Amanda: Welcome everyone to our fourth and last segment of today's interview on the topic of Bariatric Coaching. Today we have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Ricardo Lopez, he's a Bariatric surgeon from Guatemala and he owns the Obesity Center. Thank you so much Dr. for being here with us today, I appreciate your time.  Dr. Lopez: Thank you again for the invitation Amanda, and it's my pleasure to contribute with this learning that helps us and helps our patients in a better outcome in this Bariatric path patients have. This is a very nice topic about Coaching.  Amanda: Yes, absolutely. One thing that you and I talk a lot about in our meetings is accountability. Some keywords that I use with my clients are: accountability, consistency, health food choices and not going back into the old habits. A lot of my clients, whether they are a couple weeks after surgery or even clients who are 10 years post-op, talk about going back to old “bad habits”, as we were used to doing so for our whole lives, that is what got us into getting the Bariatric surgery done. We really want to make sure that clients don't go back to their old habits and they have a healthy lifestyle, so they can thrive at their Bariatric living. Knowing that (and you also tell me about some of your patients’ challenges and struggles they face in their Bariatric journeys and some of these words you hear as well), being a Bariatric surgeon yourself, how often would you recommend Bariatric Coaching sessions to your patients?  Dr. Lopez:  I think I will have to go back to the question of our first session which was what is the actual real meaning of coaching? and when we talked about what coaching is. We know that if we compare it to sports for example, there is no way that an athlete or a team can have only one time, one stand Coaching and then you'll win a championship. You need persistence and as you said, you need consistency in that training, in that change of matters, in that change of habits, that will guide you and lead you to a better outcome. If you have a coach in whatever field you have, for example in your work, in your house, in your discipline, if you have a one-time Coach, it is something that will probably only going to teach you or give you an example, but will not lead you and will not take you in the path in order to have a good outcome. So, I would say that if you want to have a better outcome, you need to have at least weekly basis Coaching sessions in order to have very good guidance for your Bariatric life. And it doesn't only mean in a post-op, it means in a pre-op and an immediate post-op. I believe (as we have talked, you as a Bariatric patient), you know that immediately after your operation and every week it's going to be constant changes in the questions that you're going to have in your diet, in your recovery, in your pain, in your post-op, and you (who have already have years after your surgery), you know that there are weekly questions when something comes such as reflux, pain, feelings, hunger, and those things will lead you to do bad things, to go back to old habits if you don't have the right Coach that will tell you what to do and what not to do! So it's very important and you know it as a Bariatric patient, right?

Amanda: Right! And emotions... that is a huge one! That's definitely one of the things people don’t talk about it, because actually we have been eating our emotions all these years. So it's very important to talk about emotions, of what is really in the back of your head, in your brain that is making you go back to the old bad habits, absolutely.

Dr. Lopez: And as you know also, when we talk about the success of a surgery, we need to talk about weight loss. When we talk about weight loss, there is something important that's called regain. 

DIET! This word is no longer part of my vocabulary. Hi everyone, Amanda here, welcome back! Today is my Storytelling Day 4. Thank you so much for following me. If you watched my previous storytellings, on Day 1, I shared with you about the name Big in my family since I was a little girl. On Storytelling Day 2, I talked to you about my bullying story in a swimming pool and then on my Storytelling Day 3, I talked to you about some of the bullying stories that actually led me to take weight loss medications, which never worked for me. And today, I am specifically here to talk about this word “diet”. All of my storytelling videos are available on my YouTube channel, so make sure to subscribe to Bari Better and you'll be able to find a lot of different videos there for your information as well. I'm also posting them on Instagram IGTV and you will be able to find my videos on Facebook. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, ring the bell, so you can get all the notifications when my new videos are up and give it a thumbs up if you like it!

