It was just, 'Oh my God. Somebody help me.' Exercising their way to infertility. I may have done so much damage that I may not be able to have a family. What you won't hear at the local gym. # Nessun Dorma. # Nessun Dorma. # Poor buggers have to put up with that rubbish all day! Freezing worker by trade... and the toast of Europe. APPLAUSE Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2013 Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. We begin our new season of Sunday with an important health warning to all women. We are constantly reminded about obesity ` why we need to eat better, look leaner and exercise, exercise, exercise. But what happens when we take it too far? When we exercise too hard and too often? Libby Middlebrook with the deeply personal and disturbing experiences of two obsessed women who exercised nearly to infertility. UNSETTLING MUSIC It's what we're all supposed to be striving for ` regular exercise, a toned body, a healthy diet. Every single day, the whole thing consumed me. How could this, something so good for you, ever lead to such grief? I didn't want to go through menopause. I was in my 20s. I may have done so much damage that I may not be able to have a family. This is something they don't tell you at the gym, something we don't talk about ` How every day women are dieting and exercising so obsessively they're ruining their bodies And their chances of having children. She is really setting herself up for increased fracture risk, she's setting herself up to be infertile, she's setting herself up for cardiovascular disease. It was just, 'Oh my God, somebody help me.' Um... Jo Page and Stacey Scott ` two bright, brown-eyed women. Unknown to each other, they set off on their overseas adventures, following different paths, but they would end up on the same painful journey,... How hard was it? How hard was it? Nothing else exists. You're in your own little hell. ...far away from the childhood Stacey knew on Waiheke Island, protected from the world and all its temptations until the day she left for America. I just went crazy. Within a month, I'd already put on a stone. Stacey joined the gym and visited a kinesiologist And found out that I had allergies to wheat and sugar and yeast and diary products. She stripped back her diet and radically increased her exercise. It was three hours-plus that I could spend, four or five days a week in the gym. I just had this obsession that just started. And swiftly it began to worm its way further into her life, taking hold. Her weight plummeted. How much of a priority in your life did exercise become for you? Number one. I would put aside catching up with friends, doing anything, really. Exercise was the first thing that I'd have to do. Eating became an exercise in deceit ` Stacey purging after most meals. It just got to the point where, um... I'm sorry. (CRIES) Stacey eventually returned home to the island and her parents a hummingbird, all of 43kg. It was obvious to everyone back home Stacey was over-exercising and drastically underweight. But there were other abnormalities at play ` some unnoticed ` wreaking havoc on her body. My uncle gave me a hug, and I cracked a rib. It was really hard to breathe, and there was a lot of pain, so I went to the doctor and got some X-rays, and it had just been fractured. And I thought, 'That's... That's not normal.' So the fact that Stacey had already had several fractures with relatively a low impact suggested very strongly that the integrity, the strength of her bones, was impaired. How have you been since I last saw you, Stacey? Stacey's doctor, endocrinologist Stella Milsom. How much exercise are you doing a week? The reason she was here was that she had come to the realisation that she should be having periods, and she wasn't. Basically, I was, um, going through menopause. A condition so widespread Dr Milsom now encounters it every week at Fertility Associates. I don't think health professionals recognise it enough; I don't think the girls and women who have irregular periods or absent periods recognise it; I don't think their families recognise it. It's called hypothalamic amenorrhea ` an oestrogen deficiency condition. Women exercising intensely, dieting and so low on energy their bodies tip into a kind of starvation mode. Ovulation stops. Eventually, their periods cease altogether. If we're not having periods, nature is saying something to us. It's saying we're not healthy enough to actually have a baby, so that's a signal that women shouldn't ignore. The ripple effects are colossal. Not only infertility ` increased risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, stroke, and like Stacey, women rapidly develop early osteoporosis. We've got media bombarding us with messages that it is good to be thin, it's good to be fit. We've got celebrities endorsing those messages. Those same celebrities might well be in my practice with awful bone density, but they're not admitting to that. And some of those most at risk ` busy high-achievers like Jo. It's a bit like Gollum. It really was. It was... The-The obsession or the addiction was mine. I didn't want to give it up. I didn't want to admit it was there because then someone might try to take it away from me. She returned from overseas in her mid-20s almost 15kg heavier. it was enough of a shock to a few friends and to my parents that when I said, 'I feel really gross. I'm gonna do something about it,' I was encouraged to. (LAUGHS) Good. She started dieting and exercising, moderately at first, with a trainer. Four more. It was really well monitored and controlled, and there was the science behind it. But for some reason,... I don't know why. To this day, I can't tell you why. Um... ...her enthusiasm twisted, turned into an obsession. I would write down everything I ate and the time I ate it, how much exercise I did, how much water I drank. It was a constant mathematical equation. Stealing time from work, friends and family ` running on empty for up to three hours a day. It was just little comments like, 'Oh, you're looking really good.' She lost weight; eventually all perspective. Her periods stopped. At my smallest, I was around 44.5 kilos. I wish someone had actually,... at the time, just stopped me and made me sit with myself long enough to think about how I felt. For me, I needed someone to make me cry, cos I also hadn't cried for about three years. All these parts of you shut down. Can you taste this for me and tell me what it needs? But there was someone ` a new flatmate, a boyfriend. Salad. It got to the point where I just had to` I got desperate, and I didn't know what else to do, so I said, 'If you don't sort this out, I'm leaving. Jo agreed to meet with a psychologist. We were at the point later where we got engaged and obviously wanted to have a family. That was the point where I suddenly went, 'Oh, hang on a second.' I may have done so much damage that I may not be able to have a family. FUNKY MUSIC It's the image of ultimate beauty ` the thin, toned celebrity body. I think Victoria's Secret models are just the elite, and everyone just aspires to look like them. # You shoot for the stars. # Our society's obsession with skinny making a sharp impression on girls. These young athletes see it all around them. They're gym junkies. Yeah, gym junkies. That's what everyone's turning into, and it is healthy, but then they never stop. They're never satisfied. They just keep going. They look fit, yet these teens are at high risk of a complex set of health problems ` BANG! problems once confined to sport... now plaguing everyday exercising women. Why aren't we talking about this? Why aren't we hearing about this in the magazines that we flip open and it's all, you know, exercise is good, losing weight is good. Academic researcher Dr Holly Thorpe. An athlete her own right, she's an expert in how women respond to rigorous exercise and poor nutrition. I think we need to get beyond that point of thinking that the thin body equals healthy. Because what can be disguised beneath that thin, toned body? Because what can be disguised beneath that thin, toned body? Exactly. If you're not fuelling your exercise efficiently, um, yeah, your hormones will change. It can affect your bones, it can affect your cardiovascular health, it can affect` affect your reproductive health. It can strike any type of exercising woman ` not just those with serious eating disorders. But with so much focus on anti-obesity, information can be difficult to find. Some of these women that I was speaking to had real frustrating` really frustrating experiences talking to doctors who` they'd walk in the door and they're seen as healthy, so, 'You've got no problems. See you later.' So Holly's teamed up with fellow academic researcher Maria Bentley to better educate women through a new website called Fuel Aotearoa. And what's happening is, you know, quite a short-term way of thinking, 'I wanna look good in this dress tomorrow night.' But we're trying to encourage a more longer-term thinking and a more complex understanding of health. It can be a difficult message to get across, even when women are desperate for a baby. If a woman has this condition, there are techniques by which I can