March 20, 2023 • 20 mins
Four months ago Cosi had 80% of his stomach cut out to end a lifetime of obesity. So far he’s lost over 35 kilos and in this episode he tells us why he had it done and how much it costs. He claims it’s not only saved his life but also saved him money!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yet.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
My name's Couzy from South Australia. I've been an overweight
person my whole life. Fact hid at school, always battered.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
With my weight.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
So I went and had a gas stric sleeve basically
cut out near eighty percent of my guts and tossed
it out into the bin and it has worked beautifully
for me. So I've got Ali, one of my dear
friends for the last few decades, to have a bit
of a chat to me about it.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well you said you've always been a fat person. I
can say you absolutely haven't. Now you look ridiculously amazing.
But I guess to bring everybody up to speed, you've
gone and done this. And this wasn't some just fly
by the city of pants. This wasn't some overnight decision.
In fact, it took him what nearly five years to
come to this.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I've been thinking about it for a very long time
and I've basically done like all of the diets, all
of the fads. My weight's gone.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Went on the biggest loser. You did everything.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I know.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
When people sort of say, oh, you know, it's a
pretty extreme thing to do, well it is. But even
like on the Biggest Loser. I was gone for four
and a half months. I lost like fifty two kilos
on The Biggest Loser, and I swore I would never
put it back on, and then over time it gradually
creeps in insane addiction to food, which is something I
was just never able to beat.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And I know that you say that The Biggest Loser
is extreme. Do you know the one thing that really
made me realize how hard it has been for you
is when you said that your gorgeous wife Sam actually
put a combination lock on the pantry. Yeah, that to
me was just geez, Yeah, that's That's something.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Every time I tell people that, they just cannot believe
it that there is a lock on our pantry when
we did house reratenize that. I to this day don't
know the code too. So when that pantry door was shut,
if I left my keys in there, for example, I
can't get them.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I can't wait until you when you sell it finally
saw your house to someone. You explained to the real
estate agent, and.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I've often wondered what is the code, Like, what did
she choose?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And she's never told me because she once she tells
me apparently to change the code. It costs like ten
and fifty bucks.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Wow. So it's a serious lot.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yes, it's a very serious line.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Well we've digressed, but that's I guess as serious. You know,
this is how tap it was.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And I think the previous conversation that we've had is
and was talking about that food addiction. And if someone
says I'm a drug addict, people get what that means.
If someone says I'm an alcoholic, people understand what that means.
But when you're talking about food as an addiction, food
with emotional attachment and everything else, people quite often laugh
it off, don't they, and just go, well, hard en
(02:13):
not mate.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, And I can understand that if you're not battling it,
I can understand why someone will go, well, fats, they
don't eat the food, you know, like just have one Timtam,
not the packet. But for whatever reason, it is. And
I'm forty four years old and I have been able
to work it out, like I'm just wired to eat
the whole lot. Like if I open a pack of
the tymtams, then I will eat them till they're all gone.
(02:34):
Like whereas my wife she would just have two, and
the others can sit on the bench and.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It doesn't bother her. If you open a bag of chips,
I eat the whole lot.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I'm like you in that. I often think about because
we were never allowed to leave the table as we
were kids until we finished everything, and it was a
waste thing, you know, and it was a whole you
have to eat everything that's there. And I vividly remember that.
I wonder if that sort of programming early might have something.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
To do with it. It's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And then you look at it now and I guess
basically by having the surgery done, had that taken away
from me, Like now I can't eat the whole package
of tip cans. I eat too and on full, and
in fact, the desire to eat those things is completely gone,
which is, or at least I can say ninety percent
gone anyway, So.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
All right, well let's bring everyone up to date. So
you had the surgery walk back in November.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, so what's that like four months ago, and you've
lost how much? Thirty seven kilos?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah? And I'm so lucky, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
You know, I stayed in a hotel on the weekend
and I walked out of the shower and I dried myself,
and because I was staying there by myself, I just
walked into the room to get my clothes and they
had like a massive mirror, like a full, full length mirror,
and I think it's the first time I've seen myself,
like and I just stopped and I went, oh, my god.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I've got knees.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, it's like it's going crazy. And I looked at
myself and it's incredible that like everything's retracted, like as
some people worried about, like loose skin and that, and
it's like, I don't have anything. They do four keyhole
surgeries in your guts and like you can't even really
see the scars anymore. Like it's all it's just pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Has it changed the way you move? Has it changed
the way you think about yourself? Have you noticed it
easier on your body? Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
A million percent? A million percent.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And also, you know, I'm not flying the flag for
everyone to go and get their guts cut out, but yeah,
I'm just telling people, you know, this is what I did,
and this is the results. Even like last night, it
was super windy last night and I could hear something
banging in the backyard. Now normally when I was overweight,
I wouldn't have got out of bed. I just couldn't
have been bothered. Whereas you know, last night I was
happy to kind of jump out of bed. I went
outside and stuffed around like it's just the I don't know,
(04:34):
I'll get up and move a lot more now and
I have a lot more energy.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Well you imagine trying to pick up a thirty seven
kilo weight, Yeah, yeah, and then you realize that that
is what you've lost. Now, let's reiterate, this is not
about an ad for doing this. This is not telling
people you need to find the best thing for you.
