Ep. 53: 437 lb. Lie He Told Himself Every Day

Summary

🎙️ Interesting Humans Podcast - Episode 53: 437 lb. Lie He Told Himself Every Day

Host: Jeff Hopeck
Guest: Keith Brock
Release Date: April 23, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 53 of the Interesting Humans Podcast, host Jeff Hopeck welcomes Keith Brock from Yulee, Florida. Keith shares his transformative journey from weighing 437 pounds to significantly reducing his weight through weight loss surgery, shedding light on the physical, mental, and emotional challenges he faced along the way.

Background and Early Struggles

Keith Brock recounts an incident on November 6, 2015, which became a pivotal moment in his life. While visiting a friend’s house in South Florida, Keith found himself stuck on a couch due to his weight.

[00:59] B: "So that night I got stuck. I just couldn't get up... I ended up getting myself up with no problem. I don't think anybody knew until three years later when I shared the story."

This unnerving experience highlighted the severity of his weight problem, prompting him to consider weight loss surgery as a viable solution.

Decision to Undergo Weight Loss Surgery

Keith and his wife had already explored the possibility of weight loss surgery prior to the incident. They met with Dr. Hodgett in Jacksonville, who recommended a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG).

[06:28] B: "He agreed that I should have a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, or VSG."

Despite insurance challenges, Keith’s supportive wife encouraged him to proceed with the surgery on a self-pay basis, costing him $17,982.

[06:40] B: "So we kind of, you know, had already gone to see the surgeon... it was expensive. Yeah, $17,982. It's not cheap."

Life Before Surgery: A High-Flying Work Lifestyle

Keith details his demanding career as a healthcare IT consultant, which required extensive travel and frequent stays in hotels. This lifestyle significantly contributed to his weight gain.

[19:29] B: "From 2011 up until March of 2020, that was my life. I was on the road constantly."

He and his wife often ate out, indulging in large meals provided by corporate dinners and per diem allowances, which exacerbated his weight issues.

[22:42] A: "What did work look like for you then?"

[22:43] B: "My career really took off in 2011... aggressive travel, eating out all the time, not exercising."

Undergoing Surgery and Immediate Aftermath

On February 15, 2016, Keith underwent the VSG procedure. Post-surgery, he experienced immediate positive changes, including a drastic reduction in weight and the resolution of his type 2 diabetes.

[56:18] B: "I had the surgery on February 15th, and less than a month after, my blood sugar was completely controlled and normal."

Challenges Post-Surgery

Despite initial success, Keith faced setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased time at home led to weight regain, adding approximately 50 pounds by late 2021.

[30:00] A: "Healthy and that's safe."

[31:31] B: "From 2019 through 2020, I regained about 50 pounds... it was very alarming."

To combat this, Keith adopted GLP-1 medications like Manjaro, which helped him regain control over his weight, bringing him back below 200 pounds.

[33:46] B: "GLP1 meds are amazing. They helped me lose the weight I had regained and more."

Managing Lifestyle Changes

Keith emphasizes the importance of mindful eating and avoiding deprivation. He shares strategies that help him resist unhealthy foods without feeling deprived, such as taking one or two bites and discarding the rest.

[45:38] B: "Take one or two bites and throw it away... Super wasteful."

He also highlights the significance of staying active and incorporating strength training into his routine to maintain muscle mass and overall health.

[39:23] B: "We're definitely trying to make steps in the right direction and go to the gym a little more. Strength training is very important."

Impact on Daily Life

Keith discusses the practical challenges he faced before surgery, such as difficulty flying due to his size. Post-surgery, these daily struggles have been significantly alleviated, allowing him greater freedom and comfort.

[35:57] B: "Flying was never pleasant... Now, 90% of the flights, I can buckle the seat belt like a normal person."

Mental and Emotional Journey

Throughout his journey, Keith underscores the mental battle associated with weight loss. He advises taking measurements and photos to visually track progress, which can be more encouraging than relying solely on the scale.

[71:03] B: "A lot of overweight people shy away from the camera. I encourage everyone to get in front of a mirror and take pictures."

He also speaks about the ongoing vigilance required to maintain weight loss, likening it to an addiction where "sobriety is never bought, it's rented, and rent is due every day."

[64:48] B: "It's something that I know I have to be aware of. But I also try not to think about it every day."

Advice and Insights

Keith offers valuable advice for those considering weight loss surgery:

1. Support System: Having a supportive spouse or partner is crucial.
2. Avoid Deprivation: Instead of completely banning foods, control portions to prevent overindulgence.
3. Visual Tracking: Use photos and measurements to monitor progress.
4. Mindful Eating: Be aware of triggers and practice mindful eating habits.
5. Stay Active: Incorporate regular physical activity to maintain weight loss and overall health.

[71:03] B: "Take measurements and photos. They are some of your most prized possessions."

Conclusion

Keith Brock’s story is a testament to the profound impact that weight loss surgery can have on an individual’s life. From overcoming severe health challenges to regaining physical mobility and improving mental well-being, Keith’s journey offers hope and practical strategies for others facing similar struggles. His willingness to share his experiences openly serves as an inspiration, highlighting the importance of perseverance, support, and mindful lifestyle changes in achieving lasting weight loss.

[73:36] B: "If I can help one person, then it's all worth it."

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Notable Quotes:

• Keith Brock:

  • "I bought my life back for a bargain." [09:41]
  • "I do not believe in deprivation. Deprivation is not a long-term key to success." [44:14]
  • "The scale is only a number. Don't let it define you." [30:02]

• Jeff Hopeck:

  • "The pain of staying the same is still less than the pain of change." [10:21]
  • "The easiest thing to do is to look at the guy who's drinking too much or whatever and say, just stop drinking." [69:20]

Final Thoughts

Keith Brock’s episode on the Interesting Humans Podcast offers an in-depth look into the complexities of weight loss, the significance of surgical intervention, and the continuous effort required to maintain a healthier lifestyle. His transparent discussion about the highs and lows of his journey provides valuable lessons and encouragement for listeners navigating their own paths to wellness.

Transcript

[A]

All right, folks, welcome back to another episode. Here I have Keith Brock with me from Yulee, Florida. And man, am I glad I got introduced to you. So it's your wife that has a killer photography business and has done our family photography when we travel to Florida for vacation. So you reached out to me a couple weeks ago, shared your story and I said, man, this is the kind of stuff, this is the kind of stuff that I'm looking for as I sit here. I can't imagine there were two of you. Yeah, like there were literally nothing. Like there were literally two of you.

[B]

Plus a little more.

[A]

Yeah, plus a little bit more. 437 pounds.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, we're gonna get into all the stuff that we talked about. Pre jean size, ring size, what it was like flying. But before we do, November 6, 2015 and a couch. Well, you gotta, you gotta tell me this story.

[B]

Yeah. So that was the night I was over at very good friend of mine's house, Tony in South Florida. Over at his house for dinner, his wife's sister, brother in law were in town. We had a killer meal. Brother in law's a killer chef, chef, seafood, you know, the whole nine yards. And I mean, I'm a close family friend of them. Their children know me, you know, all that. It was kind of known. Hey, Keith needs to sit in this spot on the couch. So it was a, you know, L shaped couch and I sat on the, one of the ends with an, with an armrest so I could get myself up. That night I got stuck. So I just, just couldn't get up. I couldn't, you know, I don't know if I sat down weird or, or what, but I was just not in the right position to get myself up in the manner that I could, you know, normally. I did end up getting myself up, you know, with, with no, with no problem. I don't think anybody knew. I don't think that Rachel and Tony knew that I was stuck until like three years later when I asked them for the, you know, a picture of the, of the couch, which I have on Instagram and kind of tell a little story about getting, getting stuck that night. And you know, Tony's a very good friend of mine. We've done tons of scuba diving together. He would have helped me up without even, you know, I could have just held my hand up and he would have come up. Sure, you know, help me up.

