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Shelly is losing fat and building muscle in her 50's!!! Name : Shelly Riggs Why did you register for the nutrition program? 23/24 was an awful year for me - the worst of my life. I knew I wasn't taking care of myself, and even though I was still working out regularly, I was sluggish and slow. I just felt bad. I finally accepted that NUTRITION was probably an issue. I had resisted it, "but you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet." How much did you lose/gain? After the first three months: Down 11.9#, Lost 12.5# fat, Gained .4# muscle mass, Went from 29.5% body fat to 23.4% (down 6.1%!) What did you learn in this challenge? I was shocked to learn how much protein my body needs. I really learned how important a balance between the macros is - even fat! How easy or difficult did you find the principles in the challenge to be? I'd say the principles are "simple," but not necessarily easy. It took effort to log food and finagle the portions/macros to make them fit my nutrition plan. And I *hate* logging my food. Eating well while traveling is always going to be a challenge as well. It take a lot of planning. Tell us how you did it? How were you able to be successful? For me? Will power. I paid the money for the three months, and I wasn't going to waste it. After the first month it got a lot easier, though, because I was seeing results. I was losing fat, and my pants fit better. In the gym, I started to notice I felt better during the workouts, and started hitting PRs again. When traveling, I either packed food, or made plans to buy staples at the grocery store instead of eating out. What was the biggest obstacle you overcame? Getting started! Seriously. When folx started jumping on the LifeBase bandwagon in April, I was skeptical. And I'm stubborn. It's a drawback sometimes, like being too stubborn to admit I needed help, but it's also a blessing. I was pretty darned stubborn about being strict with my nutrition and staying with the program for the three month commitment I made to myself. Going forward, how different will your nutrition be prior to the challenge? Well, I'm a month out from those first three months. I've stopped logging my food (which has been terrifying!), but just scanned this week (one month of 'flying solo' with my nutrition), and I've lost another 4.2# - I'm now at 22.1% body fat. I know that I can always go back to LifeBase and logging my meals if I need a reset. I don't ever want to go back to where I was last year. I still don't like having to eat 5x a day (especially that 9pm snack!), but I'm doing it. I have a couple of solid breakfast and lunch plans that I use primarily, and I'm just careful about dinner portions/macros. I don't weigh everything, but I pay attention to what's going in my body.