Have healthful meals delivered to your doorstep
By Ashley Puderbaugh
Published January 2011
Women’s Edition magazine
With the New Year upon us, many Americans are making resolutions to better their lives and are resolving to eat more healthful foods, cut back on junk food, and lose weight.
At Success Meals KC in Johnson County, the first of the year is the business’s busiest time. A full-service meal solution, Success Meals KC tailors menus to clients’ individual caloric needs and taste preferences, and delivers each day’s meals right to their doorsteps five mornings a week. The custom meals consist of an array of freshly prepared gourmet foods that are designed to fortify the body with a precise amount of calories and high-quality nutrients.
Todd Markley, founder of Success Meals, is a former bodybuilder, personal trainer, and gym owner. He says that cutting out all bad foods at one time is unlikely to produce lasting results. “Especially with the New Year, people want to start a new diet and they try to cut everything all at once. It usually lasts about three weeks,” Todd explains. “What I find is if we can make easy transitions—we give them that latitude to have their morning latte—once they start making progress, then it’s easier to give that up or at least cut back.”
Todd started his diet delivery service in 2001 after he became frustrated when his personal training clients failed to see the results they were hoping for. He knew they had developed the toned, lean bodies they worked so hard for, but they couldn’t see it under their body fat. “These are clients that would train with me tenaciously three or four days a week, but I was addressing the muscle in my training. To get that fat, I knew they needed to address their diet,” Todd says. So Todd designed diets for them, giving them grocery lists that spelled out the exact ingredients they needed, how many calories they could consume, and how many meals to eat each day. “But it was always the same thing—I’d check back a week or two later and they’d say, ‘You know I get it, but I just don’t have time to do this.’”
Finally, Todd decided to start putting daily meals together for his clients. He used his experience with weighing out and measuring food from his bodybuilding days, and put together daily meal packages in a cooler that he would then drop on their doorsteps on his way to the gym in the morning. As his clients began to see results weeks later, spouses, neighbors, coworkers, and friends expressed interest in participating in the service that Todd provided.
The business grew from there. Today, Success Meals KC serves about 300 clients in the Kansas City metro area, and is looking to expand the business nationwide. “What sets us apart from other companies like us is that we create truly customizable plans,” Todd shares. Though the menus are predetermined, they do change seasonally. The team at Success Meals KC has a comprehensive database that details each client’s individual dietary guidelines, restrictions, likes, and dislikes.
“A lot of companies have cookie-cutter diets, and you have no choice but to follow the one that’s closest to your needs,” he says. “We’re customizing it specifically to you and your goals and needs.” In addition, the meal programs can be easily updated if and when a client has stopped seeing results. Todd says it’s typical to find success early on in any new diet, but eventually the body will acclimate. “Then they plateau, and people get frustrated because they’re following the diet and doing everything right but are not seeing results. Eventually they throw in the towel all together.”
In order to help clients stay motivated throughout the entire program, Success Meals KC monitors each client’s progress on a weekly basis and measures body fat every month. Then based on the results, the company will make changes to the client’s food plan. “If they’re struggling in any aspect, we’ll adjust their menu. If someone asks for more fruit in their diet, then we’ll accommodate that,” Todd says. “We’ll control your calories, but if there’s something you want then you just need to let us know.”
David Kline, a Success Meals KC client who has been on the program for about nine months, says he has seen astonishing results. David started with Success Meals KC in March 2010 as part of a weight loss competition. He lost 82 pounds in the 82 days of the competition. Since the end of the competition, he has continued the program and has lost more than 150 pounds in 10 months.
“Success Meals is great because it just takes the thought out of it,” David says. “The problem with a diet is you get consumed with what you’re going to eat. You just fret over it. The more you think about it, the harder it is to follow the diet. That’s the key with Success Meals—you don’t have to think about it.”
Besides the convenience of fresh meals being delivered to his house every morning, David enjoys the variety of food he receives. “If I want to cook healthy lasagna, that’s what I’ll be eating all week. My menu changes daily with Success Meals, and the meals are delicious—almost indulgent.”
Success Meals KC’s mission is not only to help clients reach their short-term goals, but to teach them how to stay healthy for life. “It’s not a white-knuckle program, but they can’t expect to do this for 12 weeks and then go back to their old eating habits,” Todd says. The program teaches clients how to substitute healthful ingredients for fatty ones, as well as how to control portion sizes. Success Meals KC also offers guidelines for staying healthy when clients eat at restaurants. The plan even allows for a couple of “free” meals each week: clients may eat whatever their heart desires for these free meals.
David recommends Success Meals KC to anyone who has been struggling for a long time to change their eating habits. If you’re interested in participating, you can try a sample day of meals for free. You’ll receive five meals delivered right to your doorstep, allowing you to make an educated decision about the program. For more information about Success Meals KC, visit the Web site or call 913-894-MEAL (6325).
“You can eat to lose weight,” says Todd. “Most people think it’s about restricting things and enduring the diet program, but eating small balanced meals throughout the day and rewarding yourself with free meals can be successful.”
