Losing weight can be hard work. This tastes so good. I'm my own worst enemy. For some, it's hopeless. I love the taste, feeling it coming down my throat. So now with the help of the Manukau SuperClinic,... That there is a cabbage, but it's red. OK? Cabbage? ...these supersized individuals... At the moment, I can't even feel your ribs. ...are about to launch themselves into the controversial world of weight loss surgery. Carbohydrates are very very addictive, like heroin or sex. We'll share their highs... BOTH GIGGLE Nicki Minaj ain't got nothing on us. ...and their lows... I look at the rain, and it's like tears that are deep inside me. ...during their year-long quest... SIGHS: Oh my God. BOTH GIGGLE I've never done this stuff before. ...for a new body. This is... BOTH: ...awesome! MONITOR BEEPS Copyright Able 2016 29-year-old Pasione is so big he could be dead by 50. You are morbidly obese. Struck down with diabetes and back pain, the stay-at-home dad struggles to care for his little daughter. Weight loss surgery is his last chance. SOMBRE MUSIC I don't wanna die. I don't wanna die in my 50s. I wanna be there for my daughter. Pasione has everything to play for,... Can you touch your feet to the sky? ...if only he can get out on the field. On your marks, get set, go! His 180-kilo body... (GIGGLES) (PANTS) ...is not gonna go quietly. (EXHALES DEEPLY) (PANTS) PRODUCER: How was that? Yeah, it was pretty exhausting. When was the last time you did that much running? I haven't... Can't really remember, but it would be more than a few years ago. Maybe three or four years ago since the last time I tried jogging. Why do you wanna go through with it? Why do you wanna put yourself through it? Just being outpaced, outrun by a 3-year-old. Just` Yeah. Oh, it's not` it's not meant to be like that. So, yeah, I'd like` I'd like to think that the surgery will, um,... at least set me on a even playing field, you know, even with my daughter. That's` That's` That's ridiculous to say, that I need surgery to keep up with my 3-year-old. (GIGGLES) First of all, Pasione's going to have to master the basics. BACK CRACKS (GRUNTS) BACK CRACKS (BREATHES HEAVILY) Even the flexibility to just lie down with my legs down. (EXHALES SHARPLY) BACK CRACKS (SIGHS) So you're trying to do a single sit-up, and actually that's really hard. Unless I kick and get some momentum or roll to the side. BACK CRACKS (EXHALES HEAVILY) (PANTS) BACK CRACKS (PANTS) You wanna get to the point where you can do a sit-up, right? Yeah, and a chin-up. I'll be able to support my own body weight. And as a family man, it's his dream to support his whanau. But it's for her, and it's for my` (INHALES) it's for my partner. Yeah, she deserves a better man. He hasn't long to lose his target 8 kilos. He's going to have to harden up. And that means dusting off his old gym. (PANTS) EXERCYCLE SQUEAKS RHYTHMICALLY (PANTS) (PANTS) (GRUNTS, PANTS) (SIGHS) Excuse me. Um... How you feeling? Yeah, little bit` little bit puffed. Feeling exercised. So what's the routine now? Are you going to do this every day? Um,... yeah, I'm gonna make` gonna make use of the time while my daughter's at daycare. For Pasione to lose 8 kilos in eight weeks, he's going to have to cut his daily intake of 3000 calories in half. On the Sickness Benefit, he's also going to have to watch his pennies while spending more on fresh, healthy food. Oh, fishy! What's the cheapest fish you got here? Fishy! Need about $3 worth of fish, bro. One of these be small enough to be $3? I dunno, you know. Let's see here. < SOPHIA CHATTERS $5.20. Don't think we're gonna do it. Can you weigh this one for me, please? OK, $4.30. < Yeah, all right! Thank you, bro. PENSIVE MUSIC Pasione's reeling at the price of fish. He's only managed to buy a small fish and potatoes for the same price as a takeaway. FISH SIZZLES Very good. PRODUCER: Good? Yep. Mm, not quite. (SPITS) Oh. And do you think you'll do it again? It's worth it if you don't mind` CELL PHONE RINGS (TURNS PHONE OFF) if you don't mind fish bones, scales,... having to cook it yourself. 