Davin has lost a lot of weight twice. The first time, it came back.

“I lost around 70 pounds when I was in my 20s just through calorie counting. And over time I slowly gained that weight back.”

The goal then was clothes that fit off the rack. They plateaued around 230 pounds, lost interest, stopped tracking, and eventually reached a highest weight of about 320. The second attempt is three years old this month — and the number Davin talks about least is the one on the scale.

A Tool, Not a Miracle

The turning point was finding out a previous employer's insurance covered bariatric surgery. Davin chose a laparoscopic gastric bypass, and is precise about what it is.

“They tell you this — it's a tool to help you get to a goal. You can still overeat after you get past that initial weight loss phase.”

Before the operation they went looking for a way to track what was coming that didn't involve a tape measure. The suit arrived just in time, and the first scan was taken at around 300 pounds, days before surgery.

Learning to Eat, Then Learning to Train

Recovery was straightforward — a Thursday surgery, back at a work-from-home desk on Monday. Food was the hard part: pureed, then soft, then solid, and then working out which solids actually agreed with them.

“The adjustment to learning how to eat again was probably the more taxing part of the whole thing.”

After roughly six weeks they were cleared to train, and built the plan around holding onto muscle rather than losing weight faster: a push, pull and legs split, protein first, and 10,000 to 20,000 steps walked in laps around the office building.

“I wanted to lift weights to make sure that I maintain muscle mass, because that's important through this process as well.”

The Year, and the Year After

Davin's medical team gave a range rather than a promise — 60 to 80% of excess body weight over the first year, with the caveat that it varies from person to person. Davin describes losing about 80 pounds in that first year.

They had taken a low-dose GLP-1 before surgery for pre-diabetes and stopped it around the operation. At the one-year mark their nurse practitioner raised it again, and they describe losing about 40 pounds more after that.

The Part No One Warns You About

Ask Davin what was hardest and the answer isn't food or training. The first attempt was a physical problem. The second one was a social one.

“I've had people who I've known for years not recognise me based on the weight loss — reintroducing themselves to me like we're meeting for the first time.”

The first time round they did it alone. The second time there was a support group run by the surgical practice, one Saturday a month, where people talked through weight regain and how to get back on track.

Seeing Progress Beyond the Scale

“I was a multiple time a day scale user. Obsessive with the scale. It's not great for you mentally, because you're not seeing changes that often.”

The scans gave them a second reading that moved when the first one didn't.

“I may not have lost weight, because you may not lose weight week to week — but you will still lose inches.”

What Comes Next

The goal now is muscle, with a practical reason behind it.

“It is a goal of my doctor to eventually wean me off of the GLP-1, or at least get me down to the lowest dose possible.”

Their Advice

Don't let anyone else pick your route

“Don't let others dictate how you decide to lose weight and get healthy. There's a certain level of stigma for some behind going the surgery route, or even behind using GLP-1s. Mentally block out those people and do what you think is best for you.”

A rebound is not a failure

“Don't be afraid of failure, because there is a rebound that you can go through as far as weight gain. But that's just a natural part of being a human, the ups and downs of weight loss.”

Use everything your care team offers

“Reach out to a nutritionist, especially if your surgeon or your practice offers that. Insurance often covers nutritionists.”

Items They Actually Swear By

The tools Davin named themselves, plus a couple our team rates alongside them.

• Walking shoes that can take 20,000 steps — laps around the office building, and a walking track once they were back on site

• Adjustable dumbbells — the push, pull and legs split was the point, not the equipment

• A smart scale that logs to an app — Davin is candid that they used theirs several times a day and that it wasn't good for them mentally. Useful for the trend line; less useful as a daily verdict

• A nutritionist — their own advice, and the one item here with nothing to buy: “insurance often covers nutritionists”