[A]

He's helped you before?

[B]

Oh, absolutely. Many times. When, when you're scuba diving, it doesn't matter if it's a 200 pound person or 400 pound person. You're helping people up on the boat, you know, all the time. That's just normal.

[A]

So here you are this night. You're on a couch. On that exact same couch. You've tried to get up probably 5, 20 times before. Many times before the first time you try to get up. What's going. What. What's going on in your mind?

[B]

Panic for sure. Yeah. So, yeah, I just.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, oh, my gosh, I am so big that I'm now stuck on a couch, but I just kind of, you know, I don't know, I wiggled around.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

In some manner and got up. And then I also clearly remember I did not sit back down on the couch that night. I. They had like a. A dining room, you know, right off the living room. I just pulled a. Yeah. You know a hard wooden.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Straight up. Right.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Chair in. Sat on that.

[A]

So the easiest thing to do is to just say, we'll just stop eating. Right. It's. This is the alcoholic who, hey, just. Just stop drinking. Just. Just stop after three. Or this is the. Fill it. Fill in the blank. The weight can be. I mean, fill in that blank with anything.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

At all that we're struggling with, somebody with anger. And it could be somebody that exercises so much that they miss their kids events because they got to go train for another marathon or whatever it is or the biggest one, which is the work.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. We're working and working and working, and meanwhile our kids are growing up and we're missing it. So how, how many times, how often would you hear that, like, just stop, eat. Just, just. Why don't you just stop eating, man?

[B]

You know, I am very fortunate that I don't have those type of people in my life, and I know how unique that is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm very involved in weight loss surgery community, on Instagram and Facebook, and I see and hear all these horrible stories about the way a spouse treats, you know, an overweight spouse or the way, you know, friends or co workers. I don't have that. Or if I do, it's happening behind my back.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I. And I don't know. But I have, you know, the most supportive spouse, you know, on the planet. And that the night, you know, November 6th, when that happened, when I was. I was working in Miami at the time, and I was on my way back to my hotel and she called me, or I called her. I don't really remember. Just, you know, she knew that I was at. At Tony's house and I Kind of had this breakdown on. I could take you to the spot on 95 where it happened. And I just said, I got stuck on the couch, you know, I can't, I can't do this anymore. And we had kind of already gone down the weight loss surgery path. In 2015. Insurance was just not working out the way we thought it was going to be. We thought it was going to be a six month process, and it was really going to be more like a two year process. It would have covered it, but it would have just been a longer process. We could spend hours of me bashing insurance companies if you wanted to. But, but, but no. So we, we, we kind of, you know, had already gone to see, to meet the surgeon. I'd done a seminar.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Wonderful surgeon, Dr. Hodgett in Jacksonville. Yeah. And gone and had the step two meeting with him. You know, he agreed that I should have a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, or VSG is the abbreviation to that.

[A]

That's why you have that in your.

[B]

Yeah, Instagram.

[A]

Yeah, okay.

[B]

VSG diver.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

So, you know, we kind of knew. And then we also had our friend Megan that had been through it.

[A]

We.

[B]

This wasn't a November 6th, let's do it, do things more. It was, yeah, it was a. We'd been on this path, you know, earlier in 2015, trying to do this. Turns out insurance wasn't going to cover it right away. It would have been truly like a two year process. So that night of November six, I'm driving back to my hotel, telling my wife about this, you know, awful. I'm so big. I got stuck on the couch. And without missing a beat, she said, call the surgeon's office in the morning and tell them you want to go self pay. And I was like, are you sure? And that was it. There was no further discussion. There was no. She does not hold. She has never held that over my head. And it was expensive. $17,982. It's not cheap. Yeah, I had it done in the US I did not go to, you know, Mexico. In Jacksonville Baptist.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So Dr. Hodgett is part of North Florida Surgeons, and then he and another physician run the Baptist bariatrics program. Got it in Jacksonville.

[A]

In Jacksonville.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Is that the same rate that somebody with insurance, if they took your insurance, tell me.

[B]

No. Yeah, so. So again, you know, very involved in, in social media with this whole weight loss surgery community. And I see people all the time, you know, they'll, they'll have the surgery, you know, a couple Months goes by, and then that's when those bills start coming in and you see where, you know, what your insurance has paid and what it hasn't.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And this is a very standard surgery. You know, outside of some emergent thing happening, which is very rare.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You go into the surgery, you spend the same amount of time under anesthesia, about the same amount of time in recovery. I spent two nights in the hospital. That was just what my surgeon was doing at the time.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Very, very quickly after I had surgery, he moved to one night in the hospital. So that's pretty much the standard now, one night. But anyway, people will snap a photo. You know, they just snap a photo of that bill. And that same exact surgery is 40, $50,000. Even though we've all agreed, you know, the hospital has all agreed. Hey, $17,982 covers everything. You know, that was a surgeon's fee, a hospital fee, anesthesia fee, labs, everything, because I paid. When I went down this journey, I was thinking, oh, I'm going to write a check for this amount.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But it was a. It was a sheet of departments with phone numbers, and I had to call all of them and make all these individual payments.

[A]

That sounds insane.

[B]

Yeah. But they're all different departments under the.

[A]

Same brand of hospital.

[B]

Yeah. I guess it's just a bill for your time. Yeah. Right, Right.

[A]

Wow. Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So. All right, cool. Moving on.

[B]

But. But it was. It's the greatest money I've ever spent. I mean, it's. I bought. I bought my life back for a bargain.

[A]

Really try to articulate what it's like. I don't know, you go through this. Like we were talking before, you go through this archway, and right on the other side of the archway is this freedom. That is just incredible to talk about. Right. It's incredible experience. But just inches before that archway is. I'm gonna call it hell. I'm gonna. Right. Because you've gotten all the way up to a point where you've realized that, like.

[B]

Yeah, the point.

[A]

The pain of staying the same is still less than the pain of change. And then all of a sudden, wham, Something immediate happens and you go through. What was life like back there back then, mentally being 437 and now being 200.

[B]

You know, it was. Everything was harder for sure. You know, I. You know, looking back on it now, I had to, like, we'll just talk about clothing as one thing.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

I just had to wear whatever I could find. Right. Like at a big and tall store or in a big and tall department in Dillard's or Belk or whatever. What size? So in. In 2015, I was in my cousin's wedding. I remember vividly those pants were a size 54 waist. So it was a 54 30. And I, I mean, I'm sure you've seen on my Instagram or. Yeah. That I wear. I wore those pants below my stomach. So that was a 54 inch waist. Not even at my waist. I don't even know what my true waist size would have been.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then the shirt that I was wearing in. In that. It had to be. I got that shirt from a big and tall store, I think Casual mail xl. Yeah. Great store. Super thankful for it. They had to order. It wasn't even in the store.

[A]

Wow. How many X's would it be?

[B]

It was so. It was a. It was a true dress shirt. So it was. I don't remember those measurements, but I think it was probably like a 6XL equivalent.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So 3XL, 4XL, 5XL. Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then, and then my, you know, most of my, most of my T shirts at that time were 4xlt, so I could get them a little longer, you know, just.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. But nothing's more fascinating than the story you told me about your shoe size.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, that, that was that weird one. So before surgery, you know, I, I would. There were lots of things on my body that were very, very big. Yeah. I don't think my feet were fat. I really don't. You know, I don't have any pictures of my bare feet, but I was a size 13. I had been a size 13 for many, many years. Several pairs of shoes in my closet that I wore, you know, on rotation. And just one day after surgery, I. I put, you know, one of those pairs of shoes on and basically walked out of. Was kind of like a. You know, it definitely wasn't an overnight change.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But it felt to me like an overnight change. So I went from a 13 to an 11 and then some brands, like a 10 and a half. So I can wear a 10 and a half or an 11 now?

