Remi Bader, a prominent plus-size influencer, has recently shared details about her weight loss journey, revealing a complex and multifaceted experience. Known for her openness regarding mental health and struggles with binge eating, Bader's decision to undergo weight loss surgery has sparked both curiosity and discussion among her followers. This article delves into the specifics of Remi Bader's weight loss program, including her motivations, the procedures she underwent, the challenges she faced, and her current health routine.
Early Life and Struggles with Dieting
From a young age, Remi Bader has battled with diet culture and weight struggles. Growing up in Manhattan, she estimates starting her first diet around the age of 10. Dieting was a regular part of her upbringing, with experiences including WeightWatchers "10 different times" and the "Fast Metabolism Diet" with her mother. Bader recalls feeling pressured by her family to lose weight, with one family member even offering her "a thousand dollars to lose 20 pounds."
Bader states, "I would always do the diet and restrict cycle, which only got worse over time". This pattern led to a diagnosis of binge eating disorder.
Prior Attempts at Weight Loss
Before opting for surgery, Remi Bader explored various avenues to manage her weight and binge eating disorder. In 2020, around the start of COVID, Bader was prescribed Rybelsus, an off-label oral semaglutide medication, for her binging. As she shared on the Not Skinny Not Fat podcast in 2023, she was originally prescribed Ozempic because she was pre-diabetic, insulin-resistant, and gaining weight. "They said I need this. And I had a lot of mixed feelings," she shared.
When Rybelsus didn’t work, her doctor put her on Ozempic, also because she was prediabetic. However, she experienced significant side effects, stating, "It's different for everyone, [but] I was throwing up every day from it," leading her to discontinue the medication after a few months. Remi shared that she "gained double the weight back" when she stopped using the medication. "A few months later, got into the bad bingeing and went off it," she said. "I saw a doctor, and they were like, 'It's 100% because you went on Ozempic,'" she continued. "It was making me think I wasn't hungry for so long I lost some weight. I didn't want to be obsessed with being on it long-term. I was like, 'I bet the second I got off I'm going to get starving again.' I did, and my bingeing got so much worse. So then I kind of blamed Ozempic."
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Over the next two years, desperate to get help for her binge eating, Bader tried a variety of treatments, some of which she shared with her followers-and some of which she didn’t. She saw a therapist; met with a psychiatrist who specializes in disordered eating; tried both Contrave, an oral weight loss medication, and Wellbutrin, an antidepressant; and went to a few Overeaters Anonymous meetings. In May 2022, she attended a six-week outpatient eating disorder treatment program that focused on intuitive eating and employed the Health at Every Size (HAES) model. After leaving the program, her binges returned “almost immediately.” In September, she gave Mounjaro a try, “very secretly.” “This is the worst thing I could be doing,” she thought at the time. “I just talked about how I went to treatment…. No one could ever know about this.” Again, she was throwing up daily, so by January her doctor switched her to Ozempic, and added Metformin. The vomiting persisted anyway, and Bader decided to go off the medication for good. In a last resort, in June 2023, she tried Vyvanse as prescribed by her doctor. But that didn’t work either.
All of the yo-yoing left Bader with emotional whiplash, and her eating disorder came back with a vengeance. According to Sasha De Jesus, MD, a board-certified obesity medicine specialist and founder of MetaboliK Health, while drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro may be good for treating binge eating disorder in the short term, “symptoms may return-or even intensify-after discontinuing the medication, particularly if underlying emotional, psychological, or environmental triggers weren’t addressed. The contrast between being on versus off the medication can be jarring and may make symptoms feel worse than baseline.”
Health Concerns and the Decision for Surgery
Bader's decision to undergo weight loss surgery was primarily driven by serious health concerns. She stated, "I was always going to a doctor so I was seeing how things were going downhill in terms of my heart, my cholesterol." She was struggling with debilitating back pain, something she had already had surgery for; she was in bed for a month because of it, “couldn’t sit up straight for more than five minutes” at a time, and “wore Dr. Scholl’s tennis shoes for events because I couldn’t stand in heels without my knees and back going out.” She was sweating all the time to the point where she felt embarrassed at events: “Makeup would drip off my face 20 minutes after getting glam.” She “couldn’t film hauls anymore because they became so difficult.” She had sleep apnea. Her blood report was scaring her: Her cholesterol was high, she was developing heart issues, and she was diagnosed with fatty liver disease-a condition that could lead to serious damage and even cancer. She also started having a full period, constantly. “My doctor told me I was becoming infertile,” she says. “And I would say that definitely scared me more compared to other things.”
These health issues significantly impacted her quality of life and ability to work. She recalls flying to LA for a 12-hour shoot with a painful back, realizing she was "done" with the cycle of discomfort and health scares.
The SADI-S Procedure
In the fall of 2023, Bader decided to pursue surgical intervention. She consulted with her back surgeon, who referred her to a bariatric surgeon in New York City. After a virtual consultation, she learned about different types of bariatric surgery. Her doctor advised against a sleeve gastrectomy because her stomach could stretch back out if she started to binge again. He also expressed concerns that a gastric bypass might make her too nutrient deficient.
