Remi Bader Breaks Silence on Weight Loss as She Reveals She Had Bariatric Surgery

Remi Bader is ready to share her health story.

The 30-year-old influencer who rose to fame as an advocate for body inclusivity in 2021 recently opened up to Self about her weight loss journey, revealing the medical procedure she underwent.

In the fall of 2023, Bader chose to have gastric bypass surgery (SADI-S), a decision she made for herself after entering a cycle that included binge eating, weight-loss drugs and debilitating gastrointestinal issues, among other weight loss methods.

According to the Mayo Clinic, 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.”

The decision to have the surgery, however, wasn’t easy for Bader, who built a platform on social media embracing her body as a plus-size influencer.

“I loved being curvy my whole life; I just did. It was who I was… I will always believe that you could be a bigger size and be healthy and happy,” she told the outlet. “I was for a while, that wasn’t a lie. But there was a point when it shifted, and I became really unhappy.”

While she wanted to lose the weight, Bader also wanted to feel better, both physically and emotionally, and after confiding in her doctor, she underwent the surgery on Dec. 11, 2023. The recovery process, though, wasn’t what she had expected.

“I need to say that it was the most brutal thing,” Bader told Self. “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,” she says. “I actually can’t explain how horrible it was,” she continued, noting she was eventually discharged from the hospital after three days.

Meanwhile, the negative effects that came with recovery lasted six weeks. Dr. Ren-Fielding told the outlet that the recovery time for SADI-S is typically one to two nights in the hospital and two to three weeks total.

In the months that followed the surgery, Bader told the outlet that she was “not f—— okay” from December to mid-February. She told her massive following on social media that she was going through a hard time, but it was actually much worse.

“I’d gotten into a very, very deep depression, and it was truly the scariest time of my life,” she said. “I couldn’t tell people. I really — I wanted to die.”

The fashion influencer felt like she could get out of bed after two months of intensive recovery. It was a gradual process, she shared with the outlet, revealing that “it happened very subtly” and she “never went off of the anxiety or depression medicine” because it made her feel “so much better.”