New Zealand ` clean, green... and fat. In the last year, nearly 70,000 extra New Zealanders became obese. Now most of us are fat. You are morbidly obese. You know what the word 'morbid' means? It means 'deathly'. Premature death. 65% of adults are dangerously overweight. And South Auckland is the ground zero of our obesity explosion. The Manukau SuperClinic is on the front lines of this epidemic, treating over 1200 patients with controversial weight loss surgery. We remove about 80-90% of the volume of the stomach ` not much room for food. We've now spent two years with the most at-risk patients, and the specialists, doctors and nurses dedicated to helping them through the highs and the lows of their weight-loss journey. I'm anxious and scared ` that's what I feel. I did this... because eating was my safe place. It's where I went. WOMAN: Why are you doing it? For myself. Wanna do it for myself. I can't wait to tell people... to 'stick it up your arse,' really. (CHUCKLES) (HEART MONITOR BEEPS, FLATLINES) Copyright Able 2018 18-year-old Lauren's loved food from an early age. This one is my nana's favourite photo. WOMAN: Yeah? And it's when I was cooking with her for the first time. We were making meatballs. Nana said that was the first time, like, and then I always went to her house and asked to cook. And things haven't changed much since. Despite concerns over her young age, surgeon Richard Babor decided to go ahead and give her a weight-loss target of 10 kilos. You know, you're very articulate for an 18-year-old. You know, like, you kind of speak up for yourself, which is reassuring. Mum, Sharon, knows her daughter well, and is not leaving anything to chance. I'm ready to take on the challenge with her and, um... Yeah, let's see some results in four weeks' time. I'm really keen for that to happen. A few days later, and Sharon is good on her word. All right. So, what do you think we should do for exercise? Should we go and do swimming... and then you can do some more on your bike... at some stage? Probably. Yeah? Anything else you wanna do? No. Just that? And we're gonna do your exercises that physio suggested. UNENTHUSIASTICALLY: Yes. IMITATES LAUREN: 'Yes'. (CHUCKLES) Lots of enthusiasm (!) SIGHS: Right. Even worse than exercise, her beloved meal planner has been put in hands of a dietician. I can't actually tell what some of the dinners are. And this one's, like, fish and beef on the same plate. Porridge looks bland ` needs milk and brown sugar. (LAUGHS) WOMAN: Could you live on food like that for the rest of your life? Definitely not. No. I hate whole-boiled potatoes like that too ` prefer them mashed or baked. Lauren may want to change, but to do that, she has to be the change. Sharon encourages Lauren to get to the pool. Oh, it's cold! But Lauren's not quite so keen. (INTRIGUING MUSIC) WOMAN: How do you think she's going? Not good. Why? As far as swimming or the whole thing or...? With everything. Everything. Not good. We're struggling. The whole programme of motivating to be active and eating at certain times and being` and having a menu to stick to ` we're struggling. I think having` Motivation's not great. I wanna exercise with her at night. Sometimes I get home ` I'm exhausted and, you know. So... Yeah. So I get really frustrated that she's not taking this as seriously as I'd like her to. There's things ` I don't know ` I want her to open up more to me about, but it's not happening. With the hope of finding out what's holding Lauren back, they take up the clinic offer of a session with a child psychiatrist. Just trying to get a sense of` kind of a bit more of a sense about how you cope with things and how you manage things. I mean, are there times over the last few years, at least, when you have felt really low? Or are there times when you do feel really low? Yeah, I've... multiple times. And how much would you drink if you're kinda out with your mates? Would you drink enough to get pissed? Yeah. Yep, so shots and everything. Shots and everything, right. Yeah, tequila, um... Would you drink enough to get completely blind, falling down paralytic? No. And have you tried any other drugs ` pills, ecstasy,... No. ...mushrooms, stuff like that? No. I've tried a cigarette and that's it, but nothing. What about`? What about being overweight? Do you think your weight has an impact on you...? Other people's. On other people's opinion of you, yeah. Yep. Do you get`? Does that make you feel a bit shitty? Um,... yeah. Along what sort of, like, snarky comments at you, to you? I've always had, like` Not excessive bullying, though, was it? Not` Like, some were pretty dramatic. What kind of bullying did you get? It was just name-calling and just stupid... What sort of stuff? And you probably don't want to` Um... Oh, we were watching Fat Albert in class one day... Yeah. at intermediate, and she's like, 'Oh, that's your character on TV,' this chick, so... Right. Yeah. So what tended to be your response