If you have ever wondered whether bariatric surgery could be right for you, this episode of The Weight Loss Collab is the perfect place to start. Dr. Betsy Dovec and registered dietitian Hannah Schuyler break down the basics of weight loss surgery and answer the questions patients ask most before taking that first step.

Who qualifies for bariatric surgery? Is BMI the only factor that matters? How do gastric sleeve and gastric bypass compare, and how much weight can you realistically expect to lose? We also explain insurance requirements, self-pay options, preoperative testing, nutrition visits, psychological evaluations, and what the timeline from consultation to surgery actually looks like.

You will also learn where GLP-1 weight loss medications fit into the conversation, how bariatric surgery can affect your health and body, and what long-term support looks like after surgery.

If weight loss surgery has even crossed your mind, this episode will help you understand your options, know what questions to ask, and decide what your next step might be.

She's a doctor. Hi, I'm Dr. Dovec, and she's a

dietitian. Hey, I'm Hannah Schuyler, and together we are the

Weight Loss Collab. And today we're going

back to the basics. Yes, we are. We are talking

all things bariatric surgery. Some of you

have thought about this for a long time.

Some of you have been found maybe recently

Googling this at 2 AM. Is this right for me?

Maybe your doctor has told you about it and you thought, absolutely

not. But now you're reconsidering. So we want to give you

just a really great high-level overview of what is the

process like before, during, and immediately

and long-term after bariatric surgery. And

some of you may be here and you've already had bariatric surgery, so

welcome back. And maybe you're struggling

with your weight, or maybe you're having some side effects like reflux after a

sleeve. So You know, there's so much that goes into this, so maybe this will

be a part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 series. Who knows? But—

Exactly. But I think the upshot is this is hopefully a

bariatric surgery secrets to success, um, no

matter what phase you're in. Again, if you're in the contemplation,

preparation, action mode, or even in the maintenance

fun-loving times years post-op, we want to make sure that we're

going to give lots of tips tips and tricks. It's going to be kind of

a potpourri of sorts of all types of different

soundbites that have to do with bariatric surgery. Yeah.

So tell me, so this, this is your area

obviously of expertise. So tell me the perfect,

like, who, who should get bariatric surgery? Who qualifies?

Well, there's the insurance kind of black and white

guidelines that says who qualifies for it. And it's based on BMI, body

mass index, which BMI is garbage. is completely

outdated. There's really not a great objective kind of line in the

sand that will tell you if you're a great candidate or not.

I've had patients who've had very low BMIs, but they have

central distribution to their weight. Their surgeries are super hard

because of their intra-abdominal kind of fat distribution, and they have

diabetes and lots of other kind of scary cardiovascular

metabolic issues related to it that Okay. On

paper, they're, they're thin, they're skinny, they don't really need it.

And then I have patients who have much higher BMIs who do

need to lose weight, but they don't have those associated health issues or comorbidities.

So I think the perfect person is someone

probably like most people who have

tried the things, who have been very deliberate and

intentional about their lifestyle choices,

who've done the different diets and are just frustrated

and want someone something that will actually give them the sustainable results

that they've kind of already been trying for.

And I think that's where bariatric comes in. It's not a last

resort. It's the resort that will actually give you the most

effective results that exist. Yeah. And I think

a lot of times, like, people are— people do feel like it is kind of

that last resort. And I think that's what it's sold as a lot of

times too, from The media or from primary

care doctors or specialists or things like that. It's like,

all right, well, yeah, you gave it— which I— not to dismiss,

you know, lifestyle changes, because the thing with bariatric surgery is you still have

to make lifestyle changes. But I think that sometimes it's like you're

just kicking the can down the line and causing people to go through a

lot of like just stress and trauma and

Hardship to not have results to then ultimately come to surgery.