make her ovulate, but should we? And I think that's a really important point, because there's a lot of pressure from women. Women who want to get pregnant fast without having to change their lifestyles. When I'm saying to someone 'I think you need to stop your exercise completely, 'or at least you need to stop all the aerobic components of the exercise,' that's a really hard message, because people are so programmed to think this is good for them. They're addicted to the exercise. They feel better. Come in. Come in. Come in. Jo had few expectations for a natural pregnancy. I'd put my body through torture, really. I just expected that we'd try for a while, it wouldn't happen, and we'd go down the IVF path. But after months of taking it easy,... Come to mama. ...her reproductive system naturally kicked back into life. We got married in October. By March, I was pregnant. And how did that feel? Um, I loved my pregnancy. I absolutely loved it. I have never been more comfortable in my body than I was then, cos it wasn't about me. Elliot's 2 now, so full of life Jo has little energy for her old ways, though she quietly fears for her future health. I don't know what damage I've done. I don't want to be hunched over and have crumbling bones and have done ridiculous damage because I got too caught up in myself years and years earlier. It's like being inside a really old printer. Jo's long been for been due for an assessment of her bone health. Well, your bone density is very normal. Oh, thank God. And, really, the main thing for you going forward is to maintain a healthy BMI. Phew. (LAUGHS) Stacey's also managed to come full circle, regaining most of the bone she lost. What's made the difference is regaining some weight, eating, and particularly getting your periods back. In a way, this is nature saying you are now healthy enough to have a baby if you wanted to. Yep. (LAUGHS) Maybe one day. OK. Bit of weight in the harnesses for me. OK. Three, two, one. Off you go. Whoo! For now, Stacey's busy with a new job as an adventure tour guide. Whoo-hoo! Still managing the fine line between living healthily and overdoing it. I haven't done my physio stretches today, and I'm probably not gonna get time to get to go for a walk today... (LAUGHS) or tomorrow. < How does that make you feel? It does leave me a bit anxious,... Whoo-hoo-hoo! ...but I can say I'm okay with it. It's not the end of the world. Whoo-hoo! (LAUGHS) So a rough guide ` Stella Milsom says any more than five hours aerobic exercise a week is a worry. There's plenty of information on Holly and Maria's website ` fuelaotearoa.co.nz. The link's on our Facebook page ` Sunday TVNZ. Next ` the freezing worker with a big reputation and big lungs. # Ahhhh... # Welcome back. Kiwi Simon O'Neill's one of opera's hottest properties. A seat at his concerts can cost thousands. This boy's come a long way when you consider his stellar career began on the chain at Ashburton freezing works. The workers loved his voice, and it went on from there. Simon O'Neill takes Ian Sinclair back home. ROUSING CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS (SINGS OPERATICALLY IN ITALIAN) It's... incredible. It's` I've dreamed of this all of my life. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) A sell-out concert on Italy's Amalfi Coast, and Kiwi tenor Simon O'Neill is on top of the operatic world. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) I'm singing the` the lead role that, say, Pavarotti would sing, or the role that Placido Domingo would sing,... and you look out, and, you know, Dolce and Gabbana are probably there. I don't know, the president of Italy's in there. It's` It is incredible. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) But what the Italian glitterati would find even more incredible is just where tonight's star attraction learned his chops. APPLAUSE DRAMATIC CLASSICAL MUSIC You were a freezing worker for five or six years? You were a freezing worker for five or six years? Freezing worker and loved it. The Ashburton freezing works ` half a world away ` where he toiled and first honed that big voice. I'd be, um, you know, drying the wool and singing to myself back then, remembering the words. Can you still do it? Can you still toss wool and sing? Can you still do it? Can you still toss wool and sing? (LAUGHS) I wish. Uh... Let me think ` Oh. # Nessun Dorma. # Nessun Dorma. # The poor buggers would have to put up with that sort of rubbish all day. As it turns out, the old hands are just as proud of him. I think Simon went down pretty well in the freezing works, actually. It was his nature and the way the guy is, you know, and the type of guy he is. Yeah. Bloody hell. Pavarotti's father was a baker. Caruso was a baker. You know, opera singing and the opera businesses often comes from normal, uh, blue collar, um, hard-working areas and families. And I` I was brought up with that. It was great. (PLAYS INTRO TO 'AVE MARIA') # Ave... # 'My uncles and stuff were in a rock band, my dad sings in a choir, and that's` 'it's in the blood, I guess. It's in the DNA.' The local catholic church was Simon's first music school. