The Life of a Bariatric Patient
Welcome to The Weight Loss Collab! In this episode, co-hosts Dr. Betsy Dovec and dietitian Hannah Schuyler are taking a deep dive into the many “eras” of a bariatric patient’s journey. From childhood and adolescence, through adulthood, pregnancy, menopause, and all the lifestyle shifts in between, they explore the complex experiences that lead people to consider bariatric surgery and what happens after.
With candid stories and a dose of pop culture (hello, Taylor Swift and Travis!), Dr. Dovec and Hannah walk listeners through the emotional and practical stages of weight loss and maintenance. They discuss the identity shifts that come with surgery, the pressure and relief of the “bariatric era,” how to navigate support and noise from loved ones, and what it really takes to make lasting change, not just in eating habits, but in mental and emotional well-being.
Whether you’re just starting your journey, deep in the “honeymoon phase,” facing maintenance, or looking for support in getting back on track, this episode offers encouragement, expert tips, and a sense of community at every stage. Tune in as the hosts remind you that being a bariatric patient is only one small part of your life story, and the best era is still to come!
Transcript
She's a doctor. Hi, I'm Dr. Dovec, and she's a dietitian. Hey,
Speaker:I'm Hannah Schuyler, and together we are the weight loss
Speaker:collab. And today we are going through all.
Speaker:All the eras. The eras. The life of a
Speaker:bariatric patient. Yes. So we just wanted to kind of get a little
Speaker:back to our roots. Here, go back to some of these. Like, basic
Speaker:concepts, but also just really. Talk through, like, what does it look
Speaker:like from, you know, from even
Speaker:childhood up until you become a bariatric patient and then
Speaker:beyond and, like, what does that look like? And all the different stages
Speaker:of that. There's a lot of mystery around the actual
Speaker:bariatric surgery era. And you just said
Speaker:something that I thought was so good and so
Speaker:true. Yeah. So what I think is, like, after surgery,
Speaker:we really want to get to the point where, like, being a
Speaker:bariatric patient is kind of the most boring thing about you.
Speaker:Yes. Like, it's just. It's part of your life, and it will always be part
Speaker:of your life, but it is not at the forefront of everything that you
Speaker:do. No, but there's absolutely a time which is probably, if
Speaker:you're listening to this podcast, you're in the middle of this. This finite period
Speaker:where your entire identity is actually kind of
Speaker:as a bariatric patient. Everything you do, you think you eat,
Speaker:you wear, you go, you do activities. Everything
Speaker:is around this bariatric journey. But have no fear, in a
Speaker:good way. I think, fortunately, that will ultimately change and
Speaker:life will in its cadence again. Right. And you just get to go
Speaker:back to just. Yeah. Existing as you as a person and, you
Speaker:know, hopefully existing at, like, a higher level of yourself more than anything.
Speaker:But, yeah, just. Yeah, we're going to get you through that period and beyond,
Speaker:and, well, it's going to be great. And it's like
Speaker:a blip. If you look at the number of years that you live and the
Speaker:year that you spend on this being that thing. It's just a small part
Speaker:of life. Exactly. And like you said, we want you to feel like you
Speaker:are living your best life through all the eras. Of course, I'm trying
Speaker:to pull in a little Paul culture. Can we pulled some Taylor switches? Yes, of
Speaker:course. You see rats. Taylor and Travis. I know. And just think
Speaker:this is like, when you engage with us, the Body by Bariatrics program,
Speaker:like, it's like. It's like we're getting married. It is the program
Speaker:and the students are getting married. The
Speaker:Gyptons are alike. What was it. The English
Speaker:teacher, which one do we fall under? I don't think I'm
Speaker:either of those people. Or the nerdy sign or the science teacher. That's true. We're
Speaker:the science teachers and the math teachers. And I'm like the weird drama coach.
Speaker:You're like the specials. You're like. Yeah, you're. You're like the
Speaker:extracurricular kind of one teacher that does, like, you know,
Speaker:whatever. Whatever. Yeah, I guess I'm a coach of some
Speaker:sort. You are. Would be a terrible sports coach because I'm not a
Speaker:sports person, so I wouldn't have to learn it all. I like
Speaker:up to you. Sports. Not all. Yeah, yeah. To actually coach one. No
Speaker:forgetting that. So you know some exciting things about how
Speaker:we get to this kind of best era of life.
Speaker:We have some exciting news, and that is the Body by Mindset
Speaker:retreat is sold out. It is
Speaker:100% at capacity. Probably over capacity. I know,
Speaker:but we gotta put out a post about that. But that is so exciting.
Speaker:Yes. I'm very excited. Coming up in a couple weeks here. Yeah, September 12th and
Speaker:13th here. First night is at the Surgical Institute and then on
Speaker:Saturday is the full day. But we've been really preparing for that. So we've been
Speaker:kind of in the trenches of thinking about Mindset. So if you're
Speaker:listening, I hope this podcast has lots of value packed tips so that you feel
Speaker:like no matter what era you're in, you are going to get something out of
Speaker:this. Well, let's kind of go all the way back to like, what's the
Speaker:first era of this? And, you know,
Speaker:talking about this before we hopped on, like, for some people, this really
Speaker:starts in childhood. You know, I ask people this a lot of times when
Speaker:I have consults. I say, you know, how long has, you know, your weight
Speaker:been kind of an issue for you? How long has it been a concern? And
Speaker:I have a lot of people, I've talked about this before. It's like the age
Speaker:9 seems to come up a lot. Or maybe high school
Speaker:years or sometimes even that early adulthood, you know, kind of
Speaker:transitioning out of being a kid into an adult. But
Speaker:that's definitely a really common time that we see. I know some
Speaker:will joke and then they'll be, you know, 53 years old. How long have you
Speaker:struggled with your weight? Since I was 50. Yeah, I came out. Yeah,
Speaker:I was a big baby and it kind of started that way. But I think
Speaker:you're right. I think that transition through puberty a lot of times.
Speaker:So we have recent Podcasts where we talk about some of the hormonal
Speaker:imbalances, pcos, some of the thyroid
Speaker:issues that kind of start to rear their heads around that.
Speaker:You know, like you said, it's actually a little bit before maybe when some
Speaker:traditionally think about puberty, it is that 9 year old, 10 year old, that's the
Speaker:first time you saw yourself as having a weight issue.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think it's also probably when you start to become more
Speaker:self aware just in general as a person. So you're seeing that you
Speaker:have a body and you're seeing like, oh, I am in
Speaker:comparing to classmates and all of those types of things too, probably starts to
Speaker:come in. And I would imagine that that's probably when medical professionals are
Speaker:starting to kind of weigh into things because you are entering that
Speaker:puberty era. And it's like, okay, maybe they were a little chubby when they
Speaker:were four or five. We're not going to necessarily intervene on a
Speaker:lot of those types of things. That might be too. When they start to get
Speaker:that external message to, you know, we
Speaker:gotta start to look at this as a problem. Exactly. And it's that soundbite
Speaker:that kind of sticks with you from that pediatrician visit. That's, hey,
Speaker:your weight, you're off the chart. Look at these percentile, look at how you compare.
