Last year, if you would have told me that I would lose over 115 lbs. and fall in love with working out, I would have told you that you were crazy.  But here I am … and I feel AMAZING!

My fitness journey began about a year and a half ago when a friend tagged me in a group photo. I was horrified! I knew that I had been steadily gaining weight over the past several years, but I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I saw that photo.  I was the largest person in the room and rapidly approaching 300 lbs.

I had become extremely self-conscious about my size:  I travel a lot for work and would have anxiety about trying to stuff myself into a plane seat. I began letting my weight hold me back from things that I used to love to do and realized that I was missing out on a huge part of my kids’ lives because of my weight.

I decided that I needed to take back control of my life and make some serious lifestyle changes.  I thought if I restricted what I ate, I would lose weight.  And I did … at first.  But inevitably, I would gain part of it back.  I knew if I wanted to be successful long term, I had to stop focusing on just losing weight and shift my focus to becoming healthy.  I began to look at local gyms and when I toured Life Time, I knew I had found the place that was going to help me reach my goals.

Within my first week, I signed up for personal training with my fantastic trainer, Zach Wyatt.  Together, we created a roadmap that would help me achieve my goals of reaching a healthy weight and body composition.  To help me stay motivated and keep me accountable, Zach recommended that I sign up for GTX Cut classes as well as participate in the 60 Day.

I will be honest, I was a little apprehensive about the 60 Day at first, but I am so glad that I decided to give it a try.  My goal for this 60 Day was simple: try to lose 20 lbs. and reduce my body fat by 5%.   As this is my second time participating in the program, I was curious to see what I could do differently this time to maximize my results.

The very first thing that I did as part of this challenge was to sign up for D.TOX.  WOW … it was amazing how much better I felt in just two weeks!  I was no longer sluggish or as bloated as I had been in the past.  I had more energy during the day and didn’t crave sugar or caffeine to keep me going during the afternoon.  D.TOX also really helped me change what I eat.  I now focus more on eating clean simple meals with lots of green leafy vegetables, lean proteins (I forgot how much I love grilled fish) and healthy fats such as nuts and avocados.

I knew if I was going to reach my goals for this challenge, I would need as much information as possible, so I decided to also do a Resting Metabolic Assessment (RMA), Active Metabolic Assessment (AMA) with Zach Lewis, as well as an Essentials Lab panel.

Having already lost 70 + pounds over the past year, I could tell that my metabolism had started to change.  The RMA helped me understand just how many calories I was actually burning and how many calories I should be eating a day.  Zac helped me adjust my macros to make sure that I am eating enough healthy fat and carbs each day.

The AMA helped us to determine my specific heart rate zones and with this information, we began incorporating metabolic conditioning into my workouts.  Now I work out smarter, not harder: adjusting my training so I am burning the maximum number of calories and fat possible.

The Essentials Lab was quick and painless.  I honestly have to say; the Essentials Lab panel gave me so much insight.  The lab results confirmed that the changes I had made to my diet and exercise were paying off.

It is funny how a bunch of little changes over time quickly morphed into daily habits.  I am amazed at how great I feel, and I absolutely love going to the gym after work each day.  I attend GTX Cut classes three times a week and train one-on-one with Zach once a week.

During the past sixty days, I have lost 27.6 lbs. and reduced my overall body fat by 5.9 %.   I am in the best shape of my life and finally feel comfortable in my own skin.  When I enter a room, I no longer do a quick look around to see if I am the largest person there.  I no longer worry about flying for work and wondering if I will fit into the seat.  I am now enjoying things that I couldn’t do in the past because of my size: horseback riding, traveling, and riding roller coasters. I have started running 5/10Ks and my goal for this year is to complete a half marathon.

I still have a little way to go until I reach my ultimate goal, but I know I would never have gotten this far without support of Zach Wyatt, Zach Lewis and the rest of the trainers at Life Time.