Episode 3 - Our Weight Loss Story

In Episode 3, Chris and Dar talk about the gastric sleeve surgery they had in April of 2024. Dar shares her thoughts on GLP-1's and how they help with food noise and inflammation. Chris and Dar also provide other tips for staying healthy and as always, they share what they are watching. 

Links for today's episode:

Golden Knights vs Mammoth (Chris' story)

https://www.fox13now.com/sports/utah-mammoth/a-city-divided-how-st-george-turned-from-golden-knights-territory-to-mammoth-country

Diabetes Obesity Clinic   https://diabetesobesityclinic.com/

DOC Instagram   https://www.instagram.com/diabetesobesityclinic/

DOC Facebook   https://www.facebook.com/diabetesobesityclinic?mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=xU5tGHPBP9kLVvji&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2F191M8i3nd1%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr#

Diabetes Obesity Clinic contact person:

Issel Vázquez  issel@diabetesobesityclinic.com  +52 664 135 2527

You can receive a $300 discount on your surgery if you mention you heard about Diabetes Obesity Clinic on the From LA LA to Utah YouTube channel or podcast.

Gruns Gummies   https://gruns.co/

Nutrops Gummies   https://nutrops.co/

Hint Water   https://www.drinkhint.com/

Dr. Ania Jastreboff   https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/ania-jastreboff/

The Truth About Obesity    https://youtu.be/_GEe8EUTfRk?si=yb9SHtEN9E_GderA

Serena & Oprah Talk GLP-1 Medications    https://youtu.be/g7pw3MJ7QVE?si=vlld0lDxK3jQkyu0

Transcript

What We are Watching

Chris 0:11

Hi there, wherever you are, and welcome to the third episode of From La La to Utah. I'm Chris from La La, where I grew up in the Val. That's the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. This is Lottie, our trusted friend.

Dar 0:23

Very helpful co-anchor or co-host, whatever. I'm Dar. I grew up here in St. George, Utah. Chris and I met online in 2018, and we were married in October of 2021.

Chris 0:34

That's right. So third episode. And we hope you've enjoyed, you know, we've we try to spread a little joy. It's the whole goal starting the week, and we certainly hope you have a great one. And uh how do you feel? I mean, this has been this is Dar's pet project.

Dar 0:48

I've been wanting to do a podcast or you know, a YouTube channel, or you know, and I just feel like I'm learning something new every week. Um, I'm having a lot of fun deciding what we talk about, kind of roping you into my project. So um yeah, no, I'm loving it.

Chris 1:04

I mean, Dar doesn't have experience, doesn't do the broadcast, like I did, but I this is her baby, and I pretty much let her have the reins, and I'm just along for the ride, so is our cat Lottie, who's yeah, sitting on my lap at the moment.

Dar 1:16

Yeah.

Chris 1:17

Um, but uh I'll tell you what, let's talk about our our our week. And and first off, the most important part of the week was this person's birthday.

Dar 1:26

Yeah, it I got spoiled. Chris is really good at spoiling me every day, but especially on my birthdays. Um, so honestly, the day itself was just really chill. But the night before we had a family pool party, which we were in the pool swimming, we were eating great, not we weren't eating in the pool, but we had tacos before the pool. Um, and we watched uh the Karate Kid 2 while we were swimming, and it just I love having my family around, and it was just a lot of fun. It was a really fun night.

Chris 1:53

And that's the difference between the woman and the guy. I have no problem eating in the pool. Um, but yeah, we w we watched Karate Kid 2.

Dar 2:00

Um it was one of my favorites growing up, of course.

Chris 2:03

So and then on the actual birthday, I always like to give her uh staycation, so we had a uh little suite stay. Uh and I can certainly recommend the uh Coral the Best Western on uh St. George Boulevard. Yeah, yeah. Uh the Coral is it called Coral Cliffs?

Dar 2:19

Coral Cliffs? Or I'm not sure. We should have looked it up.

Chris 2:21

Look for the one that starts with Coral.

Dar 2:22

It's right next to um uh what is it, the the Mexican food...

Chris 2:26

George's and and the Mexican food Angelina. Angelina's, maybe? Yes.

Dar 2:30

Yeah, so it's it's a couple blocks east of Ancestor Square.

Chris 2:34

And what have we been watching?

Dar 2:37

Well, we started Star City. Um, so I know you wanted to see that, and it's yeah, kind of the the Russian side of the story of the For All Mankind.

Chris 2:46

Um well, the fictional space race of For All Mankind. If you haven't watched For All Mankind on Apple TV, we mentioned that last week. Yeah, I mean I'm a history buff and all that. So this is the Russian side. This is this is a fictional Russia of Soviet Union. I'm sorry, it's still the Soviet Union in the 19 late 60s, where they were first on the moon. Um, and incorporate some real figures like the chief designer and Alexei Leonov, but also some false figure uh figures, and some people uh for For All Mankind fans, younger versions who you recognize immediately, obviously. So it's it's uh it's good, it's bleak, it's actually film, it's it's filmed like a true Cold War thriller, which is actually kind of cool.

Dar 3:29

It's heavy and it's dark, and it's very, yeah, very Cold War. Um, but it's interesting to see it from the other side.

Chris 3:35

Yes.

Dar 3:35

Um, but I want to go back to a movie that we watched on Netflix, which I really loved, and I hear the book is amazing. Um, but it's called Remarkably Bright Creatures.

Chris 3:45

Oh, I mean, I'll tell you, it it's it's a remarkable movie, is the first thing that came to my mind. I mean, it's it's just talk about spreading joy. It it's it's on the surface, you're like it's it's a an octopus telling the story of a retired widow.

