Lorna Bousfield

Buying clothes in the men’s section and looking for the biggest and baggiest ones she could find was the last straw for Lorna Bousfield.  She knew she had to do something to change her life and her weight but she had tried everything, or so she thought….

Lorna, or Jean to her friends, has battled with weight her whole life.  Growing up on a farm in South Africa with a ’small Dad’and a ’big Mum’, Jean’s family didn’t have a lot of money and had always eaten food that ‘filled them up’.  Without really having a chance to consider nutritional value, Jean grew up thinking that she was ’meant to be big’.

(left to right: Practice Nurse Rhonda Gillies, Lorna 'Jean' Bousfield, Green Prescription Coordinator Monqiue Wright.)

Suffering from depression and low self–esteem, the Jean we first met was a shy and reserved person who made her way down to the Oamaru Healthy Lifestyles Expo in October 2008 and came across our Sport Otago display promoting the Green Prescription programme.  Striking up a conversation with us, Jean opened up telling us about her lifelong battle with weight and how she had tried almost everything to lose it but it just wouldn’t happen.  After encouraging Jean to ask for a Green Prescription from her doctor, we said goodbye and told her that we hoped to hear from her soon. Less than a month later the referral from her General Practitioner came through.

Sitting with Jean in her living room seven months later, she is a different woman!  Gone is the shy lady lacking in confidence who we met at the Expo and instead now a radiant and glowing replacement, wearing colourful and fitting clothes and entertaining us with the highlights of her journey.

Jean has had to work hard for her success. To date she has lost 17.5kg and has dropped from a size 22 to a size 14.  She said ”I could always imagine myself going on a diet and doing exercise, but when it came to actually doing it, it was just so hard”.  Jean started slowly with her exercise - she bought a bathing suit, and thinking she was buying something to make her less inconspicuous in the water, she bought one with a frill around the bottom to help cover her up.  On her first day at the pool, she said ”I didn’t want to come out of the changing rooms, I was so embarrassed about what people would think, so I wrapped myself up in a towel and made a bee-line to the side of the pool”.  Once in the pool, the frill Jean had thought would cover her up did just the opposite. ”I looked like a big flower, it puffed up to the sides and just floated around me!”, she said.  On this first visit to the pool, she could only just manage two lengths and she remembers gasping for breath and being so tired and puffed. Seven months later Jean now swims 1.5km – this is 60 lengths!

On the days she doesn’t swim, she uses her cross trainer that she has at home. Jean is weighed every two weeks by her nurse and every time she is weighed and loses weight, she adds another kilometre on to her daily routine. She is now doing 16km on her cross trainer.  To top all this exercise off, she gets her husband involved and together they walk 4km every night.  “When I first started walking I used to wait for it to be dark, so I could go out and no one would see me, now I still wait for it to be dark, but I wear a bright orange fluorescent vest – I don’t care how I look, I just don’t want to get hit!  And we always get out there no matter what the weather.”

Jean said over the past couple of months since the weather has started to get worse and with the Oamaru pool closed for a month, that she found herself really missing her exercise sessions at the pool.  Jean describes her exercise as ‘my time’, being a busy mother and foster mother. In the past, Jean felt like she had lost herself and gave all of her energy to her children and her husband, she now uses her time exercising to give herself a well-earned break.

It wasn’t only exercise that helped Jean get to where she is today. Jean knew that if she was to make changes that she had to look at what she was putting in her mouth.  She never once said she was on a diet, ”as the minute you go on a diet my mind immediately thinks of FOOD!”. What she did was make lifestyle changes, learnt to read food labels and started getting sensible with her portion sizes.  Jean said her downfall is ice cream, so instead of not letting herself have it she has about a tennis ball sized portion (instead of three tennis balls) and eats it with a teaspoon.  Jean also doesn’t let a bad food day hold her back like it used to. Before when she ate something bad she would think ’oh blow it’, and just eat even more and throw in the towel on her healthy eating. Now, Jean knows that it isn’t the end of the world when she goes a little bit off track, and she just adds an extra block onto her walk to compensate!

Jean admits that although you alone are the one that has to make the changes, she couldn’t have done it without the support she received from the Green Prescription programme and from her Practice Nurse, Rhonda.  “I tell everyone I can to call the 0800 ACTIVE number as it has just helped me so much!”  Jean feels that it has taken her a long time to lose the weight as she has been losing around 500g – to 1.5kg every two weeks. However, she concedes that if it takes you a long time you remember how hard it is to lose it, and she says ”I won’t ever go back to the way I was”.

It seems the only person she now has to convince is her husband, who she says doesn’t like all the male attention she is now getting!

If you think your health and lifestyle might benefit from a Green Prescription, please contact Monique Wright at Sport Otago on 474 6364 or call 0800 ACTIVE (22 84 83)

Margie and Susan Mockford

Mother and daughter team (and best friends), Margie and Susan Mockford, make a striking pair. In joining Sport Otago’s Green Prescription programme over the latter part of 2007, they have been ‘participants in their own rescue’ and have made some amazing changes to their lives.

Their involvement in the programme started when Margie visited her GP with depression and anxiety.  “My general health was not good – I had some mental health issues, plus I was overweight and had a variety of related conditions which were a real worry. It was so frightening to see all of the risk factors that were impacting on me, including having diabetes in my family history”.  Margie’s GP referred her to the Green Prescription programme with Jacqui Lister, Green Prescription Coordinator at Sport Otago.  “I was unemployed, unmotivated and in a bad place”, she said. Jacqui worked with Margie one-on-one to develop a programme for her which she was able to work on taking into account her situation and lifestyle. 

