Small Town, Big Community – BeLife

Bernardsville would like to welcome Dan Donlevie, the owner of BeLife, located at 59-65 Mine Brook Road. BeLife was created with a mission to optimize your time spent in good health.

Dan Donlevie attended Bridgewater University in Massachusetts, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training and Sports Medicine. While working as an athletic trainer, rehabilitating patients from injuries, he decided he wanted to concentrate on the preventative side of sports medicine.

Dan is an accomplished athlete; from playing college football to competing in over 95 endurance events including 19 Ironman triathlons, two IRONMAN World Championships as well as two Ultra Marathons. While training, he started noticing changes in the way his body felt and was eventually diagnosed with late-onset Type 1 Diabetes. He was advised that managing his diabetes while continuing his athletic pursuits would be challenging.

It was then that Dan realized that when someone receives a life-changing diagnosis, they often get overwhelmed and generally are given little to no direction in how to proceed to regain their normal health and lifestyle. Dan, however, decided that he would not be defined by his illness.

He started his personal journey to control his diabetes. While putting his body under stress, he had many physical setbacks and lessons, and through perseverance, he overcame them and has been successful in regaining his athleticism. He also feels this has made him more understanding and empathetic to the issues that plague his clients, enabling him to help them navigate their journey to better health.

For over 20 years, Dan has been dedicated to helping people enhance their lives.
Recognizing that people are living longer and seeking to maintain their health and vitality, Dan integrates his clinical experience and sports background on health and wellness. Additionally, as someone who lives with diabetes, he brings personal insight into managing health challenges.

During a consultation, Dan will discuss your goals, any medical concerns that need to be addressed, as well as dietary and training preferences. By first understanding one’s specific biomarkers, a fitness plan is then implemented with daily feedback for improvement. Through this analysis, he will develop a lifestyle plan that is personalized to provide a solution for achieving optimum health. The approach is to take care of your Mind (by understanding tendencies, triggers and stressors), Body (through exercise styles, preferences, limitations) and Nutrition (for longevity and quality of life). Dan incorporates weight training for strength, Pilates for stretching and muscle elongation, aerobic exercises, flexibility and proprioception (mobility and balance) and recovery.

Here are some of the concerns that Dan can address:

• Endurance training in running, cycling and triathlon competitions.
• Women’s Health in addressing perimenopause and menopause – that critical time when hormones are changing and the preventative measures that came be taken to offset future issues
• Men’s Health– including strength training
• Metabolic Health- Autoimmune areas- balancing hormones and restoring health
• Medical Weight Loss – Managing muscle maintenance during use of GLP-1 hormone, as well as weight maintenance once the weaning-off process begins. This includes muscle building, recreating healthy habits to stop cravings and providing support to maintain weight loss.
• Working in conjunction with a physical therapist or chiropractor
• Online coaching is also available, which is helpful for maintaining consistency and accountability while traveling.
• Having a one-on-one session is like having a personal “fitness advisor” for achieving optimum health. People are living longer and want to maintain a certain quality of life, and this is where Dan’s ability to connect with people is such an asset and as he says “the most rewarding part of the business is seeing clients succeed in achieving their goals “ and as stated earlier, his mission is to optimize your time spent on good health.

Dan Donlevie can be contacted through his website www.belifefitness.com or on Instagram @belife_fitness. Phone: 973-650-7580