takes hold of any opportunity to workout to their very best ability, given their limitations. Some may say to the winner, “Well that’s not a full workout!” But the winner will look this skeptic in the eye and be glad that at least they were marching and moving while their mouth was full of toothpaste, instead of staring at their own reflection in the mirror, regretting that they missed yet another day of working out.

Attaining success with your health can be compared to trying to open a lock with a mismatched jumble of keys. If a person stubbornly tries to fit only one key into the lock, the key might not be a match, and the door will never open. Depending on the lock that a person is confronted with, a person must try all their keys until they find a match. Similarly, a person must be willing to try various paths towards better health, rather than stubbornly clinging to one particular method or routine. Alternative methods may not necessarily feel as “stereotypically successful” as spending long session at the gym, or exclusively eating salads. But it’s about time health hopefuls expand their definition of health success and look for alternative means to accomplish the same goals: to move more, and to eat cleaner.  These alternative means are much more conducive to fitting into a busy lifestyle and result in greater net progress, rather than fixating on ideals of what a workout routine or a diet “should” look like. Adaptation to circumstantial limitations is the key to unlock the door personal goal mastery!

As a final point, let’s briefly explore other examples of tough situations that require fitness flexibility:

1) Travel:

Vacations are supposed to be times of physical and mental recuperation, but many people treat vacations as an all-out free-for-all to return home as sleep-deprived, malnourished and “flabby” as possible. Although many hotels have beautiful gym equipment, vacationing is the best time to apply some good ol’ flexibility without any fancy equipment required. Do you have a few feet of space in your hotel room? Disperse a few pushups throughout the day and beat your personal best record. Jog in place. Skip an imaginary jump rope. Perform step-ups on the hotel bed. Do jumping jacks in place. Hold a side-plank in the tiny space between the hotel bed and the wall. Perform travelling lunges up and down the hallway of your hotel floor. Jog up and down the longest flight of stairs you can find. Walk to your destinations instead of taking a cab. Jog instead of walk. Run instead of jog. The ways to get active on trips and while travelling are absolutely limitless! Apply flexibility and don’t take your well-deserved break from life responsibilities as an opportunity to lose your motivation.

2) When space is limited:

Too many people complain that their home is not suited to working out; they don’t have a home gym or a treadmill or their basement isn’t finished or clean. Frankly, these are just well-disguised excuses masquerading as valid concerns. Once again, this is an example of rigid thinking that prevents a person from adapting their surroundings, and making their limitations work for them. There are countless exercises that can be performed using bodyweight alone or even performed while seated or require standing space alone. Yes, these limitations may require a person to get creative with their workout to accommodate their space restrictions. But those who overcome these restrictions and utilize fitness flexibility are much more likely to complete a greater number of workouts, and are thus predisposed to acquiring fitness success. Be wary of personal excuse-making tendencies and prepare solutions in advance when your motivation is high to prevent underachievement!

3) When visiting family: 

Although going to the gym is a great habit, many gym-rats feel completely displaced when they don’t have access to an expensive gym facility, and end up becoming part-time couch potatoes when visiting family members without nearby gym access. This is one of the main reasons I am a strong advocate of working out at home and getting used to training yourself with minimal equipment and space. Family visits are a great time to employ fitness flexibility and participate in fun, active activities with the whole gang. Even if your family requires more convincing to get active, why not be the one who gets in a 10-minute session of jumping jacks, high knees, mountain climbers and burpees before your morning shower, and no one even realizes you’re awake. Why not be the odd child who is holding an isometric wall-sit to work the quads instead of sitting on a sofa during TV night. The options are, once again, limitless! When spending time with the family, don’t forget to factor in a little personal development time towards your health. Don’t use the presence of other people—especially your loving and caring family—as a mental excuse and barrier for you to reach your personal goals.

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Are you feeling pumped up and highly motivated! Have you moved around today? Not yet? Well, why not take advantage of those waves of motivation and do 10 jumping jacks before continuing to scroll through your Facebook feed.  Little additions into your schedule are how to sneak in some movement in manageable and flexible time blocks. It’s ok if you don’t get in a “real workout”. Just do something. Your body would love to move around a bit more, so why not be flexible about how to implement movement into your life, and just get it done. A little bit of fitness flexibility goes a long way to form lasting habits for activity and success—so what are you waiting for?

Let’s start with just a few minutes of movement right now.

You are far more resilient than your excuses!

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“…Indeed, Allah (God) will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.”