Like, absolutely. Earlier, I tell people that every single day of my

life. I say, give yourself grace. Like, just let yourself live the

life that you want to live. Stop with all of this

obsessive, really

self-deprecating thought patterns that I

do know with all certainty that a lot of patients have. They don't

want to be this weight. And why are they such a failure? Why can't they

get this together? They're so successful in other aspects. I talk to

people over and over again, and there's a lot of variations of this,

this self-punishment of you need to try harder before you try

this that exists. And that's also put on a lot by

society. And there's a lot of, you know, it's

not the mainstream easiest way. And I

think there's just a lot of shame that's unfortunately still associated with

bariatric surgery. Absolutely. Because it's still less than 1% of people

that qualify. Are getting surgery. And it's even less

now. Yeah. I think since GLP-1s have come, I think people think,

well, if I could just get my hands on those. And it turns

out that GLP-1s do work great

about 30% of the time. And those 30% are the ones

who have much lower starting BMIs and really don't

struggle with the real true disease, the chronic disease of

obesity. Those in the next categories, the next

two-thirds, it doesn't really work. It doesn't give you the sustainable weight loss that you're

looking for. And if you stop the medications, you're very

likely, if not 100% likely, to gain your weight back.

And I think that people think, well, geez, this is the miracle

med, like this should be working for me. And then when it's not,

it's just another level of shame and blame and, um,

kind of a negative spiral. Yeah. And, and tell me, just to stay

on GLP-1s for a second, um, have you heard anything about like I

think it's research that's coming out. I don't know that there's anything truly out there,

so maybe it's just all observational, but about people

starting them, stopping them, and then restarting them and

not having as big of an impact on that

restart. Is that anything you've heard about? Absolutely. Yeah,

absolutely. And I think that we're seeing it too anecdotally. So the

first one that came out that really got the attention of everyone

was Ozempic, was semaglutide, was Wegovy.

made by Novo Nordisk. And that was the, the only one

before tirzepatide, Zepbound, and Mounjaro came onto the scene.

And so a lot of people were on that and they were doing great,

losing weight. I mean, we have Ozempic face. We have so many references to, are

they on Ozempic? Even though almost no one is on Ozempic, I think, right now.

Mm-hmm. But anyway, if you were to go back on that,

you're gonna be like, yeah, I'm not, It's not working at all.

It's not the same. Yeah, it's not the same. It's like you build up a

tolerance, and which was kind of good in the beginning

days because you're also helping to build up a tolerance to those side effects— the

nausea, the constipation, the maybe abdominal pain,

reflux, um, all of those things. Now you're like, I

feel completely un— you know,

unbothered by this. I have no side effects, but I'm also not— means I'm not

losing weight. So you kind of want to be a little bit almost a little

pukey so that it's actually working. And the same thing with

tirzepatide. You're right. If you stop it, go back on it, it might not work

the second time. Yeah. Which that's one of those things that, especially when you look

at, I mean, going back to insurance coverage, people are getting and

losing and changing jobs and getting coverage and all of that

different stuff, different things when it comes to these medications. So like just from

a, a logistics standpoint of

maintaining the, the medications can be really difficult,

um, which then again, you're coming back, okay, I'm having to start

again, and now it's not working for me. And so I've

kind of got, you know, shot in the foot a little bit here. And that

is where bariatric surgery is so different, because you can't start and stop bariatric

surgery. It's one and done. Exactly. And

it doesn't— okay, you, you fall off today, you're gonna

guarantee gain your weight back? Absolutely not. Yeah. And I mean,

we said it many, many times, but it is so exciting to see

these same patients. With the caveat to your last point is that if

you're If you're on them before, if you're on Mounjaro before, you have a

gastric bypass or bariatric surgery, you go on Mounjaro

afterwards, dang if it's not a totally different ballgame. Mm-hmm.

After surgery, in terms of the efficacy of these

medications, I'm telling you, you're going to be a super responder.

Post-bariatric patients on GLP-1s will have a

supercharged amplified effect of these meds,

very versus same person if you took it before, before you had your

surgery. Right. And I think, you know, obviously this,

this episode is about surgery, so we'll get back to it. But just one more

thing on the meds is that while they are great, but like you mentioned

before, sometimes we see these people who are at a higher weight, higher BMI,

who get on them and then they hit the limit of what these meds are

going to do. And it's not where they want to be. It's not where they

need to get to. And so it's great. It's incredible. Maybe you lost 40,

50, 60 pounds. But maybe you really need to lose

100 pounds, maybe you need to lose 120 pounds, whatever it might be. And so,

but that's it. That's where that med is going to take you. And then,

then you're at the end of the road with it. Yeah, kind of screeching halt.