Speaker:And then you just feel like, oh, and that does
Speaker:carry with you. People can remember these very specific moments
Speaker:when someone said something to them, whether it be a medical
Speaker:professional or even, of course, a family member. I hear all the time like,
Speaker:my dad was like, you better start running, girl, because, you know,
Speaker:you're looking a little chubby there. You sure you want to eat that extra ice
Speaker:cream tonight? And then all of a sudden it was always, you know, treats and
Speaker:fun and, you know, just eating. You think about nutrition, you weren't diet
Speaker:and exercising, you weren't really even kid. Oh yeah, you're a kid, you're
Speaker:living right, you're enjoying it. But then all of a sudden it's like,
Speaker:oh, I, this is now bad, this is now
Speaker:shameful, and this is now something I should not do because
Speaker:people are looking at it negatively. And I think
Speaker:that's very confusing. And it really does help set almost the tone
Speaker:and the foundation, the narrative kind of what your life might be
Speaker:like in those early moments is so impressionable. Yeah, absolutely. And I do
Speaker:think that we see that with people who say that, like, I've been dieting for
Speaker:my whole life. I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting when I was 10
Speaker:years old with my mom, you know, or they see the parent that is going
Speaker:through the weight loss thing and so they're brought along with them on that type
Speaker:of, you know, and, and sometimes I think that there's ways to do it because
Speaker:right. We're going to see patients that are parents and they want to know how
Speaker:do they break this cycle for their kids? And I think there's ways to do
Speaker:it that can be beneficial for the whole family and then there's ways that
Speaker:historically have been done and it's not great and it's not great for the
Speaker:mental health and it's not great for your self esteem and all these different things
Speaker:that can really end up giving you. Also lifelong just poor
Speaker:relationship with food, you know, and kids that are overly
Speaker:restricted then binge, they hide eating. They do all sorts of other things.
Speaker:They're their kids, their brain is a function, you know, their brains
Speaker:are fully formed. So they're just learning all this stuff. So you know, I think
Speaker:that that's obviously again I think a lot of people are going to kind of
Speaker:are able to think back to those times and say yep, I did that. And
Speaker:then maybe they get into sports in high school. And this is another big one
Speaker:that I hear of. Like, you know, I played a lot of sports and I
Speaker:did. And maybe I leaned out in high school because I was just active and
Speaker:moving and just like, I mean I remember those vaguely remember
Speaker:those days. I'm just like non stop acting so many
Speaker:and and you're growing, you know, you're just getting taller, you're doing, you're leaning
Speaker:out and especially the boys, like they all just shot up and got tall
Speaker:and everything like that. But. And then you go and then you leave the
Speaker:house and maybe you go to work or maybe you go to school, to college
Speaker:or whatever it might be and you stop playing that sport
Speaker:and you stop having that lifestyle of like,
Speaker:you know, just moving all the time. And I think
Speaker:then that's another time that we do see people that are like, yep. And then
Speaker:my weight came back. Yes, my softball players, I hear those ones.
Speaker:A lot of softball players. Yeah. Because that, I think that's a very inclusive
Speaker:sport in a certain way. So people who have struggle with their weight are able
Speaker:to kind of get into that sport as well. It supports them, it gets them
Speaker:the active lifestyle. And then you stuck. Yeah.
Speaker:And football players too. This is a very common thing with Afro football players,
Speaker:like down the line. Like they a lot of times struggle with their weight also
Speaker:verbally. Well, I Mean, and it's just a part of what the sport is. For
Speaker:football, we have bulking up, getting muscle, especially what position you played.
Speaker:Like, you can see a body type. You can line up football players and kind
Speaker:of identify easily. Identify the kicker always.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah. O line and D line. I get confused because there's big guys on
Speaker:both. Yeah. I have no idea what. Yes.
Speaker:But yeah. So I think. And it plays in a lot of the different athletics
Speaker:and you know, even something like wrestling where they have those really strict
Speaker:guideouts. I mean, I remember my friends spitting in cups before me, which
Speaker:is just horrifying. It is, yeah. What that also
Speaker:carries with them. It is, absolutely. So there's that kind of
Speaker:period and then I think. So that's like a specific type of person. It's that
Speaker:like adolescent, you know, has always struggled with their weight.
Speaker:And then of course, there's people that were fine all through childhood. They grew
Speaker:up, life started to happen. And what's the
Speaker:biggest thing that happens to our women to cause the weight gain?
Speaker:Where to begin? I mean, periods or. What do we think I'm
Speaker:taking? Pregnancy. Oh, yeah. I think that's the opposite. Even before. Well, yeah, before
Speaker:that too. Yeah. You hit all these different hormonal things or pcos.
Speaker:Girlies, like, that's a big one for that same kind of adolescent stage. But
Speaker:I think people that a lot of women that gain their weight kind of later
Speaker:in life, a lot of them are coast. Oh, my God. So
Speaker:true. It's like my body will never be the same. You're. You kind of
Speaker:do think you'll be the exception to the rule. Yeah, like my boobs aren't going
Speaker:to change. Oh, my God. Wow. They change. Yeah, they do. They care for
Speaker:all kinds of different era. Big and little and one
Speaker:this size and the other that size and they're. This way and that way. Yeah,
Speaker:that's something special. And I do think even like before
Speaker:then in terms of just like your. Just your life and your living in
Speaker:relationships, whether that be friendships,
Speaker:what type of. I mean, we've talked about this a lot about, you know, oh,
Speaker:I'm happy, I'm in love, I'm going to eat, or I'm preparing for my
Speaker:wedding. So I want to restraint or, you know, I want to look good, I
Speaker:want to. It's just I get comfortable, like if you're all that sort of thing.
Speaker:And then pregnancy. Yeah, a huge one.
Speaker:Huge. Very specific time frame. I gained 100 pounds of pregnancy. The
Speaker:only thing that made me feel okay and not nauseous was something high in sugar.
Speaker:Eating. Yeah, eating and drinking gallons of hi C. Like I've
Speaker:heard like a lot of very specific types of sugary drinks just to try to
Speaker:get you're hypoglycemic. I feel like your blood sugar swings are all
Speaker:over the place. So you've got to compensate for that. Placenta is just really
Speaker:controlling everything there. Yeah, horrible. So. So
Speaker:yes, I think that's another. But. But like you said, there's so much more into
Speaker:that. You know, kind of we're looking at the 20s, the 30s even going,
Speaker:you know, and then we'll move into really the next era, especially again for women.
Speaker:But 20s and 30s, we do. We see those lifestyle changes again, your
Speaker:sedentary lifestyle sneaks in. Because we work, right? Yeah. And
Speaker:most people are working sitting down. You know, we
Speaker:obviously exceptions to that. But we're seated, we're. And then we're driving
Speaker:home, we're cooking. Like you just have the day to day of life
Speaker:and you can only do so much with the hours that you're awake.
Speaker:Absolutely. And you know that line about everybody has the same 24
Speaker:hours. Like, I don't believe that because I
Speaker:don't have a chef or a nanny or a trainer or an
Speaker:assistant. You know, I need these things. Can you learn this for me?
Speaker:I will. What am I to do? Thank you. Please do anything you need.
Speaker:Love that. I guess I do have childcare, we will say, and we're very appreciative
Speaker:of it. But you know, there's just like, not everybody has that luxury
Speaker:of making some of the changes and. And then two people try the changes and
Speaker:they do put the time and the effort in and they don't work, you know?