1 BOTH GIGGLE Reclusive Josephine's weight-loss journey has been epic. Three months ago, she started to venture out of the house. (SMOOCHES) Oh. She discovered vegetables and exercise. PANTS: I've got that goal, got that goal. But she managed to gain weight. We're not gonna be moving to surgery in a big hurry. She came close to giving up. I've never worked so hard for anything. And today, weighing a kilo more, she has to start her weight-loss journey all over again. She's got three months to lose 20 kilos. Whoo. I was really upset. I worked really hard, but I think the only thing that hadn't changed was portions and the style of food that I ate. Like red cabbage! Who's ever heard of red cabbage? Not me. Kale? Kale? Um, I think that's a sort of a` a green leaf? Um, to me, they're all just grassy thingies, but, um, they have different purposes. CURIOUS MUSIC Josephine's weight-loss journey will need to start with a voyage of discovery. Red cabbage! (LAUGHS) I know! (GIGGLES) When have you ever get to see a red cabbage before? I wonder if it's red right through. (SIGHS) Yeah, loose capsicum. Oh, (STUTTERS) it's egg` eggplant. Oh, look at that. It's also pumpkin too. > Oh, it's a pumpkin? Yeah. How'd you know this? (CHUCKLES) It's more pumpkin, just like the other pumpkin down beside there. So it's like that one over there? Yeah. Oh, Mum. (GIGGLES) I have no idea what this is. Cour... Hmm. Um,... Don't know. Lost. Altogether $18.20, please. < Thank you very much. Thank you. < Bye-bye. See ya. Bye. OK, thank you. Bye-bye. Wow. Costs so much of money. DOGS BARK PAN SIZZLES Very colourful and delicious. Looks yum. Josephine is getting to grips with veg. But portion control... No, too much. > ...is a work in progress. OK, that's enough. QUIETLY: OK, Mum. Mmm. (SLURPS) Mmm. PRODUCER: Can you afford to eat like this all the time? Not really all the time. Mixed vegetable, it cost a lot of money. So whatever's leftover tonight, we're gonna save that tomorrow, because there'll be quite a lot again for tomorrow. So that's possible, to eat like this. Mm. Eh, Mum? Yeah. CURIOUS MUSIC It's only a week since we saw Pasione,... Come on, daughter. Kai-kais. ...and he's fallen off the wagon. GRIZZLES: No, no. Oh, hot. PRODUCER: So, you're in your goal-setting period, where you're supposed to be losing weight for surgery. What have you eaten today? Um,... my little brother shouted me McDonald's, so I had half of a $20 dinner box, which would be two small fries, one small Coke, uh, one large Frozen Raspberry Fanta, one cheeseburger and one Big Mac. Including this $5 meal from Lim's. And actually, I also had for breakfast with Sophia ` one piece of toast and some of the steak left over from last night's dinner. So I've had quite a bit today. Money is a big factor. In South Auckland, 80% of all food outlets are takeaway. You don't have any choice... when you don't have any money. Like, this here would last... If we only had $5 left, this could last us for two days' worth of eating, or at least two meals. Yeah, we'd be able to stretch this for two days. Yeah. POIGNANT MUSIC Pasione knows his choices are deadly and could land him in Manukau Memorial Gardens, just like his dad. BIRDS TWEET Did he die of obesity-related illness? I know that it contributed massively to his ill health and his death. Sometimes have a go at him. You're a bit cross with him? Oh. Should be here. Are you worried if you don't sort out your health, Sophia will feel the same way about you? Yeah. Is the realisation hitting you that qualifying, getting through to surgery, is hard? Yeah. Pretty much everything that they've asked me to do goes against the way I've been living for the last five years, at least. So having to break five years, plus probably 20 years` There's probably only been five years of good health for me in my, um` in my 20s. And even that's a bit of a stretch. So, all up, 25 years of bad habits and bad teachings. GRUNTS: Pull. (SIGHS) 1 Ex-wrestler Nat got hooked on hamburgers and ballooned to 177 kilos. A truck driver and night-shift worker, he suffered a sleep disorder. But faced with losing his licence, he turned his life around and qualified for weight loss surgery. < You've lost a bit of weight. Yeah, 176 I was at. Now it's six weeks post-surgery,... DOG BARKS ...and Nat is hungry. So here we're just having some tomato soup. Sorry, this one with the old reduced salt. Half of a can will probably do me. After that I'm pretty much full. And it's not just Nat's diet that's shrunk. So here she is. This used to be one of my shirts I used to` used to wear when going out functions and stuff like that. Uh, my friend actually gave it to me because I couldn't find a dress shirt that was big enough, and he actually had one. So, yeah, this is one of them. (CHUCKLES) And, I mean, this used to fit me, mostly. And now it's just monstrous, just way too big. He's lost 54 kilos in three months. Can just fold it. (CHUCKLES) So, yeah. And if he stays on the baby food, the sky's the limit. PRODUCER: Taste test. The old taste test. Good. So basically when I eat, it's like feeding a baby now. You know, you used to` used to get a big spoon out, you'd flatten it out and give it to baby. Well, that's exactly what I do now. So, yeah. It's like beginning again for food. Yeah. It's a big change. Just gotta roll with it. As I said, it's` it's` it's that long-term goal. This doesn't guarantee it, don't get me