And it's frustrating. And I think that those patients

are going to do awesome with bariatric surgery. And so

we— I really get excited when I see those on my schedule, like, oh, I've

been on Zepbound for 2 years now. And I finally

decided I just— I need more. And I'm like, you're going to do awesome. You

already are like there. You're in the mindset, the lifestyle. You're going to— you're going

to kill it. Yeah, I agree. Well, so to surgery,

we do mentioned earlier the insurance and like being very black and white in what

it covers. So yeah, like tell me a little bit about the insurance

process if somebody wants to get surgery covered by insurance.

So first, some people assume they have coverage or they assume they don't

have coverage and I mean, we do this. You can

just send us a picture of your front and back of your insurance card, and

then for free we verify your coverage. Okay. So some

have great coverage. For example, if you have something

called Lantern on your insurance card, oh my

gosh, congratulations, you have the best coverage in the United

States of America for weight loss surgery. They

will usually cover it at 100%. They even

take care of a lot of the expenses associated with it, including

travel or any of of that expense for you and a

companion. So it's pretty incredible. It's almost

unbelievable, but it's true. It really works. We have a

blog and it has a whole list of employers that utilize Lantern.

So check that out. The second thing is

some are just standard Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna,

United, Cigna, Medicare, Medicaid. We take all plans

and a lot of them do cover it. But unfortunately, there are

some plans or your employer might dictate

that they do not have the benefit of bariatric surgery.

So I don't know, I can't make a blanket statement that all

Cigna has bariatric coverage or does not. I'd have to

check on your individual plan, and, and then we'll be

able to tell not only, A, do you have coverage, B, how

much out-of-pocket would it potentially cost you, Mm-hmm. C,

what is your policy and what do they dictate that you have to

do from a checklist standpoint of preoperative

requirements like psych evals or labs or maybe

visits even with you. And then D, let us

submit a prior authorization to get it approved and we can kind of go for

it from there. So we will send you all the information

upfront because everybody wants to know what's it going to cost me and

how long is this going to take? Yeah. And so

this is where it can be frustrating. It can be

confusing. You're going to hear a lot of insurance terms, deductible, copay, coinsurance, out-of-pocket,

out-of-pocket maximum, in-network, out-of-network, all these different things.

But our goal is always to try and like really break that down for you

so you, at the end of, you know, when you first reach out to us,

you know, this is going to cost me approximately

X dollars, I have coverage, I don't have coverage, whatever it is.

So with us, with somebody that doesn't have coverage, what are their options?

Well, we have the lowest self-pay rate in the country for the gastric

bypass and for revisional surgery. So if you're someone,

you already had a sleeve, you got a Lap-Band, or you had another procedure on

your stomach, such as something called a Nissen

fundoplication or a vertical banded

gastroplasty back in the day, typically done open, the stomach

stapling. If you've had that, you're having issues, we

are also— we offer very, very, very low

self-pay rates for the complexity of it. Uh-huh. Uh, and that's just

because we do— we really specialize in that. And so we do this

over and over. And so We feel like we, we

want to, we can take care of you for as economically, hopefully, as

possible. And so, I mean, there's different ways that you

can finance it if you do go the self-pay route. If it's just a sleeve

or a gastric bypass, we start at

$10,999. So for

$11,000, you can pay for that cash, credit

card, cashier's check. You can get financing through Cherry.

It doesn't harm your credit. We get very creative. We have a financial

coordinator. We will be able able to— if you really want this and you really

need this, we will work with you to figure out the financial

component of it to get you what you need. Yeah, absolutely.

