Mel Simmonds and her husband Brad had everything they could want – except for good health. “In 2018 I was at my heaviest, well on my way to 450lbs… medication I was on caused weight gain, high blood pressure and very high anxiety levels,” Mel Simmonds said. 

More medication was prescribed but she knew there had to be a better and a more natural way.  

“I decided to do research based on the information my doctor gave me. She said I was unable to process carbs and sugars in the same way as a regular healthy person may do so with this tidbit of information and my handy dandy Google, I stumbled across Ketogenic lifestyle.” She began to learn how to redevelop her family’s fav Newfoundland cultured-based recipes into no added sugar, low carb and low sodium meals. 

“I have been involved in the food industry since high school…and I am a very creative person so it comes very natural to me to be a rock star in the kitchen. When my family started seeing all the delicious foods I was eating they weren’t long to jump on the keto bandwagon and join me on my journey.” She lost 110lbs in a year and didn’t crave a thing. 

“Whatever I wanted I was easily able to transform into a wonderful delicious new keto approved creation.” She kept things as simple as possible, she added.  

Joining the journey

“My aim when starting was to make this as simple and easy as possible because I knew if it was anything but, my mental wellness would not allow me to continue it. When friends and family saw the amazing transformation that was happening, there were lots of questions.”

“My inbox on Facebook was being bombarded with inquiries so I figured the easiest way to do this was to build a Facebook group (Keto Newf). There I could post about my journey, answer questions and give support to my friends and family. To my shock, people from all over the world started jumping in my inbox and asking to join my journey.”

The group grew. “I had spiked some interest in people who wanted to be healthier, just like me,” she said.  

By 2019 she had lost another 220lbs and her family’s total weight loss was nearing 500lbs. “We were doing fantastic and the dish creations now were simply amazing. Not only Newfoundland cultured foods but I was learning  to recreate foods from all over the world.”

Then, in Feb 2020, one of her closest and dearest friends, Roxanne Weinhebour,  also the former owner of Chapman’s Bakery, encouraged her to start selling some of her dishes. “By the time I figured out how I was going to take orders and get it to those local people who needed it, the winter was in full swing and then the pandemic hit. I knew now, more than ever, that I needed to get these health foods out to people as being stuck in the house would make us more unhealthy,” she said.

Spreading the word

She packed up her family, the food and even the family dog and headed out on to the TCH to do safe drop offs along the way from St. John’s to GFW.  “It didn’t take long before the word spread. I had people filling up my inbox saying how much of an inspiration I was to them, and that I was helping to get them through the pandemic. Mission accomplished,” she said. 

But there was more to do, she added, and the Keto Newf brand keeps growing. Another thing growing is the couple’s love of music. 

“Brad Simmonds Country Music  (their Facebook group) has grown in popularity and Brad calls me his Wifager because I am his wife and manager. I am also his song writer, promotions specialist, booking agent, publisher and distributor,” she shared.

Husband Brad is an easy listening  country music performer, Simmonds added, and with two original songs that have been released, their music is being heard all over the world on all major streaming platforms.  –

 “Brad has always been into music since he was five and got his first guitar. Brad and I met in 2012 and I found his musical abilities and fantastic deep-based vocals very exciting and it is one of the things that made me fall in love with him. I moved to his very small rural community of Charlottetown, NL so there were no real opportunity to showcase his talent.” They married in 2015 and began livestreaming their music on Facebook. 

“We had a fan group and streamed virtual concerts. In 2018 I decided to help make his dreams come true and I wrote a letter to Santa. I asked him to help me by surprising Brad with one of the things he wanted the most because I wanted help in making his dream come true.”  

The gift? Recording studio time to help make their dreams come true.. 

Brad and Mel focus on their future while still helping others, sharing their contacts and knowledge with anyone who needs help musically or health-wise. Being a friend to all has become their passion and their mission. 

For more visit  Keto Newf – sites.google.com/view/ketonewf/home. 

The Shed – Powerhouse (sites.google.com/view/theshed-powerhouse/home). 