[A]

Right now.

[B]

Right now, yeah. Shoes. I have one right now. Or an 11. That's incredible. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

So what, what happened with your foot then? Is it just that much there?

[B]

I, you know, I don't know, but I did have one person explain it to me. Like, you know, your foot is on an arch, and I'm weighing 437 pounds. So there's all this weight pressing down and pushing your Foot out. I mean, I felt like I still had an arch. I don't, I don't, I don't think that I had a flat foot. Right. But that kind of makes sense. Like if you think about, you know, a leaf spring on a truck. Right. It's going the other way.

[A]

Right.

[B]

When it's not loaded, you know, it's a certain length. When it's loaded and flattens out.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's a different length.

[A]

So what was the, what was the most you can ever, like, take me through one meal that you can remember? I know if I eat a fourth piece of pizza or something like that, like the all field horrendous.

[B]

Yeah. Like, whoa, man. Do you know pizza probably? Yeah, pretty close. Like I'm a big thin crust fan. Even pre, pre weight loss surgery.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just kind of always really like, you know, thin crust. So I feel like that's a different, you know, there's a little less bread there, a little less crust, but that's.

[A]

How we get away.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, I'm not, you know, I put a dent in that, in that, you know, large Papa John's pizza or whatever. For sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Now it's two or three of those squares.

[A]

Yeah. We'll get into. I can't wait to hear what, what it looks like now. So. All right, you. Does this go back to childhood?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I was definitely, you know, was born in 1986. So I, I'm part of that generation of the husky line, you know, Husky line of clothing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't know what they call it now. Yeah. But, yeah, I was always, usually the, you know, the biggest, or one of the biggest kids in the class. Yeah.

[A]

It just ever look back to like, what, what, what were you eating back then? Have you ever traced it back that far?

[B]

You know, there was a. I, I do remember you, you know, my parents, my grandparents, when, when we were eating a meal, it was all like, we always wanted to have. Be in the clean plate club, you know, finish your plate.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Finish what was put in front of you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't necessarily blame them for that, but I mean, but it's not, you know, if I'm sitting down, sitting down at a family meal, it's not like, you know, if we were eating spaghetti, it's not like my plate was like this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And everybody else just had this little thing. I mean, looking back, I would say that the, you know, portions were probably pretty normal. Yeah. I probably always went for extra garlic bread, you know, in that spaghetti dinner scenario. Yeah. Loved it.

[A]

Then you get. Then you go to college.

[B]

I didn't really go to college. Okay. Just wasn't. Wasn't right.

[A]

In the workforce.

[B]

Yeah, right. In the workforce.

[A]

What did that. What did that all look like? Was there travel?

[B]

Was there? Not early on, no. Did a lot of retail stuff. Sold cell phones, worked at Radio Shack. So I'm definitely dating myself there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But going out to eat was always a big, you know, when. Like, when I had my own money. Yeah, I loved doing that. I still do. Yeah. I met my wife in third grade, but we didn't start dating until 2006.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And she also really liked going out to eat, so that was a big part of our relationship.

[A]

We were always your favorite place.

[B]

Oh, man. Well, in 2006, things were different. Olive Garden was still good.

[A]

I was gonna get.

[B]

I wouldn't. Yeah, I wouldn't eat an Olive Garden today. I don't like it. Carrabba's we love still to this day. Yeah, A lot of. A lot of Olive Garden, Outback, longhorn, stuff like that.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And, you know, fast food, when you're on the. On the road or going somewhere.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, not really thinking about, like, oh, it's 3:00 in the afternoon.

[A]

Let's.

[B]

Let's get a tea and, you know, some fries or, you know, little things like that. It just. It just adds up.

[A]

What did you learn about the, like, the psychology of eating? Does it make you. Does it. What does it do for you? Does it make you feel good? Is it fill in a void? Is it.

[B]

I don't. I don't think. For me, I don't think there's a void to fill. But still, to this day, going to a great restaurant, eating good, good food with very good friends or, you know, family.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, I enjoy that. That is one of the most enjoyable things in my life.

[A]

Even.

[B]

Even to the experience, the overall experience. Yeah.

[A]

All right. What did work look like for you then? Your first, like, real job, corporate job, or whatever you did.

[B]

Yeah. So my. My career that I'm in now, I'm a healthcare IT consultant. So I travel around to different hospitals all around the country, helping them implement electronic medical records, training physicians, training clinicians, things like that. That really took off in 2011. Yeah. Which is probably when my weight gain, you know, was probably pretty constant. And then it really started to climb because then I was making a lot more money and I was getting per diem.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

Or if it wasn't just straight flat per diem, it was receipted per diem and then my personality leads me to say, like, okay, well, if they're going to give me $65, I'm going to spend $65.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So then I'm going out to eat. And maybe on a normal day, I wouldn't have ordered an appetizer and a salad and an entree, you know, so, you know, now it's someone else's money. You're just corporate dinner. Yeah, yeah. Corporate dinners, dinners, corporate cards. Yeah. And then exercise. Impro. Gosh, no. And then being on the road. So, like in 2011 really ramped up. In 2011, 2012 was huge. I mean, I. From all the travel, I don't want to go too far down this road, but in 2012, I had 437 paid nights at a Marriott hotel, even though there's only 365 nights in a year. So we were on the road so much. My wife and I were on the road so much. We were working together. The hospital saw, oh, this is a husband and wife. We know we're getting a deal because it's only one hotel room. So they would let us keep the hotel room even if we weren't there, you know, over the weekend.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I mean, we had great rates. We were spending less money than someone who was only staying four nights a week. We were spending less money than them.

[A]

So. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

And then we would go somewhere else. Right. Like we were working in Connecticut.

[A]

Right.

[B]

We'd go to Boston for the weekend.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Or we'd go to New York, and then we're staying in a Marriott, you know, so it's just. Yeah, yeah. So just very aggressive travel, like, you know, spending, you know, day after day after day on the road.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yeah, breakfast, lunch and dinner over and over and over again. Eating out all the time, not eating.

[A]

Out, not working out. Combination.

[B]

Yep, exactly.

[A]

Wash, rinse, repeat.

[B]

Wow. Yeah.

[A]

So you worked with your wife. Yes, same. Same company.

[B]

Yes, yes. Doing the same thing for many years. It was very interesting dynamic to. To work. You know, it was actually a little bit frustrating because, you know, she would ask me, why aren't you talking, you know, at the end of the day, why aren't you talking about your day? I'm like, you know, when I went to the bathroom, there's nothing you don't know about my day. Because you were there for all of it. But yeah, it was. No, it was all good. You know, all in good fun. But no, super cool. Had one or two instances where I was actually her boss. That was A joke. She. Yeah, we just made. You know, that was. That was super fun.

[A]

But.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was great. Very, very enjoyable. We did that. Gosh. We were together 2011. There were several times where we had different jobs, completely different jobs in the same field. Like when I was working in Miami.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

She had a job, like, in Iowa and Chicago and all this stuff. So she would just. Instead of flying home, she would fly down to me and, you know, I would go 50, 60 days at a time without walking through the doorway of my house. And my wife was pretty close to that because she was just coming to me. We didn't have kids.