But I think we've worked out pretty much. The reason
that you're so open about it is because you didn't
want people to think that you'd done this straight off
(04:57):
diet or exercising yourself to the bone, and you want
you're really honest about it.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So many people get this surgery done and never say anything.
And I know people in my life that have had
it done and are never going to say anything, and
I feel sad for them. And I think in the media, especially,
you don't have to look too far in the media.
If someone's lost a job, normous amount of weight really
quickly then chances are I've probably had this done, but
they might just never say anything, and that's their choice,
of course. But I just want to come out and say, look,
(05:22):
you know, I just want to be honest. This is
what I did, and I'm certainly not proud. I got
to this point in my life where I had to
go and walk into an operating theater and lay on
the table and get put to sleep to have it done.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Now, a couple of questions, I is it a myth,
because I'd always heard that when you have something like
this done, you still have to have some form of
self control and self regulation because otherwise tummy can stretch,
your stomach will stretch out again.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Does it like wear off if you don't treat yourself?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, were my surgeon reckons that for my height, and
you know that I'm quite broad and whatever. He reckons
that pre surgery, if I sat down and ate as
much as I could, I could fit about. I could
force about five to six dinner plates of food into
my stomach before I could physically not put anymore in.
He said, even in sort of five years, when your
stomach settles out, I'll only ever be able to put
(06:12):
one in right, Okay, yeah, so it's kind of the
thought of it stretching back to how big it is.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It just can't because it's not there.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And that's what stopped me doing the surgery for so long,
because when I first was told that they actually cut
seventy five eighty percent your stomach out.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, man, like staple it up and then it's not reversible.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You can't get it back. So that scared me a lot.
So that's what made me wait a long time before
I said, okay, buggat, let's do it. And there was
just that one line, which I've said to you before,
that when the surgeon said to me, mate, I'm not
trying to sell your surgery. I don't care whether you
do it or not. We're really busy and I want
you to know that I'm not trying to convince you
to do it. But he said, I've looked at your
blood tests. I've looked at your blood pressure, your weight
(06:52):
loss history and all that stuff, and your age and everything,
and he said, I can guarantee you that if you
have this surgery done, you will live longer than if
you continue it. The way you are and the way
you're going. And I could one hundred scent feel that
I knew. I was very confident that something bad would
happen to me, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, whatever. I knew
it was coming my way. I could just feel it
in my body. And now all those feelings are gone,
(07:13):
Like I've stopped snoring, I don't need to sleep at
in your machine. Heaps better dad, father, friend, more physically active.
It's been a massive change.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So when we talk about all of this, you know,
whenever you put your head up across the power, but
you normally be shot on the social media. And so
I've actually gone through and I've had a look at
some of the social media comments because I thought, oh god,
cause people are going to come after you for doing
something this extreme.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I was pretty sure I'd get slaughtered.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, And of course there is always the usual trolls,
but discounting those. One of the things, or one of
the questions that keeps coming up is the cost. Yeah,
I mean, how much does something like this actually puts
you back?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And a lot of people are saying comments like, oh,
that's okay if you can afford it, and kind of
things like that, And I understand that, like the economy
is super tough, and some people are struggling to pay
you know, rent and water and all those sorts of things,
let alone walk out court in for surgery like this.
For me, it was five and a half thousand bucks.
So on that day I paid four and a half thousand, Like,
I just paid whatever that cost was. And then I
(08:10):
think there was like maybe it was like five hundre
bucks for the anethetist and whatever. So in tit it
was five and a half grand. But we do have
private health cover. So if you have private health cover,
and I look at that as an investment in my life,
So five and a half grand was a lot of
money for us. But then it was like, well, you
know what, if you're going to live longer, it's definitely
a plus. So some of the other things for people
that don't have private health cover is that you'd have
(08:32):
to go and talk to a health fund. Because I'm
no expert, but I've had a bit of a Google
and I've done some research on it, and it seems
that you can go and sign up for private health
cover and you have to have it for twelve months,
and then after twelve months then you can get the
surgery covered because without it, the surgery costs something like
twenty to twenty five thousand bucks. So no one's going
to have twenty twenty five thousand bucks. You just pay outright.
(08:53):
Although the guy that I know that had it done,
he did that. He just took a loan out and
got it done. Yeah, he's super happy that he did.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
The other one is you can actually and I read
this out, because you can actually go and redraw like
your super so you can use the money in your
superannuation with something like that.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know that until I did it,
so I read you what it says here. It says.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
The Australian government allows early access to you or a
family member's superannuation to cover the cost involved in a
barioatric surgery, which is like gastric's sleeve like what I had.
