Sarah Overvaag struggled with her weight and confidence for a large portion of her life. She knew her health was not where it should be, but had many obstacles to overcome in her journey to a healthier lifestyle. Growing up in a family with many weight issues, she saw her mother and sister try and fail numerous weight loss attempts. This ultimately drove her to accept the weight as it crept on in her adult years.
When thinking back to the last time she felt her “smallest” as an adult, it was before she met her husband. Now ladies, this is not any secret. Relationship weight gain is real - and many of us can relate to the harsh, and sometimes surprising, realization that coupling up can often result in sizing up. Within two weeks of meeting her husband, Sarah was being fed on a regular basis and quickly gaining weight. When looking at herself in the mirror, she knew this is not what she wanted for herself. It was slowly crushing her confidence and mental health.
“You could have a great month, and then one day of shopping when you can’t get those jeans to fit that would have fit before, or pulling 50 things off the rack and none of it looks good… it destroys you and shreds you on the inside no matter what you are showing on the outside.”
Having tried multiple attempts to lose weight, Sarah began to contemplate lap-band surgery. She had already seen her mother and sister choose this weight loss surgery as a solution to their weight problems. While her mother has successfully maintained her loss for 18+ years, her sister did not see the same success, later having to forgo bypass surgery.
After many discussions, Sarah and her husband decided this was not the best decision for her or her family. Not only were they concerned about the financial aspect, but the lifestyle change is far from easy and results are not guaranteed.
In looking elsewhere, she found a few more options to try: Noom and Weight Watchers. Sarah tried each but felt she needed more from the programs. They both missed the personal approach of supporting her in weight loss.
"At Noom, I actually wondered if in the first few weeks I was talking to a real person. It was not face-to-face. It was all texting.”
She also said there was no advancement, no 2nd tier:
“When you finish and want to continue, clients just redo what was just completed. It got boring.”
At Weight Watchers, she did not like going to the meetings, and no education was provided to match the program. And again, the personal touch was missing.
Sarah went in for her first Profile consultation after seeing her friend successfully reach her goals and maintain weight loss after joining Profile. In her free consultation she learned all about the science-backed nutrition behind each plan. This was what really inspired her:
“When I learned about the nutrition behind Profile, I thought to myself, this might be a solution that will help me and not let me get sick. Anybody can starve themselves, but then you get sick and drop out of those habits and gain it all back plus some.”
In February of 2021, Sarah began Profile at 220 pounds wearing a size 22. Being only 5'2" that was a lot of excess weight on her frame. Sarah saw how healthy her friend looked and it became her inspiration. However, actually dedicating herself to losing the weight took some endurance and a couple months before she truly believed she could do it.
“I was not one of those people who could lose a ton of weight right away. My coaches had to remind me not to compare myself because weight loss is very individualized. I was a very slow loser and plateaued a lot. At one point it just clicked in my head, I am not stopping. I am starting to see results and I am going to keep going.”
Sarah mentioned that the reason the other programs did not work for her was because they were missing the personal touch. She found that having a coach by her side during her weight loss journey gave her the support and guidance she needed to succeed. This made all the difference and was beyond important.
“Profile offers real support. The coaches are educators sharing experiences that relate to yours so you do not feel alone. I have worked with three different coaches at Profile, and I loved them all!"
Sarah has learned from all of her coaches insights and even though she has completed her Profile journey, her connections with her coaches were so strong that she still reaches out every once in a while for advice and support.
“I can thank my coaches for the confidence to make the choices that work for my body.”
Sarah also appreciated the phased approach to weight loss,
“I really liked how Profile eased me into a healthier lifestyle. I was slowly taught what I should be eating and how much I should consume of certain foods. If you were to bombard me with all this new information, there is no way.”
“I didn’t realize until Profile that I don’t need bread to survive. I don't have to eat exactly what I prepare for my family or exactly what my husband cooks. I know it's okay to have something completely different, and I know it's okay to even suggest the healthier alternative to my family."
When it comes to her favorites, Sarah speaks highly of the pretzel bars and dark chocolate mixed nut bars. She loves creating her specialized hot and cold brew coffees by adding a shake to the coffee, her favorite addition being the banana pie cream shake:
“It just made me think that I was enjoying fresh-baked banana bread, and that was such a treat for me.”
Sarah also expressed her appreciation for the Profile member group as she was always active in engaging, posting and sharing. She enjoyed the relatable community and felt like she brought insight to those individuals who were struggling with comparison and doubt.
“I love to give advice, I'm a midwestern mom. But I also appreciated the group for when I needed that boost between coaching sessions.”
She felt comfort in being able to lean on a community of individuals who were all going through the exact same thing as her. With a variety of different perspectives, she knew she could reach out for advice, share any non-scale victories and express her challenges without any judgment.
“If you are on a weight loss program and you tell someone that you are upset and they can’t relate, they just don't get it. And that gave me a fear of rejection. I knew in this group I was not going to get rejected, and I was not going to reject anyone either.”
After losing 65 pounds, Sarah can confidently say she is in a much better place both physically and mentally. She now weighs 155 pounds and went to a size 8 in pant size. At the end of March 2022, she had lost a total of 70 inches.
If you met Sarah now, you would quickly see a glow of confidence radiating around her. But this hasn’t always been the case. Struggling with depression her whole life, she has been used to negative self-talk and aware of the little voice of constant doubt in the back of her head. After making the decision to focus on her body and weight, she knew her mind needed some love as well if she wanted to live the lifestyle she was yearning for.
"I knew the negativity and self-hate that I had surrounded myself with was not only hurting me, but hurting my daughters' future. I didn't want them to learn negative self-talk. I didn't want them to learn to eat junk. I want them to be strong and healthy women, and I want to be there to see them become mothers. I want to be the grandmother that can go down the slide with my grandkids, and I'm going to be."
Since joining Profile she has found confidence in so many aspects of her life.
“I speak up for myself more at home and at work. I have confidence in myself physically now too. I know I look so much better and it shows in my smile and how I interact with others."
But reaching her goal weight is just the first phase of her journey:
"I will use the tools Profile has given me to make healthy choices daily. I will use what I've learned to inspire the people around me instead of being influenced by their poor choices. I'll continue to grow as a person and if I need it, I know that I have a support system made up of the friends I've made through Profile to help me get through the rough patches!"
When Sarah first started pushing herself to go to the gym her motivation was the massage chair. She told herself that if she could reach 30 minutes of sweating, she could lay in the massage chair for 10 minutes. One of her biggest non-scale victories was the day when she realized that she had been going to the gym for weeks without even thinking about the massage chair. She no longer needed this motivation and was finally enjoying her time at the gym for the first time in her whole life. She was there because she wanted to exercise and take care of herself.
Sarah says her weight does not define her but has helped her grow into a stronger woman:
“Profile is worth the money and the time to take care of yourself. You are worth it, you are worth the hard work to do this, you are worth building up that willpower and it will pay off. Sometimes I think as bigger people we feel we are not worth it and pour ourselves into pleasing other people, not taking care of ourselves. But we all need to be told every once in a while that you deserve to work hard on yourself and benefit from that hard work.”