BiteSized!

Hi my name is Ken, I was sleeved back in 2014. I’m a self-proclaimed bariatric YouTube chef I run the website bariatricfood.com and to date I’m down over 300lbs. 

I’ve been on all corners of this journey that may be considering- I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of process and I’m here today to clear up 3 common myths about weight loss surgery. 

So if you’ve struggled with your weight for most if not all all of your life, you’re probably considering a bariatric procedure and If you’re watching this video you’re probably trying to figure out if it’s for you which is great because I’m here to help. 

So let’s clear a few things up:

BTW This is not medical advise. This is my personal testimony as someone who has had surgery and is very active in the bariatric community. 

So let’s get started

Myth #1 Surgery is the easy way out

So this is a very common misconception about weight loss surgery.

I don’t know why this gets tossed out there as often as it does. Certainly weight loss surgery is a different approach to addressing the issue of weight when compared to just going to the gym and maintaining a diet. But different doesn’t always translate to easy. 

Far from it. Most programs will have you adopt a diet plan along with some sort of activity regiment. On top of that, most programs will have a mental health component to this because medical science has come to the consensus that the issue weight is just as much of a challenge of the mind as it is of the body. 

You’ll have a doctor, a nutritionist, and mental health counselor, and surgeon closely monitoring your progress. I don’t know about you personally but having that many eyes on my weight, on my progress, my physical activity, what I’m eating made me uncomfortable initially. When I entered into my program back in 2012, I was not use to that level of attention on something that was so embarrassing and so shameful as my weight. I just wasn’t wasn’t 

And then on top of all of that, you still have to stick to a diet, be active, lose weight and also fight off the occasional person trying to talk me out of what I’m doing. 

I can’t tell you how many conversations I would have with people who had never talked to me about my weight suddenly having a million opinions about what I should be doing. The other thing to note about the myth of this being easy:

Unlike the person that is able to go to the gym everyday, stick to a diet, be able to afford a personal trainer- as that person- you get to decide day to day if you’re going to be that person. As bariatric patient, you don’t get this option. You will wake up every day as a bariatric patient. For better or for worse, there are no days off. You don’t just flip a switch and get to eat a whole pizza. You are sacrificing this freedom in the pursuit of greater health. 

Then getting surgery, recovering from surgery, having to re-learn how to eat, drink, cook, take yourself- trust me- its certainly a different road and if that sounds easy to you- I would like to hear your definition of hard. 

I think people that don’t know much about it feel very comfortable being critical of it. I also think people that have it are careful not to say something that would scare someone away from it. We’re resilient creatures. We can adjust to almost everything put before us- that being said- adjusting to the challenges that we signed up- can be a special tasting medicine that doesn’t always go down easy. 

Myth #2 Surgery doesn’t work for most people; that they just regain the weight and end back up where they started… if they’re lucky

So I can definitely shed some light on this myth as I’m someone that they’re talking about in this statement

So this is a myth based on the word MOST- most patients who have a bariatric procedure have not only lose more weight then someone just doing diet exercise but they also manage to keep it off longer term. 

Now with anything to do with people- there are a few exceptions to this rule of thumb. As I pointed out earlier, I was sleeved back in 2014. I lost 250lbs by 2016 and then by 2018 I was back over the 400lbs mark around 420lbs give or take. 

I bring this up for two reasons: 

1. It’s important to recognize that this isn’t magic. Your surgeon doesn’t waive a wand and make you skinny. They do the best they can anatomy wise but when you walk out of that hospital, it’s really up to you on how successful you want to be and for how long. Now I can easily point to the 5 or 6 things that I did that led me back over to the 400lbs mark and it took a very long time for me to get my head in a place where I was ready to address it. 
2. I want to make it clear to the people watching this worried that they’ll be loser’s bracket that they’ll get bypassed or sleeved and end up right back where they started. Just as you can lose weight with this- you can also gain the weight back- but- and this is and important but- you can lose it again. I always say- surgery is an opportunity and it is what you make out of it. Some people look at it like a train that’s leaving the station- that they’re either on it or they’ve completely missed it and I’m here to say that’s not the case. I can also say as someone that had to lose it all over again, that it was totally worth it, I hope I have to never do it again, but if I do- I will because I’ve now done it twice and I know what works for me and you will too if you pay attention and make the investment in yourself. 

Myth #3 Bariatric surgery isn’t safe.

So this myth comes from a couple of different places. I think people hear about the side effects, getting sick, the restriction, the dark side of this when you don’t follow the rules and conclude ya this isn’t a safe. I think people look at this surgical procedure as optional and every surgical procedure comes with risk no doubt but let me flip the conversation just a bit

Data acquired from the ASMBS Bariatric Centers of Excellence database shows that the risk of death within the first 30 days when you’re most at risk while you’re healing following surgery is 0.13 percent. This rate is considerably lower than that of other very routine surgical procedures such as gallbladder and hip replacement surgery.

On top of that, data shows a significant reduction in mortality rates associated with weight-related diseases post-surgery. 

So what does this mean? If you’re someone who suffers from obesity- you may suffer from other medical issues such as hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes, bad back, weak knees, jazz hand ect. 

Addressing your weight will hopefully make these allments better if not completely non-existent giving you more time on the clock and more important a better quality of time because it’s one thing to live a long life, its another thing to live a long comfortable life. 

I can promise you from personal experience, it’s whole new world when you’re able to walk it comfortably, confidently, and with a sense of pride- that you earned. It is a huge privilege to be able to confidently go outside, not have to worry about being out of breath, energy- worrying that you’ll be so exhausted that you won’t be able to walk back to the car or hotel. I don’t like to travel much but when I do- I love going outside now because it’s the one place I use to avoid like the plague. I was always worried about people seeing be out of breath, uncomfortable, sweating my ass of doing something that people were able to do second nature. 

You have so much to gain by making this investment in yourself. New experiences, new people, new clothes, being able to keep up with friends and family- hell the possibilities are endless. I never thought I would want to walk every day let alone start running races. That was the last place on my mind when I signed up for this but holy moly the pride I get being able to say unironically that I’m a runner now. Who knows who you’ll be this time next year. It’s kind of scary but it’s also very exciting if you let yourself lean into it. 

Its not going to be all roses. There are plenty of parts of this process that suck but for most people that do this, they wish they did it sooner and if you decide the leap is for you- I wish you all the best. We all deserve to be comfortable in this world. 

If you found this video useful, please tell me so because I would love to make more of them and if you have any questions you’d like addressed in a future video, let me know in the comments. If you’re curious about what food looks like after surgery, check out my food videos- I’m here for support and I’m at your service. 

Until next time.