Speaker:You know, and that I think is a point that's that
Speaker:re. Contemplation. Shifting over to contemplation when you're
Speaker:like, I got to do something. Because whatever it was,
Speaker:whatever led to it, whatever time frame of your life or circumstances that led
Speaker:you to a point where you're like, I am worried about myself.
Speaker:I don't like the way I feel. I have again lost my confidence,
Speaker:my mojo. I need to do something. And I have
Speaker:tried many, many things. Many, many things. Like you said, kids who are doing Weight
Speaker:Watchers. I've gone to the support groups. I've seen a
Speaker:dietitian sometimes. I've looked overhauled, different things, done all
Speaker:the medications. I've done the diet, the exercise. I'm working out
Speaker:five times a week, even though I don't really have time to do it.
Speaker:So, yeah, and then. But I think we're on the precipice of getting to that
Speaker:bariatric surgery stage. But I want to just talk one more phase of,
Speaker:like, the actual life cycle. And then again, specifically with
Speaker:women is the perimenopause menopause phase.
Speaker:Like, and I think, luckily, I think we're actually finally getting some new research about
Speaker:this stage of life. Like, it seems like it's kind of on.
Speaker:Like, I get it. I mean, probably because I just get in my social media
Speaker:at this point. But, like, I think people are actually starting to understand this a
Speaker:little bit more. But, I mean, all of our women who are coming to
Speaker:us in their 47, like, and they're like, yep, the last
Speaker:five years have been just, I can't do all the things
Speaker:that I've done before to lose weight, and they don't work. I know.
Speaker:Well, I am 44, and I. My entire feed is
Speaker:this. Jokes, memes, educational facts,
Speaker:professionals, wannabes. Whatever it is, I
Speaker:get it. And I do think that social media, for better or for worse,
Speaker:has done what you said, brought that to light, and made people like,
Speaker:it's been brought into the conversation. And I can tell you,
Speaker:like, yes, you're starting to feel changes. And, you know, all those
Speaker:around me are in different eras. Like, we have this adorable Amber
Speaker:who's, you know, in the dating phase of her 20s, and I'm
Speaker:just, like, over year. What? It's how I just tried to,
Speaker:like, get through this. Yeah. But it's making me
Speaker:really myself, selfishly. But for, like, our
Speaker:patients, too, like, really look into this and, like, what role
Speaker:specifically do the hormones play? And how can we even, as a program that really
Speaker:just tries ourselves and be comprehensive? Like, how can I introduce
Speaker:that into our offerings as well? Right, right. Like, where can
Speaker:that. That play into it? But again, I think all of this now
Speaker:brings us to. Okay, so wherever you started, whatever your kind
Speaker:of first era was, whether it's been since childhood, since your
Speaker:early adulthood, in perimenopause, postpartum,
Speaker:whatever it might be, it has now brought you to the
Speaker:bariatric surgery era. Welcome,
Speaker:welcome. And so, yeah, so tell me
Speaker:about what. What do you hear when somebody sits down across from you
Speaker:for that visit? So. So I start every single one of our
Speaker:virtual initial consultations the same exact way. First off, I
Speaker:asked you, what name do you want to be called always? So your
Speaker:last name, nickname, or what's your preferred first name? Okay, got it. So
Speaker:then I say, what brings you here? Why are you Here, Tell me about your
Speaker:struggles, what your goals are, and really just, like, why you're thinking about
Speaker:surgery and why not. So everybody will.
Speaker:They'll all say, like, I'm sure you hear this a million times, and it's almost
Speaker:like you don't have to feel like you have to apologize for, like,
Speaker:telling your story. Like, no. Yours is,
Speaker:in fact, unique in how your perspective and just the different
Speaker:things and how you were raised and it. You know, where you're at wherever you
Speaker:are. So a lot of people will then just, you
Speaker:know, I think it's. It is an emotional thing, and we talk about vulnerability
Speaker:a lot. It is a feeling of saying words
Speaker:that you don't often say out loud. I always think about
Speaker:that. Like, you think them a lot. Obsessively.
Speaker:These are on your mind all the time. Because I can see the patterns in
Speaker:the way that people talk about it. It's very easily there. It's at the tip
Speaker:of it. But it's, like, in the dark. It's like, just. Just, like,
Speaker:drive it down deep inside my brain so I don't have to almost, like, feel
Speaker:the feels and kind of go there. So when you start to, like, open up
Speaker:and express it, people at first are like, I don't know. I need. I'm here
Speaker:because I need to lose weight. Sometimes they'll start like that, too. And then. And
Speaker:then I'll be like, well, like, what was the moment? Or, like, kind of go
Speaker:deeper into that. Like, tell me about your health. Like, what are you thinking? And
Speaker:then. They'Ll start to go for it.
Speaker:They'll kind of go. And I'm sure that you start your. Similarly. Yeah. And
Speaker:then some, like, gates start to open, and it's like, whoa. Well,
Speaker:you know, I was. They'll talk about the time it started. They'll talk about
Speaker:all this, the way they feel now, and just the limitations,
Speaker:like, what I cannot do and why, that.
Speaker:It might sound trivial, but again, we go back and back and back to these
Speaker:whys of. I just feel like I can't participate
Speaker:with my kids. I can't. I just feel
Speaker:tired all the time. I am not motivated. I don't want to be seen in
Speaker:public. I used to be very, very social, but now I just don't even want
Speaker:to go out on the weekends. I just kind of scroll on my phone. Like,
Speaker:I'm just not me. I think when people feel like they lose who they think
Speaker:they want to be or who maybe they felt like they were at one time,
Speaker:that is when it gets to the point where the pain is too
Speaker:unbearable to continue on like it is. And that's when they seek us
Speaker:out. Yeah. And that's such a. Like a. Oh. I always feel like that, that
Speaker:moment, that first step I talk about all the time. It's so hard, so challenging
Speaker:to decide that, okay, I'm going to tell a complete
Speaker:stranger who I'm literally meeting there at. They're starting with, like,
Speaker:we just go like, from there. Yeah. Tell me your
Speaker:deepest, darkest, innermost thoughts about the way you look and act,
Speaker:feel about your body. Yeah. Like, it's not scary, but it is.
Speaker:We're not a jewel. Yeah. You put an icebreaker. Yeah. Should be
Speaker:everything. Yeah. For you.
Speaker:Like, what do you feel like patients say? Yeah, I think it's. It is a
Speaker:very similar thing. And I do. I get those. Some people who show up and
Speaker:they're like, well, I've never met because I usually start my, my visits by saying
Speaker:like, do you have questions or there topics that do you want to focus
Speaker:on? Because like you said, everybody is coming at this from
Speaker:a different place. Right. So some people have an extension, you
Speaker:know, more extensive knowledge of nutrition and they want to dig deeper into it.
Speaker:Some people, you know, don't know what a protein is.
Speaker:Right. So we're coming at it from different, different places and whatever. But a lot
Speaker:of times they're. They're kind of closed off. I don't have any questions like, you
Speaker:do. Like, I know you do. It's fine. So then I usually do the same
Speaker:kind of thing. Like, okay, well, tell me about, like, your weight history. Like, when
Speaker:did this start? What's been the issue? What. What have you tried as far as
Speaker:weight loss goes? And then sometimes those people that were very, like, closed off,
Speaker:it's like, then they talk for five minutes straight, like, just tell the whole thing
Speaker:and it's like, yeah, because it is. It's not a place of judgment and it's
Speaker:not a. I just am trying to find out where you are so that again,
Speaker:we can kind of tailor this to like, what do you need?
