KEY POINTS:
A middle-class West Auckland family has learned from experience that obesity is not just about poor diet or lack of exercise - it is also genetic.
Andrew Beattie, 57, and his wife Erica, 48, are both nurses. They have always made sure their five children avoid junk foods
and play sports.
"We cook. We eat proper food.
"We eat all the right foods," Andrew says.
"I'm 57, but I was playing rugby last year. We've made real efforts to keep active as a family and make sure we do lots of things."
"My daughter has always been able to run and play softball," he says. "My son, who is a big lad as well but not at the same level, was school captain for softball and in the second-11 for hockey and runs three times a week."
Yet the whole family has had weight problems, and their 15-year-old daughter has just become one of the youngest New Zealanders to undergo bariatric surgery, having a band looped around the top of her stomach to limit the amount she can eat.
The Beatties paid $16,000 for it and discussed it with their daughter for a year before going through with it.
At 14, she weighed 119 kilos.
"My aunt was a huge woman. My father was a big man. My wife's father was quite a big man.
"I'm not in the same category as my daughter but it's a problem the whole family struggles with," says Andrew.
Their daughter was "not a huge eater" but metabolised her food more slowly than others.
"She will eat a meal that is half the size of another kid her size and she will put on weight and the other kid will lose it," he says.
After years of trying everything, including a triathlon, the family went to Glenfield obesity surgeon Robert Fris in desperation.
The operation has gone well. The girl has lost 14kg, including 10kg she was forced to shed by going on a liquids-only diet before the surgery. She will lose more gradually, and Andrew says it has already made a difference psychologically.
"Since the operation she is certainly very motivated to get herself back in shape, very receptive to doing more exercise," he says. "People who are genetically skinny have no concept. They think it's a thing for poor people who eat takeaways every day. We don't."