[A]

Yeah, it was.

[B]

It was a good. It was a very good life. I don't want to. I don't want to act like it was a. It was a burden. It was wonderful.

[A]

Right. And you were being paid for it.

[B]

Oh, absolutely.

[A]

Paid to travel and paid to do all that stuff. That's cool. So you get the surgery, and the surgery wouldn't work if habits continue the same. So I'm curious to know what. What has changed. Give me some actual examples. So breakfast.

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you can absolutely eat around the surgery. Right. So I had 80% of my stomach removed. That's what that surgery does. But if you continue to eat the wrong things, you will gain the weight back. And it happens all the time. It's a. It's a very, very common thing. So, yeah, I actually got. I built up quite a following on Instagram early on, because I don't remember. I don't remember exactly why this happened. I think it might have been after I had surgery, I would go back to my surgeon's seminars and stand up there with him as, like, a testimonial and answer questions and all this stuff. And a big thing that people would ask was, how much can you eat after surgery? And I think that's why I started taking before and after pictures of my food. So my eating habits didn't necessarily change. Right. Because I was on the road still. It's not like I had the surgery and then got a normal job.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Worked nine to five and went home. I was still in hotels, all that. So I was like, you know, people need. This is a common question. People need to see this.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I would take a picture of my food, you know, when it was set in front of me, and then I would eat what I would eat, and I'd take a picture of what I'd eaten. So I had all these just before and after pictures. Like, if you go back and look at my Instagram way back.

[A]

That's interesting.

[B]

That's the majority of my.

[A]

Wow. Yeah.

[B]

So I was able to visually show people.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Okay. Here. I'm this many months out. I'm this many years out. Here's what I ate today. And I know it was very helpful because I would get DMS all the time.

[A]

Yeah, I would think so.

[B]

Of people saying my family was against this until I showed them your page.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I was like, look, he's still. He's at Outback. He's at Ruth Chris. He's at here. He's there. This is what he ate. And so it.

[A]

It's.

[B]

I don't know, it's just the quantities change drastically.

[A]

That's. Yeah, that's the big.

[B]

Yeah, but absolutely.

[A]

Yeah. The type of foods.

[B]

Yeah, the type of food. Yeah. Probably should have changed some of the, you know, cut out some of the garbage.

[A]

But.

[B]

But yeah. I mean, even to this day, if you and I were sitting here right now and you opened up a bag of Doritos and I opened up a bag of Doritos, I could probably go chip for chip with you, because that's trash. But if we both set a plate of chicken wings in front of us, still to this day, I'm over nine years out. I'm done at five. Five chicken wings. I am tapped out.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Mentally, too, or you. Do you have to whiten up?

[B]

Oh, no. I mean, I am. If I tried to eat a sixth, probably my nose would start running. I would be uncomfortable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

That's interesting.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So before the surgery, does any. Does the medical community tell you, like, hey, get this kind of psychological help or this kind of counseling?

[B]

Yes. That's a big part of weight loss surgery. That's like one of the steps you have to go through is they want a psychological evaluation done. I think it's changed now. When I was doing it, I want to say it was only one visit.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which by doing self pay, I bypassed.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Yeah. But.

[A]

But not for the good, though.

[B]

Well, I.

[A]

So maybe. Yeah.

[B]

I mean, I. I wouldn't have had a problem going to meet with a, you know, mental health professional and talk about this. I. I'll talk about it to anybody. Sure. But one of the things my, My surgeon said, like, I think I was just a couple of weeks post op when I met with him. He was. He's so laid back. He's a. He's just. He has a wonderful approach to. To all of this. And he was just like, I have no, I have no concerns. And he just sort of rattled off these statistics. He's like, you're a male and you self paid. You are self paid.

[A]

Oh, you're self paid. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. So, yeah. So those two things, being a male, self pay.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

He's like, the statistics are overwhelmingly in your favor now. That doesn't mean I can just kick back and not do anything, but it gave me some reassurance that, you know, okay, I. I should be. Should be good. And so far it's been. It's been great. How far out are we? So I had surgery February 15, 2016. So I'm a little over nine years out.

[A]

Wow. What can go wrong? What's on your mind? Like what, what do you have to watch for?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, it is very possible for me to gain weight. I did in 2020, so during COVID Yeah. So, you know, I've kind of described my lifestyle of, you know, that pre. All that stuff I was Talking about from 2011 up until really March of 2020, that was my life. I was on the road constantly. And post weight loss surgery, that was a very good way for me to, To. To find balance. Because, you know, if you go into a hotel room, you only have the food and drink that you brought with you. If you didn't bring anything with you, you don't have anything. There's no pantry, there's no, there's no refrigerator full of food. No nothing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So looking back on it, I think that was kind of like my ace in the hole for all those years after. After weight loss surgery, I did very well. So from 202015 deep into 2019, I was still losing weight. So I had lost. I got down to. Started at 4:37. I got down to 2:47 in 2019. So more than three years of successful, slow, you know, very gradual weight loss, which is great. You know, it's. It's. Of course, it's great to lose a bunch of weight quickly and, and get.

[A]

Healthy and that's safe.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

They have no concern with.

[B]

No concern. Yeah. Yeah. And then covet happened and I was at home and, you know, just constantly bored like everybody. I think Brittany bought me a grill for, I think Father's Day something in the summer of. Around the summer of 2020. And this is not to blame her. It was wonderful. You know, so I just started, you know, doing all these crazy rep recipes, like a bacon wrapped peanut butter and jelly sandwich that you smoke. You know, just, just all this, you know, you just. Social media then was weird. Right. It was just in. In more ways than one. So there was just all these food recipes and we're. We're bored. Right. So. So we're doing it. So in. In 2020, I think I. I gained about 50 pounds, like, like over, like, from. I don't want to blame it all on Covid. It could have been in late 2019, too. I don't really know. I don't get very obsessed with the scale. I don't weigh daily. I think that's bad. There's a lot of people in the weight loss community that I feel fall into that trap, and I preach against it because the scale is only a number. It's not. Don't let it define you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But Anyway, so from 2019 through 2020, I think I regained about 50 pounds. I know. I remember going to urgent care. I had the flu and not Covid. Shockingly, in very late 2021, actually. So really, 2019 to 2021, I probably gained about 50 pounds, went to urgent care, and when I weighed with clothes on, I remember I was like 292 or 293. So I'd been 247 super happy. 292, 293. I remember that being very alarming. Like, oh, my gosh to you.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

No, they didn't care. Yeah, yeah. It was urgent care. They're not gonna. You know, they're not.

[A]

But did your doctor know, the main doc, the doctor who did surgery.

[B]

No.

[A]

That you have to report to?

[B]

No, no, he didn't know then.

[A]

So you didn't have to report back?

[B]

No, no, no, no, no.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

No, no. They encourage, like a one year, like a yearly follow up. I'm terrible at that. But I have gone back and seen him, and it's more like going to see a friend, you know, he hugs me, you know, it's wonderful. And I'm sure it's very rewarding for him.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

Because a lot of doctors that are treating a symptom, you know, either the symptom gets better, like a cancer doctor, you know, they either heal their patients or they don't. And very similar for him. I'm sure it's very rewarding for his old patients to come back. But. Yeah. So in late 2021, I saw that, you know, that I'd regained about 50 pounds, started to straighten myself out, know, kind of on my own in 2022. I lost about 20 of those pounds on my own in 2022. And then I just couldn't. I was just yo. Yoing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, just constantly yo yoing. And my wife mentioned to me that she was going to try Manjaro, which is a GLP1 medication that was really developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but had an amazing side effect of weight loss. So I was in the 270s when she said this and I was like, oh, I was like, I'll do it with you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, I'll go down this path. And she, to this day, she would tell you. Like, I remember thinking, oh, he doesn't need to do this. But then look, when you look back on those pictures when I was 277, you know, in, in 2022, definitely needed to make a change.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the GLP1 meds are amazing.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So not only did I lose the regain, I lost more, which got me down to below 200. Very celebratory. So I did kind of celebrate, you know, the scale reflecting 199.5. Yeah. But I've, I've leveled out just kind of naturally in like the low 200s today.