Speaker:And so, yeah, so it is kind of like I find out about, like, all
Speaker:right, so. Yep. You've been dealing with this since you were nine years old. You've
Speaker:been dealing with this since you had your kid 13 years ago. Whatever
Speaker:it is, like, we figure that kind of thing out and then we just really
Speaker:take it from there. And then of course, I go into like, you know, go
Speaker:through their diet and what do we need to work on and what's. What Are
Speaker:they doing well? And, like, you know, try to focus on that as well, but
Speaker:just really see, like, okay, let's get you in the best shape
Speaker:possible and mentally prepared for surgery, as well
Speaker:as the physical preparation from the nutrition. But I think it's mostly
Speaker:mental, like, mental prep that they're doing through the
Speaker:physical act of changing their diet. I completely agree,
Speaker:and we try to stress it, but it's still underestimated.
Speaker:Just like, okay, how do I know mentally
Speaker:that the time is right, A, to even begin this journey, and then B, to
Speaker:actually, like, jump and go for it. We have a whole podcast episode on that
Speaker:edge of a climb. I don't know if I want to do this. This type
Speaker:of war, this internal kind of struggle that I want to change, but
Speaker:do I want to do surgery? Should I try harder? Is this right for me?
Speaker:Is this the place I should do it? There's just so many doubts, but also,
Speaker:like, hope. And it's just this back and forth.
Speaker:It is overwhelming. And we try so hard to
Speaker:help you to get organized but not go to the point of
Speaker:analysis paralysis of some people. Just go chew over it.
Speaker:And everybody is different. And all of them are, too. Yeah,
Speaker:I. And I tell people sometimes because, again, they come to me like, they see
Speaker:you. They have a couple of days or a week or two to think about
Speaker:things until maybe they're seeing me. And so then they. Again, they kind of come
Speaker:with these questions or these concerns. And, you know, having worked in this space now
Speaker:for a couple of years, like, I'm familiar with a lot of it. So I'll
Speaker:explain how the procedures work. And, like, I do my little hand models of,
Speaker:like, this is a sleeve. This is a bipartisan. That's another, you know, that's always
Speaker:the analysis paralysis of which surgery should I get.
Speaker:And I explain those types of things to them. But I think
Speaker:sometimes, too, I get the questions that they're like, they were too.
Speaker:Almost too afraid to ask their surgeon for whatever reason, or they just
Speaker:didn't come up and it didn't have a natural flow into it or whatever it
Speaker:might be. And they're like, well, like, you know. It is going
Speaker:to change forever. Is this, you know, what does it. Really look like after
Speaker:surgery? And I don't know if I'm ready. And I do tell people when they
Speaker:say something like that, and I'm like, if you have gotten to this point where
Speaker:you have made the decision, you saw the surgeon, you're seeing
Speaker:me now. You're going through. You're working on Your education. You're, you know,
Speaker:I see major appointment for the psych evaluation or whatever, you
Speaker:have these plans in place. You're ready. Like, I think you're
Speaker:ready. And I do think that if you think about too much, you know, you
Speaker:might psych yourself out. And what will happen is then you're going to reach
Speaker:back out to us in six months, a year or two years, and you're going
Speaker:to say, I'm ready. And then you're going to say, I wish I'd done this
Speaker:two years ago. You know? And so it's not to
Speaker:try to force somebody into something that they're not ready for,
Speaker:because we do have people that are very resistant to anything. And it's like, well,
Speaker:then maybe this isn't the time for you. But for most people. And one
Speaker:of our guests, Robert, talked about this, he was like, once I made that
Speaker:decision, like, it was like, if I could have gotten on the table the next
Speaker:day, I would have. And I think a lot of people, if they can make
Speaker:that decision and say, I'm going to do this as soon as I
Speaker:physically can, then it's the best thing. Because you don't allow yourself
Speaker:to have that time to like, second guess and doubt
Speaker:very much. So I think the biggest doubt has to do
Speaker:with what you do. Nutrition. The number one thing
Speaker:is around, like you said, will I
Speaker:be normal? Like, eat normal? What is eating like?
Speaker:And they're so worried, which I get, like, I
Speaker:like food. I don't want to lose these certain things that are
Speaker:just important to me seeming like
Speaker:relationships. I really do feel like people are so worried,
Speaker:not really even so much about, like, oh, I really
Speaker:love strawberry ice cream. Like, I don't know if it's necessarily
Speaker:about the strawberry ice cream or of course, it's about the same
Speaker:circumstance or the situation where you're eating the strawberry ice cream with your
Speaker:dad, or it's like a memory. And so, and that's, you know, we talked
Speaker:a lot about that before on Graybow around, like, even her holiday head
Speaker:work, stuff that she does and about the traditions and ultimately the culture
Speaker:and. And just that food is a sexualized
Speaker:thing to do and eat and talk over. But you're still
Speaker:there. You're not losing those moments. You're not losing
Speaker:yourself because you can't eat the way that you did before.
Speaker:And. And food is important. You know, I always tell people, like, people ask
Speaker:me, why did I become a dietitian? And it's like, cause I like food. You
Speaker:know, like, ultimately, at the end of the day. I chose to be a nutrition
Speaker:major when I was in college. I've said this
Speaker:before. I was going to go into med school and ultimately decided not to. And
Speaker:it was like, it made sense because I was like, great. This is like a
Speaker:career that I can see because there is just like that
Speaker:connection. And the other problem with food or the other
Speaker:thing that makes food more challenging is it's something that we do every
Speaker:single day. We eat multiple times a day.
Speaker:And it does. It plays. It plays how we schedule our
Speaker:lives, right? Like, we're gonna wake up, we have to prep breakfast. We have
Speaker:to, you know, we're gonna take a lunch break at some point in the middle
Speaker:of our work day. We're gonna make dinner for our family. We're gonna have dinner
Speaker:with friends, you know, whatever it might be. And so it really
Speaker:almost sets the cadence for every single day as well.
Speaker:And so it is just such an important thing. And this is also why things
Speaker:like eating, Eating disorder recovery is
Speaker:very, very challenging versus, not to
Speaker:say that these aren't challenging, but overcoming a drug or an alcohol
Speaker:addiction or nicotine, you can quit those things.
Speaker:You can quit in cigarettes, and you'll survive. Again, not
Speaker:downplaying that it's challenging, but you can't quit food.
Speaker:And I think that's the other thing. And there's. There is a lack of
Speaker:nutrition knowledge as well. And I think that's something else that. Plays into
Speaker:a lot of this. And people just are one way about it, and
Speaker:they've always eaten this way, and this is what they can do, or it's what
Speaker:they can afford, or it's what fits within their lifestyle. You know, people are
Speaker:busy, People are working long hours. They're working multiple jobs. They
Speaker:have, again, they've got kids, they have obligations. And so food
Speaker:sometimes has to just be, what can we get? You know, what's going
Speaker:to be the fastest, quickest thing that makes sense for us and we can afford.