Dar 4:03

Um but Alfred Molina narrates as the octopus, and it works. We love him in anything. And then Sally Field plays Tova, the main character, and she's kind of a janitor for the aquarium, and you she kind of it's she's there alone at night talking to the the sea creatures, and I don't know, it it sets the tone for a really interesting story.

Chris 4:27

Yeah, and it's great performance. Lewis Pullman, who just I mean, he really looks so much like his dad, who's Bill Pullman of Independence Day and Spaceball's fame. And by the way, father and son will be Lone Star and Son in Spaceballs 2. I'm looking forward to that next year. And gotta give a shout out to Colm Meaney, uh Chief O'Brien of Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Fame, who's uh you know, I mean, he's obviously more than that. He's in a great movie called The Commitments, um, always been a very prolific actor, but he's the grocery store owner in this. There are aspects of this that almost remind me in ways of St. George as far as being kind of small town. Small, small town, well more, more maybe uh warm, warm connection.

Dar 5:10

Maybe, yeah, a lot smaller, smaller than St. George, but still based on the characters and their relationships. Yeah.

Chris 5:16

And, you know, I'm the sports guy, so and and Dar's usually along for the ride on that one.

Dar 5:21

And I'm usually on my phone doing something else, but I I want to support you in your sports and what's happening this week in sports.

Chris 5:28

But you like the football and you love the hockey. Uh, we've gone to Golden Knights games together, and uh, you know, as we're filming this, I mean it's it's gonna be on Monday. Right now, the Golden Knights are down three to two, so either they've tied things up on Sunday, or it's a big game seven coming up of the Stanley Cup. But it's almost it's it's so remarkable. And I was there in Vegas at the very beginning, um, that magical first year. And it's funny, I grew up with an LA Kings fan, ended up covering them as a reporter. And what's interesting to me is that in 50 plus years, the Kings have been to the Stan ley Cup um twice, uh three times and won. And the Golden Knights have now also been there three times in less than nine years and might be winning a second, though the Carolina Hurricanes, uh I said Carolina Hurricanes, not Hurricun, uh for those who are there, it's a local joke.

Dar 6:25

Yeah.

Chris 6:26

Um but uh you know that said, I it's funny how the Golden Knights start out as the Misfits of Hockey. They were built together as, you know, basically teams got to get rid of their worst two players, and and they were given to the Knights basically, and they turned that team into a team that's now won.

Dar 6:44

They've been amazing. I mean, I was never into hockey till I met you, and just your love of the Golden Knights has made me really love that too. And it's just everyone in Vegas, that's their team. Like it's so heartfelt, they're so loyal.

Chris 6:59

It will always be Vegas' team. I mean, they're they're they're always gonna be the I mean they are still bigger than the Raiders, even though they came there, and I think they'll always be bigger than the A's.

Dar 7:07

Well, in St. George, it's only two hours away from Vegas, so a lot of people here are Knights fans, although now we have the Mammoth. And so we're, you know, maybe northern Utah is more Mammoth fans.

Chris 7:17

It's interesting. I did a story for Fox 13. Um, going out to um and shout out to uh Red Rock Hockey over there at uh Snow Park. Uh there they have a great local roller hockey thing going here, but there's no actual ice hockey rink. Um, but I went out to do a story on are you still Golden Knights fans? And most actually said Mammoth. I think it's two things. One, obviously, the Utah connection. People are loyal to Utah. And two, um, the Mammoth actually visited at the start of the season there, so that's always gonna make an impression. So Knights, it's on you. Come back up, come up here and and show off. And I, you know, but ultimately the Knights are drastically the better team. And the other thing, of course, going on, and I have the scarf to prove it, um, if you're watching on YouTube, um it's World Cup time. Always, every four years, this is just um a big moment. It's in the United States this time and Canada and Mexico. Um and so, yeah, it's it's uh, you know, I I my support's obviously the United States. I'm cheering on Mexico and boy, England and Scotland, baby. My will, Welsh did not make it, they missed it by one game. Oh enjoy the World Cup. Think of it even in situations like there are right now, even surrounding the World Cup, where fans are banned from coming from certain countries because they're in Africa. Um, you know we can go on on to that, but I'll just the thing is the World Cup, even with the corruption within FIFA, is ultimately about joy. The joy of the world coming together and enjoying it it it's even more than the Olympics, I would say. It's a moment where the entire world is absolutely watching the same thing at once and really invested in what's going on. And now the United States is too. I mean, I know the first game in the US got the highest rating ever for a World Cup first game in the US. So America's on board with soccer, as we call it now, or football, and the rest of the world. Um and it's great to see. I mean, it's great, it's a world coming together, even in a situation where so much is being done to keep the world apart. Um and I know you're I mean, you thanks to Ted Lasso, you're a big soccer person now too.

Dar 9:36

I am now. I can kind of follow it because Ted Lasso got me in. It kind of got that emotional connection for me.

Chris 9:42

So are you saying that football is life?

Dar 9:44

Football is life, it is also death.

Chris 9:45

Football is also death. It's life.

Dar 9:48

Yes.

Chris 9:48

With that, we're gonna take a uh little bit of a life break uh on From La La to Utah, but we'll be back in a second, and we're gonna talk about our weight loss journey.

Dar 9:57

Yeah, yep. So stay tuned.

Chris 9:59

You

Is Gastric Sleeve Worth It?

Chris 10:00

bet. All right, and we're back, and uh, you know, this is uh the third episode, and we you know you we meant to you know I mentioned the World Cup gear, but there's some other gear, yes, fan gear.

Dar 10:11

So this is my Rocky Amaze, Amaze, Amaze shirt.