And you are right, we, we just want to help everybody, so we're not trying

to like— yes, I don't know, we do a lot of revisions,

so that's something. Um,

and then as far as like the time, you mentioned it, so I'll just kind

of talk for

3rd month, like that can count. So it can really be as little as

like 5 weeks, 6 weeks kind of thing. So that's a, you know, just

FYI. Some of them do say 90 days specifically, which

this is just dictated by the insurance. But I would say that for the most

part, our goal is like, we're going to work on your timeline. So if you

are like ready, rip-roaring to go for surgery, we're going to help you to get

there. If you're motivated, we're motivated and we can get you most people to

surgery in like 5 weeks or so from, from the moment that you

like text our office. to surgery a lot of times can be that

quick and even faster. Absolutely. Even, I mean, again, if you're

self-pay, like we'll, we'll get you on in 3 days, you know?

Exactly. That's the beautiful perk of not having to deal with

insurance is you don't have to deal with insurance. You don't. I feel that. And

I love that. Yeah. So, so that being said,

it's, it varies again, but it does depend on, on that specific insurance

plan. And that's part of your checklist that our patient advocates will work with you

to let you know, like, this is everything that you need to do and

this is the timeframe and Um, we'll get you on.

Uh, we'll get you on. Absolutely. So,

uh, tell me about— so we mentioned it. Tell me about the psych evaluation.

Yeah, so people are worried about that. It's non-punitive.

It's something that I have said many times. I don't

feel a one-time conversation with anyone is going to allow me

to thoroughly understand your psyche and your

mindset and if you're an adequate candidate from a

mindset standpoint. For this,

I think it's a check in the box. It's a necessary thing.

We make it really easy. We team up with different people who do it virtually.

So most of them take insurance. So it'll just

cost you your time a lot of times. Now, the thing I

do think is so important, which is why we so heavily—

we go all in on this, is ongoing therapy and

ongoing small group, um,

conversations. And we have Project Reset, and now we

have on Monday nights, exclusive to our Body By

Bariatrics post-op patients, we also have ongoing

weekly support groups. We do large all-comer support

groups. We do, um, you know, another one

that is Project Reset graduates. Yeah. So we have 3 times a week

virtually. You can hop on something that works on your mindset, and then we do

just a lot of different things in between that too. I think it's so important.

Yeah. Yeah. So checklist, check the box,

do the psych evaluation, and then we'll, we'll hold, we'll help you from there and

make sure that, make sure that you get there.

And then, okay. Oh, this is a good one. I want to know your thoughts

on the sleeve versus the bypass, which is better?

Oh, yeah. So I think everybody probably knows if you looked at

me at all on social media or have attended one of my group

sessions, my info sessions, my initial

consults, I'm just going to say it. I used to beat around

the bush with it, but I have now done enough surgeries that I

have to be very honest. And I have very much so

watched the trends. And I'm confident in saying that the gastric bypass

is the best bariatric surgery that exists. It's been around for a long

time. It is a procedure

that on paper, if you were to look at it, it looks very complicated.

And so a lot of people, I think, naturally think, oh, I don't want all

of that. Mm-hmm. The thing with the sleeve is, yes,

technically to perform it, it is a

faster operation. Typically it takes 20 to 30 minutes to perform.

The gastric bypass takes about 45 minutes. So not even all that much longer.

Mm-hmm. The sleeve, you're removing the stomach. Your GI tract

stays in its same kind of flow of food from your mouth through your

esophagus, stomach, small intestines, and large intestine, and then out.

The thing with the sleeve is you'll lose weight. It's

much easier to regain weight, and it's also

potentially less overall weight loss, and it's a less kind

of a durability to the procedure. So I hate it when people

say like, oh, everyone just gains their weight back. you're not

necessarily going to gain your weight back after the sleeve, but you do have an

increased risk of gaining maybe more weight back than you would the gastric

bypass. Yeah. The sleeve, the biggest issue with it, which I

cannot underestimate because the number of revisions that we're doing,

is the sleeve can and will most likely give you some degree of

acid reflux. And sometimes it can be quite debilitating to

the point where even with maximal medical therapy, with

a proton pump inhibitor twice a day, an

H2 blocker, like Pepcid, you're taking the meds, you're eating Tums

like you have stock in the company. That was an exact quote, swear to God,

from someone I saw yesterday, um, in virtual clinic. If you

feel like that, guess what? You're likely going to have a hiatal hernia.