wrong. No surgery can guarantee that you'll get there. But it puts me one step further to know I'm gonna get there healthily. Nat's eating like a baby and sleeping like one. I'm not using my sleep ap machine as much. Um, I've noticed I haven't needed that. Um, I dunno if it's more of a 'needed it' or, um` I dunno if the pressure's right on it any more for what I've gone through, because I tend to notice when I sleep with it now. I sort of` (INHALES) I can sort of tend to feel it through the chest. Back at the sleep clinic, Dr Jones will decide if weight loss surgery had cured his sleep apnoea. INDISTINCT CHATTER This is Dr Jones. Yeah, I've met him before. (CHUCKLES) Gidday. Hey, mate. How are ya? Good, good, good. Good. So how's it` how's it all going? Oh, pretty good. > A new, thinner you. Yeah, yeah. Getting there. > Getting there, yep. So you've` you've lost a reasonable amount of weight, haven't you? Well, my total, it's 54. 54. That's great. And how are you feeling? Yeah, I'm sleeping a lot better. Good. I think I'm getting about the same amount of sleep that I did,... < Yep. ...but I think I'm getting better quality. You're not waking up? It's` Oh, I` I wake up cos someone steals the blanket, but... CHUCKLES: Right. (LAUGHS) I'm really happy for you to stop using the CPAP and, uh, in fact, return it to us, um, now. You don't need it any more, which is fantastic. All right? Um, so from an obstructive sleep apnoea perspective, uh, this weight loss has, um, I guess, cured it. Uh, so... (CHUCKLES) I'll give you a handshake, and I'll take the CPAP back off you. All right? It's all yours, man. (CHUCKLES) All yours. (CHUCKLES) It's still got the, um, hospital tag on it too, so... Oh, have you? OK. No, that's great. DISTANT LAUGHTER It's four months later, and Nat's come out for a day trip to Rainbow's End. SQUEALING His weight loss hasn't gone as he expected. UPBEAT TWINKLY MUSIC He's smashed it. Today Nat is 64 kilos lighter than when he started his weight-loss journey a year ago. Back then, weighing in at 177 kilos, he couldn't walk around the block. UPBEAT TWINKLY MUSIC CONTINUES He could hardly breathe,... (SNORES) ...and he couldn't control his eating. He went from this to this. Weighing in at 112 kilos, Nat is a new man ` free from illness and able to do anything. And today he's meeting up with his mate Mili to take on his old nemesis. Gonna jump on the roller coaster. Uh, tried it two years ago. Uh, I was just too big. I had to get off, uh, couldn't fit. So, I've lost 74 kilos. So hopefully... should be all good today. TENSE MUSIC (EXHALES HEAVILY) We all ready? Let's go, man. > Get in there, man. (SIGHS) Oh man. (EXHALES HEAVILY) Let's do this, eh. There you go. > (SIGHS) Oh yeah. Do you wanna tighten it some more now that you can? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know you've done really well getting to where you are today. It wasn't easy, but, you know, you got through, eh. Oh, wouldn't have been able to do it without you fullas. Oh man, you're all good. Yeah, every` everyone else was there, brother. (CHUCKLES) But it was good. It's been a good journey, eh? Yeah, man. Now we can ride roller coasters. Yeah. TENTATIVE MUSIC DISTANT SCREAMING Oh. Stop, I need to pee! (CHUCKLES) Weight loss surgery's sort of opened up a whole new avenue for me. I'm doing things I would never be able to do, (CHUCKLES) like ride a roller coaster. SCREAMING And with my job, it's improved a lot. I'm able to be more agile and more versatile, and having to deal with trucks, jumping in and out of them, it's been a lot easier. Whoo-hoo! I can finally see a future for myself where I can be there for my family a lot more. There was a time there I didn't even know if I was gonna make 40, but now I know that's a realistic thing now to look forward to. Yahoo! (LAUGHS) That's what the surgery's done for me is` is made me realise that the world's a lot bigger place. You know, it's not so confined any more. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) So, yeah. Gah! (LAUGHS) It's the end of Nat's weight loss surgery journey. He's had extraordinary success. Free from excess weight, and healthy, surgery has had the best possible outcome. And now his future is in his own hands. Next time on The Big Ward ` Pasione is a little lighter on his feet, we meet 20-year-old Kimiora... I don't think the way my family eats is bad, but just the portions are big. I mean, the food we have isn't, like, deep-fried and all that kind of thing. ...and Richard gets cross. If he continues to dip everything he eats into Big Mac sauce, he'll regain a substantial amount of weight after this surgery. Captions by Kate Parkinson. Edited by Tracey Dawson. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016