Over 15 years, I’ve worked with clients from all different fitness levels and walks of life.

I can honesty say that I have not gotten all of my clients to their goal weight; however, I have left them feeling very successful in many other ways. This is what I strive for because I truly believe that the scale does not define you! Many people only care about the scale because society tells them they should.

In my coaching, I try to help clients see that fitness and healthy eating as a lifestyle. It should be about how they feel rather than just striving to reach a number on the scale. Often when clients first come to me they have a goal weight in mind (often what they weighed when they were 25 years old, which is no longer realistic, lol), but my job is to help them of course lose weight, but more focus on the overall picture of what it means to live a healthier lifestyle.

Here are 4 non-typical client results that I love to see:

💬 “I wore my first crop top ever in life!!!”

Yup, I woke up one Saturday morning to a message from an online coaching client saying this—with a picture of her out and about with big smile on her face. This is why I love what I do, it’s not about the crop top, it’s the fact that you can just see it in her body language and the big smile that she feels good and more confident in her own skin. That message literally made my day and she even called it her favourite NSV (which I then realized was Non Scale Victory!).

💬 “I was able to go to an indoor playground with my kids and keep up with them—and didn’t hurt my back in the process!”

This is another message I got from a client who has been working on increasing her overall strength and core strength to reduce back pain and decrease body fat. She told me that a year ago she tried to go to an indoor playground, but was embarrassed that she couldn’t crawl around in the tunnels and down the slides with her kids because she was out of shape and scared of hurting her back. And look at her now!

💬 “We renovated our whole house and I was able to help my husband move everything!”

I had this conversation with a client last week and the smile on her face said everything. She said that even her husband was shocked at how strong she had become! He was happy she was able to help and didn’t have to do all the heavy lifting himself!

💬 “I bought this outfit last year because it was a really good deal, but hated how it looked on me, but bought it anyway.”

This was a message I got a few weeks ago included with a picture of her in this outfit and a big smile on her face. Believe me, she was rocking that outfit and said she was so happy with how it fit her now!  She couldn’t believe it because she hadn’t lost much weight on the scale. She looked amazing and again the look on her face said it all as to how she felt.

These are only the top four from most recently, but this is what I strive to help clients see while they are on their journey. I feel my job as a coach is to help people realize all the other small wins and successes on their fitness and health journey, not just chase a number on the scale.

I share a lot of these clients wins on my Instagram if you want more inspiration! Follow me @MichelleRootsFit!