The BariNation Foundation Podcast

We all go into bariatric surgery with expectations. But what most of us find soon after our procedures, what we expected is not what actually happens. We expect to lose 100 pounds in three months or we blissfully think that hunger will be a thing of the past. When these expectations turn into myths, we get discouraged. We instantly think that our tool has failed and that we have failed our tool. I...

The first step in change-making is actually committing to doing things differently. The second step requires that we use new and different tools to make the change happen and stick. Unfortunately, there is no "Home Depot" of mindset and headwork tools that we can make a quick stop in to pick up what we need . Enter East2West_WLS and Lora Grabow, a Licensed Master Social Worker who has dedicated he...

Meal prepping is one of the most dreaded elements of our bariatric recovery. So many of us struggle with meal planning and prep, even though it is a tool we can use to find long-term success after bariatric surgery. We might be riding high on the meal prep train for a week or two, then we fall off the tracks and into old habits and routines. Change is HARD, it feels awkward. But that is how you kn...

Many of us have had people in our lives who have been our *ultimate* teachers. A person who inspires and uplifts our potential, who shows us new and exciting ways of doing things, a person who shows us how to show up in the world as our authentic selves. Some of us are fortunate enough to have these people in our own families. Many of us turn to public figures, people who put their talents to the...

We are often asked by older members of our bariatric community if WLS is the right decision at mature ages. So we weight straight to an expert, Dr. Jor Cribbins, the Director of the Texas Center for Bariatrics and Advanced Surgery! Dr. Cribbibns has performed thousands of bariatric surgeries and works tirelessly to ensure his patients find success after their bariatric procedure. We wanted to know...

Food is what got us to our high weight. And conversely, food is what will help us maintain a healthy weight if we reframe our thinking on food . Mind trip, we know. To help us navigate this food adventure, we sat down with Jana Wolff, the Registered Dietitian behind BariBox, the bariatric meal delivery company! This start-up ships perfectly portioned and macro-nutrient-packed meals, snacks, protei...

To finding lasting success after weight loss surgery, we have to do two things: acknowledge the role food has played in our lives and reframe these relationships to serve our new lives. Easier said than done. We had the opportunity to sit down with Kedric Barrett, the amazing human behind the podcast Sleeved Believe the Hype- a show that chronicles the ups and downs of weight loss surgery in the m...

We are honored to have the privilege to sit down with Dr. Ortiz again to discuss the hottest topic on the block- metabolic wellness. So many of you were blown away by this new learning in Episode 33 that we had to sit down with him again and deep dive to better understanding what metabolic wellness is and why it should be our lifelong wellness goal. Dr. Ortiz is the world-renowned bariatric surgeo...

We believe there are three "pillars" of bariatric success: movement, mindset, and metabolic wellness. Each is equally important and each requires different skills, tools, and approaches to incorporate into our daily lives before and after bariatric surgery. April and Jason can share their experience and recipes for success, but we are here to connect this community with the experts in their field...

Jason recently celebrated his ONE YEAR SURGERY AVVINVERSARY and we were so excited to reflect on what he has learned in that time. And believe if it or not, his wife Sarah had her first bariatric surgery appointment on that very same day! The three of us sat down to reflect on Jasons' year and better understand Sarah's upcoming procedure. We were able to better understand some of the ways Jason's...

If you guys could see the show notes we had prepared for this conversation...and then compare them to what we actually talked about...you would question why we spend so much time making show notes ;) This interview was TECTONIC. Jamie (TheSleevedDietitician) is a freaking magician when it comes to all things movement, mindset, and metabolic wellness. No matter where you are in the bariatric journe...

Movement and mindset- two of the HARDEST things to master in life. But two of the most important things to master after bariatric surgery. We sat down with Gina @fat2fab_rny to understand how she has defined and refine both of these elements after her RNY procedure. She has discovered how mindset and action have helped her create her fitness goals, and how those goals allow her to live her life at...

Bariatric surgery can do more than help us live our life at a healthy weight, it is a tool we can utilize to find true, metabolic healthy. Dr. Ortiz is the world-renowned bariatric surgeon and Medical Director at the Obesity Control Center in Tijuana, Mexico! He is one of the pioneers of bariatric surgery and recognized as a leading authority in the field of bariatric medicine, playing a key role...

