"This book helped me take control of my life. Trust the process and just keep going."
Liz's Progress
Before
16 Months
What has happened so far on the program?
I am 31 years old and in 16 months I went from 130lbs at 25% bodyfat to 118lbs at 16-17% bodyfat using Thinner Leaner Stronger.
I started with a recomposition slow cut at a 10-15% caloric deficit for approximately 12 months, maintained for another 2 months, and then cut again for a month.
At the beginning, I could deadlift about 75lbs max for 10 reps and my deadlift is now 185 for 6 reps.
I started benching with the bar, and now I bench 115lbs.
My squat went from 65lbs up to to 165lbs and my military press went from 45lbs up to 85lbs.
What, if anything, almost kept you from buying the book or starting the program?
I tried doing endless cardio and lifting light weights. I would go to the gym, spend 45-60 on a cardio machine, and then spend about 15 minutes “lifting weights.” I would do random stuff from women’s fitness magazines or that I found on Pinterest.
I rarely weighed my food or kept track of what I was eating. When I did, I would try to eat 1200 calories a day, make it a week or so, and then either binge out, or give up. My diet and exercise adherence was really poor.
Before I started reading Thinner Leaner Stronger, I knew very little about how to diet, what macros nutrients did, and why energy balance was important. I knew nothing about supplements either. I was looking between a couple different books on Amazon, and read some reviews of TLS and said, “okay, I’m in.”
I read it in 3 days. The program was tough at first, but after the first couple weeks I felt like it was a part of who I wanted to become. I was enjoying the gym, enjoying feeling stronger, and really enjoying the results I was already seeing. Watching myself change was so gratifying and so worth it.
What do you like most about the program?
I liked that it was so straightforward. There wasn’t any confusing information or bullshit. There weren’t any “30 day challenges” or “eat this to lose weight” nonsense.
I trusted the process because it seemed truly based on science. It also forced me to learn the major lifts and lift heavy weights, which is something that, prior to reading the book, I was interested in but intimidated by.
Reading the book made strength training accessible to me.
How does this program compare with others you’ve tried?
It’s completely different. Typically, stuff that’s marketed to women is total BS. It’s usually super high cardio stuff with bodyweight strength training.
I was interested in not only losing fat but gaining muscle to change the areas of my body that I was unhappy with. Had I just lost the fat, I would have had a leaner body that I still was unhappy with.
How has what you’ve achieved with your body changed other areas of your life?
I’m way more confident. My self-esteem and self-worth are completely different from when I started. I don’t only attribute that to looking better, but feeling better (I’m consistently less stressed) and being stronger.
I was pretty depressed before I started, and that has completely gone away. It’s changed my relationship with my significant other. We’re happier because I’m happier and have the ability to give more to our relationship.
My body is now on a schedule and I’m even up early on weekends to workout. I don’t drink really anymore because I’d rather be up early at the gym at 7:30AM than out late the night before. It’s completely changed my eating habits. I eat super healthy now consistently, whereas before I was an on-again, off again dieter. I know how to eat properly and how to portion control.
It’s given me another thing to be passionate about in life. I love lifting, and I’m so happy I started.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Before I started Thinner Leaner Stronger, I was a smoker, overweight, unhappy with myself, and pretty depressed. I dedicated myself to changing and went all in, trusting that future me would thank past me.
She does. It’s worth it.
This book helped me take control of my life. Trust the process and just keep going. If you have a couple of weeks where you don’t seem to see any change, just keep going. If you don’t want to go to the gym, just go. You’re always going to feel better if you just keep it up.
Change takes time, a long time. So make sure you take progress photos and just keep going.
Mike Matthews is the founder of Legion as well as the author of several award-winning fitness books, including Bigger Leaner Stronger, Muscle for Life, and The Shredded Chef.
His simple and science-based approach to building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy has sold over a million books and helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever, and his work has been featured in many popular outlets including Esquire, Men’s Health, Elle, Women’s Health, Muscle & Strength, and more, as well as on FOX and ABC.
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Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you live in the UK or Canada, your order ships free when it’s over $99.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
Free Worldwide Shipping & Returns
Many companies use shipping and handling fees to increase their profit margins, but here at Legion, we hate profits, so our shipping is free!
Okay, so we do dig on profits, but we also go in for happy customers, and free shipping works like gangbusters. So, if you’re outside the USA, your order ships free when it’s over $199.
Why the restriction on international orders? Unfortunately, shipping abroad is very expensive, and if we didn’t require a minimum order size, we’d lose a lot of money. But! We're also hustling to improve our international logistics and will be passing our savings along to our international customers.
Also, if you don’t absolutely love our stuff for whatever reason, we don’t request you deliver it to a PO box in the Gobi Desert by carrier pigeon.
We just . . . wait for it . . . give you your money back. No returns. No forms. No nonsense. Holy moo cows.
That means you can say “yes” now and decide later. You really have nothing to lose.
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In consideration of the services and/or products offered by Legion Athletics, Inc. (“Legion”) including, but not limited to, nutrition plans, exercise routines and coaching, and in addition to the payment of any fee or charge:
I knowingly and voluntarily enter into this waiver and release of liability and hereby waive any and all rights, claims or causes of action of any kind whatsoever arising out of my use of Legion’s services and/or products, and I hereby release and hold harmless Legion and its consultants, officers, contractors, agents, owners and employees from any and all responsibility, liability, cost and expenses, including for injuries, damages or disorders (physical, metabolic, or otherwise), resulting from my use of Legion’s services and/or products.
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Analyzed for purity and potency in a state-of-the-art ISO 17025 accredited lab, the gold standard of third-party lab testing.
This product doesn’t just “contain natural ingredients’’—every ingredient is naturally sourced from plants and animals. This product contains no artificial or synthetic substances of any kind.
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