Calorie-crunching nurses celebrated after 150kg weight loss

Saturday 06 July 2019

Calorie-crunching intensive care nurses have been celebrated for their commitment to wellbeing after collectively losing a total of 20.8stone in just six months.

The group of 18, whose efforts started with a "crazy" idea to get fit in the new year at 03:00 during an ICU night shift, were last week crowned Wellbeing Ambassadors at Jersey's Wellbeing Awards.

“We started on 1 January. We had a night shift pre-Christmas and we were all complaining that we were eating rubbish," Holly Fisher, the Staff Nurse who first got the idea of lifestyle change, said. "We were fed-up of not feeling good and moaning about how much weight we had put on. Sick of the moaning, I invented this group at 03:00.”

Pictured: Elaine Wharton and Karen Hollyhock at the beginning of the challenge.

The team of 18 staff - known as the Calorie Crunchers - started exercising together – even before and after their 12-hour shifts - and ditched the junk food for healthier alternatives. As an incentive for everyone to stay on track, each pays £2 a week into a pot with the person who has lost the biggest percentage in weight being awarded £50.

“We didn’t think the group would last,” Staff Nurse Karen Hollyhock - the mathematician of the group - explained. “It was a crazy notion at 3 in the morning. We are so proud of each other – I can’t believe how well we’ve done. We have such a laugh together and people have bonded with colleagues they didn’t think they had much in common with.”

“On weigh day there is real excitement but if someone has had a bad week, it’s not judgmental," Staff nurse Elaine Wharton added. "The weight is not the issue, it’s the way we feel and the health aspect. It’s about eating well and exercising. It’s more about lifestyle rather than figures of how much we’ve lost.”

Pictured: The award-winning group.

The group didn't expect to keep their efforts up for so long, let alone to win a Wellbeing Award. After their healthy lifestyles were credited for a drop in staff sickness this year, they were nominated by ICU Clinical Manager Sam North under the Ambassador in Wellness category, which celebrate organisations which make health and wellbeing a priority within the workplace.

“I’m so proud of them," Ms North said. "Nurses give so much to so many people and so have little time for themselves. However, by making themselves a priority they are healthier and working better as a team which is great for the patients.”

The Calorie Crunchers received their award at a ceremony last week, having lost a total of 150kilos between them. "All I can say is that everybody was over the moon," Ms Hollyhock said.

Pictured: The Calorie Crunchers won the Wellbeing Ambassador Award at the Leaders in Wellbeing Awards. (Gary Grimshaw)

"We didn’t expect to win it obviously and when we saw who we were up against mainly private companies and the Ports of Jersey, I shouldn’t say just but we were a group of nurses who set up this group by ourselves and got this far so we were amazed really. It genuinely started at 03:00 in the morning."

The efforts of the group were also recognised by Sam Wilkes, Fairway Group’s Marketing Manager, who was commended in the same category. So impressed was the company that they donated keep cups to the Calorie Crunchers. 

“It’s such a great scheme and has shown incredible results in a short space of time so we wanted to give them our own congratulations,” Mr Wilkes said. “Hopefully the group will be able to use the cups to keep them going on their long shifts."

“There was a friendly competition in the lead-up to the awards as Karen’s husband (who is also called Sam) has recently joined Fairway Group but we are honestly over the moon that the Calorie Crunchers have won – they show us what we can aspire to achieve”.

Pictured: Karen Hollyhock and Sam Wilkes.

While the group is now getting ready for a summer break, they say they'll be coming back more determined than ever after the holidays. "We can’t believe that we are six months in because we didn’t think it would last this long and we didn’t think it would take off like it has," Ms Hollyhock said. "But we’re not stopping, we’re coming back in September but we just thought we would have a bit of a summer break."

"None of us has given that up. Everybody in the group has lost weight!"

Pictured: The Calorie Crunchers toasting their award at the ceremony.

Ms Hollyhock says the group dynamics have helped everyone keep up with their efforts and that the successes of the group have also led others to pick up healthier habits. 

"It has been so much fun. There’s days when you don’t want to do your exercise, you don’t want to go to the gym but because there’s always somebody going you don’t get a choice really. You don’t want to let people down so it gives you the incentive to go and we just have such fun. I never thought exercise would be fun but I can genuinely say it is.

"It has impacted on a wider group as well, because the nurses that work on intensive care are now doing activities that they probably were not doing before so it’s not just about the Calorie Crunchers it’s impacted on the whole of the unit."

Pictured top: Elaine Wharton, Holly Fisher, Dara Downey and Karen Hollyhock.