‘No nonsense’ might be two good words to describe Sandys 360 fitness trainer, Dawn Berry.She trained several of the top finishers in the recent 100-Day Challenge weight loss and fitness competition and had similar success with competitors in past years.She readily admitted that she might have been a little mean at times, if only because she was so determined to help her clients.She said of her experience with the competition’s overall winner, Mollesia Joyiens: “I went to [her job] because Mollesia had got frustrated last time she hit her wall and ate pasta; I called my clients if they missed the gym; they HAD to work out twice a day. I was very mean. I think I have this reputation as a taskmaster because every year my clients win. I pull the results. I love what I do and I know what I am doing when it comes to obesity. My contestants are very happy with their results.”Mrs Berry has been fitness director at Sandys 360 for the last three years. She is originally from Sunderland, England. She became a professional trainer in 1990.“In the beginning my parents pushed me towards accounting because I was good at math,” said Mrs Berry. “When I said I wanted to do a degree in sport and exercise, they were like, ‘there is no money in that’. I said it is about being happy and following my dream job.”She studied fitness at Carnegie College in Leeds with a focus on outdoor activities. On entering the fitness industry she found out her parents were wiser than she thought. Her accounting experience helped her to quickly leap to the managerial level because she knew about budgets, spread sheets and sales.“I went naturally to managing,” she said. “I now have a lot of years of experience in fitness. I started to work with David Lloyd Leisure in the United Kingdom. I stayed with them awhile and worked up to general manager position. Then I went to work at Bannatynes Health Club in Darlington as general manager.“The owner, Duncan Bannatyne, who has been in the news quite a bit recently, headhunted me to open his flagship club. Then I met a guy, Derek Berry, who was in the police who was moving out here. I gave all that up to come with him. When I first came to Bermuda it was quite difficult to do the job I had been doing because most gyms are owner-run. I had to go back to just being a trainer. I actually quite liked that because it took all the pressure off. “She has worked for Bersalon at the Sonesta Beach resort and Magnum Power Force Gym. She became involved in fundraising for Sandys 360 a few years ago because her stepdaughter, Sammy, attended Sandys Middle School which neighbours the facility.“We knew it was coming,” said Mrs Berry. “When it opened I applied for a position not knowing which position I was going to get, and was really fortunate to get a director’s position.”She also works with Norma Thompson, who runs the Fitness Bay Resort programme, for a couple of hours each afternoon.“I do some intense training with them and they get some great results,” said Mrs Berry. “I have had some clients lose 10lbs in a week. They have to be prepared to work. It is like the 100-Day Challenge, you can’t go into the programme thinking you are just going to join it and the weight is going to fall off, it doesn’t. I tell them straight from the beginning it is hard work to get those kind of results and statistics. With the 100-Day Challenge, most people in the years I have done it don’t lose any less than 50lbs. Statistically, over 14 weeks, that is not normal. Healthy weight loss is one to 2lbs a week. To do it more intensely it means you have to double your exercise and cut your calories.”Most of her clients from the previous year’s 100-Day Challenge had kept the weight off, she said.Mrs Berry thought this was partly because she had taught them about proper weight loss management and eating.“I educate them on the whole energy equation calories in, calories out,” she said. “I start from the beginning educating them on how to convert recipes that they are used to eating, to make them healthier.“A lot of it is lifestyle. It is about how to lose weight and how to maintain your weight after the programme finishes. Maintenance is the most important part. With all of them, I say on day 100 you have to have a plan, because that is when the real challenge starts. During the 100-Day Challenge competition, being answerable to me becomes routine, but once they don’t have that connection with me they have to be in the routine of doing it for themselves. I do stay in touch and make sure they are sticking to it.”Her clients who won the 100-Day Challenge this year received a year’s membership to Sandys 360 but she actually encourages such clients to stay out of the gym as much as possible.“I try to do different stuff with them,” she said. “For the whole of the 100 days they probably went into the gym once with me that was to show them how to use the equipment. I try to teach them not to use the gym, even though they have now been rewarded with that membership. I try and teach them to use the environment in weight loss and maintenance. It is so beautiful here, why would you want to stay inside on any day? Go out in any weather.”Her 100 Day-Challenge clients worked out in the Sandys 360 pool, or played basketball or walked at Warwick Long, using the sand as part of their resistance training.“When exercise is fun people are more likely to stick with it,” she said.Mrs Berry stays fit by teaching classes and also playing with her two children, Harry, six, and Jack, three. She said she always tries to buy Christmas presents for her children that get them outdoors.“You don’t want your children to become sedentary,” she said.Useful website: www.sandys360.bm.