Georgetown Bariatrics

C1 3 is dr. eric smith, and a success story, his name is kameron, and we're over here at georgetown bariatrics and advanced surgical services.

Welcome to the show, guys.

Nice to see you both.

Eric smith- doctor: thanks.

Troy- host: okay.

I have to tell everyone at home, kameron, the incredible story that you just told me off camera, the amount of weight you've lost is so impressive.

Congratulations.

Kameron- patient: thank you very much.

Troy- host: but before we get to that, i do want to ask dr. eric, what type of procedure did we do on kameron to begin with?

Eric smith- doctor: kameron had a robotic sleeve gastrectomy for his weight loss surgery.

That's the most common surgery that we do.

And it's one of the two main surgeries that we perform.

Troy- host: and what does that procedure entail?

Eric smith- doctor: we basically go in, remove a large portion of the stomach, about 80% of the stomach, and we take the stomach from being a distensible balloon basically, and turning it into a long narrow tube that cannot stretch or distend or expand.

Troy- host: okay.

Well, kameron, you weighed 370 pounds.

Now, when people are looking at these pictures up on the screen now, you're 31 years of age.

Kameron- patient: right.

Troy- host: what was your trigger point to go, "i've had enough."?

Kameron- patient: i was seeing my primary doctor for hip related issues and they were telling me i was going to have a hip replacement.

And i had a couple of other issues going on.

I was seeing the cardiologist, i was having blood pressure issues, and just multiple health issues.

And i have two young kids and i knew, at that time, i really needed todo something that way i can be around for them as long as i could.

Troy- host: can i ask you a personal question?

Because people sitting at home often wonder how a young guy can getto such a weight.

Was it a mental stability for you or was it something that you just ate because you were bored?

What was it?

Kameron- patient: i think it's a mix of multiple things.

Mental health, boredom, you find comfort in foods and in certain things like that, and you just get into habits and they're hard to break and you don't realize you're hurting yourself until you're sitting in the doctor's office.

And they were saying, "you need to do something about this."

Troy- host: well, and this is one thing that i want to bring back to you, dr. eric, that we have talked about this before with mental health, that when you have gained a lot of weight... you're not born overweight, right?

Eric smith- doctor: right.

Troy- host: issues happen in one's life.so, we have to control our mental health.

This is part of your program.

Eric smith- doctor: yeah, absolutely.

I mean, if we just go in and do something to help them eat less, we set them up for failure.

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

And we have to employ them with the way to deal with that, and our psychologist and all our therapy that we do with that is part of why we see our success.

Troy- host: and this is something that we want everyone to know at home.

Kameron, especially since you've gone through the program, that this is a lifestyle choice.

This is not something that is a one- time fix.

Kameron- patient: yeah, right.

Troy- host: now, you've lost 175 pounds in total, but one of the key successes is the in-body scanning machine and program that's done.

Explain that to everyone at home, dr. eric.

Eric smith- doctor: it's just a really fancy,really expensive scale that we have here that that doesn't let them just look at a number.

It looks at their body composition.

We'll see people all the time say, "i want to get to 130.

I want to get to this number."

But we want to get you to that number in a healthy way.

Eric smith- doctor: we'll also see people be frustrated because they say they've hit a plateau, "i feel like i'm not losing weight, but my clothes fit better."

And we put them on the scale."well, the reason is your body fat is dropped.

Your muscle mass is either stayed the same or gone up.

So, that's why your number on your scale at home that costs 20 bucks is not showing the results."

And we can hold patients accountable and make sure they're losing weight in the right places.

Troy- host: we want everyone to know that there were conditions about you having a procedure as