Zoë (00:20) welcome back to the Pound of Cure Weight Loss Podcast. We are here with another patient story episode, so we are very, very excited to talk with Kelly today. Welcome, Kelly. Kelly Moore (00:32) Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Matthew Weiner, MD (00:35) Good to see you. Don't you love Kelly's Michigan accent? I miss the Michigan accent so much. ⁓ Zoë (00:36) Yeah. Kelly Moore (00:42) And it's funny because I live in Texas now, I... All the time. All the time. Zoë (00:47) Do people call you out for it? they ask where you're from? Matthew Weiner, MD (00:47) Yeah. Zoë (00:53) Ha ha! Matthew Weiner, MD (00:55) And you know Arizona doesn't really have an accent, don't you think? I feel like we don't really have an accent here. Zoë (01:00) But maybe tell people who have to us a thick accent, it's the, ⁓ like a West Coast accent kind of thing. I'm not sure. So anyway, Kelly, I know that you have quite an interesting story to share. You're in our nutrition program right now, but you're not a new patient of Dr. Weiner. So share with us a little bit about your weight loss. Matthew Weiner, MD (01:08) Yeah, yeah. ⁓ Zoë (01:28) Maybe to kind of start, if you don't mind, let's hear a little bit about what brought you to the decision to first ⁓ seek out bariatric surgery as an option. Kelly Moore (01:40) Okay, so probably from the time I was 10, I struggled with my weight. I was always on some sort of diet, whether it was low fat or, you know, low calorie, I exercised, I did all the right things that I thought I was doing at the time. And my weight would go up and down and up and down. Whatever I would lose, I'd gain it back. And I just struggled and Every year I progressively got heavier and heavier and heavier. ⁓ And I finally... got to the point after having two kids, I was over 400 pounds and I, you know, I was tired of up and down and up and down. And so I started doing research about bariatric surgery. And ultimately I was scared of having a bypass ⁓ because my mom had had an intestinal bypass in the 1970s. And she had a lot of complications from that. And ⁓ it ultimately ⁓ she ended up dying of kidney failure ⁓ that was caused by her intestinal bypass and poor nutrition and malnutrition and things like that. And so I was kind of scared. And so I went in to see Dr. Weiner. We worked at the same hospital in Detroit and I went in and I said, Matthew Weiner, MD (02:59) Yeah. Kelly Moore (03:16) I want a lap band." And he said, I don't think that's the right option for you, but if that is your choice and that is your decision, I will put a lap band in you. And hindsight's 20-20, because I wish I would have had a bypass then, but... I didn't. So anyway, I had the lap band. ⁓ I lost just over 100 pounds and then proceeded to gain back about 130 pounds. ⁓ And I, you know, went back on the yo-yo dieting train and sure. Matthew Weiner, MD (03:45) Yeah. Zoë (03:46) Hmm. Matthew Weiner, MD (03:54) Can I ask you a question, Kelly? When you lost back that 130 pounds, talk me through some of the emotional state you were in. ⁓ Was there a lot of self-loathing? Did you blame this on yourself? Or did you maybe look at that this was the band and the band didn't do what it was supposed to do? Where was your focus at that time? Kelly Moore (04:21) I like I failed. I felt like I failed my band. I got this tool and I felt like a failure because you know I you know really got into it and I was eating healthy and I thought I was doing the right things and it just I felt like I felt like a failure that I can't even do this right. Matthew Weiner, MD (04:23) Yeah. Right. I had a suspicion that you would have said that. Yeah. I mean, because that's what I hear over and over and people tell me their story. And I think the amount of self-criticism I hear from my patients on a daily basis. And like so many times I'll dig in and they'll tell me the story and they'll be like, and then I just, couldn't control my appetite and I just let go of myself and it was my own fault. I shouldn't have done it, but it was my own fault. And I say, well, you know, That period of rapid weight gain also coincided with you taking Depo Provera shots, which caused massive weight gain. And so I actually think you had nothing to do with it. You got a shot and you gained weight from a shot. And I think in your situation, when I hear your story now, I hear the band did what the band did, which was it failed. And I look at this as the band failed you, not you failed the band. Kelly Moore (05:33) Mm-hmm. Matthew Weiner, MD (05:41) But I think there's so many people when they struggle with weight regain and we don't dig in deep enough to find the real root cause. The cause is almost never the patient. It's the medication. It's the surgery failing over time, which sometimes they do. It's an injury. It's a life