Speaker:So have you been on. Have you seen, on Netflix there's this Biggest Loser
Speaker:documentary? I haven't watched it yet, but I should. I mean, I know a little
Speaker:bit about it from learning it in school and stuff. Like, we talked about Biggest
Speaker:Loser back. So did you watch the show then? Or
Speaker:are you too young for that? I was. I was probably
Speaker:too young really, to be watching it. I remember I've seen it, but I didn't
Speaker:watch it. I really. Not to take a detour here, but just
Speaker:on topic, I. I think
Speaker:watching the documentary brought me back to a place in My life
Speaker:when I saw it for the first time. Then, like, I think the early
Speaker:2000s, I remember watching it. I
Speaker:watched the original Survivor, and that kind of was seeming like one of the
Speaker:first reality, kind of like game shows, if you will,
Speaker:like watching this whole thing. And then at this time,
Speaker:I mean, I had no idea that I was going to go into
Speaker:surgery or bariatric surgery, and I thought it would be a pediatrician. So
Speaker:I wasn't really thinking about it at that time. And then I remember
Speaker:the first season and just seeing it. I only watched a part of the documentary
Speaker:so far, but it took me back to a place like, it makes me so
Speaker:emotional. And I know I do the same thing over and over again. I have
Speaker:a lot of the same conversations. But seeing the way that this one
Speaker:contestant, he won season one, his name, Ryan, and he showed
Speaker:his video from two decades ago of himself in his
Speaker:car shooting this on whatever his camera was. And he
Speaker:was saying that he had just. He was talking to it, and he
Speaker:flipped it around and goes, this is my morning. Every morning I go to this
Speaker:donut place and I go in there and I have this.
Speaker:I could only equate it to probably what it's like to do crime or something.
Speaker:He said, like, going in there, I need to get my rush because I hide
Speaker:things. Like you said, I eat it in my car. I have to do this.
Speaker:And when he was watching it, he was crying, and I was crying because I
Speaker:could just feel that he didn't want to be going to this diner shop. He
Speaker:doesn't want to do it, but he's doing it. And I think that
Speaker:that getting through that. That
Speaker:ongoing thing in your preparation for this, not just. Again,
Speaker:not to downplay what you do, it's so important. Like you said, all day, every
Speaker:day, you have to eat certain things. And we do give you a very,
Speaker:you know, kind of a generalized diet that we would like you to follow.
Speaker:But, oh, I don't know. Like, how do you get through
Speaker:to those. Some of those habits or behaviors that have come.
Speaker:Yeah, I do think that it is. There is some sort, sometimes, like, a
Speaker:compulsion with things. And I also do think that some people
Speaker:have made some of those habits almost their
Speaker:personality. And so, again, they feel like if they give them up, they're losing
Speaker:a part of themselves. And that's just not really
Speaker:accurate. Right. Like, that's. Yes, it has become a part of you,
Speaker:but it doesn't. If you lose it, it's not like, detrimental to you
Speaker:overall, and you can become something Else or you can be again more true to
Speaker:yourself in another area. You know, when it comes to something like
Speaker:that, like the first step is one recognizing it. So I
Speaker:think if you recognize the behavior, you can, you know, it is, it's like we
Speaker:talk about the stages of change. It's like, all right, I'm, I recognize that
Speaker:I'm doing this. I want to change. Now what are the steps to do that?
Speaker:You know, I, a lot of times talk to people about like, find that first.
Speaker:Find the lowest hanging fruit. You know, we're going to, like I said, well, I'll
Speaker:talk through somebody with their, through their, you know, kind of normal day intake of
Speaker:what they, what they do. And it's not, you know, I think a lot of
Speaker:people are afraid to share that with me or they're like, oh, it's different. You
Speaker:know, it's like, it's like I'm not, this is just so I can get a
Speaker:baseline. And I know any dietitian would be the same way. There's no judgment, there's
Speaker:no like, oh God, you're doing that. Like, no, this is just so I know
Speaker:what you're doing and so we can talk through next steps. So I always
Speaker:say like a lot of people, for instance, maybe soda is the issue. And
Speaker:we know that sugar sweetened beverages for a lot of people are a problem. And
Speaker:I say again, it's not an easy one to cut. But for some people, I'm
Speaker:like, if it's the easiest one to start there or start with if you know
Speaker:that breakfast is the biggest meal or the biggest challenge for
Speaker:you, but we can change it one or two days a week.
Speaker:Let's do that. Change it. Take bite sized pieces of these
Speaker:things and do that, do that behavior
Speaker:until it becomes a lot easier. And then you add on another change, and then
Speaker:you add on another change. You know, we talk about like the starch free diet
Speaker:and usually for a lot of people I, you know, I always tell three, three
Speaker:meals a day you want to be eating consistently. We want to make sure we're
Speaker:having protein at each meal, which for most people is not a big issue.
Speaker:Generally some people it's, they're not getting enough protein. But a lot of
Speaker:the American diet tends to focus on protein. So it's not a huge deal. The
Speaker:starches is really the biggest, the biggest thing. I'll say, well,
Speaker:don't cut them out completely to start, start by reducing your portion
Speaker:or start by adding something else to your meal. Add a serving of veggies to
Speaker:your meal, then you will naturally cut back on that starchy food. You know, if
Speaker:you are eating lower on the protein, maybe you're only having a couple bites of
Speaker:your protein food, increase that up to a full serving of that.
Speaker:Um, so it's kind of those, like, just shifts in it.
Speaker:And again, then over time, it's like, okay, I'm going to cut back more. I'm
Speaker:going to cut back more. I'm going to add more and more of these other
Speaker:things. And because I always tell people too, I don't want you to be like
Speaker:starving in the pre op phase. Like, I don't want you just to cut everything
Speaker:out and be hungry all the time. That won't work either. No. And
Speaker:it's not what you're going to feel like after surgery, which we'll get to. But.
Speaker:Yeah. So that's usually how I kind of approach it. It's like
Speaker:some people do okay with trying to. They jump both feet in and they
Speaker:say, you know what? On Monday, I'm starting and I'm doing search free and I'm
Speaker:doing this and I'm. And if that works for you, then that's fine. But I
Speaker:find for most people, they can sustain it for a little bit. And then
Speaker:it's like, oh, no. Oops, what did I do? All
Speaker:in the mentality. Yes. Like, oh, if I screwed up, well, then I'm gonna screw
Speaker:up. That's it. Yeah, I'm done. The exercise is really big
Speaker:on that one. Totally. Yeah. Oh, I didn't go today. Well, you know what? I'm
Speaker:not gonna. Yeah, for me, right now, it is trying to learn Spanish.
Speaker:I signed up for Babel paying for this, and I was like. I was like
Speaker:on it every day. And then like Amber and I and a patient
Speaker:who is Spanish speaking, we get on there and, you know, I'm like,
Speaker:no, no, I'm going to introduce myself. And so I'm going for it. And
Speaker:then Babel's been like, hitting me up every day, and I was, where you been?