So you can just apply to get that.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
So I guess the government thinks, well, if somebody does
need this and does do it, they're going to therefore
put less strain on the hospital and medical system moving
forward because they won't be going through you know, diabetes
and stroke and all of everything else. Yeah, or at
least it's going to get them off to a better
start totally.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And I mean, sure, you're in hospital for three days,
but the chance of you're going back to hospital compared
to however, what you were.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Is so much less.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Mate.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I'm just I'm really, really cognizant. I'm just really aware. Again,
you're so positive about this. It does sound like an
ad and what's the negative? Come on, there's ought to
be something.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
You know, you miss all you For me?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Probably the only thing I miss is like I used
to when I drink, I would normally drink beer and
I would have a I'd have half a cantner beer
with my mates. Now that's not a good thing, but
i'd sit down at a day at the races, I'd
drink ten or twelve beers or whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Not like that.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Now I just physically can't do that anymore, and I
don't think I ever will be able to. So now
I drink like gin and vodka and whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
So drinks that.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Fit with your mates, though, how does that fit? You know?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Because you're a blokey bloke and you're out in the country,
you're a farmer.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
You know, not a lot of you know, juniper berries.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I know we're out at the farm. We finished Wayne
cattle the other day and I got the scot and
I had some vodka fruit tingles and the boys are like, wow,
you've changed a lot, man, and they're in this colorful
like can But yeah, I've got used to that very quickly.
So that side of it's been really good. So but
I guess that's the biggest thing I've missed. But as
for negatives, like they're at this stage, there are no
(10:56):
Now who knows, like in a year's time, I might
be you know, I might put I don't know. I'm
just calling as I see it. And you know, I
know that lots of people are really interested or have
had it done. I bumped into a mum and dad
at a pub, a mum and daughter at a pub
the other day, and they came up and said, we
just want to say thanks so much for being so
open about your surgery. The mum had it done and
she she lost sixty other kilos and then the daughter said,
(11:17):
and I've had it done as well once it was
so good.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
For so you're finding that because you've been honest, people
are saying, yeah, I've already done it, I've already done it,
I'm doing it, I want to do it whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, and lots of people saying I've had it done
and I've never told anyone, and now I'm so glad
that you've kind of paved the way to make it a
bit a bit more normal. But also lots of people
that I think were like me, that had been thinking
about it for a long time, that have been sitting
on the edge, are now listening to my story and
whatever and making the decision whether it fits right for
(11:45):
them or not.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
What about the fact, because we've spoken so much about
how you're an emotional eater, but that's it for you,
and whether or not you know it is the fact
that you associate food and treats with really good times,
which is how a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Of us grew up. A Friday night away.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
It used to look.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Forward to it. You finish your work, you'd finish school.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
We have Easter eggs, Christmas, we eat and drink.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So what about if you don't do work on that
psychological part of it, do you think that you could
get to a stage where you can put the weight
back on, Like, is that still a possibility? That's fine,
You've dealt with the physical and you stop the physical
ability at the moment to be able to eat the
quantities that you were. But do you think that you
(12:26):
need to do any work on the psychological stuff behind it?
And why to really make sure?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Now that's the key. If you could fix your brain
like to not crave the addiction to the sugars and
the food and to consume so much, then you won't
be fat.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I came out of Biggest Loser, and I was sure
that after four and a half months I'd rewired my
brain to not go to the bad habits. But I
went back. You know, I've lost fifty two kilos. I
put it all back on. Now with this procedure, I've
had that taken away. I can think what I like,
but my body just can't consume the calories that it
used to. Now you can always speak system. If I
was to live on a diet of chocolate and that,
(13:03):
you know, you could absolutely put the weight back on
right Okay, but it'd be a struggle. But there are
you know, people that have had this done that melt
things down to try to consume more or to you know,
But I don't have any feelings like that.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That make me want to do anything like that.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
So yeah, and you know, back on the costs as well.
I worked it out like so, say this cost me
five and a half gram, like I've had it done
four months, five months.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Ago, whatever, How much money have you saved on food?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I have saved there.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
It is shitloads, like shitloads, And I reckon I would
have been spending conservatively twenty bucks a day just stopping
offer you know, you know, fast food joints or you know,
I'd go and get petrol. Anytime I got petrol, I
would always get junk food, and I would be spending chips, chocolate, coke,
drinks whatever, ice creams, whatever, And that has all gone.
(13:52):
And also I'm eating far less, so I can tell
you now that i'd be saving one hundred and twenty
thirty to forty bucks a week because I'm eating and
drinking less food. I'm not going to the pub and
having twelve beers at whatever that you know, ten bucks each.
So I reckon, although it's expensive, I reckon I'll recoup
my five and a half grand within twelve months. I'm
very confident that I will, through the savings, get that
(14:14):
money back. So that is another thing to bear in
mind when you are talking or looking at the cost
is that you do actually save a lot of cash.
And I've gone from like a forty two size in
the genes down to thirty two, so I've lost like
ten sizes there.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
So then it's very expensive because you've got to buy money.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
My clothes, all my clothes are so big, and and
I do I've literally, I literally have to buy more clothes.
So you're right, there's an expense there, but that's a
good one because I used to hate trying on clothes
and putting on clothes. Now it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
So because then I guess, and again we'll reiterate this,
You've got to make your own decision. This is not
anybody saying, go and do it. This is the best thing.
