Mandi has been with us since day one.

She beta-tested The Practical Athlete back in May 2024, and when we rolled out the Winter Accountability Challenge that December, she jumped in without hesitation.

That’s where her EPN journey began: tracking her data, learning to spot trends, and figuring out her true top end of maintenance for the first time.

When that challenge wrapped, she rolled straight into a January Muscle Building Cohort. For the first time, Mandi realized how much she’d been under-fueling (by hundreds of calories) and how that had been making it harder to regulate her Hashimoto’s and thyroid medication.

Once we fixed that? Her energy changed, progress in the gym exploded, and she finally started thriving.

Over the past year, she has completed two muscle-building phases and two fat-loss phases, all carefully tailored to her thyroid health and recovery capacity.

We learned exactly how long she can stay in a deficit before fatigue or lab markers start to shift, and just how powerful short, strategic phases can be when recovery is prioritized.

The physical results are undeniable: more muscle, a tighter waist, and inches lost through strategic recomposition.

But the bigger transformation? The confidence that comes from finally understanding what her body needs.

She’s proof that even with an autoimmune condition, you can build muscle, lose body fat, and thrive. You just have to listen, adjust, and respect your body’s timeline, rather than forcing it.

The Periodization Plan:

November 24 - April 2025 (5 months): Maintenance & Muscle Building

During the accountability challenge she navigated finding top end maintenance and we dialed in her build as soon as she started in the cohort, gained 8lbs

April - June 2025 (10 weeks): Fat Loss

Mandi was able to make it about 10 weeks in a fat loss phase before her thyroid hormones started getting out of balance
lost 8.0 lbs and 14.0"

June - August 2025 (10 weeks): Maintenance & Build

Post-deficit we spent four weeks at maintenance before doing a small surplus to prime for the next fat loss phase

September - October 2025 (8 weeks): Fat Loss

lost 6.7lbs and -13.25"

What’s next for Mandi

After trialing various lengths of muscle-building phases and fat-loss phases that work within her ability to handle the stress and manage her Hashimoto's, we have a great plan for 2026. Mandi is going to follow within her group cohort:

November - March: 19 Week Muscle Build

Given how her last build went, we're going to be choosing a very, very conservative rate of gain to hopefully allow her to be able to spend 19 weeks in the build

April - May 2026 : 8-Week Fat Loss Phase

We found that 8-weeks is the sweet spot for Mandi while navigating the other stress in her life, so we're breaking this into two fat loss phases for 2026.

June -August: Maintenance & Small Build

September - October: 8-Week Fat Loss Phase

Mandi’s Key Takeaways of the Process:

I had tracked on and off for five years using what I found online. Joining the accountability challenge was the best thing that happened to me. What I thought was maintenance, was actually putting me in a constant deficit. Laura helped me find what my true maintenance was, 500+ more calories than what I had been eating at for years.

Before TPA, I did CrossFit and slowly realized that was tanking my hormones and my body was not loving it. It had the opposite affect and I was constantly injured. Utilizing a hypertrophy program and slowing down and lifting intentionally is what my body truly needed.

Understanding how to fuel your body appropriately while having an autoimmune condition makes a world of a difference, and having a coach who helps you walk through all the different phases of nutrition is KEY!
I was so nervous and scared to do my first build. Gaining weight when I wanted to be smaller?? No way! But Laura walked me through it, and I started lifting heavier, noticing the gains and the confidence that came with it. She also helped me overcome the mental barrier of it all, and now it’s what I look forward to the most.
I truly am grateful for the past year with EPN. I have learned so much about my body, and my mindset around food has shifted tremendously.
Great things take time. I’m only a year in, but I will not be slowing down anytime soon.