Chris 10:15

Amaze, amaze, amaze.

Dar 10:16

Yes, please.

Chris 10:18

Fist my bump. Thumbs up thumbs up if you have it's it's available now. Um streaming or streaming now to order, but you know, we've already talked about our love of Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, it just anything Andy Weir does, and I can't wait for those for those of you to discover this movie. Yes, and the book. I I still say read the book first and see the movie, but you know, it could go the other way around.

Dar 10:39

Or l we listen to it the way we did. I loved it. I mean, as we were playing video games, we were listening to it, and and then the adaptation was really good, I thought.

Chris 10:47

Yes, I mean one uh rare, rare time. I I can only really one other time maybe it was the Lord of the Rings movies where I felt that the movies lived up, if not exceeded the books. This lived up to the book. I mean, the book is still much better, but I'll tell you it's about journey across the stars, and we've had a journey on weight loss.

Dar 11:07

Yes. So I want to dig into it uh just a little bit. So um I think the the question that we have for this segment really is was you know, gastric sleeve and GLP ones. Is it worth it? Like it and in in our case, it absolutely changed our lives.

Chris 11:23

So we should show like pictures. If you're watching on YouTube, we're gonna show you pictures of us before. Just before the surgery.

Dar 11:30

Yeah. And should we, you know, I don't know if we're gonna show after right away or well, I'm not sure what order I'll put them in, but I'm definitely gonna show before and after because there's a visible change for sure, as there should be. Um but I remember when I first met you, I feel like I s like we were sitting on the couch, I saw your pulse in your neck. Like you had clearly you had high blood pressure. And I thought, I know who to take you to. Um because my dad had had some health issues and I had taken him to those appointments. But when we got to the cardiologist, he said, I I really suggest gastric sleeve to you. And he named several health issues that you were battling that he's like, You're young enough that if you do the right things, you can come back from this.

Chris 12:21

I had an enlarged heart. Yeah. My heart was bigger and enlarged itself.

Dar 12:27

Uh-huh.

Chris 12:28

My family has a history of high blood pressure. My my late grandpa, who I've talked about before, who uh was a creator of car of cartoons for Disney and Hannah Barbera, uh, he died at 56 of a heart attack. Yeah. Um, we have heart history in our uh high blood pressure, heart attack history in my family. So when my cardiologist, you know, said it's at that point, to me, it was like, no, it's at that point.

Dar 12:54

Well, if you don't do this, you're gonna be exactly and and I knew that he was trustworthy. I know, I mean, he saved my dad's life. I knew that. And so if if he was saying, hey, you gotta get this under control, so first of all, we went to Weight Watchers, we did that for probably a year and a half with some success. Um, and I also I had done intermittent fasting before I met you. You had done Atkins before you met me.

Chris 13:19

Intermittent fasting, um, everything in the book.

Dar 13:21

Um But then when the cardiologist is saying you've got to get this under control, we both went to our insurance. We both had full-time jobs with insurance and both denied the surgery. Neither one would approve.

Chris 13:32

I regret to say it in some ways this is going to be an indictment of the U.S. health system. And it's unfortunate. It is unfortunate. Where, you know, this should be a no-brainer. You want to have people go to the doctor less. And for some people, as we just discussed, we tried everything in the book.

Dar 13:49

Um and our doctor, even we had a car an internist that we were both seeing at the time that we were together. He wrote a letter to the insurance. So not only the cardiologist was saying, but our internist was saying they've got to have this surgery, and we were still denied.

Chris 14:02

But we know it's such a struggle for people. Yeah. I mean, you go, you've got to lose weight, you gotta lose. It's not simple. And and we'll we'll I'll tell you later why it wasn't simple for me. We found out after this uh surgery, but but we so we also need Weight Watchers. Um I'm open to give my I was 420 pounds.

Dar 14:21

Yeah. And I was 335.8, so 336.

Chris 14:25

We're up there.

Dar 14:26

And I'm 5'5. Like that's I'm a small person for weighing 300 and what, 336 pounds?

Chris 14:32

But six uh and it's funny because I didn't see when I see old pictures of myself now, uh-huh, I I can't believe I I at the time, you know, I it's it's gonna be weird as we go along talking about this, but we don't necessarily even see it in the mirror every day, but when we look at pictures of between two years ago and now, we're I'm stunned that we're the same person.

Dar 14:55

Because I knew like for my speaking for myself, I knew I was big, I didn't know I was that big.

Chris 15:00

But we even try Weight Watchers. Yeah, we did. Um I lost 60 pounds, and you lost 25.

Dar 15:04

I lost 25, yeah. And I and I felt like that was manageable with the the system that Weight Watchers have in place with the zero point foods. We use the app. Um, but it just wasn't making the difference that we needed in the way that we needed it. And so so we dipped into our savings. We had some money from our wedding.

Chris 15:23

Well, we had to, because we heard about and a lot of people in St. George go to this because so many are either turned down by their insurance or told that individually they're gonna have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get the surgery.

Dar 15:36

Yeah. And you heard about So through friends of friends, there's the Diabetic Obesity Center. They had come up to St. George.

Chris 15:44

Diabetes Obesity Clinic in Tijuana, Mexico.

Dar 15:47

And they had done presentations. I had you know acquaintances that had gone through the surgery, and I'm like, they seem really trustworthy, they have a system down. Um and so I ended up um researching, looking at their website, calling. We kind of texted back and forth through the representatives for a few months just to make sure that the timing was right. They had a a really good special at this time that we were like, okay, it's now or never, we've got to lock in this price.