[A]

That's your number.

[B]

Yeah. Seems to be.

[A]

Have you gone below it at all? Curious if you have and how you felt.

[B]

I mean, I, again, I don't get hung up on the, with the scale. I really don't. I tell people all the time. I say this on Instagram all the time. And in several other weight loss groups that I'm in, I've lost, you know, from the, from the highest number to the lowest number I lost. I've lost 238 pounds. And that is the most insignificant part of my journey. So a lot of people hear that and they're like the most insignificant part. That's the most insignificant part. The things that I have gained back are far more valuable than the weight that I've lost. I mean, for example. Oh, anything so I can snow ski again. My wife bought me a one wheel for anniversary a couple years ago. So I used to, you know, I used to skateboard and all this other stuff, you know, as a teenager, even though I was a little heavier. Right. But yeah, it was, you know, again, just the, the, the things that I've, that I've gained back, they mean so much more to me than the weight that I've lost. Even though the weight is substantial and amazing and you know, any other adjective you want to throw in there? Yeah.

[A]

What you touched a little bit about it on before, but tell me a story about flying. What was that like?

[B]

So I used to fly all the time for work and it was it was never pleasant. I was, I was pretty big. So, you know, you think about.

[A]

This is your height. This was the peak of it. Were you flying?

[B]

Flying? Yeah. Not, not as much. Okay. No, not, not as much. And, and it wasn't because of my weight. I wasn't.

[A]

Oh, you were just.

[B]

Yeah, it was just. I was. When I was working in Miami, it was easier just to drive back and forth from North Florida to South Florida. Oh, God, you know, you're in that five hour mark, you know, so it doesn't, it didn't make a lot of sense to fly, but still flew, you know, like when Brittany and I would go on vacations or, you know, whatever I flew to. We went to Hawaii for scuba trip. And I weighed, I'm sure I weighed over 400 pounds for that trip. I was in first class. Brittany was in coach because we knew I couldn't. There's no way I could have been in coach all that way.

[A]

Southwest story.

[B]

Oh, yeah. Southwest story. Yeah. So 20, you know, back, back to, back to 2015. Um, so again, that was kind of the year that I had decided to go on this weight loss surgery journey. And this, I think, was Probably August of 2015, if I remember correctly, was going to my cousin's wedding in Nashville. My wife and I were flying with my grandparents and, you know, went up to the ticket, ticket counter to check the bags. And the, the lady working the bag check kind of steps around the counter and looks at me and she said very discreetly, no, this wasn't, you know, she wasn't putting me, you know, trying to put me on blast or anything like that. She just said, yeah, have you flown with us before? I was like, yes, ma'am, many, many times. And she was like, I really think you probably need an extra seat. And I was like, oh, okay. You know, whatever. I wasn't gonna, I wasn't gonna say no. So it wasn't, wasn't super full flight. And she, I, I, on that Southwest flight, I had two seats. Now, there were hundreds of other flights where that did not happen. I was in coach, pressed up against Brittany. Brittany will tell you, you know, to this day, like, oh, gosh, it hurt my back because, you know, he would press into me.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So that I'm not pressed into someone else, or she always sat in the middle so I could be on the outside. But, yeah, it was not flying, was not pleasant. Always a seat belt extender, no matter what. Including in first class.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. Still in a seat belt extender.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So that's.

[A]

Do you think about it every time you get on a flight.

[B]

Every time. Yeah. And, and almost every flight. I, I've made several posts about it on Instagram, but, but I'd say probably 90% of the flights now. I'll do a, A story, you know, I'll take a picture of my lap with the seat belt buckled with the slack. And that's a, that, that's a very big thing. Like in the weight loss surgery or weight loss community, people, that's something that people celebrate and I, and I never, I never take it for granted.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm always thankful when I can buckle that seat belt like a normal person. Yeah.

[A]

Is. Does fitness play a role in your life at all now?

[B]

I'm trying to. So I'm not in, in, in this whole journey, I have not really gone to the gym consistently. I'm just an active person, you know, outside of having a pretty sedentary job. But, you know, I'm always out doing something. But now, you know, there's just so much, so much research has gone into, you know, building up muscle mass. What you do today is going to determine how you are as an 80 year old.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, my wife and I are definitely trying to make steps in the right direction and go to the gym a little more. And, you know, strength training. Yeah. Very important.

[A]

Yeah. Scuba diving.

[B]

Yeah, that's pretty funny. Um, so I've done way more scuba diving weighing over 400 pounds than I have weighing under 400 pounds. Yeah. Yeah. It's not. And, and again, it's not, it's not. It's not like I lost the weight and then couldn't do it right. I was just. It's way easier. It's just my life is different now. So back then I was pre kids. Pre kids. No, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The big.

[A]

Let's start there.

[B]

Yeah. The big thing is, is pre kids. The other big thing, which is probably tied with that is just the geographic location of where I work. So back then I was working in Miami.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Spending most of my time in Pompano or Lauderdale by the sea. So about 30 miles up the road. And that's where I met Tony. The couch story. And I mean, we were scuba diving constantly. You know, I mean, I would take off work in the middle of the week, you know, just some random Tuesday, and be like, conditions are just too good to pass up. So it's just a crime of opportunity, really. And we again, pre kids. So Brittany and I were, you know, every vacation we took, everything was. Yeah, yeah. Every. Every Vacation we took was pretty much scuba related, unless it was, you know, like that wedding or, you know, whatever. But yeah. Still love it. Going to Grand Cayman next month to scuba dive. Yeah.

[A]

But.

[B]

But yeah, just can't. Can't do it. Can't do it today like I did back then.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Which was, you know, what are some.

[A]

Little things that you're on the lookout for that. Okay. I got to make sure that I don't do this. And I can only imagine one would be like, I got to make sure I don't stop at a gas station because there's a trigger there, and the trigger could be getting a big size of Doritos versus a small size. I don't know. I'm just.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What are. What are some little things that you're on the lookout for?

[B]

Yeah. I definitely, definitely am aware when I. When I get snacky, like, you know, wanting, you know, some of that junk food type stuff. So to back up a little bit. I am still taking Manjaro to this day. I mean, I'm on a maintenance. Maintenance dose. I take it approximately once a month. And it really helps quiet down your mind with the food noise and things like that. So I can kind of tell.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

When I should probably have a shot of that. Of that medicine. It's an injectable pen.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Because I start, you know, wanting, you know, more junk food or. Or whatever. But it's also has a lot to do with boredom. If I'm not, you know, doing something or being, you know, being active. You know, you'll go stand in front of the pantry or stand in front of the refrigerator. I think we. I think we all do that.

[A]

I could stare at Reese's peanut butter cups all day.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Love Reese's peanut butter cups, but yeah, that's a big thing. And like. Like when I. When I drove up here yesterday, I eat sunflower seeds. Right.

[A]

So it's shelled or not shelled?

