NORWICH — The Norwich Family YMCA’s “Fit For Fall” program is a ten-week nutrition and fitness program organized and run by YMCA Health and Fitness Director Shannon Gawronski. It’s a fun and innovative way to get individuals to track their nutrition and increase their activity.

Participants use score sheets each week to accumulate points for better nutritional choices and for completing more and varied exercise. Each week, participants try to earn more points than the week before.

These types of personal challenges can be highly motivating to individuals who want to see improvement in real numbers. The results have been undeniable. Most importantly, people learn how to sustain their ability to eat and exercise optimally as a result of participating in the program.

This program is individualized to meet the needs of anyone of any age or ability. Participants can choose to do the program on their own time, or they can blend into the many group fitness options the YMCA offers. Participants are offered as much help and guidance as they feel they need, and many types of strength and cardio workout plans are offered to appeal to each individual’s preferences.

“While having access to professional personal training and many group fitness classes is important, pairing fitness with a nutritional plan that offers daily and weekly feedback is how the real results are attained,” said Gawronski.

Gawronski and her assistant, Pat Dietrich, offer many hours each week reading through and offering written feedback on participants food journals and nutritional score sheets.

“Once participants learn how to fuel their body optimally, the composition of their body begins to improve rapidly,” said Dietrich.

Included in the program are three body composition assessments. The first “body comp” is taken at the beginning of the program, another at the five-week mark, and the last one at the end of the ten weeks. These measurements include the participant’s weight, body fat, skeletal muscle, BMI, visceral fat and inches.

“This is how we use hard numbers to prove to participants that they are continually making progress. Being able to measure improvement using various indicators of health is vastly more important than just the number on the scale,” notes Gawronski.

This program does not focus on quick weight loss because the greater goal is to lose body fat and inches, while gaining lean muscle. The ultimate goal of the program is to help participants increase overall fitness and learn optimal nutritional habits that they can sustain.

If this sounds like the type of program you’re looking for, the YMCA is offering the program starting October 10. The challenge is only $60 for YMCA members. For non-members, the cost is $60, plus the cost of a three-month membership.

Participants can simply stop in at the Norwich Family YMCA’s Front Desk and sign up. For more information, those interested may call Shannon Gawronski at the YMCA at 607-336-9622.

-Information provided by the Norwich Family YMCA