It's you know, because this is a major surgery. So yeah,
all the potential complications that could come with it, but
right now, because if you were to look back overall,
(15:03):
what would you say to that person who maybe looked
at this five years ago.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, I wish I'd done it five years ago. I
wish I'd done it ten years ago. Like yeah, And
that's what my surgeon said. He said that the feedback
they get all the time is exactly that is that
I wish I'd done this sooner, And I think I
might have told you last time that, like I just now,
I just can't stop touching myself. Like it's like it's incredible,
like the fact that you've got bones in your shoulders again,
(15:28):
and you know, you can feel your ribs and like
it's just like even around your knees and your legs,
like it's just like it's just an amazing feeling. And
you just lay in bed every morning when you wake
up and you just like can't stop touching yourself, which
sounds bad.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
But are you little girls hugging you more?
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, like they're super proud. And that was the
other thing. You know, you don't want to be the
fat dad at school, Like.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
How did you sit down and explain it to them?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Well, Sam didn't tell them until I was out of
the surgery, so we kind of we just dumbed it
down because we didn't want them to think I was
having some major surgery. And then after I had it done,
like she just told him, Hey, dad's, you know, had
this surgery done and he's had somebody's stomach cut out
to and they were like they didn't even really care.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Straight back to TikTok.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Right, Yeah, yeah, it's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
They're like, I hope you gets on well, but yeah,
it's it has been a wonderful journey so far, and
I guess let's just hope it, hope it continues. And
like you said, you know, the sole reason that I'm
doing this is to hopefully, you know, I guess, normalize
it a little bit and educate people that might think
this is something that's like.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Oh, why would you do that. It's just an option
that's out there and.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yeah, all right again not an ad, but you know,
and that's why people have to go and do their
own research. So to start all this, if anybody wants
to find out, they should be going what to their
GP first.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And foremost, Yeah, thirty GP, have a chat and then
and then go from there. But you know, for me,
I just hope it continues like this because it has
one hundred percent made me. I don't remember being this happy.
I'm lighter than I was at my wedding thirteen years ago.
And yeah, it's just a it's just a magnificent thing.
So yeah, and a lot of people also asking where
I had it done, and again I'm not tied to
(17:04):
him in any way. I had it done at Ashford
Hospital in Adelaide in South Australia. The staff, the nurses
were absolutely brilliant and.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Yeah, that's where I had to have my baby.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
We had a babies there too, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Lost way a very different way than.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And my wife had a cesarian, two cesarians there, so
she too was cut open, had something taken out of
her chest cavity or a bit lower babies. And Michael
France was my surgeon as well there and again him
and his team just did a great job. They do
this all the time and for them it's just so normal,
like even when I was talking to the Ashford or
Michael Francis team, to them, it's just normal. But for
(17:39):
me or for someone that's about to do it, it
feels so scary. And but I tell you it was.
It was just an amazing experience.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Well mate, it's lovely to see you happy, lovely to
see your chin too, yes, even around.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
My face my eyes, like yeah, it's crazy. And you know,
like I've been saying, the happiest person in the world
that I had this procedures done is my horse and
now when I get on my horse to go for
a ride, it doesn't grow. It doesn't grow, it doesn't grow.
It's saving money at the chiropractice.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So it's great.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So so thanks so much Ali for chatting to me
about I appreciate it, and for anyone out there that
has battle of their weight or is battling their way,
I feel for you and.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
I would hang in there. You're clearly not alone.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's what this is. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Absolutely, I've been blown away by like hundreds and hundreds
of messages of people that have had it done or
considering getting it done, and I've been surprised. I thought
i'd get executed as far as online trials and stuff.
That hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would.
So that's been very pleasing as well.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Did you living when you go?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
It didn't get nearly nearly as much abuse as I thought.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, I was sure i'd get more hate, much hate.
It isn't it sad?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
But the funny thing is you are bugging either way.
I was trolled a lot, you know, because I'm sort
of in the media here in South Australia. You put
a post up and people would post saying, oh you're fat,
and like, you know, like you get that all the time,
Like that would you get that? You know, one in
fifteen hundred comments would be. But then you lose weight
and the same thing still happens. No, it gets surgery
and get your guy to pad. It's like, oh my god,
(19:06):
you're trolling me because I'm fat, You're trolling me because
I'm skinny.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You literally just can't win. And did you know what?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
It's always amazing then someone trolls you and you could
on their profile and they're there.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
With their cuds.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Oh that's the bit I can't understand.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I've got on there the other day. Oh no, someone
told me and it was laughable what this pit? But
it was really nasty, and so I did. I went
and found out who this person was, just like reverse
clicking on their Facebook.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Just go, my god, you're an old woman, you're a grandmother,
and you're having photos with babies on your knees and
you're spending time doing that. I know that's a whole
other podcast.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I know it is.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
It doesn't really finish on weight last, but I had
like a seventy two year old woman from the country
in South Australia, right if I was to ever return
to my hometown of Kadina, that she would grab me
and burn me on the stake. And I went and
her profile pick is this seventy two year old lady.
