HEALTHY WEIGHT FOR LIFE: HOW CHERYL GOT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

During a visit to an HCF branch, Cheryl Read discovered Healthy Weight for Life – the weight management program that was the first step towards improving her health and wellbeing.

On her 50th birthday, Cheryl suffered a heart attack. That was more than 12 years ago and, in the period following her health scare, she decided she needed to re-evaluate her private health cover. Liking the benefits and how the policy was straightforward and easy to understand, she joined HCF.

But it wasn’t until she took her mum into one of the local HCF branches on the Gold Coast that Cheryl realised her membership included a telehealth weight management program that could change her life.

After they’d sorted out Cheryl’s mum’s cover, one of the HCF team members offered to run through Cheryl’s own cover and questioned whether her coverage for gastric band surgery was necessary.

“I said, ‘I don’t need gastric banding, but I am unhappy because I’m fat,’” explains Cheryl. “I said, ‘If I got on the scales and asked a doctor, they would say I was obese. I’m 5'2" [157cm] and 100kg.’”

The weight management program with a difference

In the past, Cheryl had looked at various meal-delivery and weight management programs to help her lose weight, but none of them was right for her. Then the HCF team member told Cheryl about Healthy Weight for Life – a program available to eligible HCF members. Cheryl joined a previously run heart health program that has since changed into two new options for members.

Osteoarthritis Healthy Weight for Life 

This program is designed for people with osteoarthritis of the knee and hip joints. The program aims to support HCF members who want to reduce the pain in their joints, improve their mobility or prepare for hip or knee surgery.

Members get access to:

• a dedicated team of health experts
• nutritional and lifestyle support to assist with weight management
• strength and mobility progress tracking 
• digital week-by-week guides
• strengthening exercise videos and education.

The Osteoarthritis Management program is open to HCF members who've held hospital cover that covers joint replacement surgery for two months, with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28 and higher, who have knee or hip osteoarthritis and are considering joint replacement surgery.

Healthy Weight for Life Essentials

The Essentials program aims to support eligible HCF members to develop healthier habits, lose weight and prevent the onset of various chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

This personalised program is led by trained dietitians to help you reach your health and wellbeing goals. It includes easy-to-use resources, simple nutrition and exercise tracking tools and expert support.

The Essentials program is available to HCF members with hospital cover who meet the program's eligibility criteria which includes having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28 and above and have multiple lifestyle risk factors like smoking, physical inactivity and poor nutrition.

The Healthy Weight for Life program was made for someone like Cheryl. She was given the contact details of the care support team and rang them as soon as she got home.

“The day I spoke to them, I signed up,” she says.

These programs include phone appointments with a dietitian, scientifically formulated meal replacements, support via phone, text, a community message board and email, a digital member hub and weekly printed guides. But it was the initial online assessment that helped Cheryl change her attitude.

“I would say it’s like a little contract because it outlined that you would do a certain amount of exercise, you would put in your weight and your waistline measurement and your daily preparation,” she explains. “Then you could add your goals. My goal was to lose 10kg and to do an hour of exercise each day.”

Changing attitudes to food and eating

As soon as she began the Healthy Weight for Life program, Cheryl knew she could do it.

“I thought, ‘I can learn to cook those meals,’ but I just needed a platform to learn how to do things,” she says. “It taught me that two spoonfuls of yoghurt and a small cup of granola with a few cranberries on top, or a piece of toast with avocado could keep me running ‘til lunchtime.”

Cheryl also began replacing lunch with smaller, healthier meals and going to the gym three or four mornings a week.

“I’d been eating for the sake of eating – not because my body needed [food],” she recalls. “The program taught me my body doesn’t need the food I was chugging down and it was making me unhappy. And the fatter I got, the unhappier I got. The unhappier I got, the more I ate.”

Small lifestyle changes, big rewards

It wasn’t long until Cheryl began seeing the benefits. But she realised that although her sessions at the gym were making her stronger, they weren't helping her lose weight. So she decided to begin walking her dog for an hour a day.

It was the Healthy Weight for Life care support team who helped her make these types of adjustments, so she got the maximum results for the work she was putting in. They also helped her to look at things differently.

“I lost 2kg, but I didn’t lose it in the waist,” says Cheryl. A member of the care support team said, ‘Yeah, but put on your pants.’ And my pants were looser. She said, ‘You’ve lost it in your legs. Your waist – the belly fat – will be the last to go.’”

Eventually, Cheryl saw the centimetres shift from her waist as well. Now, she’s a size 12 and has lost more than 20kg. More than anything though, she feels as though she’s got her life back.

“I thought my ‘get-up-and-go’ had gone, whereas now I’m getting up at 6.30 in the morning, I’m walking for an hour and enjoying it,” she says. “Then, in the afternoon, I go and walk with Mum for an hour.”

It’s clearly working – Cheryl’s recently hit her one-year milestone since joining the program.

And it all stemmed from a single conversation in an HCF branch.

“That's what I like. They didn’t just say, ‘Oh, you’ve got the cover now – set and forget.’ It was that added extra: ‘How can we make this work for you?’”

And the Healthy Weight for Life program isn’t the only way Cheryl is making the most of her HCF cover.

“I get my specs done through the More for Eyes program,” she explained. “I get my teeth done through dental.”

Cheryl also uses her HCF cover for physio appointments for a couple of injuries she sustained before she gave up the gym for good.

“I feel safe having something that I know I can rely on if I have to go to hospital for any reason.”

Acts of care

Cheryl’s life-changing conversation with an HCF team member is one of the thousands of acts of care, big and small, that have positively changed the lives of our members since 1932. 

Her weight loss and health transformation through the Healthy Weight for Life program is one example of our proud history of 90 years of genuinely helping members when it matters most. 

Extra support for you and your family

We want our members to be their healthiest selves, which is why we’ve developed a range of health and wellbeing programs to help eligible members manage their health. Our free Healthy Weight for Life programs help eligible members improve their quality of life if they’re overweight and have osteoarthritis^*, or are at risk of developing a chronic condition^*.

Additionally, if you or your family have a heart-related condition or diabetes, it’s never too late to start making positive changes. The COACH Program is a four to six-month phone-coaching support program provided at no extra cost for eligible members^# that can help improve your heart health.

Words by Carrie Hutchinson
Published November 2022