event, a divorce, a death of a loved one. It's something along those lines. These are the factors that are most responsible for substantial periods of weight gain. And so I had a suspicion you'd say that and I think if anybody out there is listening and they've been telling themselves, ⁓ it was your fault. This is what you did. Give yourself a break. It's not a first of all, it's not productive. It's not going to get you to do better somehow. And also it's probably not accurate. Kelly Moore (06:18) here. true story. I agree 100 % you know looking back. I worked really hard to take off that weight and it came right back and you know so then I felt like okay well I failed at this and I really wanted to I really wanted to be active and be able to run with my children and Matthew Weiner, MD (06:46) Yeah, I'm sure you did. Yeah. Kelly Moore (07:06) so I kind of went back on the yo-yo dieting train and like, okay, and I again started doing more research and looked into why my mom had the medical problems that she had from her intestinal bypass. Matthew Weiner, MD (07:11) Sir? Kelly Moore (07:27) And I ultimately decided that I wanted to have a gastric bypass. So I came back to see you. Zoë (07:37) many years later was that from when you got your band to when you went back to see Dr. Weiner? Kelly Moore (07:42) So I got my band in 2009 and I had my gastric bypass in 2017. so yeah. Matthew Weiner, MD (07:51) So a long time, there's a lot of long period of, know, tough times in there. Kelly Moore (07:57) Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And when I got my band, I was, the day of surgery, I was 405 pounds. And when I had my gastric bypass, I'm trying to remember, it was some, it was, I was up to 440 at one point. And then I did all the pre-op stuff. And I think I got down to right around just under 400 before my gastric bypass. But again, I did a lot of research and you know, because I didn't want to have the health problems. The whole point of it was to be able to not have the health problems. I had a hard time at work, know, when you're a registered nurse being on your feet for 12 hours and you can't even take care of your patients. And I went through injury after injury. It was my knee, it was my ankle, it was this and that. Matthew Weiner, MD (08:37) Of course, Kelly Moore (08:52) you know running around at 440 pounds it was tough it was really tough and so I ⁓ came to see you to have a gastric bypass and I it changed my life it absolutely changed my life ⁓ Matthew Weiner, MD (09:11) Yeah, that was a revision at over 400 pounds. that's, probably, you know, I normally say to patients, this is nothing, you're gonna do great, this is so easy, but a revision surgery at 400 pounds, that's a real deal. How was the surgery recovery for you? Kelly Moore (09:25) It was actually not bad at all. My gallbladder surgery was worse. And I did 17 laps in the hospital. I was like, I gotta get up and move. Matthew Weiner, MD (09:28) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Kelly Moore (09:41) And as the weight started coming off, movement got a lot easier. And it was absolutely incredible. And by 2019, I was under 300 pounds for the first time in a very, very long time. And then I got pregnant with my third son at age 41. Zoë (10:07) ⁓ Kelly Moore (10:07) And yes, he was a much desired child. And so I had him and then the weight just started peeling off because I was, know, I changed my diet. I basically said, if it doesn't come off of a tree, out of an animal or out of the ground, I'm not gonna put it in my mouth. yep, and then I continued that after. Matthew Weiner, MD (10:29) And that was during the pregnancy? Yeah, that was smart. Yeah. Kelly Moore (10:35) and the weight just I was negative six pounds when I delivered him and yes when you get pregnant at 290 pounds and then you deliver at you know you know 284 but then after I had him Matthew Weiner, MD (10:41) my gosh. Kelly Moore (10:53) I just was super active and I was eating, you know, whole foods and I got down to 170 pounds and I haven't been 170 pounds since I was in middle school and it absolutely changed my life. I can chase this little guy down like I couldn't with my older Matthew Weiner, MD (11:09) my gosh. Yeah. Zoë (11:10) Wow. Kelly Moore (11:19) I'm working on the nutrition part of it ⁓ because I you know I got down I maintained 170 for quite some time and then I had skin removal surgery because I had a lot of loose skin and then after that I went to midnight shift back to midnight shift and ⁓ I gained about 34 pounds, but I was snacking and I was not eating the way I know I can. Matthew Weiner, MD (11:44) Yeah. See, there you are, Kelly. The midnight shift, the disruption of your sleep-wake cycle causes weight gain. And so does having a child later in life. Kelly Moore (11:52) Mm-hmm ⁓ Zoë (11:55) terrible. Kelly Moore (11:58) Absolutely. Matthew Weiner, MD (12:00) And that's why you gain the weight. And it's like just, it's just such a natural reaction to kind of go back to well, and it was my fault and I did it. I mean, Zoe, have you ever snacked late at night? Yeah, me too. Pretty much everybody's snack late at night. Did you gain 34 pounds from it, Zoe? No. Yeah. So, I mean, I think, you know, no one's eating perfectly. Very, very few people are eating perfectly. Zoë (12:13) Of course. Yeah. Kelly Moore (12:29) Mm-hmm. Matthew Weiner, MD (12:29) And so, you know, there's always some other causes. If you told me what happens if I have a baby at 41 and then start working the night shift afterward, I'd be like, oh my God, you're going to gain a ton of weight. You know, and so so I think again, you know, that's that it's so important that we and that's why like so much of what what I'm putting out there so that people can look and recognize that it is their life circumstances that caused the weight gain. not generally their behaviors. mean, behaviors can, I'm not saying they don't, but they're not the sole cause. Zoë (13:04) generally looking at a graph of weight gain and loss over a lifetime. And usually it's like, okay, gaining weight through the first 20 years of life, let's say, and then maybe it's just, you know, a little bit up through college and then a little bit down. And then it's okay, you know, life event, maybe got married, and then you can see it kind of go up and then and you can kind of like pinpoint these life events along the lines of you know, having a child and then maybe going back to work and you know, whatever the case may be or the death of a loved one. And you can kind of like pinpoint these critical life events correlating with weight gain. Matthew Weiner, MD (13:46) Yeah. Yeah. Kelly Moore (13:47) Absolutely, absolutely. Zoë (13:49) But like what Dr. Weiner said, I think it's so important that we, as a society, as a culture, as a weight loss community, start to shift that mindset from, know, of course there's an element of accountability and we all want to have self-awareness, but also recognizing that obesity is a disease. And a lot of this is not your fault, just like Dr. Weiner just said. And we need to start shifting the language and the mindset because that negative self-talk and that mindset that keeps us spiraling and reinforcing that negative mindset about ourself, it is only perpetuating that issue, right? And so the more that we can pause in that moment and reframe it to... Matthew Weiner, MD (14:33) Yeah. Zoë (14:38) Well, I had a child at 41 and I went back to the midnight shift and I'm proud of myself for continuing to show up for my family and work on my habits and those two different types of things. It just shifts how we're talking about these things. Matthew Weiner, MD (14:52) Right. You know, Zoe, that whole story, you your picture of the graph and the life events and everything like that, it just gave me a really good idea. We have this app coming out. I've been, I don't know, I'm pretty much obsessed with it. I almost feel like I'm like, I'm pregnant with a child. is my entire, like everything I've done since before I first met Kelly, honestly, you know, in terms of our nutrition program, every video I've made, I've kind of taken all of that and kind of popped it into an app. And something that all of this kind of coincides too with AI and I've learned a ton about AI and we have an AI dietitian but she's even more than that. She can answer med questions. But my thought was like, we need to have a way for you to be able to put your weights in throughout your life and track your whole weights from way back when. And a lot of people can really recall their weights at pretty much any time. But we also have a survey. Whenever a new patient comes in our office, there's a... bunch of questions we ask. How many pregnancies have you had? How old is your youngest child that gets us at like what Kelly, know, pregnancy later in life? What injuries have you had? When were they? And what medications do you think have caused weight gain and kind of run people through a survey if they want and they can kind of answer these questions and the AI will be able to line up those events with the weight and perhaps point out some things about weight gain that may get to all of this that we've already been talking about, which is that weight gain, whether it's after a lap band, after a pregnancy later in life, after working the night shift, that there's usually an explainable cause. Zoë (16:34) Definitely. So tell us about, you know, maybe life in the last year or two years since you've been, let's say, maintaining where you're at. What is your lifestyle look like? What are your habits like? What are, you know, what is life like now? Kelly Moore (16:52) It's night and day from what it used to be. You know, I didn't come home. I don't come home from work and just want to lay out on the couch and die. First of all. ⁓ But, you know, I can go to work. can work my 12 hour shift. I come home. I can run around the backyard with my son and my two dogs and my 11 chickens. And, you know, I can just, you know, there are so many things that I. Matthew Weiner, MD (17:01) Yeah. Kelly Moore (17:20) couldn't do before physically that I can do now. I got to ride a horse for the first time in my whole life and it was just such a wonderful experience. You know, I don't have to look at a chair anymore and go, no, I can't sit there. Is there one without arms? I don't have to do that anymore. the fact that... Matthew Weiner, MD (17:26) my gosh. Kelly Moore (17:43) My, my, probably my most recent favorite moment, and non-scale victory. ⁓ my husband and I took our son to a water park and we, Callan really wanted to go on the slide, the family slide, you know, so all of us could be in this big tube and there was six flights of stairs to the top and Matthew Weiner, MD (17:54) my gosh. Zoë (17:58) I'm Matthew Weiner, MD (18:01) Mm-hmm. Kelly Moore (18:11) We climbed those six flights. We went down. This kid had the time of his life. I'm not gonna lie, it was really fun. And we went down to the bottom and we walked right back up there. Matthew Weiner, MD (18:16) Yeah. Zoë (18:19) Of course! Matthew Weiner, MD (18:23) ⁓ wow. Kelly Moore (18:24) could have never been able to do that in my previous life. Even one flight of stairs was so difficult and so exhausting. I did six flights of stairs twice. My life is just night and day different. I feel better. I look better. I went from wearing a 3X screen Matthew Weiner, MD (18:29) Right. Kelly Moore (18:54) scrub top and a 5x bottom to a small top and a medium bottom which I again haven't seen this size since I was in middle school like seventh grade and it just you know it's just amazing the things I can do now and ⁓ Matthew Weiner, MD (19:01) Yeah. Kelly Moore (19:17) You know, my friends at work are like, Kelly, don't you ever sit down. And I'm like, no, I sat for 40 years. I'm done sitting. I want to get up. I want to run. I want to just enjoy life because I feel like I missed out on so much. And yeah, I don't, I don't miss that life. And I'm, I'm so blessed to have the life that I have now. Matthew Weiner, MD (19:34) Yeah. Zoë (19:43) And now you're making up for it by doing all of the fun things, riding on that side. I just want to say thank you so much for sharing specifically the non-scale victories in your life because that's something that is those moments, those memories that you're making, they're so much more powerful. Yeah, seeing a low number on the scale is great, but that doesn't have the same impact. Matthew Weiner, MD (20:06) Right. Yeah. Kelly Moore (20:07) No, it absolutely doesn't. And I am less focused on the scale. It's data collection, you know, but it's not the end all be all for I want I just want to feel physically well and healthy. And, you know, what I put into my body is what I'm going to get out in energy. And, you know, and that's what I'm looking at now as opposed to what is that number on the scale? Because that doesn't account for, you know, muscle gain that doesn't account for it. It's not a great indicator. Matthew Weiner, MD (20:41) Right. What's your nutritional strategy now? What does that look like? Talk to us about eating after a gastric bypass, what, think, what, eight years out? Yeah. So what does eating feel like? What does it look like? There's a lot of people, you know, I had a patient today, he's like, so I hear after the surgery, you can only eat like half a taco. And I was like, well, I think, you know, there's so much wrong with that statement. I don't even know where to begin. He had, by the way, he has not yet met with Zoe. Kelly Moore (20:52) 8 years out. Matthew Weiner, MD (21:11) So, he has not had his meetings and all the pre-op teaching that we do. So I don't want in any way for that to reflect on Zoe. But I felt like that's like, that's a conception out there. It's almost like you want to eat, but you can't. And that's not at all what patients are experiencing. Kelly Moore (21:12) no! so honestly, aside from the immediate post-op period, know, soft foods, purees, all of those things. ⁓ I can eat just like anybody else and ⁓ But it's more about what I put in my mouth, but I will tell you One of the one of a good side effects in my opinion if I eat something very processed very greasy very sugary I Don't like the way I feel after and I don't like that feeling. And it makes me feel like I'm having hot flashes. It makes me just feel yucky, for lack of better word. But I can go out to a restaurant. I can go have a family dinner. ⁓ My portions