Speaker:Where you been? What's going on? Because I don't want to do. No, but
Speaker:I. We need to do it, guys. We're going to get in. We can do
Speaker:hard things, and we're going to do it. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, I
Speaker:think the stories, the backstories, but the success. The
Speaker:success and all of that is so big. I think
Speaker:that that also has made me. It made me fall in
Speaker:love with bariatric surgery, I think, in a way, from the Biggest Loser. Even
Speaker:though that was like Kind of the antithesis of what they were trying to
Speaker:do. Yeah, because it was all like, you could do this without. It's just willpower.
Speaker:It's just working out, but not really. Yeah, but that's what I
Speaker:loved about it was seeing these people in the back stories. And,
Speaker:yeah, they're real people that have real families and they have real situations and
Speaker:jobs and all of that. And then they wanted to make a change. They wanted
Speaker:to be selected, and there's just a hope. And I can do that for
Speaker:somebody. I can help them with that. Absolutely. So
Speaker:now they finally decide, okay, they have their why. Their why is more
Speaker:powerful. I'm reading the book by Mel Robbins. Let them.
Speaker:Okay. Actually, I finished it. It's awesome. I'm about to force you to
Speaker:read. I was going to say, just give me your copy. I feel it's so
Speaker:good. I'm about to send it to you. I know you're busy. And I'm like,
Speaker:will she do this with a toddler? Probably not, but it's really,
Speaker:really, really good. That's been something I want to work on is reading more. So,
Speaker:yeah, we should definitely all read that. And if you guys are out there and
Speaker:you hit us up on the weight loss collab or you just text us at
Speaker:407-543-0971, let us know
Speaker:if you want to do a book club, and we'll do. Yeah, why not? I
Speaker:would love to. So in there, she talks. At the very end is about
Speaker:change. Before that, she talks a lot about relationships
Speaker:and just the whole let them theory. And that's a whole thing in and of
Speaker:itself. We could probably do a whole podcast on that. Well, we will after our
Speaker:book club. That's true. We will. We'll have so much concept on that, so we
Speaker:have to do it. So at the end, she talks about people in change,
Speaker:and all of it comes down to. She's looked at. She's done the research
Speaker:and she's looked at all these different theories on it. And a lot
Speaker:of what, you know, experts or just anecdotal evidence has shown
Speaker:is that people has to want it themselves. Like, I can't want
Speaker:this for you more than you want it for yourself or that you have to
Speaker:come to that point. And a lot of what makes people want
Speaker:to change is actually me not saying anything to you, but just watching
Speaker:me do good behaviors. As she describes this thing. Like, every day,
Speaker:colleagues at work, okay, Sally, across the cubicle from you, she
Speaker:goes out and she takes a walk during her lunch break. She comes back, she
Speaker:looks refreshed and she goes back for it. You sit there and you don't do
Speaker:it. But you've been watching her. You're like, I want to feel like she looks,
Speaker:she looks happy. She's not. She stretched her legs. She looks like she's getting
Speaker:healthier. I want to do it too. So whatever your reason is,
Speaker:here you are, you're in this era and now it's
Speaker:time for a change. Yeah. So what is it like to have
Speaker:bariatric surgery? Well, it's a great question. I have not
Speaker:bariatric surgery, but from what I have seen is again that
Speaker:like little arrow. We're talking about the arrows. That's like the tiniest little one.
Speaker:Yeah, sure. Like an hour. You know,
Speaker:that's true. It comes down to minutes. Yeah, minutes.
Speaker:But yeah, so I think that, and I talked, I talked to people too about
Speaker:this kind of the different. I break it down into like four phases. So like
Speaker:we have our pre op phase. We have kind of our immediate post op
Speaker:phase which is like a, literally like a tiny little blip. It's four weeks. Then
Speaker:we have the weight loss phase and then we move into maintenance. And so right
Speaker:now we're talking about kind of that like immediate post op and then that weight
Speaker:loss. And again, this is where I talk, where I saying, like this is where
Speaker:bariatric surgery is going to be at like the forefront of your life.
Speaker:Right. You'll hear us talk about it like your honeymoon phase from like a weight
Speaker:loss perspective because that weight is going to be coming off. It's going to
Speaker:be like you're, you're going to start feeling good, you're going to be out shopping
Speaker:and doing all those things. But you know, from, from your lifestyle and things
Speaker:that does, it becomes a lot big part of you at this, at this
Speaker:point. So you know that immediate. Again, we're going to, we're going to get you
Speaker:through, we're going to get you surgery. You're going to do your liquids for a
Speaker:week, your purees for a week and your soft diet for two weeks. And then
Speaker:you're good to go. And then, yeah, you move into this weight loss stage where
Speaker:you are, you're thinking, you're planning your meal. Yes, you, you're on this starch
Speaker:free diet. You are getting in your protein, you're trying
Speaker:to get in fruits and vegetables and fiber and all this stuff
Speaker:you're working on. Maybe you're starting to incorporate more exercise or
Speaker:more physical activity into your life and maybe that's something that you haven't
Speaker:been able to really do up until this point. Maybe you've had physical
Speaker:limitations on what you can do. And so you lost 20, 30 pounds,
Speaker:and you're like, oh, I can start to work out now. I feel a lot
Speaker:better. Um, so, yeah, I think it just becomes
Speaker:this part of your life that is a little bit dictated
Speaker:by the fact that you've had bariatric surgery. It's a great
Speaker:perspective, and I think that the knowledge that it
Speaker:is temporary, all of this. Temporary. I talk about hair
Speaker:loss. If you have that it's a temporary situation. Liquid
Speaker:diet, temporary. You will get through puree. You will get through all the
Speaker:different nuances of your body. Changing your low incisions,
Speaker:healing that little left side of pain, the first poop, the constipation,
Speaker:all the little, like, is this normal? Is this all the little things.
Speaker:You'll forget about that. It's kind of funny. Yeah. You
Speaker:move on. Yeah. And again, we talk. We talk about
Speaker:the parallels between bariatric surgery and pregnancy all the time. Is it
Speaker:like every time it comes up? But it's so true, too. Like, you think, like,
Speaker:if I think back to that first couple weeks postpartum with Elena, I was like,
Speaker:oh, yeah, it was like, I did wear, like, diapers, you know. You were,
Speaker:yeah. And like, oh, but. And at the time, it felt so big. It felt
Speaker:such a. And now I'm like, oh, I had forgotten, you know,
Speaker:until it. Until you kind of like, actually dig back there and think about it.
Speaker:And like, oh, yeah, that was. That was a lot. But
Speaker:we're done now, you know. Exactly. All of it.
Speaker:All of it. You try to prepare for it as much as you can, but
Speaker:nothing will prepare you for what it's really like. Then you do it, and then
Speaker:you could tell your story. You try to pay it forward. You try to tell
Speaker:the other moms, try to get to tell the other patients. This is what it
Speaker:feels like. This is what you're going to have on hand. And some of those
Speaker:tips are really helpful. But until you go through,
Speaker:just can be. I describe it. Yeah. Try our best. Yeah.