So, a lot of us cannot even hear the word “diet” anymore. if you would ask me: “Amanda, what diets have you tried, or what diet have I tried?” my answer to you would actually be: “what diet have I not tried?” because let me tell you, I've tried all of them and they simply do not work for me. I understand and I also know and I hear from a lot of people that a lot of you can actually relate to what I'm saying. The reason why diets don't work for me is because I was never in the right mindset to start any plan that I got myself into. Make sure to stick around until the end of this video, because guess what? words do matter. Are you ready for this? Self-discipline and following the right system! Did you hear that? Let me repeat it: Self-discipline and following the right system! Those are key to your success! Some of you might be asking yourselves: “uh but, what do you really mean by that, Amanda?” what I mean is every time or most of the times when you start a “diet” plan, a gym membership, anything that has to do with your health and wellness and getting things going for yourself and changing your life and changing your routine, then most of the times our mind goes back to “I will start it tomorrow, or better yet, I will start it on Monday, or well, today is the 10th or the 15th, let me just wait until the first of the month so then I can really start fresh”...and guess what? That day never comes! That is exactly what I mean by self-discipline and by having the right system! Therefore, all this “dieting plans” that I've started in the past, everything that I started one day or the Mondays, or the first of the month (you get me), I didn't really have a plan to follow through, so I started one day, and then I would eat something that was not part of my plan and I would think to myself: “Ok, well I did this today, so maybe I did it wrong for breakfast and I might as well just eat something wrong anyways for lunch because I already did something earlier anyway, so that's not gonna hurt me”. And then, I would say that I would start tomorrow again, and that tomorrow never comes. And next thing you are seeing is that you're giving all these excuses to yourself, and when you do that you're actually not lying to anybody else, but you! I was in this vicious cycle that was so unhealthy, that all I did was find myself trying every single diet that was out there in the market, you name it. 

Didn’t I tell you that the word “diet” is no longer part of my vocabulary? You know what is it now instead? Lifestyle and mindset! 

Lifestyle! I live a completely different lifestyle, super healthy right now! I broke that vicious cycle and if you want, you can break it too! Nobody else will do that for you, but yourself!

I am now the best version of myself and I'll tell you more about it in my future storytelling! So, stick around and remember: you can break the cycle! Start today!:)

Amanda: This is our third segment of the interview on Bariatric Coaching with Bariatric surgeon Dr. Ricardo Lopez from Obesity Center in Guatemala. Welcome everyone and thank you so much Dr. Lopez  for being here with us. We have been talking about Bariatric Coaching and as you know I am a Bariatric patient and I always tell my clients that Bariatric is a forever journey, that we are not only a Bariatric patient when we are just going through our two weeks pre op, neither only the day of our surgery, nor a couple of days after we have our surgery...we are actually a Bariatric patient forever in life.

Hello! Are you ready for the Storytelling Day 3? All right, let's do it! Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm here to tell you a little bit of my Storytelling and first of all grateful, gratitude for all of your comments, for all of you who have already watched my Storytelling Day 1 and 2. If you have not, go ahead and subscribe to my YouTube channel at Bari Better, and you be able to see why I told you in the Storytelling Day One and Day Two, and this is a continuation...so let's get started! All my videos are available on Instagram IGTV, as well as on Facebook and on YouTube, so when you subscribe to our YouTube channel, make sure to hit that bell so you can get all the notifications from the latest videos that I record for you! 

As some of you may relate, bullying regarding my weight was not something that happened just at one occasion in one day in my life. I suffered from bullying ever since I was a little girl, through my teenage years and many many years after that too. I shared with you the swimming pool bullying story and also another thing that really stuck with me many many years were school trips,  many school trips that we had and obviously, I was always the “Chubby Amanda”, the “Overweight Amanda” the “Ha ha ha Amanda” and they always laughed at me, and that was pretty harsh too!

Remember when I shared with you on the Storytelling Day 1 that at one point in my life I was not that “ Big”, that there was a reason behind it and I told you I was gonna share it with  you during another Storytelling?  So, here it is! Are you ready for it?

Well, all that bullying, sadness, depression, suffering, feeling that I wasn't really belonging to my own world, let me to make a choice and I actually started taking weight loss medications at a very young age and let me tell you...some of the side effects are still following me up until today. I didn't know better back then, so I thought... well this would be "the easiest or an easy way for me to resolve my problems” just like “a great resolution to the issues I was facing at that time in my life”.  I knew people around me who took the medications as well that suffered from obesity or overweight, and then decided...well, they are trying, why not? let me give it a try too!

Pretty interesting what we do to our own body, isn't it? I didn't really have the mindset back then, so it didn't really matter to me the side effects that I was having it: dizziness, tiredness, just feeling so overwhelmed! But, it only mattered to me that I took the medication and that I could release the weight and feel "accepted into the society”.

And then, when my medication finished, here it is: the yo-yo effect again!  I would gain all the weight back. Not only what I have already released, but most of the times even more so! Then, I tried so many different weight loss medications, it wasn't just one, two, there were many of them, and for me, it was always the same vicious cycle: I would take the medication, release some of the weight, get all the side effects (and many different side effects from each one of them),  then I would release some weight, then I would stop taking it (or if I had to change it), I would regain all the weight back again, and as I said, most of the times even more so than the weight I had before I started taking the medications. Well, I thought the medication was it, that it was the answer to my question and it would end my problems, and that I could just take the medications and eat whatever I wanted and still eating the unhealthy foods that I've always eaten in the past and I thought: “this is the magic, it's the miracle”!