are absolutely smaller. ⁓ But it's not a half a taco. ⁓ I could absolutely eat a taco or I could absolutely, you know, but like I said now, it's it's I'm focused way more on ⁓ what it is. I produce heavy diet versus, you know, ⁓ ultra processed diet, because honestly, ultra processed foods make me feel like garbage, ⁓ especially right after I eat them. Matthew Weiner, MD (22:52) Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. Kelly Moore (22:59) And am I going to say that I never eat a processed food? No. But, you know, if there's birthday cake, you know, for, you know, my little one, OK, I'm going to have a little bit of birthday cake. But I don't crave food the way I used to. You know, I've gone hours and hours and I'm like, oh, I don't think I've eaten yet today. I need to go eat something now. Zoë (23:18) Mm-hmm. Matthew Weiner, MD (23:24) Yeah. And so you still have that eight years out. Kelly Moore (23:28) Still eight years out, yes. it's just, I don't think about food constantly, that food noise that people talk about. I don't have that food noise constantly like I did when I was 440 pounds. Zoë (23:45) I wanted to ask about your experience looping back specifically to the birthday cake example. How would you say your interaction with those treat foods, not cheat, treat, right? How would you say your interaction with like that eating experience, how you're able to be more mindful if you are ⁓ with enjoying those treats now? Kelly Moore (23:59) Yeah. Zoë (24:12) and how that has played a role in your overall, this long-term success that you've experienced versus maybe how you would have interacted with that birthday cake before maybe. Kelly Moore (24:23) I would have absolutely eaten an entire piece of cake before and I wouldn't really have any ill effects from it. And now I don't look at the birthday cake and I'm like, God, I have a big old piece of that. You know, it's more so I might take a bite or two and I will enjoy it with my family. But the side effects that might come from that cake I know are undesirable. And I don't want to feel like that. Matthew Weiner, MD (24:37) Right. Kelly Moore (24:52) But so it's very different, because I know that it's not going to make me feel very good. ⁓ And I like to avoid things that don't make me feel good. Zoë (24:52) Mm-hmm. Matthew Weiner, MD (25:03) Yeah, I'll tell you something that really Zoë (25:04) at Matthew Weiner, MD (25:06) strikes me about everything that you're saying. And Zoe, I'm sure you're going to, you're probably hearing the same things. If she was a GLP-1 success story, I feel like I hear exactly the same thing. And I think that's something that I picked up on very early on when we started prescribing the GLP-1 meds is that, you know, and I'll even go back to kind of talking about where my first book came from and you were truly a patient of mine before I even wrote my first book. But our nutritional plan came from me listening to patients tell me their story of what foods work and what foods don't and understanding that that lowered set point was driving behavioral changes that facilitated weight loss and if anybody could kind of make some of those behavioral changes. Kelly Moore (25:44) Thank Matthew Weiner, MD (25:54) they could get that same set point effect, not to the same degree as a bariatric surgery, but we were able to use nutrition to lower that set point. And as soon as I started talking to my patients on GLP-1 meds, I was like, there it is, same story, hormonal weight loss. Same story, exactly. And I think that's the thing that we're really starting to put together in our practice is that this idea of nutrition, meds, and surgery is not this distinct silo. but really kind of a continuum of treatments for the hormonal disease of obesity. And I think, you know, anybody who's out there who's taking GLP-1s listening is probably gonna know exactly what Kelly's feeling because they're probably feeling almost the exact same thing. Bariatric surgery is a hormonal treatment. GLP-1s is a hormonal treatment. And when you do nutrition correctly, it's a hormonal treatment. So. Zoë (26:36) Mm-hmm. Kelly Moore (26:51) Yeah, I don't think about food in the way that I used to. Not at all. I would eat anything that you put in front of me. I loved it to eat, clearly. And now I pick and choose what I want to eat. Matthew Weiner, MD (26:56) Yeah. Kelly Moore (27:11) because it makes me feel good. You know, it makes me feel good to eat that apple or that banana or, you know, I, I just, I enjoy that feeling way, way more and I crave that. ⁓ Matthew Weiner, MD (27:19) Yeah. Great. Yeah. I think that, yeah. So that's the important piece. And I think, you know, like you can only have a taco. That's not the story. The story, you know, in dumping syndrome, people are like, well, I don't want dumping. Well, dumping