Rapid City Couple Helps Locals Live Healthy, Sustainable Lives
Like many families, Tanner and Brandi Hart stay busy. With two young boys—Dempsey, 9, and Summit, 5—and a growing business, the Rapid City couple is constantly on the move.
For them, the key to maintaining balance in their crazy schedules is creating habits of healthy living – a model they share with those who walk through their doors at Peak Wellness.
Tanner and Brandi opened Peak Wellness in August of this year after Profile by Sanford, a weight loss program designed by physicians and researchers from Sanford Health in Sioux Falls, was purchased by a North Carolina private wealth management advisory firm and decided to move virtual with the program.
Tanner and Brandi, both from Nebraska, along with Tanner’s dad opened a Profile franchise in Rapid City in 2017. When the Profile franchises dissolved, the Harts decided to take what they learned and rebrand into Peak Wellness.
“We have something great established here,” Brandi said. “We didn’t want to close and we didn’t want to become a virtual place because we had built up all these relationships.”
Tanner’s background in nursing, Brandi’s education and experience as a health coach, and the couple’s work at Profile created a perfect combination to help those needing a little guidance especially in the upcoming cold winter season. The opportunity to open Peak Wellness gave them the freedom to create their own path.
“A lot of what we carried on with Peak Wellness are things we learned operating as Profile, coaching people with their nutrition, activity, lifestyle, but we have changed the way we are supporting individuals,” Tanner said.
Changing the Program
Initially, the program focused on getting an individual to an outcome driven around weight loss. “What we have come to learn more and more is that it is not about weight loss but about deeper reasons and helping people regain their energy, come off medications, and controlling their anxiety and depression in doing that.”
Instead of approaching change for outcomes, Peak Wellness focuses on people’s habits and creating sustainable systems they can rely on.
It’s about changing one’s identity, Tanner said.
“If you want to lose 50 pounds that is great, but we want to focus on creating better habits, health systems, creating evidence that supports this identity. That is really where we are seeing so
much success with individuals,” he said. We are not here to just support the surface level change. We want to peel back the layers.”
Tanner and Brandi implemented a free consultation allowing them to get to know each client. “It helps us determine if they are a good fit for what we want to support, but also gives people a sense if we are a good fit for them as well,” Tanner said. “Each person is different, some are athletes, some are new mothers or have medical needs. We meet them where they are at. We get to know
the individual and begin building a relationship.”
They start with a blank canvas and create a unique picture for each person helping with one-on-one health coaching, nutrition, exercise goal setting and behavior change, Brandi said.
It Starts with Habits
They also work on creating habits prior to the winter months setting in, she added. “With the darkness and cold, you aren’t going to want to start something new. We work on beginning before
the weather changes. Those are conversations we have a lot, ‘What can we begin now that will help you through these winter months – things that will provide self care and give you those pick-me-ups.’ ”
Tanner added that ensuring individuals get the right balance of macro and micronutrients is also key to combating the winter blues. “This helps regulate our feel-good hormones—dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins—at optimal levels.”
Both said that living in the Black Hills provides a perfect playground for those looking for any kind of activity from dog walking to rock climbing.
“Exercise is meant to be enjoyed and there is so many things to do here that check that box of exercise and activity,” Tanner said. “A lot of time people think the gym and running, but with the
Hills they can hike, bike, paddleboard, kayak.”
With their passion for helping others, Tanner and Brandi are inspiring locals to build healthier, more sustainable lives—one habit at a time.
