Final Fat Meltdown – 30 Days to Weightloss

Dawn Sylvester has been my personal trainer for more than seven years. I can’t imagine what my body would look or feel like without her. Most people start out with a strong commitment to getting in shape, but lose the enthusiasm or momentum as time goes by. I can honestly say that because of Dawn, I have not lost that drive and I am stronger and have better Health than ever. She advises me to eat protein to rebuild my muscles and always asks me if I ate some carbs before the workouts. She never preaches about calories like most people in her field. She says to eat often and eat for energy. It must work since I never pay attention to “diets” but I feel amazing with her philosophies. Her relentless pursuit of devotion to me both professionally and personally, keeps me coming back.

Dawn is extremely passionate and knowledgeable about the body. When she explains nutrition and how the body works in relation to strength training, it easy to understand. I trust her completely. I continue to train with Dawn because I am stronger, more empowered and have better annual check ups than at any other time in my life. At 57 years old, with 30 minute training sessions 3 times weekly, I am able to do more than most women my age. I do heavy landscaping, snow blow my own property (hand pull snow blower) and still have energy left over. I used to have back problems, but not any more! Dawn always says “keep your body moving.” My arms and legs look awesome and I get many compliments! Dawn is a phenomenal personal trainer. Her dedication to my Health and fitness keeps me coming back.​

Dawn is more than an fitness expert. She helps me understand the correlation with food, fitness and weight loss. When I met Dawn and started using her steps, I was feeling better, less bloated and more energized than I had in years. The first few weeks were quite a surprise. I wasn’t grabbing junk food, and actually wanted to work out. The combo of eating enough to be energized, plus the workouts is what lead to my 90 some pound loss over the course of 7 months!!

I never had the energy to workout before this plan. Nothing in Dawn’s plan was like any other diet, because it WASN’T A DIET (and I had tried them all.) She actually had me keep track of protein and never had me count a calorie. Best part ever was that I got to eat real food instead of drinking only shakes and count points.​

As I got more conditioned and started to lose weight, my workout and nutrition plan started to have an energizing impact on my whole life. The best part was the workouts didn’t involve just cardio, but interval workouts that were fun and always different. I could really see my body changing and my body shrinking! Plus this was all without spending hours doing cardio in the gym.

Having a personal trainer and nutritionist like Dawn who understand the whole concept of healthy living, and practices it herself makes it obvious to you that she cares and that she wants you to reach your goals. Not only because of vanity reasons, but because it is a better way to sustain a healthy and longer life. I came to Dawn wanting to feel good about my body, and to lose weight and get stronger. The results are I became happy with myself as a woman. I also became an athlete in the process and entered some athletic challenges that I never would have considered before I lost all the weight. I never thought I could look and feel this great!​

My body, mind and life transformed while training with Dawn at Michigan Kettlebells. With Dawn’s encouragement and training I became more empowered, and stronger in all areas of my life. From the first day I was pushed to my limits and actually impressed myself. Dawn mentioned often to keep the protein up, the sugar down, and to “eat for what we would be doing next.” “Don’t eat starchy carbs unless you are going to burn them off”: she said. Didn’t know I would change my body that much, that fast. It is amazing how strong we can be if we allow ourselves to get control. I never knew how to do that on my own.

Knowing how to motivate her clients, Dawn is constantly helping them reach their physical and mental goals. Being a stick figure by starving yourself and just doing cardio is never a goal in Dawn’s gym. “skinny isn’t healthy or strong” she says. “Lean and powerful is attractive!” “YOU GOT THIS!” She yells to us! She is training women to become better, stronger and more empowered than they ever thought possible.

