A black dress celebration

BY Jason Gabak

Editor

At Symmetry Wellness Club, trainers Lisa Wellington and Tracy Swietoniowski, believe milestones should be celebrated.

Whether it is reaching a weight loss target or committing to a healthier lifestyle, the trainers want their clients to have a sense of accomplishment.

Thursday night at The Krebs, more than 50 women had a black dress night to celebrate all the work they have put in over the past couple of months to achieve their personal fitness goals.

Starting on Jan. 2 Symmetry welcomed women into the My Little Black Dress Project.

This health program, Swietoniowski said, is about more than losing inches or watching numbers on a scale, it is an approach to a healthier overall lifestyle.

“We were really happy to be able to offer this,” she said. “We were really happy with the response and the number of women we had that wanted to take part in this. We wanted to do this to give these women the motivation to live a healthier lifestyle. We didn’t want to be focused on watching the scale. It is about an all around healthier life.”

The Little Black Dress Project is a step-by-step 42 day transformation program for women that included a daily meal plan and weekly grocery list, guidance from trainers, daily motivation and sculpting workouts.

The start of a new years is generally a time when many people make an effort to get healthier and 2018 proved to be no exception.

With more than 50 participants, Wellington and Swietoniowski were impressed with the response, even opening the project up to online participants.

“We had some people that lived out of town or were away and still wanted to do this,” Wellington said. “We had an online component and designed meal plans and training programs. We created a private Facebook page and we will be keeping that open and that was a great way for everyone to keep each other motivated.”

From meal plans to training, the participants found the past 42 days to be a challenging and inspiring each step of the way.

Shannon Buell said she lost eight pounds and 2.5 percent body fat over the course of the past six weeks.

She decided to take part after working out consistently for the past 10 years and seeking the next step to a healthier lifestyle.

“The experience was everything I was looking for,” Buell said. “It was difficult to detox my body for the first few days,  but as the weeks passed the new eating habits became easier and easier. It was surprising to feel less yucky and bloated when I didn’t even know I felt yucky and bloated .I felt a lot better with more energy. I set goals of losing weight in addition to pushing myself to stick to the meal plan in hopes of maintaining healthy eating habits after the challenge.”

Wellington and Swietoniowski said one of the most surprising aspects of the program was just how easy a change it was for many to make.

As parents, it can be a challenge to feed the whole family and find things everyone can agree on and still try to focus on a healthy choices.

But the feedback on this meal plan was positive.

“They were amazed how easy it was,” Swietoniowski said. “We’d have ladies tell us how good the meals were and even their husbands and kids liked the food. It got a lot of people to try new things and that is what this is really all about, living that healthier kind of life.”

This proved to the kind of motivation some were looking for.

“I decided to participate in this program because I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted just with exercise alone,” Erin Sammut said. “My experience has been awesome. I did set specific weight goals as well as lifestyle goals. I exceeded all of my goals that I set for myself.”

Leading up to Thursday’s gathering at The Krebs there was a lot of excitement.

“Everyone was excited to celebrate,” Wellington said. “Everyone was excited to put on that little black dress.”

For Wellington and Swietoniowski, wellness is about something more than pounds and inches, it is about the whole person and that involves creating a community, a family of sorts and that is a big part of what Symmetry has to offer.

“The support from the ladies at Symmetry Wellness Club have changed me life,” Buell said. “Their support in keeping me motivated to workout and helping all of the ladies stay strong during our eating habit changes has been fantastic.  I would not have been able to make these changes without them.”?

Wellington said Symmetry will be continuing these efforts for women and will be seeking opportunities similar to this for men as well.

To learn more visit symmetrywellnessclub.com.