I am a young 49-year-old. In July of this year (2016) I had my annual doctor appointment. I was told my triglycerides and cholesterol was over 300 points. My doctor gave me until October to get my weight down due to my cholesterol being elevated or I’d have to start taking medication. Not long after that, my husband told me we had an appointment at 7pm. The appointment was to visit Life Time Fitness. We met with Mary Thompson for a tour and more information. Mary told us about the 60-Days Challenge, and we then ended up joining the gym and the Fall 60-Day Challenge in the same week.

We met Brandon Chrisp for the weigh in for the 60-Day Challenge on August 20^th. I weighed in at 160 lbs! There are no words as to how I felt that day. I never really weighed myself before so I thought I was around 140.

During our onboarding for the club with Brandon, he mentioned 2 items that would become a staple of our workout program for the 60 days. The first was doing the D.TOX program to jump-start my weight loss. We followed the nutrition and supplement schedule to the letter, and after the two weeks we’d already seen results on the scale of 8-10 lbs lost. I used the nutrition plan as my base diet the rest of the way, eliminating ALL alcohol, breads, and dairy. It was initially a struggle to keep on point with nutrition, but I’d live by the motto, “Whatever I do outside the gym, will be reflected what I can do inside the gym.”

Meaning, if I want to perform in the gym, push myself to work out to lose weight, gain muscle, lose fat, I need to do what I need to do outside the gym as well.

This brings me to the second item that I’d use to help motivate and get the necessary work done in the gym, and that was joining TEAM Weight Loss. Brandon suggested I try the evening class of TEAM Weight Loss with Austin Printz for a week and I decided to sign up. I expected the class to be more of what I’d experienced in the past, with a trainer just telling us what exercises to do. What I got instead was a class where there were people much like me, trying to do what was necessary to see success. I also listened to what Austin was teaching. Learning about nutrition, strength training, cardio training pushes us to do our best. I followed what I was told as well as busting my butt to get the job done while I was in class.

I made sure to attend all the Try-It Tuesdays. They all had some great information about nutrition and how to work out smarter, not harder! The grocery store visit to Sprouts with Abby was a real eye-opener. I thought rice cakes were good to eat. Well, I found out what is holding them together is not so good for you and if you cannot pronounce it, don’t eat it!!

I was eating less thinking I could lose weight faster and was not performing as well. Austin recognized this, he suggested the Metabolic Assessment. This test told me what zones to use for weight loss and how to burn fat, I learned to eat more good foods and burn the fat instead of trying not to eat to lose weight. That was a big mistake it just made me feel weak and I plateaued. I started eating more like Austin suggested. I said “I will give you a week of eating more but if I gain more weight I am going to be mad.” Well, I am so happy I did what he said. I LOST instead of gained!

I am eating more protein and good carbs such as bison and avocados, which I love!!
Eggs and beans are also in my new eating plan. I learned to carry veggies such as carrots and celery with me so when there are no healthy choices, I have my backup.
I don’t want to say diet because a diet is temporary; I want a change of the way I eat ongoing.

I live by the Fast Fuel and UCAN. I add some vegetables to my drinks and don’t forget the cinnamon to the vanilla shakes!
One night, I didn’t get a chance to eat dinner before class. I was in a rush. I was feeling exhausted, not sure if I could do the class. Austin had a sample of UCAN and I drank it while in class. I got my second wind and it helped with the dizzy feeling I had prior. I ended up playing racquetball after class.

The average weight loss of a woman is a half-pound to one pound a week. Meaning if I was able to accomplish this I would see an 11lbs difference through the Challenge. On my final weigh-in I was at 129 lbs, over 30 lost in 60 days. This could have not happened without the support I had at life Time Fitness. I am joining the next Challenge to stay on point for the holidays!