Chris 16:12

Um, so considering like it'd be tens of thousands of dollars for each of us to get this.

Dar 16:17

I'm gonna say I know someone really close to me that had this same surgery, gastric sleeve. And the sleeve basically they cut and staple your stomach at the same time. They follow your esophagus and they give you a little pouch that's maybe a half a cup or a quarter cup, where your your stomach that can hold food is much smaller. Well, this person that's really close to me had the surgery, did the nutritionist, did all the doctors. Um even with insurance, they were in 12,000, 13,000. And I'm like, I can't, like, we just don't have that, and our insurance is saying no. So when they were giving us the price, ultimately, between what we had in savings, we had a a CD that we had started after our wedding. So we cashed in our CD and then we got a loan for the I think it was like $2,500 left. We were able to get both of us to have surgery and fix your hernia for under $10,000. I mean, that's and it was all inclusive. Like they picked us up at the airport. Like I'll I'll go into that more, but we all we had to pay for was how do we get to San Diego? And we just so we decided to fly.

Chris 17:23

And I know people are like immediately you're skeptical, we're going to Mexico.

Dar 17:27

Um it's kind of a destination for weight loss now.

Chris 17:30

It really is. And it's funny, I mean, I used to, you know, growing up in Southern California, you go to TJ all the time. Um either as a kid, your parents go, my mom would go to every store in TJ. You know, I was like, it's the same paper mache puppets. I mean, come on, mom, you know. Um, but um it it but it's just amazing how there are now all these tall buildings in Tijuana is because of a growing medical industry of people needing to leave the United States to get the basic things done.

Dar 18:00

I'll tell you, um, I was working for the school district, and at that time they were shopping around our insurance because insurance rates were going up, going up every year. And one of the options they were looking at was are you willing to drive to Tijuana to get your dental done, to get your medical done? And I think it was vetoed. I I think that was something that the the union voted on, but it it is it's just getting so expensive here in the United States that most people are struggling to get what they need done.

Chris 18:26

And by the way, we're talking about even going to Mexico and paying something.

Dar 18:29

Yeah.

Chris 18:30

The rest of the free world, I mean, certainly I have so much family in Britain, they are absolutely amazed by all this because they would pay nothing. Nothing.

Dar 18:40

So And they'll say that the wait times in in the UK or you know, nationalized health care, the wait times are long, but they're long here too.

Chris 18:47

They're long here too. It takes forever to get a doctor here.

Dar 18:49

And how many GoFundMe's have we seen for either funerals or surgery or I don't have insurance or we live in the GoFundMe account uh economy here, and it's just it's not sustainable.

Chris 19:01

It's just not, and especially now as things are getting hard for everybody. If you look at most GoFundMe's these days, they don't come close to being funded.

Dar 19:07

They're not being funded because nobody has money anymore. Yeah.

Chris 19:10

So now what do you do?

Dar 19:12

So on that happy note, let's take a break.

Chris 19:15

We're gonna take a break. We're gonna talk about when we went from now, okay. So we're going to Mexico, but how was the quality of this work at the uh Diabetes Obesity Clinic it's called?

Dar 19:24

Um we will tell you. We'll tell you it's right after this.

Diabetes Obesity Clinic

Chris 19:29

All right, we're back, and we are talking about our trip to the Diabetes Obesity Clinic in Tijuana, Mexico.

Dar 19:35

Yeah, so they have they have this down to where as long as you get to the airport in San Diego, they send a driver to come pick you up at the airport, they drive you across the border, they take you right to the hospital, which was I thought was an amazing facility.

Chris 19:51

So marble floors. I mean, going in, I'm like, okay, we're gonna go in and it's gonna be like the Joker Hospital in Batman. The guys back there with a little light going up.

Dar 20:03

Why would you say yes if you thought that's what it was?

Chris 20:05

Well, no, I mean it's just like that's that's most people's vision of going down across the it was exactly the opposite.

Dar 20:11

I had done my research though, like I knew that it was top-notch level. Like you can literally, when we went in, marble floors, you could smell the fresh paint.

Chris 20:20

I mean, I was confident because of the people's experience here. Yes. And talking to other people who've gone there, but still seeing is believing, and I swore I immediately felt like I was going to Cedar Sinai in Beverly Hills, and I was a celebrity. It was just amazing.

Dar 20:36

It felt very white glove, very concierge. Like the ladies that met us at the front desk could not have been nicer, the driver could not have been nicer. Um, my my whole experience there, I I don't think I've had better care anywhere, really.

Chris 20:51

Better care than you would have gotten here.

Dar 20:53

Yes.

Chris 20:53

I mean, it it was the best medical experience I have ever had. Yes. I've had medical experiences in my life. Sure. You know.

Dar 20:59

Well, and I thought it was really fun because I'm like, we're coming together. Are we gonna be in two separate rooms or can we share a room? They put both beds in one room. One room. We loved it.

Chris 21:09

It felt we had great cable. I mean, we we were just we were having a vacation.

Dar 21:15

It was amazing. And uh they kept our pain under control to where I never felt in pain. We were up and walking really quickly.

Chris 21:21

Well, before I mean, because I mean I felt like it was feeling like a vacation.

Dar 21:24

Yeah.

Chris 21:24

And some of the oh, yeah, we're here, I'm here to get a surgery. Yeah. I've I gotta say, I've you know, other than um, you know, basically having wisdom teeth removed, I've never really had a true surgery going on. That's true.

Dar 21:35

This was your first surgery. And so, you know, I'm a little freaked out about um I had had other like I got my tonsils out when I was four, I had my gallbladder out in my twenties. But yeah, this was your major you were a little nervous, but the fact that we could share the room together, that we were doing this together. And we knew that we were gonna improve our lives together, that we were gonna ease back into the eating of things you know together too. Um, I do remember the nurse coming. In after your surgery. You went first.

