I’ve spent a lot of time at Life Time over the past 19 years.  I’ve changed a lot in that time.  I’ve had 2 children, bought a house and have gotten a few gray hairs.  One thing that hasn’t changed a lot is my weight.  Overall, I think I have had a pretty healthy lifestyle throughout my child care career.  When I started working for Life Time, I weighed the same as when I was in high school.  At that time, I had only graduated 3 years earlier.  I’ve always knew what a healthy weight was for me because it’s what I’ve always been with just a few ups and downs.

About a year ago, I ran my 2nd marathon.  Training for a marathon is hard on your body, and with all those extra miles, you’re eating a lot of extra calories.  After the race, I stopped running.  I was burnt out, and I didn’t want to run any more. I was also used to eating more to fuel my running, but without the running, my weight crept up. Over the course of about a year, I gained over 10 pounds.  That may not seem like a lot for some, but it was not normal for me.  In the spring, I started running again.  I was at an all-time high weight, and despite starting to run again, my weight wasn’t budging.  Did I mention that I turned the dreaded Four-O this summer?  I needed to do something more to get my body back this time.  So, when my daughter, also a team member, asked me to join the Fall 60day with her, it didn’t take much convincing for me to agree.

I’ve signed up for the 60day before.  I had done my initial consultation and continued on with the workouts and diet that I was already using.  I knew there were 60day workouts and education a couple times a week, but they didn’t fit my schedule. Not surprisingly, I didn’t see any change.  This time, I wasn’t going to sign up if I wasn’t actually going to participate.  So, I asked a fellow team member who she worked with on her last 60day.  Her results were amazing and long-lasting.  She recommended Ashley Clark, and I am so glad I signed up with her.

Ashley helped me come up with some goals that we knew were attainable.  I needed to lose body fat and weight.  We decided that 9 pounds would be a good starting point, since that would put me back down under 140, a number that hadn’t been on my scale in over a year. Personally, I just wanted my clothes to fit again.  Ashley was very encouraging whenever she saw me on the workout floor.  She used group messaging to send reminders to all her 60day participants.  She also answered any questions that I had quickly, and she didn’t pressure me into training that I couldn’t afford.

The meal plan.  To get started, I bought the food from the meal plan shopping list and started cooking.  I stopped buying everything that wasn’t on the meal plan or suggested snack list. Ashley suggested that I start tracking my food. The biggest surprise in that first week was that I wasn’t hungry even though this was a major sugar detox for me! The other surprise was that the food was delicious!  My family was eating healthier, and no one was complaining.

The workouts.  I’m in training for a half marathon.  I’ve decided that marathons are not for me.  I’ve been following a training plan from a local running shoe store.  As the race gets closer, the miles, which are my cardio, increase.  I’ve always preferred the treadmill for cardio.  My problem was lifting weights.  I never knew what to do on the weight floor.  Cardio is easy and mindless. You have to think about weights.  The workouts looked simple enough for me to figure out, so I gave it a try.  Once I added those, I realized that this was working! I could lose fat and gain muscle on my own.

I am so happy that I signed up for the 60day. I was hopeful for results, but my expectations were pretty low based on the fact that I’m not a very self-motivated person. The initial progress helped me keep going.  I even made it on the weekly top 3 board at my club once.  The two main reasons that it worked for me this time were knowing that Ashley was going to check in with me and using the meal plan.  I’ve already told my family that we won’t be going back to the way we were eating before.  We went out for ice cream to celebrate the end of the 60day, but we won’t be having that kind of treat every day. I’m even thinking of joining the next 60day to stay motivated through the holidays to get back to my high school weight.