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Ultimately, Bader's doctor suggested a newer procedure called single anastomosis duodenal-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S). A SADI-S includes the sleeve gastrectomy followed by a procedure that closes off a section of the small intestine and instead connects the stomach to the lower small intestine, giving the body “less time and distance…to absorb fat and calories,” according to the Mayo Clinic. The description of the new procedure gave her pause. “I don’t know if I should be doing something I’ve never heard of,” she thought at the time. But she had already decided to move ahead with it.
According to Brigham and Women’s hospital, SADI-S involves removing the outer portion of the stomach so it looks like a “narrow sleeve” and also connecting a part of the upper small intestine to the loop of the lower small intestine. The surgery causes hormonal changes that reduce hunger and the body to absorb fewer calories.
The Harrowing Recovery
Bader underwent the SADI-S procedure on December 11, 2023. Contrary to her expectations, the recovery process was exceptionally challenging. "I need to say that it was the most brutal thing," she stated. "I get the surgery. I was in recovery hours, hours, hours, hours, throwing up. It was not normal. I was supposed to leave [the hospital] in one day. I could not stop projectile vomiting, and I couldn’t drink water. They won’t let you leave if you can’t drink water. I actually can’t explain how horrible it was.”
Despite being discharged after three days, she continued to experience severe vomiting and an inability to eat or drink for six weeks. From the surgery in December to mid-February, Bader says she was “not f---king OK.” She posted less and told her followers that she was going through a hard time, but the reality was far grimmer. “I’d gotten into a very, very deep depression, and it was truly the scariest time of my life,” she says. “I couldn’t tell people. I really-I wanted to die.”
Her psychiatrist increased her dose of Cymbalta, a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) commonly used to treat depression, and put her back on Wellbutrin. Bader says both helped.
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Current Health Routine and Lifestyle Adjustments
Since recovering from the surgery, Remi Bader has made significant strides in her overall well-being. She has regained her confidence and is committed to self-care. In May, Remi shared that she had revamped her health routine. In an IG video, Remi can be seen struggling to do exercises at the gym before hopping off a machine and shaking her head. Then, the video cuts to an “after” of Remi crushing those same exercises. “The difference of a few months focusing on my mental, emotional and physical strength,” she wrote. "This is not about weight, or looks or appearance. It's about putting myself first and finding myself again.
“My binge eating is better,” Bader says. “I’m still struggling and I have those thoughts, but I can’t physically binge as much because I don’t have the room for it.” The surgery has made it so she has to be very careful with what she consumes. “You cannot drink and eat within the same 30 minutes,” she says. If she does, her body rebels: “Sometimes I’m out to dinner with friends, and I run to the bathroom. It’s also hard; I’m going to these events and dinners, and I’m constantly getting sick,” she says. On her most recent trip to Paris, she had an episode where she felt like food was “stuck” in her chest and stomach. “It’s also making me nauseous at the same time. So it’s like, okay, am I about to throw up or should I sit and make myself deal with this and maybe walk around?” She’s dealt with other side effects too. “I had a very intense amount of hair loss with chunks coming out of my hair daily for a good six months,” she says.
She’s worked hard on her body-mind connection and self-acceptance, including a stint at one of the Hoffman Centers, a residential retreat dedicated to “transformative adult education” and “spiritual growth.” She works out, regularly doing Pilates and yoga, saying she’s proud to have found workouts that work for her body right now. She sees a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and has experience working with patients who have had bariatric surgery.
Bader is also seeing a therapist, working out regularly and experiences fewer binge-eating episodes. Later that month, she revealed that she likes to do workouts on the Peloton bike after doing band stretches. This August, Remi shared video of herself and a few friends heading to a Pilates class: And in July, she could be seen working with a trainer while cycling through a slew of moves, including pull-ups with hanging rings, dumbbell squats, and overhead presses with barbells.
Reflections on Body Image and Societal Pressures
Remi Bader has been candid about the challenges of navigating body image and societal pressures throughout her weight loss journey. She expressed frustration with the constant focus on her body, questioning why it needs to be the most important thing about her. She wrote in the IG caption of a video of herself in different outfits: “Words like ‘fat’ ‘whale’ ‘obese’ ‘skinny’ ‘tiny,’ to name a few,” she wrote. “But of course I still see them and it's hard to see the constant conversation about my body on this app, because I also wonder, why does that need to be the most important thing about me?”
“Last August, I was too big for society, the closest people to me, and a bad example to the world…this August, I am too small for my community, too small for some brands, but still too big for many, and STILL too big for society,” she continued. “To be honest, I've always seen myself as the same way because my body has fluctuated since the day I could remember that my brain has never caught up with knowing if I was bigger or smaller or what I actually looked like. It was everyone on the outside telling me that for me.”
As a result, Remi said she has “an immense amount of trauma” around body image. However, she stressed this: “I am a lot bigger than my body and will always be the same Remi no matter what I weigh, and that I am sure of.”