Chris 22:02

Yes.

Dar 22:02

So I was there when you came back. And do you remember what the nurse told you?

Chris 22:06

Yes, and this is amazing. This, by the way, and what you talk about everyone's struggle, and it's so terrible. You have to give grace to people. When you why don't you just lose weight? It turned out after they operated, um, in kind of broken English, and it made it at first sound like it's just the biggest stomach they had seen today, but they said literally it was. I'm not talking about the skin outside, I'm talking about the actual organ, the stomach that I had was one of the largest they've ever seen as far as capacity. So it explained everything in my life that I could never feel full because I literally had a bigger, I had basically a fuel tank for a semi-truck in in a body of uh, well, I mean, I'm I'm a big guy, but still, you know, it's almost like having a uh the engine, the gas tank of a semi-truck in a VW bug. I mean, it was just like I I could never be full, ever.

Dar 22:59

Yeah.

Chris 23:00

And it explained it.U and you know the way that he said it though, like he was a surgical nurse and he he he was kind of joking, like, you know, this is the best, biggest one we've seen all day. But no, he really meant it was big. And and it did mean that all the things that we had been trying, you were kind of white knuckling. And this this surgery was going to really make a difference because the capacity to overeat wasn't there anymore. And so what what I should mention is this package not only included the surgery, but you stayed in the hosp hospital one night and then they took you to a really nice hotel the next night. The nicest hotel Tijuana. And that hotel knew our bariatric menu. They had food available for us. Um, and we were constantly in tune with the doctors. They gave us a little bag of medications, told us when to take them. Um, and then from that day for the next, I would say, year, we had a WhatsApp call with the nutritionist, with a counselor, a therapist. Oh, they never just let go of us. Like they kept in touch. Even now. Even now, yeah. And and I reached out saying, we're gonna tell our story. Is it okay? Is it okay if I say we went to the to your specific clinic and and they're like, not only is it okay, we would like to give your listeners a discount. So, okay, you're gonna get an amazing deal because can you um I they have a good special that's happening right now, an all-inclusive package, the same thing that we got for $6,650, which is already a great deal, but they're gonna offer our audience $300 additional dollars off. All you have to do is mention that you heard about the surgery. Uh Diabetes Obesity Clinic.

Dar 24:46

Diabetes Obesity Clinic.

Chris 24:48

We'll put a link up.

Dar 24:49

By the way, they don't only do gastric sleeve, they do gastric bypass, they do revision, they fixed your hernia.

Chris 24:55

They fixed my hernia.

Dar 24:56

And if they find a hernia while they're doing a surgery, they fix it for you. I mean, they'll they'll tell you if we find one, we'll fix it. Is it okay? Here's the additional cost. But they they prepare for every eventuality. And so if you've had a surgery that you're like, man, I don't feel that restriction anymore, I could really get a top-up. Or if you're like, well, I did the gastric sleeve, but it's really not working, I want to do the gastric bypass, they can help. And they're I highly recommend them.

Chris 25:21

So they didn't sponsor the show, but they just you know we we call, you know, because we've been they've stayed in touch with us. We said, Oh yeah, we're gonna mention you guys in the podcast, and they're like, Oh yeah, give people a discount. What the heck?

Dar 25:31

Yeah, um, they've been amazing. I highly recommend them.

Chris 25:34

So um I think it's a con well, we'll have the contact and links on the screen, but you can give a little.

Dar 25:39

Yes, the person I asked who to reach out to, and her name is Issel Vasquez, and I'm gonna put her email address and her phone number on the screen, and I'll also put it in the notes. But I I could not have been happier. I highly recommend them. And so if you're if you're looking for this level of intervention in your health, I would say it's the best thing that we've done collectively for our health.

Chris 26:00

And I mean, it just so you know it just was, I mean, uh top notch. And I mean, that's the thing. It's it's a big leap for people. Um, it's almost like, you know, for for me, it's like you talked about my cardiologist. Like, this is like you do this or you're your grandpa. You're dying in your 50s.

Dar 26:21

We want to prevent that. And to date, I just did the math this morning. I have lost 89 pounds.

Chris 26:27

Oh, wow.

Dar 26:28

I never would have thought. And then I think you're at what 120? One.

Chris 26:32

Well, one one twenty one, almost one. Well, one thirty really. I mean, it's I'm at like you know, I can say straight up, I'm at about 282. That's great. I'm which is basically, well, two things. One, it's my um, it's it's my fresh, not not college weight, because you know, you all gain, it's the start of my freshman year weight. And I'm now wearing the size pants I wore in the summer just after high school.

Dar 26:56

That's amazing.

Chris 26:57

I'm almost, I mean, literally, I'm almost I'm very close to my high school weight, which I never thought I'd get to. Yeah. Um, so we we this is I think the time to show the before.

Dar 27:06

So yeah.

Chris 27:07

So before, and you know, I can just describe this for those listening. I mean, we didn't realize.

Dar 27:14

You were wearing 4X or 5X tops.

Chris 27:17

Five X tops. I always have to wear tall because I'm tall, but but 5X.

Dar 27:22

Um I was wearing 3X or 4X. Um, I think I was a size 26 women. 20, yeah, about 26 women.

Chris 27:30

I was wearing 48 or 50 pants.

Dar 27:33

Yeah.

Chris 27:34

I'm down to 38's now.

Dar 27:36

And now I'm a 1X. Um I I still am battling a lot of other things, which I'll describe maybe a little I have a low thyroid. I have.

