Best friends Andrea Lundy and Amy Hunt have always been there for each other through tragedy and heartache. So when they faced the task of losing weight, they knew there was only one way to do it – as a team.
Andrea had already been at Weight Watchers for a year when Amy decided to join her, and together they have now shed a total of 87.5kg. Andrea (35) and Amy, (25), who are both talented singers, met a decade ago at a theatre group in Palmerston North. The first tough test of their friendship came after a double blow for Andrea.
First, she lost a baby and then, a month later, her brother-in-law Mark Lundy was arrested for the murder of his wife and daughter. The horrific killing became a national news story and the ordeal threatened to tear her family apart. “We fell to bits,” says Andrea. “After that, I just ate. I ate for five years until I was nearly 150kg.”
Realising her friend was at breaking point, Amy didn’t stray from Andrea’s side during this heartbreaking time, despite having her own traumas. Unhealthy and overweight, she was constantly being turned down for dream theatre roles, and sank into depression.
A ray of hope arrived in 2001 for Andrea when she gave birth to son Ethan. But by then the new mum was twice the size she’d been when she married husband Craig. Then, three years later, when Andrea was pregnant with her second child, Amy’s partner committed suicide. “When you go through such tragedy together it brings you even closer,” says Amy, who moved in with Andrea and Craig after the death. “We bonded while we were sitting on the couch watching reruns and eating chips and dip all day.”
Andrea remembers how inactive they became as the kilos piled on. “We had a farm gate and we were so lazy we’d just bump it open with the car. We’d wreck the car just to avoid getting out of it!”
When Andrea’s second baby Christian arrived, he was very unwell with a heart condition and colic, and Amy became Andrea’s rock. “I don’t know how I would have gotten on without Amy,” says Andrea. “I’d call out to her in the night and she’d sing to Christian until he went to sleep.”
Having a sick child gave Andrea the “kick up the butt” she needed. “I realised that my baby really needed his mum around. I couldn’t continue the way I was. I had to stop wallowing.” That’s when she took control and enrolled at Weight Watchers. “I ate for five years, so I knew it could take five years to get the kilos off,” she says frankly.
Amy, meanwhile, was keen to have a child of her own. Having found new love, she and her partner tried to start a family without success. But while watching reality show The Biggest Loser, she became inspired by a contestant who had started at Amy’s then weight and lost 35kg. “I rang Andrea and said, ‘I need your help. I want to come with you,” says Amy.
The friends kept up their weight loss motivation with daily phone calls, regular walks, a dance class and a Weight Watchers session every Saturday. “If I was having a crap time, I’d ring Amy and say, I just want to eat all the pies!” says Andrea. “And she’d say, ‘Just look how far we’ve come.'”
Their hard work was rewarded. Amy became pregnant after losing the first 20kg and gave birth to son Dante in January 2008, rejoining Weight Watchers after his arrival. The friends were also no longer the big women who were hidden in the chorus line, and won leading roles in a major theatre show. During rehearsals, they both met their goal weight – on the same day. Then Amy scored a lead role in the Palmerston North season of touring musical oiss Saigon.
“That’s something I never could have done without losing the weight,” she says. “I sat in the audience and cried the whole time, I was so proud of her,” says Andrea. “I cried so hard, I couldn’t see her through my tears so I had to go back and watch it again!”
The pair’s friendship is now being tested once again as Andrea endures a new crisis – earlier this year, tumours were found on her pancreas. Five months of life-saving hospital treatment followed, which led to her gaining 20kg. “I know I can lose the weight again, and I draw on Amy because there’s no-one more amazing,” she says. “She’s gone through some really tough times but she’s always been there for me. She’s such a beautiful girl.” “We completely changed our lives together,” Amy adds. “And Andrea is the reason I started it all. If it wasn’t for her, I couldn’t do it.”