I have always been active my entire life but when I started working at Life Time. I was going through an extremely rough emotional time in my life.  I found myself becoming more unmotivated, becoming more depressed, undisciplined with my nutrition and unhappy with myself.  I started taking the Alpha class in hopes to gain back some motivation and start feeling like myself again.  I was feeling better but was still undisciplined and not intentional with my nutrition which was affecting my physique and athletic goals.  Tom is my trainer in Alpha and being the amazing trainer he is, challenged me to do the 60 day.  I honestly wasn’t going to do it but he assured me he would help me every step of the way to help me reach my goals so long as I was willing to be disciplined and do my part.  I trusted him, knew he would be able to help me and would genuinely care about helping me reach my goals.  I worked a few extra shifts to be able to pay my entry fee and get the things, such as a food scale, to be accountable and successful.

We sat down and made a plan to not only improve my athleticism but to lose body fat.  I did not want to be thin or “skinny” or have extremely low unhealthy body fat.  I simply wanted to feel confident, strong and lean and be able to improve my performance.  Everything we did was geared towards that.  Alpha class six days a week was the way to stay strong and improve speed and athleticism.  My caloric intake would depend on my weekly check-ins and how my body was responding to the workouts and nutrition.  Tom immediately sent me a meal plan on day one with calories and macros catered specifically for me and my goals. Each week varied according to the changes my body was making.  We slowly cut my calories, then carb cycled between high carb days and low carb/high fat days.  I knew my biggest challenge would be the food so I made sure I was not going to let myself or Tom down.  I always made sure I was prepared mentally to be positive and intentional with the right foods to reach my goals. I knew my macros and calories for each day and each night I would write out and track the foods I would plan to eat for the following day.  If I needed to have certain foods like chicken already cooked I would buy precooked chicken breast or grill my own to have ready for each following day. This ensured I already knew what to eat and how much to eat and when to eat.

Each week I stayed consistent with the workouts, nutrition, and weigh-ins (even on vacation) so that Tom could continue to manipulate numbers to keep my metabolism on fire and keep me on track.  The week before the last week of the challenge I was in California on vacation on the beach and Disneyland. That was most definitely the toughest week mentally for me nutrition wise.  I was on my lowest calorie intake, had no access to a kitchen and I was surrounded by family eating treats and indulging in foods that I normally would’ve eaten in excess.  I knew there would be temptation so the first thing I did was go to a local grocery store and bought all the food I would need to have a successful week even without access to a kitchen.  Tom kept in touch with me, helped approve of my food choices and gave me modified Alpha workouts to do each day.

I would wake up every morning at 430 or 5am to do my workout for the day since I knew that would be the only time I could prioritize it.  I was extremely proud of myself for staying consistent and committed to my goals especially that week! When I came back we did my inbody and found I had actually lost body fat while on vacation while I would think most people would gain. Throughout the challenge and even now afterwards I have never felt so good in my life! This experience is exactly what I needed during a hard time in my life.  I had the best formula to help me be where I want to be. Tom was the perfect coach, I was surrounded by an uplifting team in Alpha and the Life Time 60 day helped me to have a purpose and a goal to be intentional about the foods I put in my body and my fitness goals even when I didn’t feel like it.  I already have a nutrition plan with Tom to continue with him after this challenge is over and am sticking with Alpha.

This is just the beginning! I never want to have a “before” like this ever again in my life!  I am so grateful for this program.  It literally helped me get out of a dark depressing place into one of energy and life and confidence!