Chris 27:44

And you mentioned the condition.

Dar 27:46

Yeah, I I think I have lipodema on my mom's side. Lipedema. Uh-huh. But you know, I I look at my pictures and I'm like, okay, I can see a difference. Uh do I see 89 pounds worth? Maybe not yet.

Chris 27:57

That's the thing. It's funny, and for those who uh certainly are going through this, especially those initially going through it, and you're going, I don't see it in the mirror.

Dar 28:03

Yeah.

Chris 28:03

You know, I psychologically, it just that's just how it is. I mean, you you never see it for yourself, but boy, make sure I would say the biggest recommendation I'd make is take pictures the whole time. The whole time. Every two weeks, take a new picture of yourself.

Dar 28:19

Yeah.

Chris 28:19

And you, that's where you see it. And your friends will see it. I know it's tough to believe because your friends, your really good friends, are gonna be honest, but they're also gonna, you know, they're just gonna try to cheer you up.

Dar 28:28

Well, and we did take pictures. So I'll I'll share a bunch of those. I'll put a bunch in the in the feed or in the YouTube channel.

Chris 28:34

Yeah, and you you're gonna you're gonna see them. And I mean, it's just it's nice, and I can't believe this is and that's this the last thing I'll say is I talk about my you know, getting basically just about to back to my high school weight. And when I was in high school, I I played for high school football, I was supposed to be big, um, playing linemen and in a high school football team. And I felt fat, I felt big. And then later in life, especially as I got bigger, I looked back at those pictures and goes and went, oh, I I look so great. I wish I could have that body again. I'd appreciate next time, and I do now.

Dar 29:09

Yeah.

Chris 29:10

So I have never felt better about how I look than I do now in my life. Yes.

Dar 29:15

And I love seeing you admire yourself in the in the mirror. I love it. And it's not a vain thing. It's I know you're appreciating your progress from April of 2024. That's when we had the surgery. April of 2024 until now. So when we come back from the break, I want to talk to you about how things um look now, what we're doing now. Um, so stay tuned.

Life After Surgery

Chris 29:38

Stay tuned. All right, we're back, and uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about what comes after the surgery, and especially for those of you who are considering this um gastric sleeve, and also those considering using GLP ones.

Dar 29:52

Yes.

Chris 29:52

Um, you know, but but I'll tell you today it's the big thing that's happened to me right away are just the welcome changes.

Dar 30:01

Yeah.

Chris 30:02

Um you know, things like certain um like going out to eat is such a change.

Dar 30:10

It is. Um we share one

Chris 30:12

Well we there's a place we love here in St. George called Durango's. Um and they my my favorite was always a large marinated chicken burrito. And I'd eat one of those by myself.

Dar 30:25

And we're talking you know, that much.

Chris 30:27

Not that much, you know. It's not we're not talking about, you know, the US foot-long burrito. I mean it's it it but it's a pretty big burrito.

Dar 30:36

Yeah.

Chris 30:36

Um and I eat one of those by myself. Now we go, we order one small marinated chicken burrito, so half the size of the one I used to eat by myself. We cut that in half, and then we cut the half in half. Half in half. So really we're cutting into fourths.

Dar 30:54

Yeah.

Chris 30:55

And we'll each have one of the fourths for dinner.

Dar 30:57

Yeah.

Chris 30:58

And we are fine.

Dar 30:59

Yes. Just the other half for lunch the next day. Yeah.

Chris 31:03

Exactly. So rather than the one large burrito, I eat ha uh a fourth of the small burrito and I'm happy to.

Dar 31:10

So portion sizes have really changed. Like I can be full on a Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt. Like, yeah. Or a banana, and then I'll have to wait another half hour or before I can fit anything. Um, but we're our focus now is protein. Oh, so you that's kind of we centrally think, okay, what protein can can I start with, and then can I add vegetables? Do I need to add grains? What do I need to add to it? But we're focusing on getting the right amount of protein for every meal. Um, that, and then also hydration.

Chris 31:40

Oh, and that's the thing, because you're not gonna get um you're gonna feel full after so little that you still need to watch that nutrition, and especially hydration, especially if you're in a hot climate like St. George or most places these days. And we take some extra vitamins in this form.

Dar 31:57

So we these are the ones that have worked for us. So Gruns, it's kind of like a green drink, but in gummy form.

Chris 32:02

It's gummy bears.

Dar 32:04

Yeah, each little packet has eight gummies, and so we each have one packet of these. These are um functional nootropic gummies. So for an ADHD brain and for a perimenopause brain, this is really helpful to get us to get that brain fog away and to help us focus. But this is really to kind of bridge the gaps between we're not eating a lot of fruit and vegetables because we just don't have room. So we do try to eat healthy, but I highly recommend both of these products. But you talk about hydration.

Chris 32:30

I mean, I like I have I love flavored waters. Yes, you've got me hooked on Hint, but I don't drink soda as much anymore. And in Utah, if you don't know, is huge on soda. This is a place they're starting to spread around the country now. Dirty soda shops. Dirty soda shops got their start in St. George. They did. Yeah, between Dutchman's starting it off and then Swig really taking it off.

Dar 32:53

But now you have Splash, you have Pop, Fizz.

Chris 32:56

But they also, I mean, when you learn, if you haven't seen the example of how much sugar is in one can of soda coke or soda, yeah. It's like literally you're drinking a vat of of sugar every time.

Dar 33:11

It's just too much. Not only the sugar, but the bubbles. Now that we have the gastric sleeve, we don't have room for the bubbles to expand.

Chris 33:18

Right. Probably soda is actually the biggest contributor, even diet sodas.

