For over a decade, Mama June Shannon has offered her fans an intimate look into her life's ups and downs, from the early days of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" to "Mama June: Family Crisis." Shannon has taken viewers on a journey through family drama, her battle with addiction, and her weight-loss journey in her series "Mama June: From Not to Hot."
Gastric Bypass Surgery in 2015
In 2015, Shannon underwent bariatric surgery. The series "Mama June: From Not to Hot" chronicled this weight-loss journey, including the gastric sleeve surgery. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the procedure "removes a large portion of your stomach, leaving behind a narrow 'sleeve.'" Reducing the stomach helps restrict calories and reduce hunger signals. The Cleveland Clinic adds that this surgery helps people with clinically severe obesity achieve effective weight loss.
Shannon reported that she went from 550 pounds to 311 pounds on the day of her surgery. She told her Instagram followers in April 2024 that she went from 311 to 195 pounds in six weeks.
Lauryn and Alana told ET that their mom underwent a gastric sleeve procedure, known as a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, back in 2015 after hitting a weight-loss plateau. The operation itself removes about 80 percent of a person’s stomach and fashions what’s left into what looks like a sleeve, LePort says. It works by reducing the volume of food that can be held in the stomach. The surgery also removes significant portions of the stomach that have hormones that promote hunger, including ghrelin, says Fatima Cody Stanford, M.D., M.P.H., an instructor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. With the removal, the brain communicates with the stomach differently.
Not everyone who wants to lose weight will qualify for the surgery, though. While insurance companies may have their own requirements for coverage, Stanford says that the medical community wants a person to have a BMI of at least 35, in addition to diabetes, hypertension, or sleep apnea, to qualify. Once a person has the surgery, they’ll typically lose between 60 and 80 percent of their excess weight, LePort says. Meaning, if they are 100 pounds overweight, they’re expected to lose between 60 and 80 pounds after the surgery and keep it off for at least six years.
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Working with a Weight Loss Expert
Shannon started working with weight loss expert Kenya Crooks when she plateaued in her weight loss. In 2017, he told People how he helped rework Shannon's diet, “We had to change how she looked at food. We had to cut down the portions, because she used to eat really, really big. So we had to change how she ate, how she worked out, and just put it all together!”
Shannon gave ET an update on her weight in April 2017, “I’m in the 160s. I’m probably four or five pounds off from being there,” she said.
Weight Regain and Contributing Factors
Shannon's weight stayed stable for a few years after her bariatric surgery. She said in an Instagram video that she stayed at like 130, 140, 150 and to her she looked super skinny and just wasn’t used to that.
Shannon became one of her primary caregivers when her daughter Anna Cardwell was diagnosed with adrenal cancer, and she instantly experienced an uptick in her stress levels. Shannon didn't have much time to focus on eating properly while focused on caring for Cardwell, who died in December 2023. She said in her video that she had noticed over the last year and a half that she’d really put on weight.
The reality star estimated that she regained 120-130 pounds of the weight she had previously lost. According to the Mayo Clinic, this is not unusual following weight-loss surgery. It’s also possible to not lose enough weight or to regain weight after any type of weight-loss surgery, even if the procedure itself works correctly.
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Considering Revisional Bariatric Surgery
Shannon revealed in April 2024 that she had previously considered revisional bariatric surgery, a procedure that can "repair or change a previous weight loss surgery," per Penn Medicine.
Current Weight Loss Efforts
Shannon is down to 245.4 pounds as of July 8, 2024, after starting out around 280 pounds in April 2024. We're taking a look back at the reality star's weight loss journey as she seeks to reach her goal weight later this year.
Over the last few months, Shannon has been sharing regular updates with her social media followers. The reality star reported that she'd lost 16 pounds after a month of taking weight-loss medication.
Shannon told Us Weekly at the end of June that she'd dropped 30 pounds so far and shared the name of the exact medication she'd been taking: tirzepatide. According to the Food & Drug Administration, there are three FDA-approved semaglutide products: Ozempic injection, Rybelsus tablets and Wegovy injection. The reality star shared the news in an Instagram video and explained that she was starting off by taking four units of the medication for four weeks then would adjust her dosage with the help of her doctor.
Shannon has been stepping up her workout routine in addition to using weight-loss medication. It’s about being able to be healthy, being here for moments in life that you need to be here (for). And especially you want to be around for your children’s life, you want to be around for the grandkids. “My kids and Justin say I’m way too strict. And Kaitlyn (my granddaughter) says I’m way too strict. But for me, I know this is what I want.
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Potential Complications After Gastric Sleeve Surgery
While we have to wait until this week's episode to see what was actually causing June's pain, we asked the experts if complications of this nature are typical with a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. “It’s uncommon but certainly not unheard of,” says Peter LePort, M.D., a bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Center for Obesity at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California.
Patients can develop an adhesion, i.e. scar tissue, after undergoing this procedure and can have pain as a result, he says, pointing out that the adhesion can form weeks to decades after someone has surgery. “It’s usually a sharp pain and people feel like someone is pulling on their abdominals,” he says.
There are a few other things that can be at play, too. Fatima Cody Stanford, M.D., instructor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, says someone can suffer from a gastric leak (a situation in which the person’s stomach has an acute or chronic leak), which can be painful. If a person is suffering from an adhesion and it’s impacting their lifestyle, LePort says doctors can perform a surgical procedure to essentially cut out the adhesion. Smaller leaks may need a drain, but bigger ones might require surgical intervention, Stanford says, noting that surgery may also be needed in the case of a stricture.
Mama June looked like she was in serious pain, but LePort says people shouldn’t be scared away from getting a vertical sleeve gastrecomy. “The sleeve is a successful weight-loss procedure and it does come with a risk of complications,” he says. “But most of the time, patients do well and they really don’t regret having the procedure.”
Motivation for Weight Loss
Mama June says she was motivated to shed pounds after her ex-husband (who cheated on her) announced his recent engagement. Cameras follow Mama June as she undergoes weight loss surgery, too. "There is a skinnier person inside of me," she says. "When I’m done, I’m not even going to recognize my own self in the mirror," she says. "Y’all better get ready."
Gastric Sleeve Surgery: Not an Easy Way Out
Lauryn and Alana also told ET that their mom recruited the help of a trainer to keep up her weight loss after she plateaued post-weight loss surgery. Stanford says it’s important for people to know that gastric sleeve surgery is not an easy way out. "If I recommend something like weight-loss surgery, patients often feel as though they failed," she says.