Every spring I tell myself, “This summer you’re going to have the beach body you want!” Yet, for the last several years, I have yet to accomplish that.

I’ve worked for Life Time for 6 years now. I’ve met amazing members and team members that have partnered together to accomplish some really profound results. So what’s been holding me back? Similar to many, I experience a burst of motivation that slowly trickles off and is replaced by excuses to eat too many unhealthy meals and I don’t honor my commitment to get to the gym. My consistency is shot and therefore another summer that I’m not in the shape I want to be in! I knew there was something I needed to do to change that this summer.

I began meeting with my nutrition coach on a regular basis to start addressing the food I was fueling my body with. Many of our meetings addressed the unhealthy habits I needed to break and the new habits I needed to begin forming. We talked about the importance of adequate water intake, sleep and eating enough meals that are well-balanced in protein, carbs and healthy fats. It was at this point that I began logging everything manually in a notebook that I dubbed “The Holy Grail of the LTF 60-Day” I recorded when I fell asleep and when I woke, when and what I was eating, how much water I was consuming and what I was doing in the gym, slowly bringing more awareness to my every day activity.

I also changed my level of activity in the gym. I blocked off time in my calendar every day to ensure I didn’t overbook myself and choose to let my workouts fall by the way side. I was also lucky enough to hire my nutrition coach as my personal training coach. We agreed to meet every Saturday to enhance my form and rotate in exercises that were going to help shape the body I wanted. We agreed that it was a good idea to start incorporating two-a-days throughout the week. This is when I fell into my groove with cycling. In order to keep myself excited about getting to the gym multiple times per day, I starting taking AMP and EDG – Both of them being phenomenal signature format classes. I also chose to travel to a few different clubs for these classes to ensure I was getting a variety of exposure to different instructors and groups of cyclists. I was having FUN! On top of the few days of cardio I was doing, I made sure to train every major muscle group at least one time throughout the week.

By week 4 I was feeling amazing! I took one-month progress photos and couldn’t believe that was me in those photos. I was sleeping better, eating better and gaining the me I’d been striving for. By the 8th week of the challenge, I was down 22.5lbs and 11.9% body fat. As the 60-Day winds down, I’m most looking forward to continuing my cycling and lifting routine as well as continuing to see my trainer. We’ve established new goals to strive for now that the challenge has commenced and I’m well on my way to “beach body” that I’ve been promising myself for years!