Mikayla's story
Reporter :Dr Joe Kosterich
Mikayla knows she's in trouble. Not exercising, eating too much and grappling with low self esteem. She knows she MUST change, but doesn't know how, or where to start. So Mikayla, what do you tend to do when you're at home? Just like either sit and do nothing or sleep all day or eat all day or something like that.Mikayla's too embarrassed to tell us how much she weighs.
She's pre-diabetic, has high cholesterol and high blood pressure - all at 13. What do you see food as? I see food as like, everything I guess because it's like a big part of my life.Most of the family on Mikayla's Dad's side, died early from heart disease. Anita says "There's just so many other issues if she stays overweight for a long period of time, there's even cirrhosis of the liver, just so many health issues that, I had no idea."
Mikayla's weight affects every part of her life. School is unbearable. "She's a target for bullying, and she wasn't ... I don't think she's coped with that." Often - Mikayla can't bring herself to go. Instead she'll sleep during the day and stay up all night, eating. "Yeah it just makes me feel more relaxed I guess, but then there's also the guilt that happens afterwards"
Without treatment, Mikayla's weight problem is likely to follow her into adulthood. "I'm thinking like, where I'm going to be ten years from now, it's going to be like rock bottom."Mikayla is trapped by the lifesdtyle habits she's developed. Now breaking these sorts of habits can be very hard, just ask anyone who's been down that path. We're going to help change Mikayla's life. So first up Mikayla, we're going to look at your eating patterns and make some changes there and we're going to get you some help with that. Margaret Hays says "Mikayla's got quite disordered eating habits at the moment, she's not eating regularly. She's saving all her food till later in the day and really overeating late at night. Her portion sizes are huge."
Processed food tastes great, no doubt about it. It's packed with additives, sugar, salt and fat to make it appealing and addictive. The problem is, we're being crushed by the weight of our over indulgence.Margaret Hays is going to help change the way Mikayla thinks about food. "So far I've asked Mikayla to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner."
First - simple changes.
Eating small amounts regularly.
Switching over to low GI foods.
Keeping a food diary
and cutting down on late night snacking...
So Margaret, what do you think are going to be the biggest hurdles? "We've made a good start but there are going to be bumps along the way. I suppose Mikayla being able to stick with it and to keep making changes and continuing to make those changes."Mikayla says "The things I'm nervous about would definitely be am I going to keep up with the healthy eating and stuff like that, am I going to one day just crack and eat like heaps of food or something." Margaret says "What I think's great is that Mikayla seems in control of the situation, it's not her Mum forcing her."Now, the other part of the equasion is calories out and that means some exercise so we're going to get you motivated with the help of a personal trainer. It's perfect timing, really just to reinforce a proper lifestyle change. Max Tamatoa's job is to get Mikayla to love exercise. Not easy - when it's something she's always avoided.
Mikayla says "When we do something physical, something a bit struggling I always get too embarrased so instead of really trying hard I always give up and pretend that I don't want to do it." Max says "I want to try to basically get her not only fit and strong but get her self confidence up as well. We're basically going to be getting her moving around by incorporating a lot of full body movement so a lot of running, we're going to do a lot of squats a lot of lunges, lots of push ups. Basically just get as many muscles as we can working." This is one of Max and Mikayla's first training sessions. Here on the beach, we get an insight into what Mikayla goes through at school everyday ... when a group of teenagers start heckling her about her weight. Mikayla's goal is to lose a third of her body weight.
Max says "The earlier she can start these habits and the lifestyle change from what she was heading down before, she's going to be at a lot lower risk for cardiovascular disease, things like diabetes and high cholesterol." Now part of this will be an emotional journey which is only normal in humans so we're also going to be getting you some help from a counsellor. Katia Ishimaru will talk to Mikayla about the self esteem issues which could be fuelling her weight problem. Kim Maserow's another psychologist who specialises in teenage eating disorders. "Using food for comfort and company is quite common."
Mikayla says "First off it starts off me being really hungry and just wanting to eat something I guess and just thinking no I shouldn't do it and then the other side of me is thinking just eat it you know it'll make you feel better and I end up eating it and then I feel really guilty for doing it and really stupid and it sometimes makes me feel worse." Kim Maserow says "When self esteem is low, their self worth is not good and high self esteem obviously would help them to focus on other things."
So, Mikayla understands the pattern of her food addiction. Now, the hard work is up to her. "Something's just clicked inside me and I just really want to do it and I want to get fitter and healthier and better."In six weeks, Mikayla's already lost 6 kilos. It's a great start; the weight loss has to be slow and steady to be sustainable in the long term which is exactly what we're looking for. "Mikayla says "I guess just thinking about it and getting so excited about it's making me happy to do it and the changes that are happening to me are just making me even more happier."