Everyday, Dawn brings motivation and passion to her gym. She inspires clients to change their physique and their minds more than any diet, or weight loss plan on the market. I’ll be forever grateful for Dawn’s encouragement and training. I have lost weight, gotten SUPER strong, and she has taught me to be the badass woman I am.​

​Throughout my life, I have been active. I became a runner in college, and finally ran a marathon, which was one of my life goals. After running the marathon, I learned that I had a disc degeneration disease. With my running passion dashed, I searched for alternatives to remain active. Then, I was blessed to have 2 children 18 months apart. While I desired to get back to being active, I had no clue how to do it with 2 children, a husband, a full-time job, and attempting to maintain our household Not only did I lack activity, but my healthy eating habits were destroyed. With increasing stress, and weight, and no real outlet, not to mention my decreasing energy levels, I finally asked Dawn if she could help

I had gained weight that wouldn’t come off. I tried quick diets that lasted a week, but all that did was make me have a hard time focusing at work, and binge at night. My eating was abysmal and I participated in zero activity to offset this. Dawn provided me with starting workouts and and healthy grocery list, along with ideas for each meal. I started in earnest.​

After one week of eating a little more than usual, I actually felt so much better. By day 30, I was feeling amazing, my stress was reduced, I was sleeping better, and the inches were coming off!​

Finally, Dawn convinced me to start working out once per week with her and two times weekly on my own. During the first 2 weeks, I noticed how much better I felt. As time has gone on, I have become stronger and have more energy due to her coaching me to eat right before and after the short workouts. I used to be a sugar addict. I felt like I had to have it many times a day. I have made strides with my addiction to sugar and have been replacing it with other foods that actually keep me satisfied. I never knew that was possible in such a short time!

Dawn has shown me that it does not take hours in the gym to become stronger and alleviate stress. In addition, she has taught me that my overall physical shape is 75% dependent on the food I eat. What a difference it makes to eat for what I will be doing next! This means that I need to fuel my body for activity instead of skipping meals to lose weight.

This is not a diet or a short term change. Even though I feel lighter and stronger, I will keep doing this. There is no deprivation and I feel great. Dawn has provided me with more than exercises, mindset change, and how to eat. She has provided me with a life change that can be sustained and followed until I am well past retirement age. Now I have the tools with her plan to lose more weight and get stronger as I age.Thank you to Dawn for her desire to train all women to become stronger and healthier and to stop the dieting madness

My first meeting with Dawn was definitely a learning experience. I guess I thought what most people think about the way to lose weight. I was under the impression that eating less, meant getting in shape. Since I had gained weight, I just kept on running and skipping real meals to try to lose the weight. I just “munched” on snacks and junk throughout the day and then would follow up with a big meal for dinner. I learned that building muscle burns more calories after I met with Dawn, I never really knew what that meant. I also understand that lacking calories would do the opposite, especially since I had started working out a lot but was getting tired and not putting on any muscle

I really wanted to lose the weight around my belly. I didn’t’ realize that from only snacking all day, and getting most of my calories from cheese and a little protein, I wasn’t giving my muscles the proper fuel to recover, let alone grow. After journaling my food for 10 days per her request, I realized my amount of protein and fiber were extremely low ; almost non-existent. I lived on unhealthy carbs, unhealthy fats, and a bit of protein. I work in a butcher shop and she said that since I had access to the best grass fed protein, that I should really get on board with her plan if I wanted to see results.I put her plan into action and started paying attention to eating more protein and adding in tons of veggies. I also started to eat more in the morning and before a workout, especially the right calories and the right kind of carbs (not crackers and junk). Now that I am following her regimen, plus eating carbs before and after my workouts I can’t believe the difference!

I really wanted to lose the weight around my belly. I didn’t’ realize that from only snacking all day, and getting most of my calories from cheese and a little protein, I wasn’t giving my muscles the proper fuel to recover, let alone grow. After journaling my food for 10 days per her request, I realized my amount of protein and fiber were extremely low ; almost non-existent. I lived on unhealthy carbs, unhealthy fats, and a bit of protein. I work in a butcher shop and she said that since I had access to the best grass fed protein, that I should really get on board with her plan if I wanted to see results.I put her plan into action and started paying attention to eating more protein and adding in tons of veggies. I also started to eat more in the morning and before a workout, especially the right calories and the right kind of carbs (not crackers and junk). Now that I am following her regimen, plus eating carbs before and after my workouts I can’t believe the difference!

My recovery time and body mass has changed. I have more energy, and I eat better meals, and am actually barely looking at snacking on junk. I now make sure I eat at least 25 grams of protein in each meal (which was actually higher than I would have thought) rather than forcing my system to store fat and eat away my muscles (that was an eye opener!) I’m looking forward to eating like this forever. It isn’t a diet, I really get it now. It’s what your body needs to lose the weight and keep it off.