Speaker:So, yeah, so this phase of your life, this era, again, it's going to be
Speaker:just. It's going to be a lot. It's going to be very emotional, too. And
Speaker:I do think that this is an important time to really check in with yourself
Speaker:mentally and emotionally, too, and work with a professional if you need to. Always
Speaker:reach out to your support team in whatever that
Speaker:might look like, because it is. I think There can be a bit of
Speaker:an identity shift. And for a lot of people, there can be a big identity
Speaker:shift in this stage because especially if you're known
Speaker:as the person or you love, maybe love going out to eat, and that's always
Speaker:been your thing and now you're like, I mean, I still enjoy it, but it's
Speaker:not the same as it was before. Or maybe you have a very close knit,
Speaker:big family that loves to do celebrations. We see
Speaker:a lot of, like our Hispanic patients that do a lot of these big
Speaker:regular, like kind of celebrations and things like that that
Speaker:do tend to be very focused and. And then, you
Speaker:know, you're getting comments from other people and you're getting like input.
Speaker:And it's mostly good, but from some people it's not great
Speaker:or it's jealousy or it's whatever it might be. And so you're getting
Speaker:all of this, like, you know, just, just input. And
Speaker:then your body has changed, you know, which again, even though that's a physical
Speaker:thing, plays a big role in our mental health. Yeah,
Speaker:I mean, this is a weird parallel as well, but there's also
Speaker:the parallel to like, entrepreneurship. Okay, so hear me out on this one.
Speaker:So I also get targeted on social media by a lot of these, you
Speaker:know, different things. And one of them was from Mr. Wonderful, from the
Speaker:Shark King, and he was talking about his time working with
Speaker:Steve Jobs, and he was describing that
Speaker:there's like two different phenomenons to forward progress.
Speaker:So there is signal, which is the things that you do them
Speaker:and they get you moving forward. The things that have to be accomplished, like, okay,
Speaker:this is all good. The signal is your North Star. That's what
Speaker:you have to do to be able to get to the next step and just
Speaker:keep on getting bigger, bigger and bigger. And then there's the noise.
Speaker:And I think when you look at Steve Jobs, he said he
Speaker:had a tremendous ability to really hone in on the signal. 80%
Speaker:of what he did was signal and 20% of it was noise. And
Speaker:for most people, however you work or you live or whatever, there's so
Speaker:much noise. And whenever I hear, I'll
Speaker:see sometimes patients for second or third or fourth final
Speaker:consultations where we're talking about it and they're talking about
Speaker:my neighbor or my son or my friend
Speaker:or my co worker, they had surgery, they thought, they
Speaker:told me I should urge you, like noise. It's
Speaker:noise. Yeah, it's all noise. And how do you really
Speaker:just stick to the signal that this is you
Speaker:and what you want for your Life in your body,
Speaker:in this whole thing. I think that's what you need to do.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think that if you can do that and again reduce that
Speaker:and it's challenging. Like it's not just as easy as saying, well, I just had
Speaker:to listen to it. Right. Yeah, that's true. Like that, like it takes
Speaker:work to do that. But yes, if you can kind of get down like the
Speaker:basics, if you can stay. These are the things that I am doing.
Speaker:And you know, whatever your opinion is, is
Speaker:I'm going to try to let it run, you know, roll off my shoulders and
Speaker:brush it off and. Or I'm going to let it affect me for five minutes
Speaker:and then I'm going to move on. And like you just, you do. You kind
Speaker:of have to find like your North Star, like you said, and just like really
Speaker:just focus on that. And I think too for a lot of
Speaker:people and again, we, we tend to talk about women a lot more because we
Speaker:see a lot of women in our practice, but I
Speaker:think so long too that they have been putting themselves on
Speaker:the back burner or they have put themselves on the back burner and
Speaker:that this, this is the time that they're finally putting themselves first. And I
Speaker:think there's a lot of uncomfortability and stress in that situation too
Speaker:because they're like, well, am I doing this? And it's now I'm taking away
Speaker:time for my family or I'm, you know, not being the same
Speaker:mom that I was before, whatever it might be. But I think that that's another
Speaker:big thing that can happen and like that, that like shift in
Speaker:perspective a little bit on. And again, especially just I tend to see
Speaker:it in, in our women over. And over and over again. That's another one
Speaker:we have to talk about. Yeah. Because when somebody else's
Speaker:perhaps comfortable life is now more uncomfortable because you are
Speaker:choosing yourself. Oh, that's where the friction
Speaker:comes in. That's where the debate is. Yep. Can have
Speaker:partners too. A lot. I know we have
Speaker:other episodes on this. We have a lot of thoughts about
Speaker:all that and relationships that and, and all,
Speaker:all those aspects and. Yeah. All right. So that's kind
Speaker:of again, this is like that weight loss space. So this is going to, to
Speaker:get you through again. This is where bariatrics is at the forefront of everything that
Speaker:you do. But eventually you're going to get to a point and you're going to
Speaker:move into maintenance. And this is something I tell people do. I'm like, you're
Speaker:never going to believe this, probably. But there will be a day when you don't
Speaker:want to lose any more weight because you've been. I understand you've been trying to
Speaker:lose weight for 40 years, but there will come a day where you're like, you
Speaker:know what? I'm good. I don't want to lose any more weight. And that's
Speaker:when you get to move into, like, the next stages of your life.
Speaker:And if you have been. I've been overweight for 53 years,
Speaker:man. All of a sudden, when it's like, I wake up and I'm not going
Speaker:to obsessively think about. I mean, you're still
Speaker:thinking about it, but it's like, it's a different thing. It will mess with your
Speaker:mind. We talk about maintenance all the time. Yeah. Maintenance is the hardest thing. It
Speaker:is. It is so bizarre. And there's body dysmorphia that comes
Speaker:with it. And there's feelings of
Speaker:almost. It's almost like. It's like you can't even. It's,
Speaker:like, hard to believe. It's almost impossible to believe that you did
Speaker:it. Did I? But is it ever really
Speaker:finished? Do we ever really hit the buzzer? And I think that that's. That's the
Speaker:thing. We don't. No, you don't. It's never quite accomplished. That's why the Biggest Loser.
Speaker:Why do I keep coming back to Europe? The Biggest Loser was the reason why
Speaker:people were just. After the. The confetti goes off and you're on
Speaker:the big platform with a scale. Yeah. You lost
Speaker:50% of your weight. You are the Biggest Loser. Winner. Congratulations.
Speaker:After all, the likes die down, then
Speaker:what? Right, because that's what I mean, some of these people come out, they're so
Speaker:thin because they're trying to win money. I mean, there's a prize. There's a
Speaker:finite end point. And this is. There's no prize. There's no
Speaker:confetti. No. So it seems a little like
Speaker:this is it. Yeah, this is it. And you do still have to put. In
Speaker:the work, you know, and we talk about this, you know, with diets. You know,
Speaker:why. Why don't diets typically work? Because they tend to have an
Speaker:end date to them. And once, you know, it's like, I did this for so
Speaker:long, and then I stopped it and my weight came back. And so it's the
Speaker:same thing. Like, yes, your diet is going to adjust and
Speaker:it's going to rebalance, hopefully, and we get you again to being much
Speaker:more, you know, in a normal, generally Healthful diet
Speaker:versus being like a very restricted early bariatric diet.
Speaker:But you still have to be mindful of what
Speaker:you're doing. Can't just go to the other extreme.