She looks so lovely and she's holding a duckling. I like,
and you're gonna bring me at the stake.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's just a crazy
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So thanks so much for listening, guys, we really do
appreciate it, and keep following us on South Was with
Cozzi or on Instagram or TikTok or here on the
podcast Take Care
Yet.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
My name's Couzy from South Australia. I've been an overweight
person my whole life. Fact hid at school, always battered.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
With my weight.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
So I went and had a gas stric sleeve basically
cut out near eighty percent of my guts and tossed
it out into the bin and it has worked beautifully
for me. So I've got Ali, one of my dear
friends for the last few decades, to have a bit
of a chat to me about it.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well you said you've always been a fat person. I
can say you absolutely haven't. Now you look ridiculously amazing.
But I guess to bring everybody up to speed, you've
gone and done this. And this wasn't some just fly
by the city of pants. This wasn't some overnight decision.
In fact, it took him what nearly five years to
come to this.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I've been thinking about it for a very long time
and I've basically done like all of the diets, all
of the fads. My weight's gone.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Went on the biggest loser. You did everything.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I know.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
When people sort of say, oh, you know, it's a
pretty extreme thing to do, well it is. But even
like on the Biggest Loser. I was gone for four
and a half months. I lost like fifty two kilos
on The Biggest Loser, and I swore I would never
put it back on, and then over time it gradually
creeps in insane addiction to food, which is something I
was just never able to beat.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
And I know that you say that The Biggest Loser
is extreme. Do you know the one thing that really
made me realize how hard it has been for you
is when you said that your gorgeous wife Sam actually
put a combination lock on the pantry. Yeah, that to
me was just geez, Yeah, that's That's something.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Every time I tell people that, they just cannot believe
it that there is a lock on our pantry when
we did house reratenize that. I to this day don't
know the code too. So when that pantry door was shut,
if I left my keys in there, for example, I
can't get them.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I can't wait until you when you sell it finally
saw your house to someone. You explained to the real
estate agent, and.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I've often wondered what is the code, Like, what did
she choose?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And she's never told me because she once she tells
me apparently to change the code. It costs like ten
and fifty bucks.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Wow. So it's a serious lot.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yes, it's a very serious line.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
Well we've digressed, but that's I guess as serious. You know,
this is how tap it was.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And I think the previous conversation that we've had is
and was talking about that food addiction. And if someone
says I'm a drug addict, people get what that means.
If someone says I'm an alcoholic, people understand what that means.
But when you're talking about food as an addiction, food
with emotional attachment and everything else, people quite often laugh
it off, don't they, and just go, well, hard en
(02:13):
not mate.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, And I can understand that if you're not battling it,
I can understand why someone will go, well, fats, they
don't eat the food, you know, like just have one Timtam,
not the packet. But for whatever reason, it is. And
I'm forty four years old and I have been able
to work it out, like I'm just wired to eat
the whole lot. Like if I open a pack of
the tymtams, then I will eat them till they're all gone.
(02:34):
Like whereas my wife she would just have two, and
the others can sit on the bench and.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
It doesn't bother her. If you open a bag of chips,
I eat the whole lot.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
I'm like you in that. I often think about because
we were never allowed to leave the table as we
were kids until we finished everything, and it was a
waste thing, you know, and it was a whole you
have to eat everything that's there. And I vividly remember that.
I wonder if that sort of programming early might have something.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
To do with it. It's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And then you look at it now and I guess
basically by having the surgery done, had that taken away
from me, Like now I can't eat the whole package
of tip cans. I eat too and on full, and
in fact, the desire to eat those things is completely gone,
which is, or at least I can say ninety percent
gone anyway, So.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
All right, well let's bring everyone up to date. So
you had the surgery walk back in November.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah, so what's that like four months ago, and you've
lost how much? Thirty seven kilos?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah? And I'm so lucky, you know.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
You know, I stayed in a hotel on the weekend
and I walked out of the shower and I dried myself,
and because I was staying there by myself, I just
walked into the room to get my clothes and they
had like a massive mirror, like a full, full length mirror,
and I think it's the first time I've seen myself,
like and I just stopped and I went, oh, my god.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
I've got knees.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, it's like it's going crazy. And I looked at
myself and it's incredible that like everything's retracted, like as
some people worried about, like loose skin and that, and
it's like, I don't have anything. They do four keyhole
surgeries in your guts and like you can't even really
see the scars anymore. Like it's all it's just pretty amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Has it changed the way you move? Has it changed
the way you think about yourself? Have you noticed it
easier on your body? Oh?
Speaker 1 (04:09):
A million percent? A million percent.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And also, you know, I'm not flying the flag for
everyone to go and get their guts cut out, but yeah,
I'm just telling people, you know, this is what I did,
and this is the results. Even like last night, it
was super windy last night and I could hear something
banging in the backyard. Now normally when I was overweight,
I wouldn't have got out of bed. I just couldn't
have been bothered. Whereas you know, last night I was
happy to kind of jump out of bed. I went
outside and stuffed around like it's just the I don't know,
(04:34):
I'll get up and move a lot more now and
I have a lot more energy.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Well you imagine trying to pick up a thirty seven
kilo weight, Yeah, yeah, and then you realize that that
is what you've lost. Now, let's reiterate, this is not
about an ad for doing this. This is not telling
people you need to find the best thing for you.
But I think we've worked out pretty much. The reason
that you're so open about it is because you didn't
want people to think that you'd done this straight off
(04:57):
diet or exercising yourself to the bone, and you want
you're really honest about it.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So many people get this surgery done and never say anything.
