I have been a Life Time member for about 3 years now. Over the years I have been up and down in terms of weight, strength, body composition, and athleticism. In the past, including past 60day Challenges, I would make progress quickly, but then gain all of the weight back when I switched my athletic focus.

The reason I signed up for this 60day was to see if I could build better habits that were sustainable, and this time it had even more significance. A few months ago, I tore my lateral meniscus while Olympic lifting; I was attempting to max out my clean and in the receiving position I heard/felt my right knee pop. I was hoping it was nothing, but I knew something wasn’t right and was given the diagnosis of a torn lateral meniscus. The first few weeks I couldn’t bend my knee more than a few degrees and it was three times the size of the other one. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t squat, I couldn’t even walk without a noticeable limp. Every time I thought about the injury and all the things I couldn’t do at the moment, and what some people told me I’d never be able to do again, it made me cry. I was so upset I’d cry between sets of exercises. Thankfully, my coaches were extremely supportive professionally and emotionally. They asked questions about my injury and what my physical therapist had cleared me to do each week and modified every workout so I could still participate. They watched my movements carefully to ensure that I was safe and building up the proper muscles to overcome the injury and prevent re-injury. I didn’t end up missing a single day at the gym thanks to their support and creativity! When Tyler S said I should consider 60day it seemed like a perfect opportunity to focus on my diet and have realistic goals that would allow me to progress appropriately and look at my recovery like training (which was huge for me as a former athlete).

I told him my goals were extreme: to lose over 5% body fat, gain muscle, improve movement patterns, PR my 5k, and run the virtual marathon I had signed up for before the injury. He was 100% on board and helped me design a plan for Alpha/GTX classes to take and running that would safely get me to that level of fitness. Thankfully by the start of 60day I had progressed from bodyweight squats to a 24in box to squatting to normal depth with lightweight and running again. Being a powerlifter having to go light on everything really upset me, but I kept working and following the plan and throughout the course of 60day was able to progress back to maximum weights, PR’ing my squat by over 20lbs, and even add in box jumps (my favorite)!

Tyler helped me look at food differently, instead of undereating, I should focus on what was in the food and hitting my protein goals. I was very apprehensive because I had never understood the nutrition aspect and always ended up messing it up, but I trusted him and started really looking at food labels and planning what I would eat each day. I started meal prepping and used the 60day Recipe book for inspiration. After a few weeks, I felt amazing; I had people telling me that I looked great and had clearly lost weight, but my favorite compliments were when people told me I looked strong!

Over these 60 days Life Time was key to my success. I utilized classes like Alpha Strength, Alpha Conditioning, and GTX five days a week, the treadmills for my weekday running, the supplements including Life Time Vegan Chocolate and Vanilla Proteins and Life Time Amino Recovery, and the sauna, pool, and LifeSpa for recovery. All of these helped me get the most out of my membership and aided me in achieving my goals. But even better than all of that was the terrific group of people I have met here. The trainers are amazing and have become great friends of mine and the friends I made in Alpha classes have now become some of my best friends outside of the gym. Life Time is where I am happiest. I catch up with my friends and trainers while working out alongside them; we cheer for each other, we comfort each other, it truly is a family! No matter what goes on at work or anywhere else, as soon as I step into Life Time, I have the biggest smile on my face. I’m always happy to make new friends so if you see me around feel free to say hi or plan to join in on a class I’m taking!

Over these 60 days I lost 14lbs, lost 6% body fat, gained muscle, PR’d my 5k by running an 8:30 mile, finished a marathon and learned how to eat/fuel my body appropriately, but the best thing I gained was confidence. I went from hiding in oversized clothing to feeling comfortable in crop tops and shorts, from only saying hi to people I knew to saying hi to anyone I ran into, and from being afraid to fail to being willing to try! I proved to myself that I could overcome obstacles and could stay disciplined and put in the necessary work to achieve my goals. I will always be grateful for Tyler S, Life Time, and all of my friends there for helping me accomplish everything I did during these 60 days!