I have talked to so many people who have been exactly in the same situation as mine, and I'm here to tell you that you are not alone! My story will continue in the next Storytelling video.  Take good care of yourself!

Amanda: Welcome to our second segment of this interview on Bariatric Coaching and today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Ricardo Lopez (Bariatric Surgeon from Guatemala) and the topic today is on Bariatric Coaching. For what type of Bariatric surgery is online Bariatric Coaching a good fit?

Dr. Ricardo Lopez: It doesn't matter what type of Bariatric surgery has been or is going to be performed in any patient. Definitely, yes, any type of Bariatric surgery will have different processes, and if one is guided by a Bariatric Coach throughout the process, it is great, because when you go to your house after surgery, then some feel sad, questions and thoughts come up, such as “I don't have that type of of liquid”, “I don't have that brand of Jell-O”, “I don't know what's the meaning of a puree” “I don't know what's the meaning of semi-solid” and “How many days do I have to take liquids for”, “What's the difference between a clear liquid and liquid?” and so on. These main questions start popping up and you don't have your surgeon in your house, and sometimes, you don't have your surgeon even on call, immediately. So, the first step is going to be about my recovery, the process of getting into your home and not start wondering how it's going to be there. Any Bariatric surgery we will need guidance, so Bari Better is the best option that will provide you assistance anywhere anytime on your recovery, despite the type of Bariatric surgery that the surgeon decided to do with you as a patient.

Amanda: We have clients who had all types of Bariatric surgery and at Bari Better, I always tell all my clients that we do not give medical advice. I always recommend that my clients have their Bariatric multidisciplinary team and follow up with their Bariatric surgeon, Nutritionist, Registered Dietitian, Phycologist. Some clients are newer to surgery, some have had their Bariatric surgery many years ago, and I tell them that it is very important that they keep in touch with their Bariatric team, since a lot of people end up following back to the old habits with support. I tell my clients to follow through, despite being one year or more after surgery and to go to their annual Bariatric surgeon appointment, Nutritionist, Phycologist, so they can have their labs done, food planning, check their protein/calories and food/liquid intake. You mentioned different types of surgeries, could you please explore further to our viewers and listeners, what is the difference between Bariatric surgery and Metabolic surgery? I hear this question a lot.

Dr. Ricardo Lopez: The main aspect of a Bariatric or restrictive procedure, is that we create anatomical changes in the stomach or anatomical changes in the small bowel in order to make the food not pass through a very important segment where calories or fat or some vitamins are absorbed. So, we try to make the food not to cross over those segments. So, we are going to limit the body to absorb some type of carbs and some types of fats and definitely, we are going to limit some absorption of some types of vitamins. So, the body will react and will understand that we are on a certain type of diet and we need to make some metabolic changes in order to absorb the amount of food that we are taking. So, we are restricting the amount of food and the food we're taking, it is over passing a segment in the small bowel, so that will give us more metabolic power in order to have restriction of diabetes, of hypertension, of hyperlipidaemia and we call those changes metabolic surgery. And there are other types of surgeries, for example, as having a band, having a ring or having a sleeve gastrectomy, that will only restrict the amount of food that I take, but that food will follow the normal anatomical segments and the food will go through the exact same segments were carbs/fats are absorbed

Hello Everyone! And welcome to Day Two of Bari Better’s Storytelling!

Make sure to follow us on YouTube and subscribe to our channel. You can always ring the bell to make sure that you get all the latest videos that we record as well as follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

And you might be asking yourself why is there a swimming pool behind Amanda?

If you're listening to my Podcast, so you know, I am very close to a swimming pool and there's a reason behind it: So, when I was younger, my parents were members of this really nice Club and people from all over the city would come. A lot of people from my school were members. I remember this very important day in my life (which actually brings me a lot of emotions), but it was the day that I got my first bikini and I went to the Club with a friend and I recall that she had a really nice body. If you listened to my Storytelling Day One, you would know about the name Big and how I come from a family with obesity, and I've never had this great body...so, we were getting some sun (my friend and I), and I recall these guys (they were from my school) walking by and all of a sudden they made this comment: “Wow, look at Amanda's belly, it's so big, it doesn't look as nice as the other girls!”