And I know people in my life that have had
it done and are never going to say anything, and
I feel sad for them. And I think in the media, especially,
you don't have to look too far in the media.
If someone's lost a job, normous amount of weight really
quickly then chances are I've probably had this done, but
they might just never say anything, and that's their choice,
of course. But I just want to come out and say, look,
(05:22):
you know, I just want to be honest. This is
what I did, and I'm certainly not proud. I got
to this point in my life where I had to
go and walk into an operating theater and lay on
the table and get put to sleep to have it done.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Now, a couple of questions, I is it a myth,
because I'd always heard that when you have something like
this done, you still have to have some form of
self control and self regulation because otherwise tummy can stretch,
your stomach will stretch out again.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
Does it like wear off if you don't treat yourself?
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, were my surgeon reckons that for my height, and
you know that I'm quite broad and whatever. He reckons
that pre surgery, if I sat down and ate as
much as I could, I could fit about. I could
force about five to six dinner plates of food into
my stomach before I could physically not put anymore in.
He said, even in sort of five years, when your
stomach settles out, I'll only ever be able to put
(06:12):
one in right, Okay, yeah, so it's kind of the
thought of it stretching back to how big it is.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It just can't because it's not there.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And that's what stopped me doing the surgery for so long,
because when I first was told that they actually cut
seventy five eighty percent your stomach out.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, man, like staple it up and then it's not reversible.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
You can't get it back. So that scared me a lot.
So that's what made me wait a long time before
I said, okay, buggat, let's do it. And there was
just that one line, which I've said to you before,
that when the surgeon said to me, mate, I'm not
trying to sell your surgery. I don't care whether you
do it or not. We're really busy and I want
you to know that I'm not trying to convince you
to do it. But he said, I've looked at your
blood tests. I've looked at your blood pressure, your weight
(06:52):
loss history and all that stuff, and your age and everything,
and he said, I can guarantee you that if you
have this surgery done, you will live longer than if
you continue it. The way you are and the way
you're going. And I could one hundred scent feel that
I knew. I was very confident that something bad would
happen to me, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, whatever. I knew
it was coming my way. I could just feel it
in my body. And now all those feelings are gone,
(07:13):
Like I've stopped snoring, I don't need to sleep at
in your machine. Heaps better dad, father, friend, more physically active.
It's been a massive change.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So when we talk about all of this, you know,
whenever you put your head up across the power, but
you normally be shot on the social media. And so
I've actually gone through and I've had a look at
some of the social media comments because I thought, oh god,
cause people are going to come after you for doing
something this extreme.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I was pretty sure I'd get slaughtered.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Yeah, And of course there is always the usual trolls,
but discounting those. One of the things, or one of
the questions that keeps coming up is the cost. Yeah,
I mean, how much does something like this actually puts
you back?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
And a lot of people are saying comments like, oh,
that's okay if you can afford it, and kind of
things like that, And I understand that, like the economy
is super tough, and some people are struggling to pay
you know, rent and water and all those sorts of things,
let alone walk out court in for surgery like this.
For me, it was five and a half thousand bucks.
So on that day I paid four and a half thousand, Like,
I just paid whatever that cost was. And then I
(08:10):
think there was like maybe it was like five hundre
bucks for the anethetist and whatever. So in tit it
was five and a half grand. But we do have
private health cover. So if you have private health cover,
and I look at that as an investment in my life,
So five and a half grand was a lot of
money for us. But then it was like, well, you
know what, if you're going to live longer, it's definitely
a plus. So some of the other things for people
that don't have private health cover is that you'd have
(08:32):
to go and talk to a health fund. Because I'm
no expert, but I've had a bit of a Google
and I've done some research on it, and it seems
that you can go and sign up for private health
cover and you have to have it for twelve months,
and then after twelve months then you can get the
surgery covered because without it, the surgery costs something like
twenty to twenty five thousand bucks. So no one's going
to have twenty twenty five thousand bucks. You just pay outright.
(08:53):
Although the guy that I know that had it done,
he did that. He just took a loan out and
got it done. Yeah, he's super happy that he did.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
The other one is you can actually and I read
this out, because you can actually go and redraw like
your super so you can use the money in your
superannuation with something like that.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know that until I did it,
so I read you what it says here. It says.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
The Australian government allows early access to you or a
family member's superannuation to cover the cost involved in a
barioatric surgery, which is like gastric's sleeve like what I had.
