After tipping the scales at 100kg for the first time, Graeme Ball decided to do something about it
Growing up in Werribee, Graeme Ball was a sporty kid. He played football, tennis and was club champion in athletics. Then life happened.
As he tells it, shift work and family responsibilities "conspired to stop the activity" and before he knew it he hardly recognised the bloke in the family photos.
"My wife and I like to travel", Graeme said.
"I was going back looking at some photos of our travels - my wife has a habit of putting her hand across my stomach - and it was becoming more and more evident that the photos were of her, me and my stomach."
Graeme's dad died young of a heart related condition so the pleas from his doctor and family to start looking after himself were constant, but old habits die hard.
According to daughter in law, Katrina, "his weekends and weeknights would consist of watching telly, snacking on Tim Tams and being on his laptop."
Already suffering from regular migraines and high blood pressure, a weigh in during his regular GP visit had him tipping the scales at over 100 kilograms for the first time.
He knew he needed to lose weight, but that number, and that moment was the trigger he needed to act.
"One of the messages that came through Sons of the West was that if you've got a girth size of more than 94… well, I was up to 104.
So, I got the pedometer out of the show bag that we all got when we signed up and started wearing it for a couple of weeks."
That was in August, 2014. Today, Graeme walks over 14 kilometres a day, has cut out the Tim Tams and has lost a whopping twenty kilograms.
He says that it's hard to put into words how much better he feels.
"I just feel…better. I feel like, ok, I'm going to set the alarm on the weekends and go for a two hour walk. I feel energised.
But the weight loss and the increased energy levels are just part of the story.
"The medication that I am on for high blood pressure, which is also the same medication for my migraines, I've halved, just because I'm in better condition."
A couple of weeks ago Graeme got up in front of the men at a Sons of the West session in Werribee and told his story.
Central to his presentation were three photos.
A photo of him in Budapest in May last year at around 100kgs, a photo of him in China from November at 89kgs and the one he is most proud of, a photo taken at the Sons of the West sign up day alongside Doug Hawkins, weighing less than 80kgs.
He credits the Sons of the West program for giving him a kick-start he so desperately needed to take back control of his life.
"The doctor tells you things, your wife tells you things but when a blokey organisation such as the Western Bulldogs tells you that same message, it means more.
“You'd think a doctor telling you something would have more impact. But for me it didn't.
"A professional organisation, who's dealing with professional athletes all of the time, looking after their health, looking after their nutrition. I guess that's it. I can't explain it, but it just meant more."
[ABOVE] Graeme Ball pictured on holiday in Budapest in May, 2014 weighing in at over 100 kilograms before joining the 'Sons of the West' Men's Health Program.