[B]

Not shelled.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So I'm, you know, cracking the shell with my mouth, spitting out the shell, eating the seed. So it's. It's giving me something to do, I guess.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I got it very low calorie. And, you know, I'm sure there's probably some nutritional value to that sunflower seed, but.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. So being in a car, what about thinking, like, like, trigger, stay away from, like, what. What are some things for you that are like. Absolutely. I just can't do.

[B]

I honestly, I don't think I have any And I kind of, I kind of preach against that in this weight loss community. Right. I do not believe in deprivation. And I say all the time, deprivation is not a long term key to success.

[A]

Yeah. Okay.

[B]

If there is something. Now, let me preface this by saying this doesn't work with an addict. Right. Like, I wouldn't say this to someone who's addicted to drugs or alcohol.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But I think there's something to be said for the. On the food side of it, don't tell yourself, no, I cannot have that new blizzard from Dairy Queen. I can't have that new whatever I have again. If you scroll back on Instagram, you will see pictures of me standing over the top of a trash can with something and I will take one or two bites of it and throw it away so I don't deprive myself of, of something. Like, my mom is a big. She. My mom loves chocolate. All this stuff. Like if, if we see a new candy bar, you know, she is either buying one for herself and for me, or I'm doing that for her.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, yeah, I'm going to try the thing. If it's something that I'm. That I want. Yeah, I'm going to try it, but I'm going to set myself up for success.

[A]

You're scooping it out before you eat it. See, that's where I go wrong.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I eat it and tell myself I'm going to throw some away, and I never do. So you buy it, scoop off, and then eat what's left.

[B]

Yeah. Or like, like, like I think there's a picture on my Instagram of me with a PDQ milkshake. I don't remember the milkshake, but I just remember that I wanted to try it and Brittany and I went through the drive through, got it, and then got out of the car. And I'm literally holding that milkshake with the spoon, like, kind of smiling back at the camera over the top of a trash can. I took one or two bites and threw it away. Yep. Super wasteful.

[A]

What else do you do? Like that. That's an incredible tip. That's gonna be such an awesome YouTube short and like, little reel.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I want to make sure we clip that. Yeah, that's awesome.

[B]

Yeah, that else, I mean, that's a, that's a big thing. I, I definitely try, like, you know, if I'm again, back to the eating out, still a very big part of my life, I try really hard to, you know, eat more of the protein first, you know, but I'll still eat a pasta dish, Right? Like that. That's not. It's not like I'm saying, oh, no, I can't eat the pasta. But if it's a lobster linguine or shrimp scampi or whatever, I'm going for that shellfish kind of first. Then I'll take a few bites of the pasta, you know, and. And then by then, I'm usually done.

[A]

Yeah. But, yeah, bread before a meal, I mean, do you just try to control it?

[B]

If it. Eat it, if it's. So I'm pretty snobby about the bread.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Brittany's big into sourdough and, you know, like, you know, fresh stuff. So, you know, I don't get to, you know, been out of shape anymore about, like, a Texas roadhouse roll. Like, that's probably just a bunch of chemicals. But if it's, like, if we're at, like, an Italian place or a steak place that has some amazing bread that's coming out, I'm definitely going to try it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But it's. I know that, like, every bite of that bread that I take, that's probably, you know, a full shrimp that I can't eat. And I know that that shrimp is way better for me. Much more pro, you know, much more nutrient.

[A]

You control that. Okay. See, those are two levels.

[B]

Yeah, a little bit. Yes. I'm not. I'm not saying that I'm some superstar. I feel. I feel every day, but I. I know it. I'm aware of it. I. Yeah, but what about drinks?

[A]

What do you do there?

[B]

What's your theory? So my biggest. I got in a little bit of trouble with this recently because I got kidney stones back early this year. Yeah. So that's an actual terrible story. Sunday on a Sunday morning. This symptoms hit me out of nowhere that next Monday, that. That very next day, the very next day, I was supposed to be going to Vail to ski.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Ended up missing 50 inches of snow that week because of these stupid kidney stones. But I'm a big tea drinker, and that is what the kind of. The research has pointed to, is that maybe I was. No, I do unsweet with an artificial sweetener. Yeah. Which I'm also trying to cut back on because I know it's bad. But apparently, even though tea is very good for you, there's a lot of antioxidants and stuff like that. Too much of a good thing can cause a problem.

[A]

So it's the unsweet tea or it's the sweetener, do they think.

[B]

No, the tea yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just such a. Like a high antioxidant food or even.

[A]

If you're a water drinker, that's the pro.

[B]

That was probably the problem. I was drinking way more tea than water. Yeah. And I've been doing that for years and years and years. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I don't. So back to kind of the origin of the story. My friend Megan, she had surgery before I did. And one of the things she told me, like, when I really was on that path, she said, just don't drink any more carbonated drinks. Just. She's like, I. I gave it up for, like, I think she said she gave it up for maybe six months. And she said my vice would be not. Not to drink any more carbonated drinks. So my last carbonated drink was a Mountain Dew at Taco Bell in the drive through on the way back to Miami on January 31st, 2016. So that was the. The following day, February 1st. That's when I started my two week liquid diet to prep for the surgery. So I had to do two weeks of no food.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Just these shakes that I got from the bariatric surgeon's office. And water.

[A]

That's incredible.

[B]

That's the last. Yeah.

[A]

So that's the last carbonated.

[B]

That's the last carbonated drink.

[A]

What else? Other than. So you said unsweet tea? What. What else then? Did you find anything else?

[B]

No, I still drink alcohol. It's pretty fun.

[A]

Is beer considered carbon?

[B]

Yeah, I don't do beer.

[A]

Oh.

[B]

Yeah. I. I was not a big beer drinker before. Yeah. So that wasn't, um. But actually with Tony. So Tony was the first person that I had a alcoholic drink around after surgery. I can't remember exactly how far out I was a couple of months. And I'd been warned, you know, you have only 20% of your stomach. It greatly affects, you know, your alcohol tolerance and all that. So we were at an engagement party for one of the guys at the dive shop just right down the canal on Fort Fort Lauderdale from the dive shop. And everybody there knew that I was like a. I loved, like, rum punch. Like, for me, the girlier the better. I love, like, you know, fruity drinks, all that stuff.

[A]

Two umbrellas.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, more umbrellas, the better. And I think somebody ordered it for me. I don't. I don't. I don't really remember exactly, but I do remember that I took a couple of sips of it. We were outside on a patio, and there was a big metal pole holding up like this tent thing over the bar. And had that metal pole not been there, I would have fallen over from just maybe a third of that drink. Yeah. Not. Not drinking it fast. Like, this wasn't a shot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It wasn't something I was chugging. I was just kind of, you know, very stationary.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Talking to Tony like I am talking to you today. And then I went to turn and had that metal pole not been there, I would have fallen over. So. And I'm still like that super lightweight, my friend.

[A]

Or less.

[B]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel it right away. My friends love making fun of me about it. They're going to love this section of the podcast.

[A]

That could be a blessing.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. I. It usually so just, you know, half of the drink in, I can't feel my feet. Wine hits me especially hard. Super fun Nashville story. We were at a winery with our friends in the middle of the day. The place can legally only pour you eight ounces of wine. So I had four two ounce things. Yeah, right. No big deal to most people.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Two of those two ounce things in, I was pretty gone. And I still drank the third. And then I just laid down in the grass in the middle of the day. And my friends, like, they still laugh about it, but, you know, 15 minutes later, I am completely sober.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Yeah, it's actually a problem in the weight loss surgery community. It leads to alcoholism because you can, you know, you can just get drunk so quickly and then you can sober up.

[A]

Sober up.

[B]

And then you get drunk. Sober up. Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

Interesting. So right now you have how much of your stomach? Less.