Speaker:So, so, yeah, so, so what is maintenance like, from
Speaker:my perspective, you know, again, as a dietitian? Like, it is, it's starting
Speaker:to find what is the. What is the intake that works for
Speaker:you to keep where you're happy and satisfied. And the
Speaker:hardest thing I think for people to do is always they're going to start to
Speaker:increase their carbohydrates. And they have been like, I haven't eaten a starch in a
Speaker:year. Like, what am I going to. And it's like, it's okay. Those foods aren't
Speaker:bad for you. They're not. You know, I don't like to use the words good
Speaker:and bad when it comes to food even. And they are just
Speaker:something that we know that early on isn't necessarily going to support your weight loss.
Speaker:So we're just going to come out. And so it's like, how do we work
Speaker:those things back into the diet at the appropriate level
Speaker:and frequency of them? A lot.
Speaker:That's an issue for a scare. Yeah, it is. People get really nervous.
Speaker:But then I think you work through that, you find what works well for
Speaker:you. You get to that place where it's like it just becomes an
Speaker:autopilot, you know, and that's the goal.
Speaker:Like, I don't want you to think about this as being on a diet for
Speaker:the rest of your life. Like, yes, you have to be. You have to pay
Speaker:attention to it. Just like anybody who follows a general healthful
Speaker:lifestyle, you have to work at it every single day.
Speaker:But it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to feel
Speaker:overly restricted. You're following some set of
Speaker:rules, you're following some exact number or
Speaker:anything like that. You're just finding what works for you that fits in your
Speaker:life. Yeah. And then there's always the last
Speaker:era. It's not the last era. It's the start of an era. And that is
Speaker:the like, suck sometimes era. And that we
Speaker:have some relapse or not even relapse.
Speaker:That's lame. But almost like, gosh,
Speaker:I was, I loved it when I was at this weight and I was in
Speaker:maintenance. And then I did do some of these things and I got a. It
Speaker:was like a slippery slope and I'm several years out and I,
Speaker:I'm just, I need to get back on track in air quotes. I need to,
Speaker:you know, I'm having A little bit of regain. So what do I do? So
Speaker:in that one, guess what, Whether we got stuff for you
Speaker:too. And I think that era is where we really
Speaker:come in as your true kind of like, companion on this
Speaker:journey for life, as we say. And we're like, we have resources,
Speaker:we have things that we can do to help you get right back on the
Speaker:ends. We see it over and over again, so that's exciting. So if you're out
Speaker:there, like, I do miss the honeymoon. Yeah. I don't care if
Speaker:it was only like a blip on my radar on the actual surgery. I want
Speaker:to go back to those days. Yeah, we can get you back there. Yeah.
Speaker:And I think, you know something else that happens too. Yeah, you do
Speaker:life. Life happens and you do. It slips away from you. So I think that
Speaker:it is. It's like, just get back on track, get back on the horse a
Speaker:little bit. You know, again, maybe we go fairly restrictive. We go back similar
Speaker:to early stages and we get back to that. And then again we work back
Speaker:into that, like, balance and all that goodness.
Speaker:And then another thing that comes up as people move into.
Speaker:Into that maintenance stage there, like, oh,
Speaker:my gosh, I can eat more. Yeah, you can. That's fine.
Speaker:My goal is not that you eat as little as possible for the rest of
Speaker:your life. Like, that is not the goal of. It should be the goal of
Speaker:any bariatric surgeon or any bariatric dietitian, like,
Speaker:because that ultimately will not serve you. So
Speaker:that's definitely just one of those things too. Like, yes, you're going to be able
Speaker:to eat maybe not a full, big old Thanksgiving Day plate, but you'll be able
Speaker:to eat much more normally in the long run. You will. You will
Speaker:enjoy life. We'll make sure of it. We'll get you to your goals. We'll keep
Speaker:you there and just forever warm.
Speaker:Yeah. And then you get to be like, again, the best version of this
Speaker:version of you. And that's where I think that that maintenance phase
Speaker:allows you to really shine. Is it? It does. It takes a lot of those
Speaker:things that may be perceived as, what was your
Speaker:personality before surgery? You know, was I? People tell me
Speaker:this one. Was I the fat, funny friend? Was I the guy who could
Speaker:out eat everybody? Was I? You know, did I? It's like, no, you
Speaker:don't have to live in that box anymore. And you get to say, like, oh,
Speaker:I'm still the funny friend. Like, you can still be that funny person.
Speaker:You didn't lose that of yourself. You didn't lose all these other positive aspects of
Speaker:yourself, but you get to leave some of the less comfortable
Speaker:ones behind. Big shape behind us. That's what we're going to be
Speaker:spending some time doing. Oh, goodness. I'll tell you, my
Speaker:favorite era is this one right now. Yeah. Yeah. I
Speaker:love life now, and I think that's what I want for everybody. Just to feel
Speaker:like I'm where I'm supposed to be at this moment in my life.
Speaker:And I have not really felt that way. I feel like I've been,
Speaker:like, unsettled. And I think your body and the way you feel about it
Speaker:is kind of right there or with it. I hope that for you that what
Speaker:we do here is something that can help you to get to
Speaker:your best era as well. Exactly. Yeah. So if you're not there yet
Speaker:and you know, you're like, I want that. That's what we're here for and that's
Speaker:what we do. Get you back to living the best way you can.
Speaker:Exactly. And if you're still here with us on this podcast, I hope that you
Speaker:will attend our support groups. I hope that you will show up for
Speaker:all the different events that we do. I hope that you will join and follow
Speaker:and subscribe and do all the things. Because honestly, it's just kind
Speaker:of like a daily reminder. Like, don't let us go too far from you. Let
Speaker:us just kick that door open and be right there with you in your life
Speaker:at all times, on your phones, in person, wherever we are. We
Speaker:want to be that reminder that you always have us here in
Speaker:that we're one big happy community of people
Speaker:just trying to get through. Yes. And that. Just really quick, that community
Speaker:piece, and that is definitely something to, like, tune in with the bariatric community
Speaker:because there is so much support and there are so many people that are in
Speaker:all these different eras that are in this. They're in the pre op, they're new
Speaker:post op, they're learning this. They're doing all the things. And then there are people
Speaker:that are 20, 30 years out from surgery that have done and seen
Speaker:it all. So, you know, connect with that as well, because I
Speaker:think that it's something that is really helpful. Definitely makes you into that. So if
Speaker:there's swifties, what would we call our community? Ooh.
Speaker:Besties. The berries. Yeah, something. Let us know what you want
Speaker:to be called. Um, because we're clearly coming up with it on the
Speaker:spot. Yeah, I don't know. They're our collaborators.
Speaker:Um, so, yes, let us know. Follow us, of course,
Speaker:on all the social media, on Instagram, at the weight loss Collab,
Speaker:Hannah Schuyler, RD at DoctorDobek
Speaker:BodybyBariatrics. Like she said, keep an eye out for our support
Speaker:groups. And we are working on. I know we said the retreat is sold
Speaker:out, but we are working. There will be more things in the future. So if
Speaker:you missed this one, keep your eyes open. We'll make sure that you get all
Speaker:that whenever we plan all of our awesome,
Speaker:awesome events. Yes. Thank you so much for listening. I had a
Speaker:great time doing it all. Yes. The life of a podcaster
Speaker:signing on here. Yeah, that's us. And again, congrats to
Speaker:Taylor and Travis. I love it. I know. The American love
Speaker:story. All right, we'll talk to you later. All right,
Speaker:bye. Bye.