to those kind of comments? I would get upset, quite upset sometimes. It's important not to get too despondent if things are not so good. See, I've not doubt, and I suspect you don't either, that you could be really focused and diet and lose lots of weight and... get to` close to or a goal weight that you would like to be. Yeah. The challenge, then, becomes in continuing that behaviour that keeps it off. Because, you know, an amazing amount of our kind of sense of self is tied up in our body. Yeah. Oh well, pleased to meet you. CHUCKLES: You too. All right. WOMAN: How'd you find it? Good. Really, like,... helpful. How? Just having someone, like, there to talk about everything, rather` like, not someone I know personally is... yeah. It's gonna get lots easier now with everything. Yeah. * Thank you very much. Two months into her weight-loss journey, and 63-year-old hospital worker Elizabeth is really struggling. The food here ` just the smell alone does it for me. (LAUGHS) Her love of food and family... Kids love it, eh. They love my apple pie. ...meant it's hard for her to change her lifestyle. What do you say? Thank you so much. Elizabeth failed her weigh-in,... WOMAN: 35-2. Oh, really? ...losing only four out of the 10-kilo target. Try and get in the exercise, and then, what we'll do is come back again eight weeks' time. Disappointed, it's back to square one. Time to purge the cupboards... I cleaned out the pantry, packed everything and sent it off with my grandchildren. ...and her body. An exercycle. It gives you all the different, like, the peak and vigorous and endurance ` all the different courses. Mm. Slightly less scientific, Elizabeth's DIY boot camp includes some interesting methods. They say shouldn't be` It won't take 130kgs, but it does. I guess what it does, it shakes up all the fat in you, eh? Loosens it up all from your arteries, inside your arteries or wherever they... wherever the fat hangs out. Good boy, Peter. And she uses her family trips up north to find healthy inspiration and traditional kai. WOMAN: This is pretty healthy food. Yeah. It's as fresh as you can get. The only thing is, is not to eat it with bread (LAUGHS) ` with a whole lot of bread. (SEAGULLS SQUAWK) After two months, Elizabeth remains committed to her second attempt at reaching her weight-loss target. And moments before her weigh-in with Cecilia, seems confident she's made it. I think` I know I definitely lost 10kgs at least. WOMAN: And what was your target? My target was 10kgs. (SIGHS) So just sit here and wait, I guess. (DOOR OPENS) Hello, Elizabeth. Hi. So, let's hop on the scales and see. Perfect. Come on in. What am I? Come on in. I'll tell you when we get in. Oh. (LAUGHS) OK. Grab a seat. How are you today? I'm` I'm a lot better than I was two months ago. (CHUCKLES) Why's that? You feel better? Cos` Yeah, cos I think I done` I've done fairly good. So, two months ago, when you first came to see Mr Babor, you were 139kg, and he gave you the target of... 10kg. Your tummy was in the way, but the weight today was 130. You're a kilogram off. But good news is we can put you through to the wait list. (EXHALES) Oh, cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so` So what was I today? Just 130? 130. One kilo off, but that's perfect,... Oh, wow. because to us, it's shown that you've made those changes,... Yeah. that you've obviously looked at food and exercise and seen the weight on the scale go down where you've obviously made the` worked hard on that and made changes. OK, so we'll catch up soon. OK. Next time you see me, you'll be` you'll have had your surgery. Yeah. Thank you very much. All right. You're welcome, Elizabeth. Thank you. All right. Take care. Bye-bye. I was determined. WOMAN: You even gave up scones. Yep, I gave up my scones. I tell you, many a times on Sunday at work, I'd die to have a date scone, but... I didn't. Yeah. Love food as much as I do and to get to this point, you know, it's a real huge effort. It's just like I won a little Lotto today. Elizabeth is lucky. In Counties Manukau, lack of funding means less than 1% of the obese population get to have surgery. After an 11-week wait, it's surgery day, and Elizabeth's excitement has a nervous edge. She's not quite ready to part with her stomach. Will I be able to keep my stomach? Oh, do you want it back? Yes, please. It's what we do` Well, it's what some Maori families do, and, um, I don't know. It's just the way I've been brought up and that if we've got any body parts, we take them back to where we come from. Where's that? Back up north. Back to Kaikohe. And we can` we bury them. They can go into our cemetery on top of our tipunas, like my parents. In your family plot. Yeah, in our family plot. That's cool. I've had a patient that's done that before. Yeah, and it's just nice to know where our body parts are. Cool. OK. See you soon. Thank you. It's taken Elizabeth a year to get to surgery. And in a mere 90 minutes, she'll be a new