Reformed “Overweight Boozer And Smoker” Brings Vegan Bowls To Outback Queensland Town

Bec King left the bush 16 years ago for the glamour of the Gold Coast, but it wasn’t until five years ago that she realised she’d taken some unhealthy habits with her.

“We [her and husband Rob King] were big drinkers and big smokers. I was really living like I would in the country, I still had that country in me” she recalled.

Fitness modelling is not something she consciously set out to do.

Ms King was about to turn 30 and weighed 75 kilograms when she bought her first gym membership in an effort to ditch the unhealthy lifestyle and lose some weight.

And being a gym junkie was something she never thought she would become.

“When I was younger I did pistol shooting. I got to shoot at Australian titles and I was told then you really need to go to the gym because it helped with your strength and [prevented] fatigue,” Ms King said.

“And I was like urgh I’m not going to the gym — I never thought I would be doing this.”

Ms King trains four to six days a week for an hour and a half, and 45 minutes each session in her home gym.

Taking vegan choices to cattle country

Ms King has moved back to her small home town of Cunnamulla in far south-west Queensland on a mission to help others.

“I have actually been a little bit gobsmacked by the amount of overweight people [in country regions],” she said.

She and her husband Rob are taking over her parents’ cafe and are determined to put more healthy options on the menu.

They’ve already introduced protein balls, and vegan bowls sit alongside the popular steak sandwiches in a region that is known for raising sheep and cattle.

She has a fierce passion to help people in her community improve their health.

“I realised the Gold Coast didn’t need me — they’ve already got that [health and fitness businesses] — so I’ve brought my passion to Cunnamulla where I can actually help people,” Ms King said.

And she is confident Cunnamulla is ready for vegan.

“I really think they are. Maybe not some of the older country men — I think that I might have a bit of trouble convincing them. But the younger generation, yes.”

Lasting healthy change not easy and even harder in the bush

Cunnamulla has one gym and Ms King’s coach is based on the Gold Coast, 850km away.

Ms King doesn’t know of any other fitness model in Queensland’s outback, so she’s using technology to train.

“The posing is quite difficult and I get nervous, so I’ll do a little bit of facetiming with him [her coach] or send him some videos of me posing so I can get some pointers back ” she said.

Eating for competition is also a challenge because she can’t just walk into a fully stocked supermarket or health food store to get what she needs.

“We don’t have a train that comes out here, we don’t have regular food trucks or cold vans or anything like that,” she said.

“We actually rely on our fruit and veg guy. He has a cold truck that he goes away with and people rely on him to bring stuff out.”

Despite the challenges, Ms King strongly believes that everyone can improve their health — they just need to keep at it.

“It’s taken time to lose the kilos, replace the bad habits with good ones and build muscle.”