So you can just apply to get that.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
So I guess the government thinks, well, if somebody does
need this and does do it, they're going to therefore
put less strain on the hospital and medical system moving
forward because they won't be going through you know, diabetes
and stroke and all of everything else. Yeah, or at
least it's going to get them off to a better
start totally.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
And I mean, sure, you're in hospital for three days,
but the chance of you're going back to hospital compared
to however, what you were.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Is so much less.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
Mate.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
I'm just I'm really, really cognizant. I'm just really aware. Again,
you're so positive about this. It does sound like an
ad and what's the negative? Come on, there's ought to
be something.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
You know, you miss all you For me?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Probably the only thing I miss is like I used
to when I drink, I would normally drink beer and
I would have a I'd have half a cantner beer
with my mates. Now that's not a good thing, but
i'd sit down at a day at the races, I'd
drink ten or twelve beers or whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Not like that.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Now I just physically can't do that anymore, and I
don't think I ever will be able to. So now
I drink like gin and vodka and whatever.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
So drinks that.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
Fit with your mates, though, how does that fit? You know?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Because you're a blokey bloke and you're out in the country,
you're a farmer.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
You know, not a lot of you know, juniper berries.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
I know we're out at the farm. We finished Wayne
cattle the other day and I got the scot and
I had some vodka fruit tingles and the boys are like, wow,
you've changed a lot, man, and they're in this colorful
like can But yeah, I've got used to that very quickly.
So that side of it's been really good. So but
I guess that's the biggest thing I've missed. But as
for negatives, like they're at this stage, there are no
(10:56):
Now who knows, like in a year's time, I might
be you know, I might put I don't know. I'm
just calling as I see it. And you know, I
know that lots of people are really interested or have
had it done. I bumped into a mum and dad
at a pub, a mum and daughter at a pub
the other day, and they came up and said, we
just want to say thanks so much for being so
open about your surgery. The mum had it done and
she she lost sixty other kilos and then the daughter said,
(11:17):
and I've had it done as well once it was
so good.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
For so you're finding that because you've been honest, people
are saying, yeah, I've already done it, I've already done it,
I'm doing it, I want to do it whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, and lots of people saying I've had it done
and I've never told anyone, and now I'm so glad
that you've kind of paved the way to make it a
bit a bit more normal. But also lots of people
that I think were like me, that had been thinking
about it for a long time, that have been sitting
on the edge, are now listening to my story and
whatever and making the decision whether it fits right for
(11:45):
them or not.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
What about the fact, because we've spoken so much about
how you're an emotional eater, but that's it for you,
and whether or not you know it is the fact
that you associate food and treats with really good times,
which is how a lot.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Of us grew up. A Friday night away.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
It used to look.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
Forward to it. You finish your work, you'd finish school.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
We have Easter eggs, Christmas, we eat and drink.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So what about if you don't do work on that
psychological part of it, do you think that you could
get to a stage where you can put the weight
back on, Like, is that still a possibility? That's fine,
You've dealt with the physical and you stop the physical
ability at the moment to be able to eat the
quantities that you were. But do you think that you
(12:26):
need to do any work on the psychological stuff behind it?
And why to really make sure?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Now that's the key. If you could fix your brain
like to not crave the addiction to the sugars and
the food and to consume so much, then you won't
be fat.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Now.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I came out of Biggest Loser, and I was sure
that after four and a half months I'd rewired my
brain to not go to the bad habits. But I
went back. You know, I've lost fifty two kilos. I
put it all back on. Now with this procedure, I've
had that taken away. I can think what I like,
but my body just can't consume the calories that it
used to. Now you can always speak system. If I
was to live on a diet of chocolate and that,
(13:03):
you know, you could absolutely put the weight back on
right Okay, but it'd be a struggle. But there are
you know, people that have had this done that melt
things down to try to consume more or to you know,
But I don't have any feelings like that.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
That make me want to do anything like that.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
So yeah, and you know, back on the costs as well.
I worked it out like so, say this cost me
five and a half gram, like I've had it done
four months, five months.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
Ago, whatever, How much money have you saved on food?
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I have saved there.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
It is shitloads, like shitloads, And I reckon I would
have been spending conservatively twenty bucks a day just stopping
offer you know, you know, fast food joints or you know,
I'd go and get petrol. Anytime I got petrol, I
would always get junk food, and I would be spending chips, chocolate, coke,
drinks whatever, ice creams, whatever, And that has all gone.
(13:52):
And also I'm eating far less, so I can tell
you now that i'd be saving one hundred and twenty
thirty to forty bucks a week because I'm eating and
drinking less food. I'm not going to the pub and
having twelve beers at whatever that you know, ten bucks each.
So I reckon, although it's expensive, I reckon I'll recoup
my five and a half grand within twelve months. I'm
very confident that I will, through the savings, get that
(14:14):
money back. So that is another thing to bear in
mind when you are talking or looking at the cost
is that you do actually save a lot of cash.
And I've gone from like a forty two size in
the genes down to thirty two, so I've lost like
ten sizes there.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
So then it's very expensive because you've got to buy money.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
My clothes, all my clothes are so big, and and
I do I've literally, I literally have to buy more clothes.
So you're right, there's an expense there, but that's a
good one because I used to hate trying on clothes
and putting on clothes. Now it's kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
So because then I guess, and again we'll reiterate this,
You've got to make your own decision. This is not
anybody saying, go and do it. This is the best thing.