woman. At 63, her life is now in front of her. She can look forward to reversing her diabetes, lowering her blood pressure, and perhaps best of all, simply losing weight. Damp homes are unhealthy ones, and harder to heat. So if you can see mould on walls or carpets, or even if the air smells musty, you need to act quickly. Remember ` dry it out ` one of the three essentials for a healthy home. * With a peak weight of 240 kilos, 20-year-old Jackson has been trying for weight loss surgery since he was 15. The last five years have been a bit touch-and-go. I mean, I can't follow him around Auckland, checking on his progress, snatching doughnuts out of his hands and tipping his RTDs down the drain. He finally got his act together. WOMAN: So, it's time to get a move on. Hard. Finally. Time to finish it. He conquered a few personal milestones along the way. So, going without food. How's that working out? I don't know. I can't have it, so why bother thinking about it, you know? Yeah. Today is his last chance with Cecilia. He has to have lost the weight, or he won't get surgery. What's your target weight-loss? 200. What do you think you're at? I don't know yet. Hey, Jackson. Hi. How are you? Good. Shall we start you up on the scales and see where we're up to? (EXHALES HEAVILY) You should be smiling. (CHUCKLES) You should be smiling. Come on in. Since his last weigh-in, he's lost 13 kilos. I think we can get the ball rolling to get you on to the waiting list. It was pretty cool. (LAUGHS) That's got a smile out of you. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Hard work's starting to pay off. There's a shining light there. (CHUCKLES) After five years, four months and 27 days, Jackson will finally get his weight loss surgery. Over the next six weeks, he keeps up the hard work. (COUGHS) But come surgery day, it seems he's lost his nerve. No Jackson. Is Jackson here? Has he shown up? I don't know where he's gone. We're gonna be pressed to get him processed in time, eh. Just as Richard gives up hope,... Jackson shows up at the 11th hour. Today, confusion over his surgery time is to blame. But now he'll have to wait and see if they can do his surgery in the allotted time. Far out. Far out. WOMAN: Jackson. And he's through. Luckily for Jackson, Richard's still got time to operate. OK, we're on our way down the corridor. (KNOCKS ON DOOR) Ah ha. Jackson, you made it. You made it, eh? Yeah, mean, bro. Wicked. WOMAN: Couldn't sleep much last night. Didn't you? Are you a bit nervous? No, both of us didn't sleep last night. (LAUGHS) Don't worry. You're gonna be OK. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Good. OK. WOMAN: Have you seen something in him recently as a result of this that you didn't see before? Excitement, especially when he got off those scales and he'd lost... a total of nearly 30 kilos. It's a lot of weight. I actually saw some excitement in his eyes, like, you know. WHISPERS: You can do this. Yeah. The walk to theatre is perhaps the easiest in Jackson's long weight-loss journey. (GROANS) It's been a long time getting here. Been a real mission. We got him on the table with the foot plate and the extensions on, cos he's so big. He's 203 kilos today. Top lights off. Camera lights on. Wipe downs. Focus it. Yeah. He's got quite a floppy, nice liver. He's got a lot of space inside his... tummy. I have to say that I'm, like, extremely pleased, like, really pleased. Cos I've kinda been dreading this day for five years. Cos, like, when I first met him, he didn't say a word to me, you know. And so when he came back the next time and he was actually speaking, I got the feeling, you know, that he was growing up. Because when he was 15, he just kinda sat there, and I'd say, 'So, Jackson, you wanna have a weight-loss operation.' And he just look at me, and then he'd look over at his mum. I do get a degree of satisfaction from that, you know? WOMAN: He's got a bit of an attitude. Why should he get surgery? We're giving him a chance, just like anybody else. I don't care about what he's been doing in his life, you know? That's not how we ration healthcare. And I think that he does need it, you know, because he's got such` he's reached such an extreme weight that he's gonna have serious negative health consequences from his weight. (GRUNTS) It's a real monster. WOMAN: Jackson's done at last. How does that make you feel Oh, it's good. Really pleased. I'm really interested to see how he goes now, you know? Like, that'll be sort of rewarding too, when he comes back and he's a bit smaller and enjoying the benefits of not being so big, you know? Hi, Mary. Everything's gone really good. You know, with all the weight that he lost, it was all good, you know, so... Yeah, good. Thank you so much. That's OK. (LAUGHS) You're a godsend. Thank you very much. No, no, it's good. I'm pleased that we got him here. Yeah. Now we just begin the new part now. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2018