You're likely going to need to have this revised to a bypass. And we're doing

this now. I'd say all about 20% of sleeves are

ending up going and needing to have another surgical intervention and a

revision and conversion to a bypass. So the bypass is just better. I think it's

better for 3 major reasons. It's a better metabolic procedure. You

are more likely to get rid of your diabetes,

get off of your type 2 diabetes medications. Your

PCOS and any hormonal issues improve. You're much more

likely to become fertile after this, if that's something that you want

in your life. It's also much better for acid

reflux, hence why it's the bailout. If you do have

reflux after the sleeve. And then number 3, you're more likely to lose

more weight and also keep it off. It is not a

runaway train, though. You will not lose too much weight with the gastric bypass.

People are always so worried, like, I don't want to look sickly, I don't want

to lose too much. I've looked this certain way for my entirety of my

adult life, and I don't want to look like a freak. Mm-hmm.

Not— you will not. I'm sure you get that all the time too. I do.

I hear that from people. And, um, I always say like, it's

typically the people who want to get the skinniest, tiniest is white ladies. They

just want to be— we're always told. And then other women typically are saying, I

don't want to lose my curves, I don't want to get below X amount of

weight. And I— you are allowed to. I always say when people talk

about their weight goal, it's up to you. We can help you

get there. Sometimes I have to manage expectations on the low end of

things. But people that are worried that they're going to lose too much, I always

say like, let's get to that point and then see where you're feeling.

Because what you will probably find is it's going to look a lot different than

you're expecting it to. And also, I just don't think you know

what that looks like. Like you're, you're saying I weigh

275 pounds, I don't want to get below

200 because I will look too skinny. I'm like, well, because you don't know what

it looks like for somebody to be your height and weigh 175 pounds, to

lose 100 pounds, which would be probably realistic for somebody in that situation.

Um, and, and so it's like, it's

finding that, like, we will, we'll kind of cross that bridge when we get

there, but you're gonna feel differently at that point. I bet you will.

Like, I, I'm, I'm willing to say you're gonna feel differently and you're gonna be

like, oh yeah, you're right, I do want to lose down to that, like, 175

or whatever, just as that example. But, um, when it comes to, like,

how much weight people lose How— okay, because we

maybe do this differently. Do you ever calculate somebody's expected out,

like, weight loss, or you just guess, or what's your

process look like? Because I know it might— Well, well, so first

off, um, again, the— God, I love what you said.

Like, it— you, you don't know what you're gonna look like. You know what it

sounds like, and you're trying to think about what you look like

there, and you just— you think you're going to be just like a bag of

skin and it's just gonna like come off of you. That's another whole misconception there.

Um, but as far as the actual weight goal, I do— I, I think

the ideal body weight is just totally bogus.

Insane. No, no one, especially men— I

think the male ones are so ridiculous. Ridiculous. It's

so gross. It's so small. Yeah, there's— they're not accounting

anything like muscle mass, lean muscle. Like, none of that is even thought about it

into your distribution, into your, your curviness. I get you. I

understand. So what I do is just kind of a rough estimate

based on honestly, like their skin type, just from like

eyeballing them, knowing what other patients that might look the same

kind of habitus distribution to their weight. And then

I kind of like estimate it from there. So for example, to your point

about white women, typically they have

different frames. They're maybe less like curvy,

less breasts and buttocks and thighs, and their

weight is maybe a little more evenly distributed. And then

I know about, you know, if I'm looking at somebody that

seems to have like a smaller frame, even though they are carrying extra weight,

I will loosely base it off of the ideal body weight, but I add a

lot to it. So for example, if I was seeing you.

Yeah. And how tall are you? 5'7. Okay. So if

you're 5'7, I would tell you

that you're probably going to be at like 160

is where I would say is an amazing kind of result for you.