Episode Warning: Suicide and suicide prevention is discussed in this episode.  Over 250,000 people undergo some type of bariatric surgery each year and 40% of those people are men. But most of the public support for bariatric patients is geared towards women. We are here to change that because men face the same and similar "work" to live their lives at a healthy weight, and that work requires the...

We have some *mind-blowing* news for you...even Certified Personal Trainers and fitness wizards have days where they don't feel like moving. Read that again. UNBELIEVABLE...but TRUE! Turns out feeling resistance to movement is not something that only a few people experience...it is something that everyone experiences! We sat down with Michaela Miller, the amazing human, bariatric patient/coach, an...

The "all or nothing" mindset- a slippery slope of motivation. We when are committed to a cause, we want to give it out all, and we should. But when we don't meet our lofty goals, we can use this mindset as an excuse...an out...a reason to give up and stay stagnant. For many of us, we used this mindset as an "offramp" when the going got tough. The work of weight loss surgery is to shift away from t...

Having an "all or nothing" mentality can work in some situations, but for many of us, we have used that mindset as an excuse to give up the ghost when the going gets tough. To find lasting success after bariatric surgery, we have to either change our mindset to be more flexible when setbacks happen. We sat down with Melissa Reese, the founder of Harbor Total Wellness to better understand what "wel...

We had the *unbelievable* opportunity to sit down with the one and only DEZ @wokeuplikedez and we are SHOOK. We wanted to know how she does it all- how does she grow an empire and STILL get in her workouts and hit her nutrition goals? Inquiring minds want to know ;) In this episode, we deep dive into the three M's: Motivation, Movement, and Management . It was such a great discussion about dedicat...

Making the decision to have bariatric surgery is a road well traveled for many of us. We had been on the road for years, sometimes decades, before a defining moment pushed us to accept our reality; that bariatric surgery was going to be the "only" thing that would allow us to live our lives at a healthy weight. We recently sat down with Stephanie, the founder of the Bariatric Bookclub and co-found...

We had the *unreal* opportunity to sit down with @katie.vsg a few days before her VSG procedure and then 5 weeks post-op. What an AMAZING and transformative conversation we had! We got to understand what she was going through before her procedure and then discuss how it all played out after. The conversation really landed on the word "hope"- and it beautifully describes what a *gift* bariatric sur...

It is amazing what you can discover about your own story, your own journey, by listening to other people’s stories. And Andy Vargo’s story shed some insightful and meaningful understanding of our own bariatric journeys! Andy is a published author and motivational speaker who helps people own their awkwardness and utilize it as a kind of superpower. In this far-reaching episode, we dive into how we...

What do you get when five women who have known each other for *decades* get together in a Zoom session? Some serious insight, big laughs, and a whole lot of love! April welcomed four of her closest girlfriends to conversate and reflect on her bariatric procedure. Some of the questions were tough and some "ah-ha" moments presented new insights and understanding about what it means to undergo and ha...

We wanted to talk with Maddie about how she recreates her "old school" favorite recipes into bariatric-friendly versions, but we got a WHOLE lot more out of our conversation with her than just her kitchen secrets! Maddie has been supporting the bariatric community since her gastric bypass procedure in 2017 and has recently launched an amazing website that is filled with recipes for success- in and...

No one makes it through without support- and we just so happen to have the "Rocky" of bariatric support, Wendy Rawlings! Wendy is a licensed mental health counselor in Washington State who specializes in bariatric recovery. She helps us dig into the big questions and helps us find solutions that allow us to live our lives at a healthy weight after weight loss surgery.  We recently asked the c...

You have made the decision to *consider* bariatric surgery! WOOHOO! Now, how the heck do you prepare for something you have never done before? WE'VE GOT YOU! In Episode 4 of the E2W_WLS Struggle Bus, we walk you through some steps we recommend you take to prepare for your first surgical consultation with a bariatric surgeon.  Brainstorming your "whys", worries, and concerns.  Making a li...