Georgetown Bariatrics and Advanced Surgical Services 3

Troy Thompson and Dr. Eric Smith talk to Patient Eric Payne, about his success story with Georgetown Bariatrics and Advanced Surgical Services.

C1 3 can say you could have done on a monday, take the week off, and then build yourself up to go back to work the following monday.

Chris- patient success story: mine happened to be on a tuesday.

I took the rest of the week off and i was back to work the next monday.

Troy- host: wow.

Chris- patient success troy- host: welcome back to news at noon.

I'm troy thompson.

Today is the show takeover with dr. eric smith from georgetown bariatrics and advanced surgical services, and we're talking all about men and their incredible weight loss.

I want to introduce you to an incredible man called eric.

Nice to see you.

Eric- patient: thank you, troy.

Troy- host: the two erics on the show.

Thank you, c1 3 both.

What an incredible success story.

Tell everyone at home what weight you were when you first started this program.

Eric- patient: i was 356 pounds when i first started.

Troy- host: 356.

Eric- patient: 356.

Troy- host: and you have lost how much in total now?

Eric- patient: 145.

I'm 209 right now.

Troy- host: 149?

Eric- patient: 145 pounds.

Troy- host: 145 pounds.

Eric, dr. eric, i should say.

Sorry about that.

I keep saying men show big numbers.

Dr. eric smith: they do, and unfortunately we tend to get to big numbers when we battle with our weight.

We've got a lot of weight to lose if we put the work in, and that's exactly what he did.

He's worked really hard at it.

Troy- host: what operation did you choose to have, eric?

Eric- patient: i did gastric sleeve.

Troy- host: now, was there a particular reason why we went gastric sleeve?

Dr. eric smith: nope.

I mean, we present all the options to them in the seminar like we would anybody else.

I think, if i'm not mistaken, eric had type 2 diabetes, which the sleeve has been shown to be very effective for that and some other medical issues as well.

Then that's the one he chose.

Troy- host: what made you want to go through this?

Eric- patient: i had a watershed moment.

I went out with my teenage son, went to the roller coaster park to ride some roller coasters and i couldn't fit.

Troy- host: wow.

Eric- patient: yeah, so i came home and made the hard decision that it was time to make some changes.

I looked at it logically.

I said if i've struggled my whole life to lose 50 pounds and i've never kept it off, what makes me think i can lose a hundred pounds or a hundred pounds plus?

Troy- host: did you try to lose weight?

Eric- patient: sure, i've always tried to lose weight, absolutely.

The typical things people do, you do the diets and all that kind of stuff, there's so many yo- yo diets, but it was a hard stop.

Troy- host: what was your weakness in food?

Eric- patient: i'm a late night eater.

Troy- host: oh, me too.

Eric- patient: right?

It's crackers and cheese or it's something like that.

It's i tend to stay up too late, i think.

Troy- host: yeah.

Eric- patient: but i was more of a bulk eater and i think i talked to dr. smith and said if i felt like my off switch was at the bottom of the tank instead of the top.

I like to feel full.

Well, i do feel full now.

When i feel full i quit eating.

Troy- host: now, one of the things that we've talked about, eric and dr. eric, is that people's progress after the operation with the support team.

Everyone does it slightly differently, correct?

Dr. eric smith: sure.

Troy- host: why is that so important to find what works for you?

Dr. eric smith: well, everybody's different.

Everybody has different triggers, they also have different weaknesses, and that's why it's so important the team that we have, that can identify those things.

I tell people all the time, i think my surgery will make your life better, but my surgery will not make life's trials and tribulations go away and all the challenges.

The patient has to be willing to reach out when they struggle, because it's normal to struggle.

If it was easy, they wouldn't be coming to us.

Then we have the team that can help them through that, whether it be eating late at night, having bad snacks, not being able to exercise, and finding something that works for them.

Troy- host: what did you do for your maintenance?

Exercise, all those sorts of things, what did you do?

Eric- patient: i kind of did it a little bit different than everybody else i think.

The first week, had surgery on a monday, i was home on tuesday.

By thursday, i was walking a mile, by that next week, the end of the week, i was walking two miles and i'd started with a personal trainer.

Troy- host: right.

Eric- patient: i stayed with a personal trainer, i got in the gym and i kind of became a gym rat.

It's kind of a new culture for me, something i'd never done before.

I started running, started exercising, being fit.

Troy- host: are you off your medications?

Eric- patient: type 2 diabetes is gone, high blood pressure has resolved.

I also have sleep apnea, that's on its way out.

It's a life changer.

Troy- host: i was about to say, how do you feel every day now?

Eric- patient: i feel wonderful.

Troy- host: the men sitting at home watching you going, "oh, i'd never do this," because we've talked about this before, men are the last ones to think about going and considering something like this.

Eric- patient: i was absolutely on the boat, providing for the family, going ... you're the last one to think about yourself.

When my weight took me to the point where i couldn't do something that i wanted to do, i'd always been proportional, i'd gotten away with it, but when i didn't get away with it, it was over, i was done.

Troy- host: it creeps up and you don't notice it, c1 3 right?

Eric- patient: it does creep up.

Dr. eric smith: yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

You don't wake up one day and just notice it, but before you do, you notice how have i missed this for the last two, three years?

Troy- host: you get a glimpse in the mirror, or when you're not thinking about it then you go, "oh my goodness.

I just look a hot mess," for me.

Dr. eric smith: right.

Eric- patient: and it never gets better.

Troy- host: it never gets better.

Eric- patient: it never gets better.

You never lose weight and you try but it never gets better.

Troy- host: best thing you've ever done?

Eric- patient: so you have to make a change.

Troy- host: best thing you've ever done?

Eric- patient: absolutely.

I'd stand in line to get it done again.

Troy- host: great team, huh?

Eric- patient: absolutely.

Troy- host: they're the best.

Appreciate you coming in, eric.

Eric- patient: yeah, thank you.

Troy- host: we appreciate you as well, dr. eric.

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