March 15, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Profile by Sanford.

Think your days are chaotic? Wait until you get a glimpse of Andrea Polkinghorn’s.

As the immunization strategy leader for Sanford Health, she’s leading COVID-19 vaccine efforts. That means supporting strategy, standardizing processes and working to improve vaccination rates.

“So, as you can imagine, work-life balance has been a little crazy,” she said.

The “life” side is plenty busy too. As a wife and mom of three daughters, there’s very little downtime.

So while it’s not that diet and exercise are afterthoughts, she needed a different approach. It led her to become a member of Profile by Sanford in September, after her husband, Chris, agreed to go on the plan with her.

“Sometimes in the past, I’ve struggled with adherence to a diet. I will ‘cheat’ and then feel like I failed and give up. And I have always been a little nervous to try Profile because I am a fairly picky eater,” she said.

“The determining factor to move forward was that my husband agreed to join with me because he’s the one who cooks in our family. If he wasn’t on board and didn’t understand the meal plan, I felt I wouldn’t be successful.”

Six months later, she said it has been a great experience and agreed to offer this inside look at “a day in the life of a Profile member.”

The morning

Polkinghorn likes to eat something first thing in the morning, so she chooses a Profile protein bar that also could have been a midmorning snack.

As she starts her workday, she has a morning shake with some espresso — with her job, it’s understandable!

“Currently, I am in love with the Profile salted caramel shake, with espresso and ice,” she said. “It tastes similar to a Starbucks drink. I’ve also added coffee to the vanilla and mocha shake; both are good as well.”

Lunch

For lunch, Polkinghorn has made a great “Profile hack.” She takes the Profile pizza crust, pops it in a toaster to crisp it up, spreads Laughing Cow cheese on it and sprinkles everything bagel seasoning on top. Lunch on the Profile plan also includes 2 cups of vegetables, so she tends to do either a salad or a cooked vegetable.

Another Profile hack: Cut the pizza crust into chip shapes, brush a little oil on them, and put them in an air fryer. Then enjoy as “chips” with salsa!

Afternoon snack

Around 3 p.m., Polkinghorn will have her second protein bar of the day.

“Currently, I’m in love with the creamy peanut butter – really yummy,” she said.

Dinner

The evening meal is 4 ounces of a lean protein with another 2 cups of vegetables.

“My husband grills year-round, so the protein piece is easy,” she said. “Vegetables I like are lettuce, green beans, carrots, edamame, cauliflower, asparagus and broccoli.  I tried riced cauliflower but didn’t like it.  That being said, many people really like it.”

Evening snack

Believe it or not, there’s still more food in the day on the Profile plan.

“I usually have either chips or another shake at this time,” Polkinghorn said. “You can also add half of the water and make your shake into pudding if you’d prefer to chew something.”

Beverages

She’s a fan of diet Mountain Dew, “but I know how important water is,” she said. “So I make deals with myself like you can’t have another pop until you drink two Bubly waters. I also make myself get up and walk each time I need something to eat or drink.”

Physical activity

Not surprisingly, Polkinghorn’s day includes a lot of meetings. So she has been working in physical activity by walking during meetings she’s not hosting.

“Currently, I have mostly been working from home, so I’ve also been doing some pushups, crunches and squats around lunchtime as well,” she said.

She also works with her coach, Tierney, to develop goals and work toward them.

“For instance, I knew when joining I had to figure out a way to move more but acknowledged that I would find ways other than running on a treadmill for 1 to 2 miles. There have been times when I’ve decided to work walks into my day, pushups, crunches, etc., but those were my decisions not my coach’s, and she recognizes, understands and supports me in my plan.”

The results

Since September, Polkinghorn is nearly halfway to her goal – down 35 pounds with the hope of losing an additional 40.

“Sometimes I worry that I’m not losing enough weight as fast as I should, but then I remind myself that I am making choices that make this a lifestyle for me and not just a diet,” she said.

“I definitely have more energy and feel lighter. With that extra weight, I felt sluggish, unmotivated and very nonlimber/flexible. My confidence in my appearance has grown a lot, which I really appreciate. I feel like I’m getting back to who I used to be.”

Her advice

• Give yourself grace and operationalize the plan for what works for YOU. For example, I told my coach in the beginning that I wasn’t going to measure and weigh all of my food.  I also told her day one that I do not like to sweat and was never going to be working out at a gym three to five days a week.
• Identify your nonnegotiables and how this may impact your success – is it OK if your nonnegotiable results in it taking a little longer to lose the weight you want, but in the end you’ll be happier/more satisfied?  For me, it was I am not going to give up when I “cheat,” and I will not agree to exercise goals that I don’t want to do.
• Prior to joining, reflect on your past and present relationship with food and your feelings about exercise. Are you willing to walk three days a week but will never run?  If you tend to eat when you’re stressed, how can you make plans to avoid overindulging when you’re feeling this way?
• Celebrate non-scale victories!  Some of mine were clothes getting baggy, putting my watch on a smaller notch, wearing a ring that had gotten too small and just feeling more confident about myself and my appearance.
• Profile is an investment so make sure you’re really ready to commit. That being said, you do not need a lot of food aside from the Profile food, so a large portion does offset grocery costs.

Oh, and one final note for good health? Don’t forget that COVID-19 vaccine when you’re eligible. It’s her job to remind you, after all.