How I Lost 120 Pounds
My real journey to a Better life
How I Lost 120 Pounds After My First Bariatric Surgery Failed
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 did not 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 did not know was that the decision I made that day would cost me the next 9 years of my life.
This is the story I wish someone had told me before I booked that surgery. And it is the reason I built Better Me Bariatrics.
How I got to 285 pounds
“By 2015 I was at 285 pounds and I could feel the weight in everything I did.”
I was not always unhappy in my body. Growing up I played sports and stayed active. I graduated from high school in 2009 feeling okay about myself, even if confidence never came easy.
After graduation everything changed. No more sports. No more daily movement. A sedentary lifestyle crept in slowly, and my weight came right along with it. By 2015 I was at 285 pounds and I could feel the weight in everything I did. Walking was hard. I could not keep up with my dog on a simple walk around the block. Going to the mall with friends became something I dreaded instead of enjoyed.
One night, a close family member sat me down and gently suggested I look into weight loss surgery. I did my research. By July 2015 I was on a plane to Tijuana.
The surgery that was supposed to change everything
The sleeve went smoothly. Recovery was fast. I felt great coming out of it. Then the weight loss did not happen.
In the first month I lost 8 pounds. I had expected 20 or more. I told myself to be patient. I emailed my doctor and was told my body just needed more time to heal. By the six month mark I had lost 40 pounds total. I could barely see a difference in the mirror.
I was already in bariatric Facebook groups by then, watching other people with the same surgery hit their goal weight within the first year. I compared myself constantly. I followed every rule. I did everything right. And still nothing.
Nine years of blaming myself for a surgery that never worked
Eventually I decided that losing 50 pounds would have to be enough. I settled. I was still 245 pounds at five feet six, telling myself it was better than nothing.
For nine years I carried that story. I had failed. My body did not respond the way other people's did. There was something wrong with me that surgery could not fix. I believed that story completely, until a Facebook group changed everything.
The Facebook group that changed my life
“It was never about willpower. It was about the surgeon.”
Spring 2022. I had just moved from Ohio to Houston and was ready for a fresh start. One night I was scrolling 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 they mostly just reminded me of what I had not achieved. But something made me stop. I had never heard of revision surgery. I genuinely did not know it was an option.
I requested to join that night. The next morning I started reading every post I could find. Hundreds of people had experienced exactly what I had. Minimal weight loss after a sleeve. Years of frustration. Years of self-blame. And the reason was almost never the patient.
The biggest factor in whether bariatric surgery works is not willpower. It is not discipline. It is not how closely you follow the rules. It is the surgeon.
That hit me like a wall. I realized 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 was 22 years old, navigating this completely alone, and I did not know what I did not know.
Finding the right surgeon
After months of research and real conversations inside that group, I knew what I had to do. I needed a revision. And this time I needed the right surgeon. In March 2024, with my husband and mom fully on board, I made my decision. I was not booking until I found the best doctor available, specifically someone with real revision 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. She gave me my surgeon's information. I booked my surgery shortly afterwards.
My first meeting with him was at his office a few days before my procedure. He was warm, funny, and unhurried. He sat with me and actually talked through my situation. He answered every question and gave me guidance no one had 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.
The discovery that explained ten years
An under-resected sleeve leaves too much of the stomach in place, which can limit the restriction and results expected from the procedure.
Waking up from the revision was different from the first time. I was disoriented and uncomfortable, but my mom and the care team were right there. By day two I was up and walking. I completed the leak test. Everything was healing the way it should.
On my last day in the hospital, my surgeon came to see me with news I was not prepared to hear. He told me that my original sleeve 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 had simply been too large to function the way it was supposed to. That was why I lost so little weight. That was why I could not get past a certain point no matter what I did.
That was why I had spent a decade feeling like I was broken. I was not broken. My surgery was.
I lay there in the hospital bed with my mind going in a hundred directions at once. Ten years. Ten years of shame, self-blame, and feeling like a failure. And then something shifted. I felt vindicated in a way I cannot fully put into words. And right behind that came something I had not given myself in a long time. Grace. Pure relief and grace, washing over me all at once. I started crying and I could not stop. Those were the tears that built this company.
What life looks like after a revision
Within 12 months of my revision I lost 120 pounds and reached my goal weight. I have maintained it for over two years now. No complications. No regrets. Physically, I feel stronger and healthier than I have at any point in my entire life.
The thing I have come to understand more deeply since the revision is that bariatric surgery is not a finish line. It is a beginning. The real journey, the one that matters most, is the internal one. Learning to love yourself through every stage. Releasing the shame you have carried. Rebuilding your relationship with your body after years of treating it like the enemy. Accepting that you deserve to feel good, not someday, but right now.
Why I built Better Me Bariatrics
Lying in that hospital bed in Tijuana after my revision, 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. Someone who actually understands what this journey feels like from the inside, because they have lived it themselves.
Twice.
If you are considering bariatric surgery
If any part of my story resonates with you, book a free 20 minute consultation with me. We will talk about your options, your questions, and whether working together makes sense. There is no pressure and no obligation. Your journey to a Better You starts here.
No pressure and no obligation. Talk through your options with someone who has lived this journey twice.
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