Dar 33:21

Yeah.

Chris 33:22

Because they have just as much of the same properties are a biggest cause of weight gain. So, you know, the thing is that before this, I would consider myself maybe a social alcoholic drinker. I'd have maybe one beer or one wine going to a friend's or going to a party once a month. I'm now the same way with soda.

Dar 33:45

Yeah.

Chris 33:45

I'll have maybe one can of Coke a month.

Dar 33:48

If we go to the movie, maybe.

Chris 33:50

If we go to a movie or go to a friend's or go to a party, like your birthday. Um and so your tastes really change after having weight loss surgery.

Dar 33:59

Speaking about taste being because they introduce uh, you know, after the surgery, you you're allowed to eat certain foods at certain times and it changes the chemistry. So I I used to be a sweet tooth person. Like I never met candy or cookies or cake that I didn't love. Now I crave savory things, like like chips, but honestly, like a d like burritos, I want something like an entree. That's what I crave now. And you used to be a huge steak person beef everything.

Chris 34:28

I used so if you're familiar with Lawry's seasoning, they have a restaurant in LA. And I think they also have in other places, but it's got it's start in LA called um it was it's Lawry's. Um Lawry's The Prime Rib. And they had something called the Diamond Jim Brady Cut. And um they used to serve it to the teams playing in the Rose Bowl, uh, but now they serve it to people. Um and literally it's like you chop off the side of a cow and cook it. That's huge. And I I'd have the whole thing in one sitting, and now I have a little bit of a prime rib, and I'm a happy camper. And if I have more than that, I you know, I I keep mentioning the feeling that you have at the end of Thanksgiving dinner. You have that all the time now after you're gonna be able to do that.

Dar 35:14

You get there really quickly, yeah.

Chris 35:15

Um, and it's just um it's just such a change in your body. So now I am more of a chicken person than a beef person. Never thought that would happen.

Dar 35:25

But I also love how every now and then I'll catch you looking at yourself in the mirror like you're admiring your new body. Like I I love seeing you so happy about it, you know?

Chris 35:34

I'm wearing clothes. I have I mean, I'm wearing Levi's 501s now, and I couldn't wear them after college because I just didn't have them in my size.

Dar 35:42

Yeah.

Chris 35:42

501s, used to be, I used to get on a Miller's Outpost. Um place doesn't exist anymore, but it's where you you have to get your 501s.

Dar 35:50

Well, and for me, like I had to just buy whatever would fit, and it I wasn't really focused on style necessarily. I've always been a comfort girl first. I mean.

Chris 35:59

I mean, the moment I can I can no longer buy pants. I'm always gonna have to buy shirts at big and tall because I'm a tall person.

Dar 36:06

Yeah, long torso, yeah.

Chris 36:07

But I don't, I don't, I can't get pants at the big and tall store anymore because I'm too small in pant size for big and tall. That moment when I couldn't shop in the big and tall store anymore for pants, wow, you talk about life-changing.

Dar 36:24

I know. Um I know.

Chris 36:26

But that's not the only thing. I mean, the surgery's been a big help, but there's also the food noise. And we're we're gonna take a quick break because Dar wants to get into this.

Dar 36:35

I really do. I want to get into this. So we're gonna take a short break here and we'll come back and talk about GLP- 1's.

Chris 36:41

Right after this.

Dar 36:41

Okay

GLP-1's

Chris 36:42

All right, we're back for one more segment. Yeah, because you really want to talk about something else that's becoming big.

Dar 36:50

For me, it's been a game changer in the food noise. And if if you have battled your weight for a long time, you know what food noise is. Um, Oprah has talked about this a lot because she's probably the most public person in her weight over the last 30 or 40 years. People, she's been the butt of how many jokes, right? She's done so many podcasts and so many episodes about weight loss and losing weight. And she described food noise food noise perfectly in that, you know, she would say, Well, what do I have in the cupboard? Or I just had a bag of chips that's 300 calories, and when can I eat my next meal? And what it's like you're constantly obsessing. It's almost like if you are an alcoholic, you're always thinking, when can I get my next drink? If you have food noise, you're always thinking about when am I eating? What what you know, it's kind of a focus that preoccupies your brain. And for me, taking GLP1s has turned that noise way down. It's like I'll be like, okay, yeah, it's noon, I should probably eat. Okay, what do I have? I'll have some chicken and some broccoli, or I'll have an apple, or I'll have some carrot sticks, or whatever. Like, I can focus on what's healthy for me instead of I need those donuts, or I need the the highly processed food that my brain would have wanted before. Does that make sense? So I want to throw this name out to you, Dr. Ania Jastreboff. She's an endocrinologist and associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine. She, I saw her first on Oprah, of course, her Oprah Podcast. She's been on there a few times and she talks about GLP1s because she's been the head of research on GLP1s for probably 20 years or so. She and Oprah did a book called Enough. Um, it just came out, and it basically focuses on the set point that we all have. So everyone has a set point. Our weight is controlled by our brain, just like our blood pressure, just like so many levels in our brain can they control our body, right? Right.

Chris 38:49

Like my big stomach gave me a set point that was astronomical. Like I could I couldn't burn off what I would what I needed to eat.

