PHOTOGRAPH ANDY LUKEY

Appetite For Living

Creative people in radio stations often come up with wacky ideas, and Tahu FM's idea to form a Māori health club for people in the 100kg-plus category with an emphasis on whānau support is a winner. Kaituhituhi Faumuina F. Maria Mau'u speaks to Hundy Club member Gwen Rolleston.

It's a bit like AA for large people. Every Tuesday evening they meet and talk about how they have kept or broken their healthy eating and exercise goals.

There is always laughter, sometimes it's the thigh-slapping hee-hawing sort. Other times, it's the shoulder-shaking Billy T kind.

These are the nights Gwen Rolleston (Ngāti Irakehu) is going to miss most.

Gwen has been going to Tahu FM's Hundy Club in Christchurch for six months. The club takes part in Appetite For Life education sessions, as well as fitness sessions on Wednesdays and Sundays. They have also formed an indoor netball team that plays on Thursday nights.

"The main thing is I feel a lot more energetic and healthy, and really aware of eating healthily. I'm not saying I'm perfect at doing it but I am more aware," says Gwen.

Recently the club went to Gwen's kura kaupapa, Te Whānau Tahi in Spreydon, to do circuit training, where they spent an hour alternating one minute of resistance training with one minute of running.

During the session, Gwen's seven-year-old mokopuna, Aaria, exclaimed, "Tāua, I didn't know you could run!"

Gwen laughs as she recalls the moment and adds, "I didn't know I could run either."

On that day, the club followed up their circuit training with folk dancing, something most of them had not done since primary school. It was supposed to be a warm down but the dancing and laughing was so spirited, there had to be a second warm down.

At the end, Aaria told Gwen: "Tāua that was the best exercise session I've had in my whole life."

Gwen says when people ask her how her diet is going. She tells them it's not a diet. It's just learning to live healthily.

One of the biggest changes in Gwen's life is she now eats breakfast.

Before she would skip breakfast, and also eat a late lunch by which time she was famished and would either overeat or eat unhealthy convenience food.

She learned at Hundy how eating a healthy breakfast increases your metabolism and prepares your body for the rest of day. The promise of a filling morning meal can also help curb those dinners or snacks late at night.

"I can eat anything. It's the way I prepare it and how much I'm eating.

It's just about balance and good choices."

"Even if I feel like having a scone with butter, I have it with butter but I don't have three of them," says Gwen.

She says she always makes sure there are wholesome food options at kura functions too.

"Sometimes I think the kura staff get sick of me talking about things like fibre and fat especially at the lunch table. However, the fibre thing has been a huge education for me. I won't eat white bread at all now and I ensure that grains are on the menu daily.

Aside from more energy and improved health, weight loss is also a part – although not the emphasis – of Hundy Club.

Gwen says on the scales she has hit a plateau.

"I haven't put on any weight since I've started Hundy, and have lost 8kgs all up. This is great because I know now that the slower you lose it; the less likely you are to put it back on again.

A few years ago, Gwen joined a weight loss programme and lost 40kgs in a short amount of time. She says people thought she had cancer because it was so extreme and she also looked and felt unwell. And unfortunately, all the weight came back as quickly as she had lost it.

A better indicator of weight loss than scales is how your clothes fit. And Gwen's are getting too big to wear. She has dropped several dress sizes and says she may end up going to see a seamstress to alter some of her clothes, but she is also patient and knows that she is not at the end of her journey.

As for those Tuesday nights, Gwen says she is sad knowing Hundy will come to an end in mid-July.

"I know we are supposed to carry on by ourselves but the Hundy Club whānau has been so supportive. I'm concerned that I'm not going to be able to do it on my own."