That's so funny because I think that we do— we

completely approach it from a different— like, I do all numbers. I

like have a formula that I do and all of that, but we probably

end up at the same number. So I would probably estimate a little bit

higher for somebody 5'7. So what I look at— this is my calculation— I

find out— I ask them how tall they are. I ask people how tall they

are all the time and they're probably so confused, but I use it as like

an estimate of lean body mass because if we go off of, say, your

protein needs based off of your current weight, it's going to be really high, and

we don't want that. Like, it's just extra calories, blah blah blah. So I always

ask people how tall they are. So I'm 5'7, so for me to be a

BMI of 25, which is the top end of normal, is

160. So right where you're estimating. Oh wow. Okay. So

159.64 pounds would put me at a BMI of— Shut

up. Yes, a BMI of 25. So

I always say That is what I'm going to use as your lean body mass.

And then I would take your highest, your current weight, I would subtract that

out. So say I was, just for the sake of numbers,

260 pounds. So I would have 260 minus 160, we

have 100 pounds of excess body weight. And I would

estimate about for a bypass, like 80 to 90% reduction of that. So

I'd lose about 80 to 90 pounds, putting me in that like 170 range,

170 to 180 range. So we're really like that. Yeah. So we're coming

to a fairly— and I feel like Amber, our PA, does a similar one,

because I know she generally doesn't tell people that they're going to get— like, she

says we're probably going to get into like that overweight technically BMI range

is where they would end up, which is where I'm putting them too, is probably

about a BMI of maybe 27 or so. Yeah. Um,

so again, there's a few different ways to approach it, but it sounds like we

all get within a fairly close range of each other. I

think you're so right. So the overweight one goes from like

25.1 to 29.9. Yeah. And And

I think that most of our patients, you know, we used to

massively celebrate if your BMI was under 30 and I

used to give t-shirts. We got to bring something cool back. But, and so that

was, you know, you're no longer considered obese, and which is 30 to

34.9. Morbidly obese takes over at BMI of 35 and

above. So I think that, I think

that most of our bariatric patients will achieve

no matter how long it is, you will at some point get to that BMI

below 30. Now, if you really want to get into that

normal category, I do think that the really—

you could do it on your own 100%, but I think the only way to

really live there and sustain there is when you would then add a

GLP-1. And those patients, if your BMI is under 30, you add a

GLP-1, you've had a gastric bypass, I guarantee you're going to get into that normal

range below a BMI of 25. Yeah. Period. You're gonna do it. Yeah.

So that's— but then with this, that's so cool. So going back to that,

yeah, the differences. So for a sleeve, it's like about 60 to 70%

of that excess body weight. So again, in the example that I gave, it would

be losing more like 60 to 70 pounds versus 80 to

90 pounds. So really getting into that high 100s

range. Exactly. That example, I would probably tell them in that

one, like, you would maybe get to Wonderland. And

it's, it's, it's going to be tougher. And I

think that people will say, I hit there and then I, I

see some weight regain, um, much more than I do

with the gastric bypass. The trends absolutely show that. So you don't get as

low as you want, and then it starts to creep up in a way where

the bypass kind of lingers in that same range. And then if you want to

go down, you have to— Yeah. And I always say too, with that loss, like,

then It's probably for a bypass, we're probably going to bump up 5 to 10

pounds, like longer term. You're just going to have that little bit of a

rebound up. So sometimes if people are worried about it, I'm like, lose a little

bit more than you think you want because that gives you wiggle room to gain

a little bit back. And then, yeah, I feel okay.

And then also about weights and about, you know, when we talk to people like,

tell me your story, like tell me your entire journey from when you were a

little kid to, you know, puberty to,

you know, life happening and going on and beyond. And,

you know, when I ask people a lot of that,

we did a study when I was a resident, gosh, 15 years ago,

where we were looking at that high school kind of graduating high

school weight as maybe a sweet spot in your life. And what do

you think about the trend of you settling out at your set point

about 15 pounds plus or minus your high school

graduating weight? I think if you were somebody

who was in a more— hmm, I don't know. I,

I've never really thought about it because for some people that's some of their highest

weights. So, uh, you know, is that potentially an

issue there? I mean, I would love to be my high school graduating weight.

