Erin Lintz is a full-time administrator. It’s a job she’s often found herself working late at—managing directives, policies, procedures, managers, training regimens, and the list goes on. “I was stuck,” she said.

Last year, though, Erin discovered something she labeled "life-altering"—something which would add new meaning to her title as an administrator.

A mom and her master’s degree

Erin had her daughter at 19 years old, so she took time away from school to work. She returned to school about 10 years ago to achieve her bachelor's degree, studying English and creative writing.

This meant roughly four years of full-time school and work for Erin, attending work during daytime hours and doing homework at night and on days off. After completing a bachelor’s degree and taking a year off, she was ready to return for her master’s degree.

Once again, Erin found herself on a similar schedule—full-time work with part-time schooling and homework during the nights and weekends. About two years ago, she obtained her master’s degree.

This isn’t simply a look into Erin’s calendar for the past decade, though. She reflected on this period of life when she felt she lacked time to cook, exercise, and take care of herself. She became reliant on DoorDash and Uber Eats four to five times a week and, over time, had a major increase in weight.

Reprioritizing health

When her daughter was younger, Erin prioritized her child, making sure she ate healthily and getting her to and from school. It was Erin’s own needs where she found herself falling short. “I'm good at taking care of other people and putting myself on the back burner, not prioritizing my own health or needs as much as I do for others,” she said.

Although aware of her need to lose weight, Erin’s uncertainty was in the “how”—in knowing what to do about it. Luckily, she had a friend who offered up health tips here and there, in a way that was without judgment or expectation. One of these informational tidbits this friend shared was that she'd used compounded tirzepatide, which “had been a complete game-changer” and helped alleviate other health conditions.

Erin took this in, but didn’t do anything about it until roughly one year later when she found herself with extra money she needed to spend in her Flexible Savings Account (FSA). Browsing the FSA store online, she’d narrowed it down to two options.

“I kind of had this pivotal moment of, ‘Well, I could get an Oura Ring that is going to tell me what I already know, essentially, which is that I have poor quality sleep, probably because I need to lose weight,” Erin said, “or I can maybe try the thing that would help me lose the weight.”

(Hint: She chose the latter.)

This seemingly small decision was made just after Thanksgiving of 2024, when Erin was at her heaviest, 283 pounds. She began the self-administrative injections and noted “nearly immediately food noise was gone.” The Christmas-tree cake calling her name? She couldn’t hear it.

Erin swapped her habit of ordering food in for a home meal-delivery service, which allowed her to follow recipes and make meals herself. She chose healthy kits focused on low-fat, low-carb, and high-protein meals, with plenty of veggies and whole foods.

As far as exercise goes? It’s never been Erin’s favorite, but she started anyway with something she found more enjoyable—an Infinity Hoop, convincing herself it was more like a game than a workout.

Between weight-loss medication through Shed, a healthier diet, and increased movement, she “immediately felt better” and “lost double digits weight within weeks.” Since then, Erin has said goodbye to almost 115 pounds, leg cramps, and sleep apnea.

Impact of Shed Health Coaching

She’s learned that when she feels crummy, she knows her body needs more water and protein. When she feels emotionally poor, the answer is exercise. Erin said she owes these newfound habits to her Shed Health Coach.

While hesitant about Shed Health Coaching initially, Erin knew she didn’t want an injection without guidance, accountability, or a place to ask questions. She discovered empathy, concern, and compassion upon her first session.

Her experience has taught her how to listen to body cues, both physical and mental, and even establish work boundaries which her coworkers now recognize, respect, and support. Her boss helps hold Erin accountable, so she takes breaks away from her desk.

Erin shared she became emotional when encouraged by her coach to put herself first, something she’s found difficult. By doing so, she’s found her confidence has improved and she no longer has fear around wearing leggings in public, going to a gym, snoring on flights, or feeling crammed in arena seats. She’s also found additional advantages as a result of taking weight-loss medication through Shed.

Erin’s job has yearly incentives for completing certain health goals. One is biometric screening, where a blood sample is taken to assess various factors like cholesterol, blood sugar, body mass index, etc. This year was the first time in five years that all her numbers were in the normal range.

Destigmatizing GLP-1s

Since losing weight, Erin has been questioned about how she did it and noted GLP-1s can be polarizing and viewed as “cheating.” She’s made it a point to be transparent with others to destigmatize the medication, because while it may seem embarrassing to admit needing help, she said “it helped get me unstuck.”

She didn’t even know food noise existed until hers was gone. Erin explained GLP-1s are a tool, along with personal effort in making lifestyle changes, used for health. “I’ve shared my success and what I love about it with other people, because it’s just had so many benefits other than my size or clothes I can fit into,” she said.

Becoming an administrator of her health

In thinking about the future, Erin expressed some nerves about gaining the weight back. Her coach told her she's completely changed her life and is no longer doing the things which caused her to gain weight in the first place. If she continues with these, her coach advised, she will be successful.

Erin, an administrator at work, learned how to be an administrator not just of weight-loss medication, but of her daily health practices, too.

“It's just a night and day difference,” Erin said. “I mean, I'm still the same person, fundamentally, but there are things improved that I didn't think could be improved just from losing weight, and I also didn't think it'd be possible to lose this much weight. So, my confidence is better.”