[B]

So VSG removes about 80% of your stomach, so about 20%.

[A]

What did it feel like when you woke up from the surgery?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, it was real, real uncomfortable. Had this like, abdominal binder on, like this Velcro thing. Now it's a laparoscopic surgery. Just like someone having out their gallbladder or something like that. So it's just very tiny incisions. I think I had five. Oh, my goodness. You know, no external stitches. It was all held together with glue. Yeah, very. It's a very routine surgery today.

[A]

I mean, so after you had it, then changes happen. Good.

[B]

Changes happen immediately.

[A]

Did any. Did any bad changes happen after the surgery? So crave anything more or let me.

[B]

Talk about some of the good real quick because I think it's important to point this out. So about three weeks before I had surgery, I had to do pre op lab work like you would do with any surgery.

[A]

Any surgery.

[B]

Yeah. So those results Came back and I was a couple of days into the liquid diet. Right. So this was like. This would be like February 3rd or 4th, when I'm reviewing these results with Brittany. And my blood sugar was 387. So I was a full blown, undiagnosed type 2 diabetic with a extremely high, dangerous blood sugar.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

So in the midst of, you know, trying to get ready for this surgery, now I'm. Now I'm also slapped with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. And I had to go on medication for that. So I had to go on Metformin, which are these, you know, pretty big pills that you have to swallow a couple times a day. But then I'm gonna have surgery where I have a super restrictive stomach and all this stuff. So I only took metformin for, like, maybe 12 days. My blood sugar was still not regulated. It was still high. I was not taking insulin at the time. But thankfully, this is like, kind of par for the course in the bariatric surgery community. So the, you know, anesthesiologists and the surgeon, they're all aware of this, and it. It wasn't. It wasn't that big a deal. I thought it was a much bigger deal than they did, of course.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But, you know, so I had the surgery on, you know, February 15th, and when I went home from the hospital, they sent me home on Levomir, which is an injectable insulin pen for type 2 diabetics. Brittany is a nurse. My wife is a nurse. She was amazing. She monitored, you know, just having me check my blood sugars all the time. She was helping me titrate my dose down and all that stuff. So my birthday is March 22nd, March 18th, March 17th or 18th of that same year. So really just not even four full weeks after having this surgery. We were in Grand Cayman for a scuba trip for my birthday.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

And I took no diabetes medication with me on that trip. My blood sugar was completely controlled and normal less than a month after having surgery.

[A]

Wow. Like, back to normal.

[B]

Completely normal. Completely normal. And like, and. And again, Brittany is like, you know, we're either going to take the medication with us or we're not. So she's having me check my blood sugar, you know, multiple times a day.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

As soon as I wake up, right before I go to bed, you know, all this stuff because she didn't want, you know, she didn't want anything bad to happen. But, I mean, day after day after day is just a completely normal blood.

[A]

Sugar still, I guess, still off it then Right. I mean, if you're down to £200.

[B]

Yeah. So we didn't take, you know, not even a month later, I was no longer a type 2 diabetic and was able to go on that scuba trip out of the country.

[A]

And this is such a chicken and egg question, but I'm dying to know now. Is it because the massive drop in weight? I would have to say, yes, it's because of that. But is it because, like, the day you woke up from surgery, you now all of a sudden stop putting so much stuff into your body that you were putting in before, or is it a. Both.

[B]

And so that's a really good question. And it's. So for gastric bypass, which is a more invasive weight loss surgery like that, Al Roker had that, you know, on the.

[A]

Oh, you didn't have that?

[B]

I didn't have bypass. I had vsg. So vertical sleeve gastrectomy.

[A]

It's a lesson, you know, there's a difference. Yes.

[B]

Yeah. It's a less invasive surgery.

[A]

Then it's VSG versus what?

[B]

Gastric bypass.

[A]

I thought. Yeah, the same.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Great.

[B]

No, no.

[A]

Glad I asked.

[B]

No, two.

[A]

Two different. Okay.

[B]

So for gastric bypass.

[A]

YouTube clip right there. The difference between BSG.

[B]

Now, there. There may be some more knowledge on this, but I have heard my surgeon multiple times when I've gone and done these testimonials with him say when. If you are a type 2 diabetic and we do gastric bypass, so the more invasive. Right. So you wake up from that surgery, you still weigh what you weighed when they put you to sleep. Right. You haven't lost any weight magically in that surgery. You just had your stomach rerouted into your intestines. It's a more complicated surgery. When you wake up from that surgery, you're no longer a type 2 diabetic. And it is a medical mystery. Like, they can't put their finger on it and say, oh, yeah, when. When we're doing this surgery, this, this, and this happens, and it. And it causes normal insulin function and all this stuff. For vsg, you. It's not as invasive and as it's not as quick. Now, from February 16 to March 18, I had not lost a. You know, I'd lost weight. I'd lost a noticeable amount of weight, like, you know, maybe 30 or 40 pounds, I'm guessing. I can't. I can't really remember. But it's not like I had lost enough weight to have fixed the type 2 diabetes. It's just a benefit of having the Weight loss surgery. That's why I will forever be pro weight loss surgery in a lot of cases. Even though GLP1 meds are so wonderful and we're just in the infancy of that. We're scratching the surface of GLP1 meds today and people are losing weight loss surgery level amounts of weight. They're losing hundreds of pounds on GLP1s. So it's, it's amazing. Right. But if you weigh five or 600 pounds and you have type 2 diabetes and you can't feel your feet because you have, you know.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, there's just all these things. Right. You need to go have weight loss surgery. It will save your life. The GLP1 can be used as a supplement, you know, to, to aid in this down the road. But yeah, you just can't underscore how wonderful and how life saving weight loss surgery is because there's just all these things that are happening to your body that are so wonderful. So, so sorry, we, we derailed substantially from your, from your question there. So glad we did. But yeah, I just so glad we did. Thought that was important.

[A]

What percentage of people have vsg then vs gastropathis? Like if you had to get like more.

[B]

So start off, is it more or less now? I would say now VSG is much, much more popular.

[A]

Does it have to be done in a hospital?

[B]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[A]

And obviously the other one has been done.

[B]

Yeah. But, but both are still laparoscopic and you know, from the outside.

[A]

Oh, even gastric bypass?

[B]

Yeah. Pretty minimally invasive. Yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

There's just a lot more going on when they do the gastric bypass. But I think most bariatric surgeons steer their patients towards the sleeve. But let's say you already were suffering really bad from heartburn or acid reflux. If you already have acid reflux really bad, you likely cannot have a gastric sleeve because it will make it worse and then you'll end up getting esophageal cancer. If they do the gastric bypass, you will wake up from that surgery cured of acid reflux. There are, there are people who are skinny like you, rail skinny marathon runners that have horrific GERD or acid reflux, that get gastric bypass to cure that because they have eroded their esophagus from that acid coming up and burning up their throat. Yeah.

[A]

And that's that burning feeling that.

[B]

Yeah, it's heartburn and GERD and all that similar. Yeah, yeah. Like heartburn, gerd, acid reflux. That's kind of three ways to, you know, did you have any of that?

[A]

Did you have any of that stuff?