isn't for every food. Dumping is for certain foods. Kelly Moore (27:34) No. No. Matthew Weiner, MD (27:43) And so when you eat something and feel unpleasant afterward, it takes away your desire for it. There's something called the sauce Bernays phenomenon. And it's like kind of a psych 101 thing that you learn about. And it was this guy and it's all based on aversion therapy, I think, or when you have a really powerful negative experience. Zoë (27:55) So. Matthew Weiner, MD (28:03) It takes kind of that one time and you just for the rest of your life, you do that. And, you know, for lack of a better term, I still cannot smell tequila these days because of an experience I had in college. And, you know, just I can't handle it. ⁓ I know I can remember exactly. Zoë (28:14) Yes. ⁓ Kelly Moore (28:19) Mm-hmm. Matthew Weiner, MD (28:25) that moment that I felt so terrible from tequila every time I smell it. I don't know that I've had tequila since, but it's that same idea that you kind of have when you, you know, it's not quite that strong, but when we have a really negative experience, we then just decrease our desire and thoughts about that food. ⁓ And I think the other piece that's really important is you can eat healthy foods quite comfortably. Yeah. Zoë (28:31) Ha ha. Kelly Moore (28:47) Mm-hmm. Absolutely. ⁓ Matthew Weiner, MD (28:55) And so that's also something that's really important to understand about bariatric surgery is dumping isn't something that happens after every food. Also, dumping is totally predictable. Right? You can, you can be like, if I eat this, this is going to happen. But if I eat this, nothing's going to happen. Yeah, you're not really caught off guard with it. Kelly Moore (29:03) now. yeah. Exactly. Zoë (29:15) Yeah. Kelly Moore (29:18) No, ⁓ absolutely not. And I've learned over time what foods make me feel not so great and what foods make me feel great. And my body, I just gravitate to those good foods. And you know, I still enjoy eating. It's just I eat different food now. Matthew Weiner, MD (29:20) Yeah. Zoë (29:39) Because you like the way that this new way of eating makes you feel and the energy you can have and the fuel for your body I am just a couple days ago saw something online that I think is so powerful which is talking about how you know food or food is kind of like crafted these days to reward our brain not to fuel our body and so being able to make that shift of Matthew Weiner, MD (29:39) Yeah. Kelly Moore (29:46) Right. Matthew Weiner, MD (30:02) yeah. Zoë (30:06) Food can't be, yes, enjoyable because I like the way it makes me feel and how it's fueling my body and all of these other things I'm able to do because of it. Matthew Weiner, MD (30:16) Yeah, that's, yeah, I think, you know, that's a really good point is that in general, when we're battling obesity, we're fighting against these food chemists. And they're really, they're chemists. They're not chefs or cooks or bakers or anything. They're chemists mixing chemicals and they're using focus groups. And I think one thing that's really fascinating is, and these, they're smart people and they understand the science and that's why they're so good at getting us to eat crap. But when GLP-1 started coming out, all of the food stocks went down. And I think that everyone's like, well, they're just not going to eat more, but it's different than that. And I think, especially as we see more more use of these medications, the usual tricks these food companies were using won't work if you're taking GLP-1s. And they won't work if you've had bariatric surgery. Zoë (30:55) Mm-hmm. Kelly Moore (30:56) Sweet. Matthew Weiner, MD (31:12) And so they're gonna, know, anytime the rules change, generally the leader of the industry will change too. And so I think that's something else that's really gonna be interesting to follow. Zoë (31:24) Yeah. Kelly Moore (31:25) Yeah, I would love to see that happen because there's so much garbage out there and it's frustrating. Matthew Weiner, MD (31:35) It really is. How about exercise? Are you able to exercise? What are you doing there? Kelly Moore (31:39) yeah, absolutely. I walk with my husband and my mother-in-law a couple times a week. ⁓ I probably I get anywhere from about 14 to 20,000 steps a day. ⁓ I started strength training. So I've been doing that in my bedroom because it's hard sometimes to get away. And I live out in the country now. So there isn't a gym very close. So ⁓ so I walk my dog. I do my strength training and yeah. Like, we'll just go and do things that require lots of walking. We just find, and my husband is very, very fit. And ⁓ so he, you know, we can actually do active things together, which is fantastic. Matthew Weiner, MD (32:37) I, you know, I, when I first saw you, was like, how, you know, I barely remembered you, but as through this