Yo-Yo dieting, shakes, scales, carbohydrates …blah, blah, blah. For me they’re nearly as big a turn-off as cookery shows on the telly; the minute a cookery host appears with his ‘five second miracle concoction’ on the screen there is a mad dash in my household to find the remote. Flick, gone!
Alas a different situation emerges in the house of Raun Sutton and Ray Cresswell. ‘Cookery shows are an addiction!’ explained Raun. I vomited…! With their two Maltese dogs, Sonny and Lukas, straddled on the couch and lavished with attention, I began to chat to Raun about the glass trophy standing proudly on the TV stand.
He is the Australian Weight Watchers winner of the 2012 Healthy Life Awards, the first time a West Australian has won as well as the first time this achievement has been awarded to a male.
‘I was heavy. (119.7 kilos)’, explains Sutton, ‘It all started with a shadow moment, a side glance in a shop window on the way to work, came as both a shock and reinforcement that I had a problem. Not only was I out of condition, puffed and breathless, but I needed help with both my weight and health. At that stage, I was on more than two tablets a day for high blood pressure and diabetes was steering me down the barrel. I had to do something as this was spiralling out of control.
‘Denial is a factor but increasingly we both came to the conclusion that to be successful and stick with it, we would be better off signing up to a weight loss program. A friend suggested Weight Watchers, so we enrolled in their program in Morley. I’m not fazed by meeting new people so when we entered the meeting room for the first time, I was reassured that there was other people in the same situation as we were.
‘I was wearing 44” waist trousers at that time and now seven months into the program, I’ve lost roughly 36 kilos, and Ray has lost 16 kilos.’
They both eat more than before, but just healthier and more regularly. A glance inside their fridge revealed sliced fruit salad for dessert and lean meat for dinner with salad. Gone are the chocolates, potato chips and other ‘nasties’.
Both Raun and Ray advocate that the belt buckle is their best measure and the before and after photos are both their rewards. One of Raun’s prizes, is a trip for two to the Cook Islands, which the couple have planned and organised for next May. The mankini will definitely be looser now!
Terry Larder
