Testimonial - cliff Sutton First up the facts: I’m just about to turn 65 yrs. 11 July 2011 Weight 87.8 kg 107 cm waist. 19 Dec 2011 Weight 75.5 kg 94 cm I lost 12.3 Kilos. Heart disease. Always tired having to go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 pm because of it. Generally very restricted in activities. I have always only eaten to live not lived to eat. I took cheese and vegemite sandwiches to work for over 30yrs. So in around twenty five weeks Gabrielle turned things right around for me. In 1993 I had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery. The surgery was effective in saving my life as I would certainly not be here if I didn’t have it. The recovery was slow and before long I was back on heart medication for angina all over. In January 2009 the angina became more serious again and after an angiogram the Cardiologist discovered that my right Coronary Artery was totally blocked. I should have been dead. Further testing and so on found that I was getting collateral flow from my left coronary artery but that just wasn’t sufficient and the cause of angina. I was given more medication to try and improve the blood flow but I was still in a bit of trouble and had another angiogram to see if surgery was an option. The Cardiologist made another appointment for six months on and said if I didn’t improve we’d looking at some thing. Well heart surgery is no joke believe me. Still suffering with angina and my Gp increased the medication and said this is the maximum, stop taking it if the side effects get worse. The medications caused two years of headaches and dizziness. I took the increased dose and within a couple of days things started to improve, the headaches started to go away and I wasn’t feeling dizzy anymore. I excitedly rang my GP and he said he thought my heart might have started pumping properly. I said I felt so good that I could go back to the Gym and loose a bit of this weight which was really bugging me. He said he thought that wasn’t such a good idea and that I needed to look at my diet. He said the dietician they had been using had moved out of the area and to try and find someone. I looked on the net and was directed to “Changing Shape”. I sent an email and Gabrielle contacted me and made an appointment. The day arrived and I turned up for the appointment in fear. I was really worried about dieting because as it was I was feeling hungry all the time and it seemed I was slowly getting fatter and fatter. One of the first things Gabrielle said was “ this is not going to be hard at all”. I’m thinking yeah lady I’m the one who’s starving here. Gabrielle took all my measurements and asked about exercise and other stuff and I found her to be really pleasant. She gave me a starter kit and said for the next week I just need to record all of the food, drinks and snacks I was having and return the next week with the data. Gabrielle worked out what I needed in my diet and I started following her tips. By the way its not as if you have to visit her every week. I follow her exercise plan, which is easy, and record what I eat. If I’m eating the wrong thing she’ll let me know, simple as that. I don’t get into trouble because of it. I send her a text every week and she records my weight and waist. That helps keep me honest. I’ve lost all that weight; I’ve had to buy new clothes. I’m actually eating more than I think I ever have and for the first time in my life I’m actually enjoying my food and not feeling hungry. Before I was just stuffing food in just to keep going. Now I’m looking forward to meals. The really good news: two weeks ago I had my 6 monthly visit to the Cardiologist. I had a stress test. Throughout and at the completion of the test the nurse said “ I can’t believe how well you are doing compared to the previous test. I finished the test surprising even myself. I went to the waiting room to wait for the doctor. He popped his head out of his door looked at me and then hurried of down the hall to the nurse’s room where I had had the test. He returned spent a bit of time in his room then called me in. This was his first words: “Cliff I had go and check with the nurse, I thought she sent me the wrong patients results”, he was more excited than me I think. Next he said, “Surgery is off the list for the moment let’s see how you go over the next six months”. He was thrilled with my weight and blood pressure etc. Then said I’ve no problem with you sailing to Hobart this year. I’m glad I went to Gabrielle and its not hard to see that she enjoys getting the results, making it easy and being really good fun about the whole thing. The main thing to remember is that it’s not that hard, listen carefully to what Gabrielle says and do as she says. But don’t overdo it as blokes we usually do. Thanks Gabrielle, I think I’ll get a few more years now. I will enjoy really them too. Regards Cliff  | 
