Canton resident transforms her lifestyle with help from Fitness Together

By Kathy Anderson

Most people would say there are just some things in this world that can’t be changed. Most people would believe that it’s impossible to reinvent who you are, or what you do, or possibly everything you’ve ever known.

Sarah Phillips before embarking on her weight-loss journey

Sarah Phillips is not most people.

Phillips, 45, has, over the past two years, undergone significant and drastic life changes. She has lost 80 pounds and transformed a once injurious lifestyle into the embodiment of health.

Concerned with the path she was on and inspired by her family, Phillips, who has had lifelong issues with weight, decided it was time for a change.

“My initial goal was to be healthy by the time my daughter turned 10,” Phillips said. “I needed to take time for myself because I was going to be around for when my daughter got older and last a little bit longer than anticipated.”

The change wasn’t going to be small, and it wasn’t going to be easy. The new regimen consisted of exercise, constant physical activity, and adopting healthy eating habits. The task at hand was daunting, and the mountain loomed large, but Phillips had a support system willing to help.

Danielle, Phillips’ 9-year-old daughter and inspiration, acknowledged her mother’s will and looked to help at every turn. The two would make frequent trips to the Canton High School track to go jogging. Danielle, equipped with a stop watch and whistle, would cheer her mother on and drive her to push forward.

Sarah Phillips is pictured with her daughter, and husband, Robert, at Fitness Together last week.

“She was the one that would get me out there on the track and get me going,” Phillips said. “She was my coach.”

Her husband, Robert, was also a large factor in her transformation. He was the one in charge of making sure that she was eating healthy. By designing meals rich in protein and essential nutrients and low in carbohydrates, he guided her toward an extremely improved diet.

“My husband is the one who does all the meal planning and all the cooking,” Phillips said. “It was really great to have someone making sure my eating was on track.”

Along with the training Phillips did on her own, she also became a member of Fitness Together, a one-on-one personal fitness-based training center in Canton that she describes as a major part of her success.

“The programming is very intense and specific; at no time are there more than two trainers and two clients in the studio,” said Mark Donnellan, owner of Fitness Together. “We work on strength training, full body versus major muscles, and increase lean muscle mass.”

Just getting to the gym used to be a steep task for Phillips, who has a nonstop and incredibly demanding schedule. When she made the commitment, however, she wasn’t going to let anything stand in her way.

“It was a commitment, because before, basically I was a workaholic, but when I made the goal that I really needed to change I made the commitment to become more attune to what would make me become healthy,” she said. “I now leave work early on Wednesdays and work from home on Fridays so I have time to get to Fitness Together.”

Sarah Phillips works out at Fitness Together with trainers Jim Medeiros (left) and Tony Midi (right).

As soon as Phillips started her training she hit the ground running. She bought into the system, and unlike anything else she had tried before it really worked and it was something she enjoyed.

“I’ve done Nutrisystem, I’ve done Weight Watchers, and I’ve done all these different diets,” she said. “I’ve joined gyms in my past. This was the one thing that really worked for me.”

The one-on-one atmosphere of Fitness Together holds the client accountable for their own actions and gives them someone to answer to. The trainers monitor the client closely, and the client is constantly reporting back to the trainers regarding their diet and exercise. Phillips found this close relationship to be the challenge she needed to keep her on track.

“Sarah embraced a fitness lifestyle and more physicality in her life, then developed a whole lifestyle around it,” said Phillips’ trainer, Anthony Midi. “She is the epitome of what a trainer wants to see in a client. She took the direction in the beginning and she returns back to us to continue to be challenged.”

Phillips is now more physically fit and active then ever. She has gone from a size 16 to a size 6. She has finished three 5K road races, and things that used to seem like a challenge to her have now become a breeze.

“I used to walk up the stairs at Canton Junction and that would just exhaust me every day, and now I’m jogging up those stairs,” she said. “I feel like I am a completely different person. It’s opened a whole other world to me.”

She has pleasantly surprised and shocked so many people on her journey. Even those closest to Phillips are taken aback by the accomplishments she has made.

“If you had told me a couple years ago that she would have been doing 5K’s I would have said, ‘Really?’” her husband Robert admitted. “She just flat out drew a line in the sand and said, ‘I have to change.’ A lot of people say that, but she followed through on it.”

Phillips has come a long way and has overcame many obstacles to get where she is today. She has changed what others think of her and what she thinks of herself. She has done something few people have the will power and drive to do. She has accomplished so much, yet she refuses to take her foot off the pedal. With no finish line in sight, Phillips continues to better herself and improve her quality of life.

Just like the track at Canton High School where she first began her training, this road is cyclical and has no end, but that is quite all right with her.

“It’s been an amazing ride and its something that’s not going to end,” she said. “It’s a continuous journey.”

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