It's you know, because this is a major surgery. So yeah,
all the potential complications that could come with it, but
right now, because if you were to look back overall,
(15:03):
what would you say to that person who maybe looked
at this five years ago.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, I wish I'd done it five years ago. I
wish I'd done it ten years ago. Like yeah, And
that's what my surgeon said. He said that the feedback
they get all the time is exactly that is that
I wish I'd done this sooner, And I think I
might have told you last time that, like I just now,
I just can't stop touching myself. Like it's like it's incredible,
like the fact that you've got bones in your shoulders again,
(15:28):
and you know, you can feel your ribs and like
it's just like even around your knees and your legs,
like it's just like it's just an amazing feeling. And
you just lay in bed every morning when you wake
up and you just like can't stop touching yourself, which
sounds bad.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
But are you little girls hugging you more?
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Yeah, yeah, like they're super proud. And that was the
other thing. You know, you don't want to be the
fat dad at school, Like.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
How did you sit down and explain it to them?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Well, Sam didn't tell them until I was out of
the surgery, so we kind of we just dumbed it
down because we didn't want them to think I was
having some major surgery. And then after I had it done,
like she just told him, Hey, dad's, you know, had
this surgery done and he's had somebody's stomach cut out
to and they were like they didn't even really care.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
Straight back to TikTok.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Right, Yeah, yeah, it's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
They're like, I hope you gets on well, but yeah,
it's it has been a wonderful journey so far, and
I guess let's just hope it, hope it continues. And
like you said, you know, the sole reason that I'm
doing this is to hopefully, you know, I guess, normalize
it a little bit and educate people that might think
this is something that's like.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
Oh, why would you do that. It's just an option
that's out there and.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Yeah, all right again not an ad, but you know,
and that's why people have to go and do their
own research. So to start all this, if anybody wants
to find out, they should be going what to their
GP first.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And foremost, Yeah, thirty GP, have a chat and then
and then go from there. But you know, for me,
I just hope it continues like this because it has
one hundred percent made me. I don't remember being this happy.
I'm lighter than I was at my wedding thirteen years ago.
And yeah, it's just a it's just a magnificent thing.
So yeah, and a lot of people also asking where
I had it done, and again I'm not tied to
(17:04):
him in any way. I had it done at Ashford
Hospital in Adelaide in South Australia. The staff, the nurses
were absolutely brilliant and.
Speaker 4 (17:11):
Yeah, that's where I had to have my baby.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
We had a babies there too, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Lost way a very different way than.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
And my wife had a cesarian, two cesarians there, so
she too was cut open, had something taken out of
her chest cavity or a bit lower babies. And Michael
France was my surgeon as well there and again him
and his team just did a great job. They do
this all the time and for them it's just so normal,
like even when I was talking to the Ashford or
Michael Francis team, to them, it's just normal. But for
(17:39):
me or for someone that's about to do it, it
feels so scary. And but I tell you it was.
It was just an amazing experience.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Well mate, it's lovely to see you happy, lovely to
see your chin too, yes, even around.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
My face my eyes, like yeah, it's crazy. And you know,
like I've been saying, the happiest person in the world
that I had this procedures done is my horse and
now when I get on my horse to go for
a ride, it doesn't grow. It doesn't grow, it doesn't grow.
It's saving money at the chiropractice.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So it's great.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So so thanks so much Ali for chatting to me
about I appreciate it, and for anyone out there that
has battle of their weight or is battling their way,
I feel for you and.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
I would hang in there. You're clearly not alone.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's what this is. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Absolutely, I've been blown away by like hundreds and hundreds
of messages of people that have had it done or
considering getting it done, and I've been surprised. I thought
i'd get executed as far as online trials and stuff.
That hasn't been nearly as bad as I thought it would.
So that's been very pleasing as well.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
Did you living when you go?
Speaker 4 (18:39):
It didn't get nearly nearly as much abuse as I thought.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, I was sure i'd get more hate, much hate.
It isn't it sad?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
But the funny thing is you are bugging either way.
I was trolled a lot, you know, because I'm sort
of in the media here in South Australia. You put
a post up and people would post saying, oh you're fat,
and like, you know, like you get that all the time,
Like that would you get that? You know, one in
fifteen hundred comments would be. But then you lose weight
and the same thing still happens. No, it gets surgery
and get your guy to pad. It's like, oh my god,
(19:06):
you're trolling me because I'm fat, You're trolling me because
I'm skinny.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
You literally just can't win. And did you know what?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
It's always amazing then someone trolls you and you could
on their profile and they're there.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
With their cuds.
Speaker 4 (19:16):
Oh that's the bit I can't understand.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
I've got on there the other day. Oh no, someone
told me and it was laughable what this pit? But
it was really nasty, and so I did. I went
and found out who this person was, just like reverse
clicking on their Facebook.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Just go, my god, you're an old woman, you're a grandmother,
and you're having photos with babies on your knees and
you're spending time doing that. I know that's a whole
other podcast.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I know it is.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
It doesn't really finish on weight last, but I had
like a seventy two year old woman from the country
in South Australia, right if I was to ever return
to my hometown of Kadina, that she would grab me
and burn me on the stake. And I went and
her profile pick is this seventy two year old lady.
She looks so lovely and she's holding a duckling. I like,
and you're gonna bring me at the stake.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
It's just a crazy
Speaker 2 (20:03):
So thanks so much for listening, guys, we really do
appreciate it, and keep following us on South Was with
Cozzi or on Instagram or TikTok or here on the
podcast Take Care
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