When I saw that Life Time was hosting a 60day Challenge, I decided that this was my chance to change some patterns and behaviors in my life.  This was my chance to lose some weight and increase my cardio health.  Getting short of breath walking from my car to the house was not a healthy way to live.  Sixty days is not that long, but I can do anything for 60 days.  By doing the challenge, hopefully, this would change my habits and behavior.

My goals were fairly simple for the 60day Challenge.  I wanted to lose weight first and foremost then add some cardio and strength.  I weighed in at 299 pounds the first Saturday of the challenge.  Knowing my starting point, I set the goal fairly aggressively to get as close as I could to 250 lbs.  I know that was a bit extreme to lose close to 50lbs in 60 days but I wanted to put that challenge out there for myself in order to push myself.

I met with my trainer Rebekah who was a great help throughout the process.  She showed me the app and how to use it.  She responded to a group of us in the app and actually would communicate with me through text as well.  Seeing others post their progress in the app served as a motivator for me.  Yes, I was excited that they were progressing but the competitiveness inside me pushed me harder because I wanted to be better than them.

The app was extremely helpful providing training throughout the week to help you hit your goals.  I am a good example that you can have success and not follow everything perfectly.  Each person is on their own journey.  Physically, I cannot do everything in Life Time.  I was extremely hard on my knees in my youth.  I currently have no cartilage in both knees.  I should have total knee replacements but doctors have told me I’m too young and that it’s better to wait a little longer because the artificial knees only last so long.  Bone on bone in both knees can be very painful.  Of course, losing weight helps with some of the pain.  The Arthritis Foundation reports that losing one pound of weight results in four pounds of pressure being removed from your knees!  Losing weight with bad knees can be difficult, but it helps lessen the pain your body goes through day to day.

I can still remember my first training day with Rebekah. I showed up hoping to keep things super light and easy. She has a way of pushing me but also being nice about it. I explained to her about my knees and back and she listened and made me feel heard. She helped me keep proper form in stretches and exercises as to keep me safe from hurting myself. I remember how simple body squats made my quads so sore the next day. I was so out of shape that even little things made me hurt the next day.

I kept my training fairly simple.  I spent time on the elliptical because it was the best on my knees and back.  I have bulges in several vertebrae in my back that can become extremely painful not just in my back but down my hip and leg.  I had injections last year and was supposed to have surgery.  For different reasons, the surgery never happened so between my knees and back, I have been living with a tremendous amount of pain.  The idea of getting in the gym and hurting myself further was always hanging around in my head.  I didn’t want to do anything physically that might put me at risk for hurting my body any worse.  The elliptical was great for me because it allowed me get cardio in and didn’t affect my knees or back.

We have all heard that your diet can make or break what you do in the gym.  I took my diet very seriously.  I was very aggressive with a high protein high fat with low healthy carbs diet.  For the first 30 days, I ate completely organic veggies, eggs, and meat.  I also implemented some long-term and intermittent fasting throughout the 60 days.  I would change up the intermittent fasting periodically.  Sometimes it was one meal a day, other times I would eat three meals a day and sometimes I would eat just two meals a day.  My body seemed to adjust to whatever I threw at it so I have found that changing things up actually shocks my system to see results.  For the final 30 days I still stuck to the high protein and fat with low carbs but allowed myself to eat some veggies and meat that were not organic.  I drank primarily water but did cheat with a diet soda in the final 30 days.

I don’t know if I have a chance of winning this competition or not.  In my mind, I’ve already won.  My first weigh-in was at 299 lbs.  My final weigh-in was 260 lbs.  I lost 39 pounds in 60 days and decreased my body fat from 34.0 percent to 29.7 percent. I didn’t reach my initial goal of getting to 250 lbs, but that’s okay.  I will get there!  I will continue to hit Life Time two to three times a week and will continue my diet of high protein and fat with low carbs because now it is super easy for me.  I don’t crave sugar.  I enjoy the healthy food that I k*

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