I was 22 years old, 285 pounds, and so desperate to change my life that I flew to Mexico for weight loss surgery without ever speaking to my surgeon.
Not once. Not a single conversation before I was on that operating table.
I didn’t think anything of it at the time. The facility looked professional. The staff was friendly. The reviews were good. I was young, hopeful, and ready to finally feel good in my body.
What I didn’t know was that the decision I made that day would cost me the next ten years of my life.
This is the story I wish someone had told me before I booked that surgery. And it’s the reason I built Better Me Bariatrics.
How I Got to 285 Pounds
I wasn’t always unhappy in my body. Growing up, I was active, playing sports and staying busy. I graduated from high school in 2009 feeling okay about myself, even if confidence was never something that came easy to me.
But after graduation, everything changed. No more sports. No more daily movement. A new sedentary lifestyle crept in slowly, and my weight went right along with it.
By 2015, I had reached my highest weight of 285 pounds, and I felt every single one of them.
Everyday tasks were exhausting. Walking was hard. I couldn’t keep up with my dog on a simple walk around the block. Going to the mall with my friends became something I dreaded instead of something I enjoyed. I spent so much energy managing the shame I felt that I had almost none left for actually living my life.
Then one night, I had a really honest conversation with a close family member who suggested I look into weight loss surgery. I did my research, and by July of 2015, I was on a plane to Mexico, hopeful and terrified, convinced I was finally about to get my life back.
The Surgery That Was Supposed to Change Everything
My gastric sleeve surgery went smoothly. Recovery was quick. I felt great coming out of it, and I was ready to watch the weight fall off.
Except it didn’t.
In my first month after surgery, I lost 8 pounds. I had expected 20 or more. I told myself to be patient. I reached out to my doctor and was told my body just needed more time to heal.
By six months post surgery, I had lost a total of 40 pounds. I could barely see a difference in the mirror.
I was already in several bariatric Facebook groups by then, watching other people with the same surgery hit their goal weight within the first year. Some of them even sooner. I started comparing myself constantly. I followed every rule. I ate the way I was supposed to eat. I did everything right.
And still nothing.
That’s when the shame came back, worse than before. Because now I had actually done something about my weight, and it still didn’t work. I felt like I had been given the same tool as millions of other people and somehow I still couldn’t figure it out.
I eventually made peace with losing 50 pounds and decided that keeping it off would have to be enough. I settled. I was still 245 pounds at five feet six inches, but I told myself it was better than nothing.
For years, I carried that story. That I had failed. That my body just didn’t respond the way other people’s bodies did. That there was something wrong with me that surgery couldn’t fix.
I believed that story completely, until a Facebook group changed everything.
The Night I Found Out Revision Surgery Existed
In the spring of 2022, I moved from Ohio to Houston, Texas, ready for a fresh start. One night, I was scrolling through Facebook and a group suggestion popped up called Revision Weight Loss Surgery.
I almost kept scrolling. I was already in a dozen bariatric groups and, honestly, they just reminded me of everything I hadn’t achieved. But something made me stop. I had never heard of revision surgery. I genuinely didn’t know it was an option. I thought that what my surgeon had done to my stomach in 2015 was permanent and that nothing else could be done.
I requested to join that night, and the next morning I started reading every single post I could find.
What I discovered in that group completely rewrote everything I thought I knew about why my surgery hadn’t worked.
Hundreds of people had experienced the same thing I had. Minimal weight loss after a gastric sleeve. Years of frustration. Years of self blame. And the reason was almost never the patient.
The biggest factor in whether bariatric surgery works isn’t willpower. It isn’t discipline. It isn’t how closely you follow the rules after surgery.
It’s the surgeon.
That hit me like a wall.
I realized, sitting there reading post after post, that I had never actually chosen a surgeon. I had chosen a facility. I picked a place with good reviews and a busy waiting room, and let them assign me to whoever was available. I didn’t speak to my surgeon until one hour before my procedure. I was 22 years old, navigating this entire process completely alone, and I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
That was the moment everything started to shift for me.
Finding Dr. Andrade and Making the Decision to Try Again
After months of research and real conversations inside that group, I knew what I needed to do. I needed a revision, and I needed the right surgeon this time.
In March 2024, with the full support of my husband and mom, I made my decision. But I wasn’t going to book anything until I found the best doctor available, specifically someone with real revision surgery experience.
