Habits are hard to break. Flash back to February 2019, and I was in the best shape I had been in a decade. Flash forward to August 2021, and I had put on 15 pounds (or more depending on the week) from stress, work, and the like.
Grumbles of “next week” or “I’ll do better tomorrow” occurred far too often with little-to-zero follow through, so when the opportunity presented itself to try a weight loss program through Profile by Sanford, I jumped at the chance. Something had to change.
It started with a Profile coach pairing a nutrition plan that best aligned with my body composition and goals. Manager and store operations team member, Tierney Elliott was my coach at the South Minnesota Avenue location, who I visited with once a week during the program trial. Coaching can happen in person or virtually.
“The trial offer is just to be able to come in, try out the program, and taste test the foods,” said Elliott. “I think that’s the thing with diet culture: ‘Am I really going to like these foods?’”
One of the biggest myths about Profile by Sanford, says Elliott, is that it’s “only shakes and bars.”
“That’s the biggest barrier I hear from members, which is why the trial is so great. You get to see the variety of food and test how great it tastes before making a long-term commitment,” she said.
Profile by Sanford helps members reach their goals through: One-on-one health coaching, education, and tools that assist in prioritizing long-term success. Profile has helped nearly 200,000 people lose more than 3 million pounds and jumpstart living a healthy lifestyle. For those who want to give it a try, a two-week trial is available for $49, plus the cost of food.
“Meeting with a coach really helps. We’re very much in a ‘do it on our own’ mindset, but we’ve seen that members are three times more likely to meet their goal weight when meeting with the coach regularly because the accountability is next to none,” said Elliott.
SAVE THE DATE
Check out Profile’s Black Friday deals throughout November, for new and existing members. For more information, visit profileplan.com.
During our first meeting, we went through a detailed (but quick) program onboarding setup, including recording my goal weight and going over grocery lists for dinners and daily routines. From there, we did a 3D body scan, where I went into a room solo and received a 360-degree image of my body shape with statistics, including measurements, weight, body fat, etc.
Following the scan, we went shopping in the Profile store for products that were in my custom nutrition plan. The first week entails additional fortified protein shakes and bars in comparison to the rest of the program, which includes more whole foods, Profile meals, soups, and snacks.
“Everything tastes great. We have a lot of different food options, like desserts, entrées, pasta items, soups, hot drinks, fruit drinks,” said Elliott.
Their food has branched out so much so that they recently launched Profile Fresh, which is a meal subscription service where members can order food online and have it delivered to the their home.
“It comes right to your door and fits within our meal plans,” said Elliott. “I already have my go-tos. There’s a lot of variety without the extra prep and clean up.”
MEALS TO YOUR DOOR
To sign up for the new meal subscription service, Profile Fresh, visit fresh.profileplan.com.
The off-the-shelf options also have seasonal specials, like the fall Maple Pecan Shake and the Pumpkin Spice Shake.
Elliott says the main focus of the program is to create long-term lifestyle changes.
“Your experience isn’t over at your goal weight. Working with Profile is doing the work, making those lasting changes, doing the journey education with your coach, because all of those things are the reasons that weight would come back on,” she said. “Learning to make lasting changes are more beneficial while we’re seeing the weight loss in the first phase of the program. Then, as we’re maintaining weight loss, we have the mentality of what good behavior looks like.”
RECIPE
Members are available to get advice and recipes on the app.
No Bake Brownie Bites
A delicious, low-carb treat.
Ingredients
1 package of Profile Chocolate Brownie Shake.
3 T water
2 T almond flour
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in a small dish.
Using a teaspoon, scoop “dough” into hand, and roll into a ball.
Refrigerate for 15 minutes, and enjoy!
Profile Exchange // One meal replacement, one fat.
A great way to work the program is through the new app that has resources for education modules, recipes, and more.
“Coming back weekly, we reflect on what we learned the previous week, what we need to work on, and then continue to build on that activity and education,” said Elliott.
“It’s cool to have members excited for the scan. We focus on the first check-in to see the non-scale victories and things outside of the scale that have made progress.” -Tierney Elliott
I’m excited to say that not only have I lost almost 10 pounds, but I (more importantly) changed my eating habits and learned new daily routines, like replacing a meal with a bar or shake and saying no to fried foods and yes to vegetables.
Another huge part of Profile’s program is drinking water, and I went from drinking hardly one glass a day to five tumblers of water a day.
This program actually worked well for me because of the accountability, the literature and app that helped guide my daily activities, and the fact that the team gives you all of the tools you need to be successful. I look forward to continuing these changes.