interview, I remember you, but the problem is, is my memory of you does not look like you right now. I really remember you kind of at 400 pounds now, and you really are almost unrecognizable. Have you had that issue with people? Like being like, wait, Kelly? Yeah. Kelly Moore (32:56) Yeah. Oh yeah, people, and I had my surgery in 2017. I moved to Texas in 2019. And so all of the people that I work with, they... they didn't see me at 400 pounds. So they're more used to it but I'm in Michigan right now and I have seen people that I haven't seen in years and they're like you don't look anything the same. Yeah right. yeah ⁓ it makes me feel amazing and I I Matthew Weiner, MD (33:24) Right. Yeah, yeah. How's that make you? Does that make you feel good? Zoë (33:35) You're like, mm. Matthew Weiner, MD (33:41) Yeah. Kelly Moore (33:48) I enjoy feeling good. I enjoy feeling amazing. yeah. Yeah. Matthew Weiner, MD (33:50) Yeah, you deserve to feel good. Zoë (33:52) You deserve it. ⁓ Wonderful. Well, Kelly, thank you so much for sharing being vulnerable and opening up and sharing your story. think it's a so powerful and be so many people listening can relate to that. Your your struggles and your journey. So if anybody out there is maybe sitting on the fence or just getting started in this journey or not sure if they should take the leap or not. Do you have any kind of? golden nuggets that you'd like to share, any advice you'd like to give to them. Kelly Moore (34:23) Oh, I wish I had done this in my 20s. I wish I would have listened to Dr. Weiner the first time I was in his office because he wasn't wrong. And I feel like I lost a lot of years being super obese. And so, you know, again, hindsight's 20 20. But I. I'm glad I did my research. I'm glad that I learned more about gastric bypass and I wasn't nearly as scared because it's very different from what was happening in the 70s. ⁓ You know, and how I feel is absolutely amazing. And I wish I would have a longer period of time to feel that. ⁓ Because how I feel now is just incredible. And I have a whole new life. Matthew Weiner, MD (35:31) I love it, yeah. I think your point about the research is so important too. And that's something, when I see new patients, sometimes people are like, well, my doctor sent me here, said I gotta lose some weight. And what I found is that is like, that's okay, let me run you through the nuts and bolts. Or you could go to chat GPT and say, tell me how to lose weight, what are my options? And we'll probably have a fairly similar experience. But then I also have patients who've been like, I've watched these videos. I've done this research, I've been thinking about this for a long time, and here's some of the things, here's what I know, here's what's important to me, here's some things I'm struggling with deciding about. And I find that the conversation we have in that situation is just at such a high level, and I have so much more confidence that this person is making a really good decision, that they've thought through everything, because this is a life decision, having bariatric surgery, you know. Kelly Moore (36:09) Thank Absolutely. Matthew Weiner, MD (36:27) who you marry, whether you have children, where you live, what you do for a living, all of those things are life decisions that impact your life so much and bariatric surgery is on par with that and you need to give it that level of consideration. So I applaud you for all of that, all the research you did. And I think as we look at your level of success here, we see it wasn't a straight line, but we see the one common thing through it was persistence and research. And I think those, to me, would be the two magic ingredients to weight loss success. Kelly Moore (37:02) Absolutely, knowledge is power and it really, you know, steered my journey this way and I have zero regrets. you know, but I want people to be educated because it's not the right decision for everyone. Matthew Weiner, MD (37:03) Yeah it is. Yeah, no, it's not. Absolutely not. I feel these days I'm talking more people out of surgery than into it. ⁓ Yeah, especially with the meds, it's, know, yeah. Zoë (37:19) Yeah, absolutely. Sir. Kelly Moore (37:28) It's a tool. It's not just a quick fix. It's a tool. And if you treat it as such, you're going to be way more successful in my opinion. Matthew Weiner, MD (37:37) Yeah, it's part of the plan, not the plan. Zoë (37:41) All right, well, I'd say that pretty much wraps up our conversation. Again, Kelly, thank you so much for being here. And for all of those who are listening, thank you for being here and listening to the conversation. We'd really appreciate it if you would share this episode with somebody that you think would find it valuable as well. And until next time, hope you guys take care. Matthew Weiner, MD (38:04) See you next time.