Well, that comment was really really hard and really affected me for many many years in my life, but you know what? It no longer affects me! Do I feel sorry for the comments, for the person? Not really! The point is that it doesn't affect me anymore and I'm here to share that with you because if you're going to the same situation or if you have already gone through the same thing, don't let other people’s comments affect you! Don't let comparison affect you! You are beautiful inside and out, it doesn't matter how your body looks! I have accepted myself!

And for those of us in the Bariatric journey, I understand exactly how it feels and seeing a pool, for a lot of us, it's not a fun place to be and I know a lot of us are scared and afraid of it, but don't be! It's OK! Accept your body! Accept yourself and it's all good!

Share any comments here below with me. I would love to hear from you! I hope you're having a wonderful Bariatric journey and I look forward to seeing you on the next Storytelling video. Enjoy your Bariatric life!

Bye!

Amanda: Hello Everyone, Amanda here, Co-Founder and CEO of Bari Better, Inc. where we provide online Bariatric Coaching in English, Spanish and Portuguese and today I have the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Ricardo Lopez, a Bariatric Surgeon from Guatemala. My husband and I met Dr. Lopez in Dubai in a Conference titled International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity And Metabolic Disorders (IFSO), we have been in touch ever since and now he's one of our Board Advisor.

Question to Dr. Lopez: As a Bariatric surgeon, what would you say if someone asks you What is Bariatric coaching?

Dr. Ricardo Lopez: Coaching is a word that is often thought as sports-related, because coaching comes from somebody that teaches in order to take a team or an athlete to reach positive results. So, coaching is the term that has been used in order for somebody to help and guide a team or a person to succeed. There's a lot of aspects in a lot of topics when we have needed somebody to teach us what is the way, what is the best way to do it and what would you do if we fail or what we do if we need to get to this point of our lives to get to succeed at something in life, and that applies to Bariatric clients.

Amanda: As a Bariatric surgeon, how do you see the importance of the online Bariatric Coaching? At Bari Better, Inc. we do not provide any medical advice, we help our clients achieve their goals, and to get from point A to point B

Dr. Ricardo Lopez: Bariatric surgery is a long-lasting journey. People will always have questions, before, during the process and after surgery, even 5, 10 years after surgery. It is great to have a Bariatric Coach by your side during your process to help guide you to every step: before surgery, during recovery and after surgery. What a better way to do the Coaching with someone who has already been through the process themselves. Online Bariatric Coaching is the way to go as you will have questions many times and can get this support from any place, anywhere, anytime.

Cele: Hi I'm Cele and I'm here today with my wife (Amanda), to start telling you our story about Bari Better (Bariatric Coaching), how it started. Just with a simple idea to help people who had or is  gonna have a Bariatric surgery and my wife is here (Amanda) to tell you how this company started. 

Amanda: Hello Everyone! Our company, Bari Better, as Cele said, started with a simple idea and I'm here to start telling you the storytelling of our company Day One.  Stick around with us!

Amanda: So...once upon a time, there was this little girl and this little girl it's me. I will tell you my story. I remember since I was very very little that I had obesity in my family and it has always been part of my life. One thing that was really important when I was raised was society and people around me. I grew up with a lot of bullying. I grew up feeling really bad and not happy with myself and one of the big things was BIG and that was a reality for me and a word that I heard every single day in my life. Big was actually my dad’s nickname. Our family last name is Dario and my dad's name (he was known for) Big Dario. We actually had a store, and our store was named Big Dario. Big was part of a family name and I remember a lot of the times during my childhood and even when I was in my youth years that people would ask me oh are you Big’s daughter? I was not really known much as Amanda as my name. I knew myself as Big’s daughter and interestingly enough, at one point in my life, some people would ask me...you are not Big’s daughter, are you? Because at that time, I was not that “big” and, I'll tell you why in another storytelling. Big has always been a word that followed me since I was a little girl.

Hello friends and clients of Bari Better!

Dear friends Happy Holidays!  

Holiday season can be a challenged and stressful time of the year for those of us on our Bariatric journey!  As a person who had Bariatric surgery and as a Bariatric coach, I have learned how to not overeat and make healthier choices during holidays.  

Holiday is a time of celebration and food is not the reason to celebrate. I discovered that I was wrongly living with the misunderstanding that I needed to celebrate everything with food. Now, I use mindfulness eating and for that reason, I eat consciously every day and also during holiday. Now, I treat my body with healthier choices.   

I had Bariatric surgery to be healthier and live a happier and better life! I know what is bad for me and I know what is Bari Better for me!  Right now, we have fears and worries about the future, but, take a moment, look on your sides and enjoy the happiness of the present moment.  

To all of you, Happy Holidays and best wishes!