Gym-Pharmacy partnership delivers weight loss results in Bundaberg

A partnership between a Bundaberg pharmacy and the recently opened G’Day Fitness has helped a group of 55 exercisers lose more than 200 kilograms over a period of four weeks.

Tarin Dobbie, co-owner of the Bundaberg Priceline Pharmacy, told the Australian Journal of Pharmacy that the Weight Loss Challenge was instigated by gym owner Paul Timms who got in touch with her business partner, Adam Harradine.

As well as being co-owner of the Priceline in town, Harradine also owns a small independent pharmacy near the G’Day Fitness gym in Moore Park, a small satellite town of Bundaberg.

The group decided to use the larger, branded Priceline pharmacy as a springboard to get patients interested.

Dobbie told the AJP “we had a Science of Weight Loss seminar here, and Paul held talks at various locations to get people in - he’s an inspirational speaker.

“He’s also looking to grow the program, and have people who’ve successfully gone through the first challenge become champions and sign up family and friends.

“Bundaberg has a massive problem with weight issues, so it was a bit of a pilot program to see how it would go.”

With the 55 participants having lost an average of 4 kilogramsg between them over four weeks, the organisers are hailing the challenge a success.

The pharmacy was involved through having challenge participants use the Priceline Health Stations to monitor their weight, as well as offering diet and nutrition options.

Dobbie explained “there was also external advice. Paul has a yoga teacher on board as well as a wellness coach to talk about stress; there was myself talking about weight loss in general and Adam did a talk about medicines and weight loss - for example the effect of beta blockers.

“We encouraged people who lost weight to go back to their GP to see if they needed a reduction in their blood pressure medicine - having all those people in a team to support everybody is looking to be a very successful way to go about it.”

Challenge participants also had access to a Facebook page where they could post pictures of their meals or workouts, or seek help sticking to the program if they were having a bad day.

The organisers are about to host a presentation night with awards for challenge participants, with the awards based on Timms’ algorithm.

Dobbie added “every week they had to rate out of 10 how they’d stuck to the diet and fitness program - Paul was originally an environmental scientist and he’s a scientist at heart, so he likes his numbers.

“He found that people who followed the program six out of 10 or better overall got the best results. He’s trying to get quantitative feedback.

“We’re getting the female winner into the pharmacy for a makeover, she’ll get a nice healthy breakfast at one of the local cafes and a voucher from a local fitness store to get a new outfit she chooses.

“We only took over this pharmacy in June last year, and this has been our first attempt to build connections with other programs or businesses.

“Everyone has been really positive about their experience.”

Image: Bundaberg Weight Loss Challenge participants with (at left) Paul Timms. Courtesy of G'Day Fitness/Facebook.

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