[B]

I didn't have it before, before the surgery. I did not. I'd never had it. I did have it. It came on very suddenly, probably four or five months after having surgery.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just woke up one morning and felt like I had lava in my mouth. It was awful. Thankfully, my wife and I. This is kind of gross, but funny at the same time. We were, we were going to redo the floor in her master bedroom and we pulled up the carpet.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So just exposed concrete. And I remember just waking up and I spit on the floor because I thought, I mean, you know, you're just.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Coming up out of a stone cold sleep and it feels like, you know, you've got lava in your mouth. So I, I went on some sort of prescription for it. I can't remember the name of it, but it kind of. It came on quickly, it went away quickly. And I've never, never really had a problem. It's come on, you know, one or two times a year. But I think that's probably happened to you. You know, it happens to anybody. But, yeah, I, I'm, I'm lucky. There are people who have had no problems with acid reflux, gotten vsg, been very successful with it for years and years and years. And then they will develop horrible acid reflux that they can't get to go away. And then they go in and do a revision to gastric bypass.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Huh.

[B]

Yeah. Because there's nothing, you know, they've tried all the medications, they've altered their diet. You know, it's kind of the last straw, but.

[A]

Yeah. Last straw.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Huh. All right, let's end on this part. So what is the. Let's talk about the future and sort of the, the day by day. And is it an approach of just one day at a time or what? What do you see when you look out? You done it over and this is a thing in the past or is it like.

[B]

I don't think it. I don't think it'll ever be done and over.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, I certainly want to compare this to, like, alcohol addiction or drug addiction. But when you hear people talk about that, like, I've heard somebody say sobriety is never bought, it's rented, and rent is due every day. And I think that that's probably true for, you know, for weight loss. Again, I don't want to. I don't want to take away from what people go through who battle, you know, horrible drug and alcohol addiction. I think it's probably way worse. But I like that saying, you know, that it's, it is something that I know I have to, you know, be aware of. But I also try not to, I try hard not to think about it every day. You know, I don't, I don't, I talk about it very openly. That's another thing that, that I try to encourage people. You know, there's a, a big, there's always been a big push that your, your medical history is private and you know, you go into your doctor's private and there's all this stuff around HIPAA and then people kind of carry that over into their day to day life. So I know there's just tons of people that keep their weight loss surgery journey completely private.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I like again, your business is your business, but I don't, I just don't believe in that. If it wouldn't have been for Megan, my friend sharing her journey with me, I don't know that I would be here today.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And like that, that's the extreme right. The other side, the pendulum swings the other way. On the less extreme side, I'm so open about it. A lot of times at a restaurant I will preemptively tell a waiter, hey, I had weight loss surgery. I'm not going to be able to eat a lot because I don't want this awkward interaction of this food being set in front of me. And then I eat this little bit of stuff and then it sits there. And then most of the time I don't take a to go box because I don't like to reheat leftovers. So then it involves this manager, you know, someone coming over and asking was anything wrong? You know, so I'm just so open about it. I try not to, I just, you know, try to cut out the, cut out the awkwardness. So I know that was kind of off topic, but I don't, I don't, I try not to have it in the forefront of my mind all the time, but I also am very appreciative of the past. I am humble about it. I don't, you know, I don't think that I'm some, you know, God's gift to weight loss. You know, I don't think that I'm, you know, some influencer or anything like that. Yeah, you can regain the weight I have, you know, but even regaining £50 in that, you know, looking at that long term scale, I would still be considered very successful in the, in the bariatric surgery community because so many people will Gain it all back, plus some. And I'm so thankful that never happened.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I mean, you know, I caught it in time or, you know, whatever, however you want to say that, but still.

[A]

Can'T believe that there was literally two of you. As I sit here and I'm talking to you the whole time, it's wild. And the thing. Not that long ago. Not that long ago.

[B]

No.

[A]

Right. I mean, 2016.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So. Wow.

[B]

It's crazy. So it's been a. Been an incredible sharing this story, man. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

[A]

I appreciate that you reached out.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You know, like I told you before, I. I'm constantly trying to share my share, my journey. I want to, you know, if I can help one person.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Then, you know, it's all worth it. And I know I have. I have, you know, a very close friend of mine that had surgery after. After I did. He's done very well with it, but. Yeah, I just. That's all I want to do is, you know, help somebody. I'm. I'm an open book. Sure. I. There's no question. I won't. I won't answer. I will talk to anybody. Yeah, My, you know, my wife gets it. She, you know, she. We've had some instances where she's like, who are you texting? I'm like, someone messaged me on Instagram and, you know, has all these questions.

[A]

But yeah, this will open up a lot more. A lot more doors.

[B]

Yeah, I hope so.

[A]

I mean, at the end of the day, and this is probably just my. My opinion on it, so take it for what it's worth is like every single person has something and struggles with something or struggled with something, and now we exchange it for something else that we struggle with. We all have it, right. Easiest thing to do is to look at the guy who's drinking too much or whatever and say, just stop drinking. Or the guy who's eating too much and just stop eating, or the guy who's working too much, convinced he has to, that's missing his kids games and the list goes on and on. Now, I think it's. It's like a legitimate. The scrolling. The medical community is referring to it as BlackBerry thumb, which is even funnier because the BlackBerry doesn't exist anymore. But. Or it exists, but it's. It's not the iPhone as what the iPhone is today. Point is, though, I think, and I hope that this is met with grace and understanding and not the hate of. All you got to do is just not open the fridge or all you got to do is not open this or not do that. No, that's just my hope. And it's probably. Like I said, my disclaimer is that my opinion's probably in there, but we all struggle.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I just want to say, oh, there's a huge. One person who struggles to another is like, I wish you the best on your journey. I got my own stuff.

[B]

Yeah. And, I mean, there's a huge, like. Kind of like what you said there. There's a huge psychological component to this. Yeah. Huge part of the weight loss journey is the mental battle. And that's why I don't weigh all the time, because I fell into that trap.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know, you. You can. You know, you can weigh today whatever you weighed this morning when you woke up, and you could have a day, a pretty normal day like you do any other time, and tomorrow you might be 3 pounds heavier, but you didn't consume 16,000 calories today. It's just this. Your body is just constantly going through this. So that's why I tell people, like, don't fall into this trap. And because it is such a mental, you know, I strongly encourage people taking pictures, taking measurements. That's one of my biggest regrets. I wish I would have taken measurements, because I can't tell you how. You know, when you asked how big my waist was, I had to tell you, well, I wore my pants below my waist.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I was a 54.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I wish I would have done the. Done measurements. So anybody that's thinking about this journey. Measurements. Do your measurements and pictures. A lot of overweight people shy away from the camera.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I encourage everybody get in front of a mirror. Have your spouse or someone you trust, whatever you have to do, Take pictures of yourself in as little clothing as you are comfortable with. Because you go down this road of losing a lot of weight, those pictures will become some of your most prized possessions. They are for me. You see, I share them without a filter.

[A]

I know, and I love it. They're so encouraging, I think. Well, I know that in the 75 hard book, that's why they do it too. Yes. Which is so critical. And I almost didn't buy into it. And then day 50ish. I'm so darn glad that I did because I didn't feel change. But as I compare one picture to another, oh, my goodness.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So.

[B]

And I tell people all the time. Brittany and I have a close friend. She's on a. On a weight loss journey right now, and she. It kind of took. I'm not going to say she took my advice, but she took the advice of taking pictures and comparing. So when she says, oh, I've only lost this much weight, which I also hate. Right? Like, don't say only, right? Like anything. Only lost 10 pounds, that's 40 sticks of butter. Like, stop belittling this. Yeah, right. But. But yes, the pictures are worth a thousand words because that shirt is going to fit you so much differently. 10 pounds lighter or 20 pounds lighter? 30 pounds lighter. Like, I still have a couple of shirts. I saved them. Yeah, I don't think I have any pants, though. But, yeah, it's.

[A]

It's awesome, man.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Thanks for being here.

[B]

Yeah. Thanks for having me, Jeff. Thank you.

[A]

Thank you so much, man.

[B]

Absolutely.