I know. I think for a lot of women, we,

uh, women— there's obviously different stories and different

reasons and every— people are very different in their journeys, but I

think women, because of of puberty, and

then because of childbirth, and then perimenopause and the

hormonal shifts, which are much more, you know,

like, oh my God, after I had a baby, all of a sudden it's like,

uh-oh. Like, you hear that all the time. Like, I have been—

I gained the weight with my baby, and my, my, my baby is 17 and

I still can't lose it. Like, I hear that all the time. My mom

still has my baby weight, I think, some of it. I, I think

that's— I think that's true no matter what you do. It's just super

hard to get it off. And,

um, yeah, I think we have a lot of examples of that. Yeah, yeah. So

wait, do people— do you find that people get back to that high school resting?

Like, wait. I do. And I, I think though, but if they're— if they're the

person that tells me, you know, the first time I heard it, I was like,

oh my God, that's so funny. You're like, I came out a big baby, I

was like 9 pounds at birth. And then it's like, all right, you know, you're

like, I was a chubby toddler, and then I really struggled even in grade school,

and I was put on Weight Watchers when I was 8 years old. And when

you hear those stories, uh, no, I do think that you're

going to be totally different than you can even imagine.

Yeah. And those are the ones I think, um, that are

some of my favorite stories too, because you don't know any different,

and I promise you this will work. And then it's like, oh wow, like this

is just such a different life than I ever thought I would lead. Yeah. And

a lot of times I see that a lot too with our, our younger patients,

our 22-year-olds that come in to see us, and they're like, yeah, this has just

been— they're like, maybe for a few years in the, you know, kind of late

high school, that again, especially for women, they kind of slim out maybe a little

bit in those years. And then, or they're playing a lot of sports or,

you know, a very active lifestyle. And then they graduate and go into the real

world and, and a lot of that stops. So, um, but yeah,

I do think that if you were— I could see where if you were kind

of a more like normal weight BMI

coming out of that adolescent phase, Then yeah, maybe that

would be a good kind of set point goal for you.

Yeah. But yeah, get me back to my— I'm gonna— that's, that's where we're, we're,

we're gotta work on some things here. We're gonna do it. On the Skyler household.

Um, so those babies, man.

Um, well, we've talked about so much already and I

feel like we've just barely scratched the surface. I know we have. I know everyone

who's post-op is like, all right, when are you going to talk about me?

Like, what's the actual surgery like? And what's that recovery

like? And yeah, there's so many things to go. There are. I

mean, this is a success guide. I mean, we could rapid-fire this and we

have a success guide actually, as a lot of you know who are with our

program. It's on our website. It's readily available to

anyone under the For Patients tab under Resources.

And yeah, we want to make sure that For the

actual surgery, you're set up. But I want people to make

sure that they are going into this with just

such the right education, preparation, mindset,

things set up so that they do have lifelong success because of the

resources and the information that we're providing. Yeah. And coming into it like

zen and feeling really at peace with the

decision to do this, which not to say that you won't have nerves and you

won't feel maybe some anxiety about it, but I think like like, well, you're

coming to this of like, okay, I'm ready, I'm here, this feels good,

this is, this is what I need, and this is what's gonna really like move

the needle, I guess, literally but figuratively.

No, I think so. I, you know, I was a swimmer in high school

and I follow all the swimmers and I always, uh, get

spammed with, uh, Michael Phelps stuff. And he

was just, um, on a podcast and they were asking him like

was when you were in practice, like, what was like kind of gearing you up?

Were you ever like thinking about like, oh, there's this up-and-coming other

swimmer or like any competitor? Or was anybody ever a threat to

you in your, your GOAT-ness, if you will?

And he was like, no, no. I mean, and he

sounds extremely arrogant, but he said like, you weren't nervous, you

weren't stressed. Like, it's the freaking Olympics. You had so much on it. Like, you

had so many sponsors and like you did in order to get all these medals.

Like, what do you think? He was like, And he was like, no, I was

never stressed. Why would I be stressed with the level of preparation? I was

prepared. I was ready. And I never feared anyone

else because I knew what I did. And, and I

believe with all my being, it would always be, be enough and be more than

anyone else. Yeah. And I was like, man, like, that's true. Like, when am I

most anxious? If I'm giving a talk I really didn't, like, prepare for, or if

I'm doing anything that I'm not ready

for. And even not to go off on a side tangent, but even the

way I prepare for surgery, I will be late for the day.

