New Jersey Jewish News
Real Life Feature
Healthy living, luxury style
Maybe it’s the gurgling stone fountain, or the side table
spread with apples and nuts and raisins, or the carefully selected decor featuring earth tones. Entering Private Lifestyle Management in Florham Park is like entering a spa.
Yet it’s not a spa. Oh, there are tea talks and yoga, even morning walks, but no massages. This is about creating healthy lifestyles, focusing on weight loss, exercise, and stress reduction. The individualized programs are designed by a team that includes a nutritionist, exercise physiologist, and lifestyle coach, each with a master’s degree and at least 10 years experience.
The “boutique” approach came to founder Mark Lewis of Summit, formerly a vice president at Goldman Sachs on Wall Street, after his 2002 honeymoon at Canyon Ranch health resort and spa in Lenox, Mass. He said, “I looked around and wondered what all these people did after they returned home. They spend thousands of dollars just for a week or even a weekend.” Despite their best intentions, “we all know that many go home and end up not sticking with the healthy behaviors they were pursuing at the spa.”
He’s been refining the plan ever since, defining the concept, raising funds, and finding a location and the right personnel. The final hurdle is finding clients. Lewis said he hopes to get referrals from doctors, but he’s finding that that can be an uphill battle. “It’s harder than I realized.” Still, he’s beginning to see a niche in weight loss, which drives most of PLM’s 16 clients.
Clients begin the PLM process by meeting with members of the team to define their goals. The staff conduct detailed interviews to identify issues from exercise and eating habits to job stress, travel, and family life. Based on that information, clients embark on a 10-week plan of exercise, nutrition, and relaxation.
Barbara Dersovitz, 58, had tried everything from Weight Watchers to South Beach, as well as exercising on her own. “I have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and I’m on two different kinds of medicine,” she said. In April, her doctor suggested she try something new and referred her to PLM. “I went straight from the doctor’s office there.”
Although she’s just started on her quest, she loves the idea that the regimen is tailored to her needs and coordinated among the professionals. “I think the fact that I’ll be working with all these different people to get it all together will make a difference,” she said.
Ron Leflein wants to get back in shape so he can exercise with his family. He didn’t know what to make of PLM when he entered several weeks ago. “I was very cautious. It’s a different approach than I’ve seen before. It’s a very tranquil atmosphere, but I didn’t know how to interpret that, between the apples and the decor. But when I sat down [with Lewis], I decided it’s a nice concept and that I was interested. It makes sense.”
He’s become a fan because of the expertise and professionalism of the staff, whom he described as “very polished.”
He begins each work day — he’s a pharmacist in charge of a technical services group for a pharmaceutical company — with 15 minutes of breathing exercises to reduce stress. He is learning to choose the right foods to get a balance of fat, grains, and fruits and has increased his exercise regimen from once or twice a week to four or five times. Daily e-mail check-ins with PLM tweak whatever isn’t working. “We’re constantly revising the weekly plan,” he said. After three weeks, Leflein has lost nine pounds.
The introductory price for the signature package 12-week program is $2,300. For more information, visit the Web site.
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