I reached out to a woman in the group who had gone from sleeve to bypass a year earlier and lost 140 pounds. She had been one of the most helpful people I met through that community, and I trusted her completely. She shared Dr. Andrade’s information with me, and I booked my surgery the very next day.
My first meeting with Dr. Andrade was in his office a few days before my surgery. He was warm, funny, and completely unhurried. He sat with me and actually talked through my situation. He answered every question I had and gave me guidance and information that no one had ever taken the time to give me before my first surgery.
For the first time in this entire journey, I felt like I was in the right hands.
Dr. Andrade’s Shocking Discovery That Explained Everything
Waking up from my revision was a very different experience from my first surgery. I was disoriented and uncomfortable, but my mom and care team were right there with me. By day two, I was up and walking. I completed my leak test to make sure everything was healing the way it should.
On my last day in the hospital, Dr. Andrade came to see me with news I wasn’t prepared to hear.
He told me that my original gastric sleeve procedure from 2015 had been performed incorrectly.
My first surgeon had not removed enough of my stomach. The condition is called an under resection. My sleeve was simply too large to function the way it should have. That was why I lost so little weight. That was why I couldn’t get past a certain point no matter what I did. That was why I spent a decade feeling like I was broken.
I was not broken. My surgery was.
I remember lying in that hospital bed with my mind going in a hundred directions at once. Ten years. Ten years of shame and self blame and feeling like a failure. Ten years of watching others succeed and wondering what was wrong with me.
And then something shifted.
I felt vindicated in a way I can’t fully put into words. And right behind that came something I hadn’t given myself in a very long time. Grace. Pure relief and grace, washing over me all at once. I started crying and I couldn’t stop.
Those were the tears that built this company.
The Journey Continues
Within 12 months of my revision, I lost 120 pounds and reached my goal weight. I’ve maintained that for over two years now without any complications.
Physically, I feel stronger and healthier than I have at any point in my entire life. But what I’ve come to understand more deeply since my revision is that bariatric surgery is not a finish line. It’s a beginning.
The real journey, the one that matters most, is the internal one. Learning to love yourself through every stage of this process. Releasing the shame you’ve carried. Rebuilding your relationship with your body after years of feeling like it was your enemy. Accepting that you deserve to feel good, not someday, but right now.
That journey doesn’t end when you hit your goal weight. It continues. Some days are harder than others. There are moments of doubt and moments of pure joy. There are new habits to build and old thought patterns to unlearn. And through all of it, the most important thing you can do is give yourself the same grace you would give someone you love.
Bariatric surgery gave me my body back. The work I’ve done on myself since then is giving me my life back. And that is a journey I’ll be on for the rest of my life, gratefully.
Why I Built Better Me Bariatrics
Lying in that hospital bed in Tijuana, I made a decision. I was going to become the person I never had.
Someone who helps you find the right surgeon before you ever step into an operating room. Someone who walks with you through the entire process so you never have to figure it out alone the way I did at 22 years old. Someone who actually understands what this journey feels like from the inside because they have lived it themselves.
Twice.
Better Me Bariatrics is an American company with English speaking coordinators and over 20 years of combined bariatric experience. We provide fully guided coordination for safe, board certified surgery in Tijuana, Mexico for people who have been denied by insurance or priced out of US costs.
We handle everything. The surgeon, pre-op labs, the hospital, transport, hotel, meals, and post-op support. And we stay with you long after you go home through 24/7 WhatsApp support, our private Facebook community, meal plans, exercise guides, quarterly check ins, and more.
The difference between what we offer and what most facilities offer isn’t a package. It’s the guided support that comes with it. The kind of support that makes sure you choose the right doctor for your specific situation. The kind of support I needed and never had.
Your process with us is completely transparent. We negotiate the best possible surgical rates with our vetted partners in Mexico, then add a single coordination fee. That’s it. No surprises.
If you’re ready to take the first real step toward a body and a life you’re proud of, I would love to talk with you. A free 20 minute consultation is all it takes to get your questions answered by someone who has genuinely been through this and come out the other side.
Click the link below and let us be part of your journey to a better you.
Book your free consultation here: calendly.com/bettermejourney
Cindy | Founder, Better Me Bariatrics bettermejourney.com | care@bettermejourney.com | (281) 969-3993