After over five years of becoming increasingly more sedentary in my daily life and an injury that had ended my daily running workouts, a doctor visit late in 2020 confirmed that I was in a high risk category health-wise and I wanted to make a change instead of taking medication. I committed myself to making 2021 my healthiest year yet, met with a nutritionist and joined Life Time online, doing small group classes from my basement, my “cardio cave”. Part of my commitment was to focus on making changes that are for the long term; ways to live a healthy life that are sustainable and support all aspects of my life (I work full time in education, am working on a doctorate and teach a class as well as try to keep up with housework and enjoy time with my husband and family!).

I’d done 60day Challenges before, but I was really motivated to lose the final pounds of my 40-pound weight loss goal for the year, lower my health risks, and wear shorts again! I wanted to have fun doing it, and my trainer Destiny agreed to help me work toward doing a legit squat, a pull-up, and learning how to do an upside-down push-up against a wall. All the trainers helped me out in the 60day; I had a cheering section between all of them who I got to know at the Saturday Sweat Sessions – the way I got to know the other 60day participants. It was great to meet more people at my Life Time and contribute to making it a positive community. The trainers would ask how I was doing every time I came into the club and give me tips or encouragement. Because I commute to work and grad school, it is great to have different Life Time locations to be able to fit in workouts around work functions and classes, and I was always able to get something clean to eat at the Life Cafe or make a shake using the all-in-one protein. I was so thankful for Lydia and Chandra at the LifeSpa when an acute issue came up, as well as for regular muscle maintenance. The Life Time Training App worked really well for me, especially when I couldn’t get to the club so that I could still work out at home. I really thrived on ticking off all of the tasks completed each day, and it was fantastic to be able to see my nutrition goals and progress throughout the day within the app as well.

During the 60day I made even more healthy lifestyle changes, many cued by the weekly challenges in the app. I started walking early in the mornings to get my steps in and be outside. I now pick up groceries on my daily walk which has helped with meal prep and eliminating food waste. I have made drinking about 100oz of water a regular habit, starting as soon as I get off the scale in the morning, before I walk. Eating more protein was new to me, and resulted in body fat percentage change that I didn’t even think was possible. This and really cutting back on sugar was made so much easier by tracking what I ate and connecting that into the Life Time Training App. I got my blood workup again from my doctor and have gone down another risk level in the past 60 days. I started paying more attention to how much sleep I got (not enough!) and structuring my evenings to get to bed earlier. One of the best changes in my lifestyle has been my return to running that Destiny helped me with, starting me out with short runs in the spring and now I’m able to do seven miles without a problem. My core muscles are so much stronger; my posture is much better which really makes a difference when I run.

To maintain these changes I will continue setting new goals which are fun or focus on a skill with a timeline. I’ve already got my next goals ready to go – one around flexibility, another targeted at my 5k time, and a third for increasing sleep by my birthday in November. I will continue to work with Destiny, who is a wonderful inspiration and positive motivator for me – it is so fun to work out with her! My life has changed, and I feel so good I just want to keep going! I have so much energy and actually want to be in pictures again. I did learn that it is good to have some treats occasionally, I just no longer have one every day. I will definitely continue to track what I eat so that I can continue to improve my overall health. I tried many of the recipes on the 60day site (some of which have become weekly favorites, like the protein balls!) and when I had a question about the timing of eating protein, I was able to ask and get an answer via the 60day Coach Anika nutritionist link.

During this 60day I realized I can find solutions to any obstacle – I loved running, I’d injured myself and hadn’t been able to for years. I did the PT, encouraged by Destiny, and I was able to make progress. I started running on a local track to ease the pounding and have taken five minutes off of my 5k time. I see myself in reflections and can’t believe the definition in my arms & legs; people at work are giving me compliments all the time and I can do so much more than I realized!