Dawn has been instrumental in changing my views on how to age, eat and train for strength and vitality. I considered myself to be someone who ate pretty well and seemed to be healthy but just couldn’t get committed to long term fitness or working out. Running endless miles sounded terrible (and still does) and weight lifting always intimidated me. Dawn has opened my eyes on how to incorporate building muscle and doing bodyweight workouts in a fun and beneficial way. I can do the workouts in such a short time that I never have to plan an entire day around a trip to the gym. I can do them pretty much anywhere!

Dawn and the group of women she trains bring such energy to the gym the time flies by and before you know it you are sweating your butt off and burning calories but loving it! Not only does she help you inside the gym but she is always willing to provide advice from what is a good recovery drink to coming up with a workout you can do in a hotel room if you are traveling. I am now much stronger than I have ever been before, I feel better about how fit my body looks and feels and I am committed to continuing this journey.

Dawn and the group of women she trains bring such energy to the gym the time flies by and before you know it you are sweating your butt off and burning calories but loving it! Not only does she help you inside the gym but she is always willing to provide advice from what is a good recovery drink to coming up with a workout you can do in a hotel room if you are traveling. I am now much stronger than I have ever been before, I feel better about how fit my body looks and feels and I am committed to continuing this journey.

Dawn’s influence in my life has felt nothing short of miraculous in many ways. I knew her for many years before taking her up on nutritional counseling and personal training. Sick of fighting the same battle with my weight, but even more with the negative self-talk, I went to Dawn’s all female bootcamp class and met with her to analyze my nutritional needs and current deficiencies.

When I showed up in class I could not do a squat properly, doing step ups without weights winded me, and when it came time for pull ups (with all the assist bands in place by the way) I could maybe get an inch of movement before just hanging there with my muscles clenched. But Dawn kept repeating something that has become a mantra in my head. No matter how few reps I could do or how winded I was Dawn said, “You can’t get weaker, you can only get stronger if you keep showing up.” Simple? Yes. Empowering? Hell yes. So I kept showing up and Dawn kept her eagle eyes on me, constantly encouraging me to push to each next level whether it was a heavier kettlebell, another attempt at the sled, or doing just one more rep than last week.​

I became stronger. My flexibility improved. I gained lean muscle. My clothes fit differently and I have more energy. All these things that I knew were supposed to happen when you get healthy but that I hadn’t really experienced before were happening! Soon I added personal training sessions and group training sessions that were like a mini bootcamps.

After three years of training with Dawn the woman who got winded doing simple step ups can now do tire jumps. I love pushing the sled and throwing sandbags. I’ve moved from the lightest kettlebell to serious reps on the 32 lb. and even the 44 lb. kettlebells. Best yet, I can bang out pull ups with one assist band. Lest I forget the other part of my work with Dawn, the nutritional counseling, let me tell you that I now know how to read a label, that I understand what it means to eat clean, whole foods and how much better my body responds to this food. It isn’t the processed crap that I was eating from the freezer section labeled low fat or reduced sugar… which really just means increased chemicals.

I’ve told you about the physical changes that have occurred during the time I’ve worked with Dawn, but just as important, maybe more so, is the mental mindset she helped me develop. I was a person scared to work out hard, fearful because of my inflexibility and my lack of balance, my weight, and things that past PE teachers and coaches had said. Dawn cut through all that. She genuinely cared about my progress from class to class, from exercise to exercise, to the number of reps I could do with proper form to the weight I was able to work with. She didn’t judge how out of shape I’d let myself become, but focused on my improvements and kept telling me I was ONLY getting better and fitter. In her eyes I could only get stronger, and lose the weight and it happened under her coaching. Most importantly, it happened in the right way, not through some fad or risky trend. Though I’ve moved out of state and can no longer train with her, she is the new voice in my head, sort of like a ripped angel on my shoulder telling me that the answer is yes, I can do this class, this exercise, this clean eating recipe and each right choice makes me stronger, leaner and overall healthier.