Brad Simmonds Country Music Artist (sites.google.com/view/bradsimmonds/home)

Where most weight loss books take a more dry, fact-based and instructional approach, Newfoundlander Tony Bussey takes the opposite route. In his new book, Through Thick and Thin: How the Wildfire was a Wake-up Call to Transform my Life, Bussey highlights the honest struggle of losing half of his body weight.

AN OUTSIDER

Bussey, residing in Fort McMurray, was at work in May 2016 when the northern Alberta city was impacted by the wildfire and an order came to evacuate the facility where Bussey was working by plane. At the time, he weighed 567 pounds and was put at the front of the line, requiring two seats because of his size.  

“That had such a profound effect on me. It was everything. It was enough. That was it for me,” he said. 

Now weighing closer to 230 pounds, Bussey is staying slim and promoting his new independently published book, getting personal and chronicling his extreme weight loss journey. 

Currently one of the top sellers in the Natural Disasters category on Amazon, Through Thick and Thin details everything it took to drop half of his body weight, from struggling to put his socks on, to completely changing his diet and everything in between. 

“I remember very vividly about when I was that size, and how alone you felt. You always felt like nobody else out there understood what you were going through, or had the day-to-day struggles that you were having. I wanted to put it in a book to show people not only what it was like to be that size, but to show somebody else out there that they’re not alone. If they can read what I went through and say, well, Tony was 41 when he started this, there’s hope for me then.”

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MENTAL & PHYSICAL

So, what’s the secret? Simple. Tony started walking for half an hour a day and hasn’t touched junk food since the evacuation, more than two and a half years ago. No tricks, no specialized diet.  

“I don’t touch any processed sugars, I don’t even treat myself. I don’t crave a thing, I could sit down and watch you have a bag of chips or a bucket of chicken, wouldn’t bother me a bit. I’ll sit down and have my apple. I kept doing the same diet and the more I lost, the farther I could walk, and the more you walk, the more you would lose. It was just a snowball effect.”

Bussey says the best part of losing weight was finally being able to put socks on. “I went almost three years where I couldn’t wear socks. All of that pain in your feet, the coldness, that was my biggest thing. When I started to be able to put socks on again and do it with ease, that was like a million dollars to me.

“I’m not a man that likes talking about deep emotions and that stuff, I lived on my own, alone for so long that I just managed to deal with things by myself and you become strong mentally that way.” 

Bussey wrote the book with the help of ghostwriter Mark Griffin, a talented writer with whom he met in New York state for long hours of deep, personal conversations, later becoming fodder for the pages of Through Thick and Thin. 

“It’s doing very well, I got the first sales report this morning. I was in Toronto last week for interviews. It’s good, and they’ve been promoting the book so it’s just been really nice.”

Bussey’s book has been gaining coverage across Canada and the States, including dozens of interviews in multiple cities, CTV Your Morning and the Weather Network, among many more. 

WHERE THE HEART IS

The accomplishments don’t end there. This past June, Bussey was finally able to board a plane with his daughter, Emma, and fly to Newfoundland, where she met her grandparents for the first time. Before, he would have to drive from Alberta so he never went often. When he did, he didn’t want to make his daughter drive across Canada. 

“My mom and dad took right to her, gave her all kinds of big hugs. She loved dad because he got a really strong Newfoundland accent, joking around and telling stories. She looked at me one day and she said ‘dad, I don’t understand anything he’s saying, but I think he’s funny.’ Mom, well mom is just typical, you know, sweet Newfoundland woman. Quiet, baking and cooking and whatever Emma wanted, one plate, two plates, three plates.

“I’ve had a lot of support within Newfoundland, I’ve done a lot of interviews in Newfoundland, and Newfoundland will always be home to me.” 

Find Tony Bussey’s book, Through Thick and Thin: How the Wildfire was a Wake-up Call to Transform my Life, in paperback or Kindle version on Amazon. 

For more by Krystyn Decker, click here.