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) Playing the church organ up there and stuff, you learn your craft. To play the organ for a service or for a mass is, uh, it's showbiz in itself. You have to learn timing, and, uh, there's certain things in the mass, and I-I learnt that, you know. I was never the best singer. I was never the best brass player or the best piano player. I'm not that at all. I-I have a good talent, but I work hard, I really do. I-I work at my craft, and I try and build my voice and make it more beautiful. ALL SING OPERATICALLY Years of sacrifice and hard work paid off in 1996. Simon ` that's him to the right of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ` was invited to sing at Auckland's Opera in the Park in front of 300,000 fans. Then I went to the Julliard School of Music, which is a very famous school of music in, uh, Lincoln Centre, right beside the Metropolitan Opera. SIMON SINGS That's the Juilliard School in New York. To get in, he had to beat 2000 other applicants from around the world. But none of the others had Dame Kiri on their CV. Well, they laughed at me. I sent over a video of me singing with Kiri Te Kanawa, one of the most famous singers of the century. You know, they don't often get that as audition videos. But it got him in. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) So the career just went along, and, and then, zoom, into overdrive. And I haven't looked back, really. SIMON SINGS OPERATICALLY It's been incredible. For the last six months, I've been in the Teatro Real in Madrid, the La Scala in Italy and Covent Garden in London, so it's the top of the top places. Yeah! Yeah! No, that's enough. Not too fast. And in the middle of all this, Simon has found love. I saw this guy across the room just make this beeline towards the group of friends that I was standing with, and he put out his hand and said, 'Simon's my name.' And I thought, 'Well, good on you.' And she said, 'Are you Simon Christie?' Who is a good friend of mine who is an opera singer too, And I said, 'No, I'm Simon O'Neill. So it started off poorly. And I said, 'No, I'm Simon O'Neill. So it started off poorly. (CHUCKLES) With love came family. So I have little Tom and Grace and Violet. I'm away between nine and 10 months a year from these babies, from these kids who want their dad, and I want them. We try to make the most of his return and try and do exciting things with the kids, so I'm sure they think it's all a holiday when Dad comes home and all drudgery when Mum's around. (LAUGHS) Good one. And you all went there? Back home, his genius is helping other children too. And sing as loud as you can when you sing. It's the best way to reach people. At Auckland's Hearing House, children with hearing difficulties feel the phenomenal power of his voice. I breathe into my tummy down here ` my big tummy. I breathe in right down there. (BREATHES DEEPLY) Let's all do a big breath. (BREATHES DEEPLY) Hold it. < Now let's all go 'ah.' # Ahhhhhh.... # You take big breaths and sing loud like that. < Thank you. So how much would it cost for those kids to sit that close to you normally? Well, the last one I did at Covent Garden, it was �1000 per seat. And, uh, that sold out in 25 minutes. You know, completely. Whoosh. You couldn't get a seat. �1000 a seat. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) Making $200 a seat at his charity appearance for Hearing House a bit of a bargain. It's one of three concerts in NZ before he flies off back to the opera big-time in Europe. BOTH SING OPERATICALLY So where for you now? I think the best of my voice is still to come, you know. Um, I think the next 10 years, hopefully, uh, that, uh` hopefully I can sing a lot, and, you know, my parents, my family and NZ can-can hear this and be proud of it, hopefully. (SINGS OPERATICALLY) APPLAUSE Simon's performing tomorrow night at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. Kua mutu te mahi naianei. That's it from us. Check us out on Facebook ` Sunday TVNZ. Have a great week. We'll see you next Sunday. Nga mihi nui. Hei kona.