I will be late for your surgery. Hopefully I get up with enough time so

this doesn't happen, that I'm late. But, um, until I fully

read everything in your chart before I, um, before I talk to you,

like, I will not break that routine or pattern for the

operation because I'm like, I'm super prepared. I've already talked to you about all

this. I've gone systematically through it and I feel—

like, it's— I'm gonna have a great day today. And, um, you

know, that's what— that's what you want. That's what you want in your surgery. That's

what you want for your own journey too. So be Michael Phelps, guys. I'm

gonna be— that's the moral of the story, is just be Olympic level

on this. Well, yeah, you want to be an Olympic level bariatric

patient. And if you're listening to this, you're probably pretty Type A. If you found

the Weight Loss Collab and you're listening to it, I'm talking to you. You know

who you are. Well, and if you think it's you, it's you. And here's the

thing, Michael Phelps had a whole team. He did not do it in He was

the talent and he had the body and he had the dedication, but he had

a whole team there training. And so you've got that with us too.

Absolutely. He had a brilliant coach, Bob Bowman from

Texas. That guy is brilliant. You very much are

up to date on all the swimming stuff. Oh, but that's old news. But yeah,

I could tell you who Bob Bowman is training now, um, Summer McIntosh from Canada,

but we could get into them anyway. Okay, well Well, I think there's gonna

need to be a part 2 to this, and we're gonna talk about the day

of surgery and preparing and the diet

and all of those types of things. Um, so we'll, we'll definitely get

into that. If you're like, ah, they just— they were just— we just start talking

to each other and that's the problem. That is, but we have a lot more

in store. So absolutely, like, subscribe, follow

along, like us. And, uh, we're— I think the

upshot If you're thinking about bariatric surgery,

have a consultation or submit your information. Do it. Yeah.

Just do it. Just do a discovery. There is no obligation.

And actually, I'm bringing back intermittently an

in-person information session. So if you're in the Orlando

area and you want to see our facility,

the Surgical Institute of Central Florida, you want to walk around, you want to tour,

you want to meet me in person, you want to kind of literally kick the

tire before you really engage with this whole journey and

process to see if we're the right vibe and fit for you.

You should do that too. Yeah. So yeah, you should definitely do that. But just

text us. The easiest thing to do is send us a text,

say, hey, I'm interested in surgery. Our team is great. They'll

send you either a link to get started, you'll fill out some information. We

just, you know, it depends if you want— like I said, if you want us

to check your insurance, we can do that. Well, or if you're like,

no, I know I don't have coverage, or I just want to— I want to

do it next week, I'm going to do self-pay, whatever it is, send us a

text,

407-543-0971. We answer very quickly. It's all people.

Yes. And we're just ready to whatever way. And like she said,

just have the consult, meet with, with Dr. Dovek or other surgeon,

Dr. Lane, and see what you think. I mean, we've got—

they can answer all these questions. Like, you'll do this This group

session where she's going to talk through the surgeries and all. So it's so much

information that, again, there's gonna be more parts to this.

So keep listening, but that you'll get in that, and then you'll

get to actually talk to this person who will, who is very experienced in this.

It's all that you guys do. You're not, you are technically general

surgeons, but you're not doing general surgery. You're just doing

bariatrics every day. And so it's, you know, you can

just learn so much. And just see if this is right for you.

Amen. Absolutely. I know we would love to meet you, hear your

story, and really create an

individualized kind of plan that is going to work for you. Yeah,

absolutely. Well, find us on Instagram

at The Weight Loss Collab, at Dr. Dovek, at HannahSchuyler.RD,

at Body By Bariatrics. Go to bodybybariatrics.com if you want

to get started with a consult. That's the other way to kind of get in

there. Check out our website. There's so many pages of information and

so many things you can learn about on our website as well. So check it

out and then follow us, like us, love us, leave us a

5-star review for the Weight Loss Collab. And

yeah, we're excited to meet you or see you again.

Absolutely. Well, thank you, Hannah, and we will see you next time. To

all of our Weight Loss Collab fans, thanks again. Bye. Bye,

guys.