Dar 38:56

Well, our body processes sugar. Um, you might be insulin resistant, you might be, it might have high blood pressure, high cholesterol. There's a lot in our bodies that's balanced by our brain chemistry, and our weight is one of them. And so that enough point that Dr. Ania talks about is it can be altered by the GLP-1's. And so your body is meant to protect you. In days of famine, it would help you slow down your metabolism so the fat that you did have on your body would keep you alive while you were hunting for food, right? But now we have such an overabundance of food. We have so much food available that it's almost the opposite. Like we have so much food but little nutrition, or we're putting so much sugar into our mouth that we're getting all the calories but not the nutrition. So the GLP ones help that set point lower to where your body feels like, oh, I can start to burn fat now. I don't have to hold on to all this excess fat. And so it turns down the food noise, it helps raise how much fat you're burning that you're not carrying around with you. And so a lot just like you had high blood pressure, the GLP ones help in um that set point and processing your insulin, balancing the um all of those um hunger things, whether it's ghrelin, all the chemicals that tell you whether you're hungry or not.

Chris 40:18

So I mean it resonates with me because you talk about the set point.

Dar 40:22

Yeah.

Chris 40:22

I having enough, I could never have enough.

Dar 40:26

Yeah. Yeah.

Chris 40:27

But now I have a set point. Yeah. That really, there's a point. A quarter of a burrito, I've had enough.

Dar 40:34

Yeah.

Chris 40:34

I've never felt that in my lifetime.

Dar 40:36

Yeah, yeah. Well, with GLP1s, again, it's not for everybody, and it's not a quick fix. I know it's kind of the trend right now to say, well, I need to lose 10 pounds, I better take a GLP1. That's really not what it's for. It's really for the long-term maintenance of your set point and your insulin resistance. It's also um it lowers your inflammation. Um, it also they're showing good signs in preventing cancer and also um dementia and Alzheimer's. So it's kind of at the forefront of a lot of new discoveries where the GLP ones are concerned. And there's um there's, let's see, what was the first one? Semaglutide, Trizepatide, and the newest one that's coming out is uh Retatrutide. And that one, so each one works on different receptors. And so it's really best to work with your doctor to find the right one for you, the right dose, always start slow because there are side effects. There are side effects.

Chris 41:33

We're not doctors, but no, it's like just like any medication, and we have to look at obesity. I mean, I I know you're you you want to say it's a disease. To me, it's a it's can it's not just disease, condition. Yeah, and it's not something it's manageable, it's treatable, but also we have to realize it's something that people don't ask for.

Dar 41:57

You don't you don't you don't need and I feel like not all overweight people are obese, but if you have obesity, you're gonna be overweight. So it's like is it a disease, obesity that causes you to overeat, or is it the overeating that causes obesity? It's it's the first. It's if you have obesity, it's that imbalance, and that you that food noise, the craving, the insulin resistance, all of that. But not everybody that needs to lose weight is obese.

Chris 42:22

It's like anxiety and depression. Not every person who's anxious has anxiety, not every person who's depressed has depression. Exactly. But when you have depression like I do, um it's uncontrollable at times. And it can come out of the blue. It's like it's like blaming someone for for like my, you know, for for having autism. It's it's like for having high blood pressure.

Dar 42:43

Yeah. Or high cholesterol. You don't ... you manage it.

Chris 42:47

You manage it, you do it, but it's not necessarily something you you make you you don't make yourself obese in a lot of cases. You just are. You don't make yourself tall. You just are I can't control the fact that I hit chandeliers when I walk into a room.

Dar 43:03

Yeah, yeah.

Chris 43:04

I just am tall.

Dar 43:05

So I want I want to caution people that GLP ones are not the get they're not the quick solution. They're really tied to a lot of other, um, a lot of other things. And so I'm gonna put some links um that tie to the Oprah Podcast so you can learn directly from Dr. Ania what she is saying. Check out the book Enough.

Chris 43:23

I know something else you want to point out is that this is not something that's like, you know, and I know this is some there's always trendy weight loss, whatever. If you do get on GLP1s or something like that, it's it's just like I'm always gonna be on blood pressure medication, I'm always gonna be taking Symbalta for depression. This is not something you take and okay, I'm done with it.

Dar 43:41

It's because you're gonna regain it. Like you can lower that set point while you're on the GLP one, but when you go off that medication, it's gonna go right back up if you truly needed that to regulate that set point. So you're once you start GLP1s, you're probably gonna need to either microdose it or stay onto it to some degree for the rest of your life just to maintain.

Chris 44:02

Just like any other treatment. And of course, that goes back to the current state of the American health system where there's a price tag involved, and they're you know, we can go on and on that they shouldn't be like the rest of the civilized world, and we like to think we're civilized.

Dar 44:16

But prices should be coming down with the more research, the more availability that comes with it. So that's really all that I wanted to say about GLP ones is that for us, the combination of the gastric sleeve and the GLP one and eating right, all of that is helping us probably be in the best shape that we've we've ever been in our life.

Chris 44:36

And yeah, we we talk about all this because we know there's others who deal with this, and we hope it resonates with you. And if it does, we we do definitely want to hear from you.

Dar 44:43

That's really why we're here. It's just to create a community that, hey, we've been through things that maybe you're going through too, and maybe we can help each other.

Chris 44:50

Exactly. So, and that's it for today. But but we really, as I said, we want you to reach out to us. So we have ways you can do that. You can call us uh at 435-990-5824. That's 435-990-5824. You can also email us at fromlalatoutah. That says one word, F-R-O-M-L-A-L-A-T-O Utah at gmail.com. Fromlalatoutah@ gmail.com and share your thoughts about today's episode. If anything resonated with you, is there anything you want us to talk about from our experience? That's it.

Dar 45:24

If you have any questions, um if you have any questions that we can help answer, any advice, um, yeah, we'd we'd love to answer those questions for you. So we wanted to say thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you again on Monday.

Chris 45:36

Make the best of this week, and we hope to see you next Monday.

Dar 45:39

Have a great week.