Following Margie’s initial consultation, her daughter Susan picked up the leaflet for the programme’s weekly activity sessions and told her “You and I are going to do these!”  Susan also had her own issues with weight and corresponding back pain, so she went to see her GP and received a referral for her own Green Prescription and the rest is history.

Both women enjoyed the weekly activity sessions offered as part of the programme.  Margie said, “It was just great to be amongst your own – there were people like me there!  I adored the group that we were part of and I learnt so much from them.  Something that stays with me was earlier in the programme another woman fell over during one of the activities – she got up, dusted herself off and handled herself with such dignity and then carried on – she had the most amazing self-image, and that struck such a chord with me, given how my life had been prior to joining the programme. I really loved how everyone supported one another.” 

Susan enjoyed trying all the new activities, like nordic walking, spinning, table tennis and line dancing.  “It was great to get the opportunity to try such affordable activities that I would never have had the opportunity to do otherwise”.   Margie and Susan now head to the pool five mornings a week, meet with a trainer once a week, and then enjoy a more leisurely approach to fitness on the weekend with activities like beach walks. They both report weight loss as well as a variety of other health benefits. “My GP is just rapt with the progress I am making”, smiles Susan.

Both women agree that it hasn’t been easy.   Margie said, “Even finding the motivation to get started was such a big thing.  But we support each other and when one of us is feeling like we don’t want to get going, we ‘guilt’ each other   - once we are at the pool and in the water, it’s like – bam – we’re awake!” 

They both have new jobs now and agree that the programme has definitely helped with their motivation and confidence to put themselves ‘out there’ to develop their careers . “It was just such a nice feeling to get off the sickness benefit and to put all that time behind me” Margie said, “At work I am getting some great feedback, and it’s even given me the courage to join two organisations that I would never, ever, have even considered doing before. I even played in the Masters Games in February – not only playing soccer, but also going out with the girls in my team afterwards and dancing…… dancing!” 

It’s clear from talking to the women that they now have an amazing zest for life.   “It’s been life-changing really”, said Susan, “I never would have exercised before – but this has been great”.  Margie smiles, “It’s so nice to share the successes that we’ve had – I would love it if it helps even one person as much as it has helped me”.

Kees De Jong And Saraswati Sharma

In July 2007, Sport Otago launched the Green Prescription (GRx) Community Activity sessions. All Dunedin based GRx patients were provided with the opportunity to attend a variety of sessions including aqua jogging, tai chi, circuit, nutrition seminars, supermarket tours and more.

The intent of these sessions was to give patients the opportunity to try a variety of different forms of physical activity at low-cost and give them information on how to take up these activities if they enjoyed them.

In September, 15 people graduated from the programme. The first programme was a great success with participants reporting weight loss, less pain, feeling fitter and easier to breathe, more motivation and generally feeling better both physically and mentally. Also since graduating, many participants have taken up various activities which they tried at the sessions.

Our eldest participant, Mr Kees De Jong who is 81 years old, thoroughly enjoyed the sessions. Mr De Jong said “I liked the variety of the sessions and the choice of what you wanted to do”. He also said that “my back pain decreased and I feel fitter”. He has since taken up aqua jogging at Moana Pool going to their Aqua Moves class every week.

Another participant, Saraswati Sharma, enjoyed trying every activity. Sara had never swam before and managed to get into the deepest pool at Moana to try aqua jogging. Sara is from Nepal and has lived in New Zealand for seven years. Prior to the activity sessions Sara said “I was feeling very home-sick and lonely but during the sessions I made friends and feel much happier and positive”.  After attending all ten sessions, Sara said “my motivation about physical activity has changed and I have improved my overall wellbeing”.

As part of graduating participants who attended all ten sessions were awarded with a prize and all participants were provided with the opportunity to attend the next round of activity sessions. All but two participants re registered and we are now running the second round with 30 participants at Moana Pool and the Edgar Centre.

For 23 years, since a car crash a the age of 10 left him with a head injury and robbed him of sight in his right eye, Jason Robb has battled health problems and fatigue.

When his nephew said to him earlier this year, "Uncle Jason, you're too young to die", he realised he had to do something.

"I was shocked and surprised with what he said", Mr Robb said.

"I wanted to do something about it".

After talking to his doctor at the Mornington Health Centre, he was referred to Sport Otago's Green Prescription programme in July. 

The programme is a nationwide initiative supported by Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) and promotes the Push Play philosophy of encouraging "30 minutes a day" of physical activity.

People are referred to the Green Prescription programme through their GP or Practice Nurse.

The GRx coordinator gives individual advice about how they can become more active and improve their nutrition, plus offers phone support and meetings.

We worked with Mr Robb towards his goal of losing 5kg in time for his niece's wedding in October, and helping him commit to key life changes including having breakfast every day, cutting back on sugar-based products and adopting a walking programme.

With the support of Mr Robb's family - especially his father who walked with him on several occasions, and his sister whom he admitted having lost 85kg - he began eating small meals regularly to increase his metabolism and opted for water instead of soft drinks.

Mr Robb lost the weight for the wedding and his breathing improved.  His asthma is under control and he no longer needs an inhaler.  He is also helping with Plus Bus, which takes the elderly on shopping trips.

Mr Robb said that he is "loving life".  "The Green Prescription helped a lot and built up my confidence", he said.

I feel so much better and fitter now.  "My nephew thinks it's great too".

The Green Prescription programme caters to 400 people in Otago each year.

(Article by: Jane Dennis, "Going green is life-saving" courtesy of The Star, 14 December 2006).