Visit with Amanda Bradford

Dr. Schniederjan (00:00):
Welcome to our podcast. I have a special guest today Amanda Bradford.

Amanda (00:06):
Hi.

Dr. Schniederjan (00:07):
And Dr. Schniederjan. And what we’re gonna do is just visit Amanda. Okay. and what I want to do is kind of talk about the journey that you’ve been on the past two years.

Amanda (00:18):
Okay.

Dr. Schniederjan (00:20):
So before we do that, I just wanna tell you, or tell me where you’re from, kind of your story.

Amanda (00:25):
I was born in Tyler, Texas. Was raised here most of my life. Became a paramedic, worked on the ambulance and stuff, and moved back to Amarillo. I worked in Houston, then I moved back to Amarillo. I have fought the weight loss battle all my life. I have been nearly, at least 70 to 80 pounds overweight all my life. I could do the Weight Watchers, I could do all kinds of diets and get it off, but it would come back.

Dr. Schniederjan (01:00):
Yeah and that isn’t that frustrating?

Amanda (01:02):
Mm-Hmm. . I, so,

Dr. Schniederjan (01:04):
So when, when you, like, when in your life you say, you know, a long time, when did you recognize, wow, this is, this is, I am fighting this and this is an issue. Was it in high school? Was it in after that, or, or was that,

Amanda (01:22):
I guess the major eyeopener was the day I went to the hospital and my blood sugar was 400. And my dad was a diabetic. He was on insulin. He died from a stroke, diabetes, heart problems. And I just was like, I’m 40 something years old. I’ve got to do something. Yeah. I’ve got to do something. And I had just met my husband. We were dating at that time, and I got married and I kept telling him, you know, we really need to get serious. So we started Herbalife and we were gonna, we were gonna get serious with the shakes and stuff. And like I said, I could lose it. I, I really could lose it, but I never could keep it off. Yeah. And when I went to the hospital with the sugar of over 400, I was like we gotta do something that

Dr. Schniederjan (02:19):
And that was a deal breaker

Amanda (02:20):
And I went on another pill, you know, I, I was on heart pills, I was on blood pressure pills, I was on, you know, all kinds of pills. And then they added another one, and I was like, mm-hmm. . So my husband said, let’s go, let’s go see what he says. Yeah. And we did, we came to visit y’all, and this is where it started.

Dr. Schniederjan (02:41):
So we, we were talking about this, we had August, or we had surgery August of 2020.

Amanda (02:48):
Yeah. We had started the year before in Jan, January. I had come to see you and we were moving right along. And then Covid hit and I was like, oh. And with the insurance was, you know, I had to stay at a certain rate. So it was, it was really hard because I had to do tele visits. I couldn’t do in-office visits, so I wasn’t held accountable as much with the in-office. I knew I couldn’t go over 286. My highest that year was 313. You know, I had gotten up to 313 and I was like, no. When I went to surgery, I, I can’t remember exa I was, I know I started at 286, but I can’t remember what I was on surgery. Wait,

Dr. Schniederjan (03:36):
And where are you today?

Amanda (03:38):
I am at 180.

Dr. Schniederjan (03:39):
That’s fantastic, Amanda.

Amanda (03:43):
So I am on my heart pill, my seizure pill, and an aspirin and the rest of its vitamins.

Dr. Schniederjan (03:53):
So tell me about your diabetes. How did your, how did that change?

Amanda (03:57):
I’m no longer considered diabetic

Dr. Schniederjan (03:59):
Which is, that’s, I tell you that to me when I sit down with patients that have diabetes and they, they’re either recently diagnosed or they fought it all their life. When we’re able to do something like you had, which you did the doodle switch for that reason, and it can cause your diabetes to go in remission, to me that is one of the most satisfying things to see. Mm-Hmm. . So let’s talk about where you are today and what I, what I want to compare and contrast is looking at your lifestyle, you know, before surgery and, and now, and kind of tell me, because I want you to pass on to everyone listening kind of your secret to success or what, what’s changed in your life now that, that, so let’s just talk through that. So kind of tell me what, what did, what do you, how’s your life different now versus before surgery and what would you pass on to other patients for success?

Amanda (05:09):
Be yourself is the first thing. And work and do what you know will work for you. I do two shakes and a meal. I do the snacks. I get my proteins in. I’m a big believer in Herbalife, so I love y’all’s products, don’t get me wrong. I love the snacks and stuff. I never could get a taste for the shakes. So everybody’s different, but everybody’s different. Don’t, don’t get discouraged. I went out of town this weekend. I didn’t eat great. I had a burger and yes, I had the bread. I still can’t drink Cokes. That’s, and

Dr. Schniederjan (05:59):
And that’s not a bad thing

Amanda (06:01):
That’s not a bad thing. And I, that’s, that’s what, and I won’t actually, I won’t go back to Cokes because I cannot handle the carbonation in my stomach. The first time I woke up after the surgery, I, I, you, you remember seeing me, I was so out of it, I, anesthesia really kind of messed me up. And

Dr. Schniederjan (06:26):
You have a hard time with anesthesia.

Amanda (06:28):
I didn’t know that. Yeah. I’ve never really, I’ve never had anything done major. And so when I woke up and you were going to send me home, and my husband and I are both looking at each other going, and all I could think of is, what did I get myself into? What have I done? Yeah. And, you know, I thought, I went back and started thinking of everything that everybody has told me that, you know, you’re not gonna be able to do this. You’re not gonna be able to do this. You’re not gonna be able to do, you know, eat your vegetables anymore. You’re not gonna be able to enjoy your food anymore. And

Dr. Schniederjan (07:05):
Where do you hear that from? Just curiosity is on chat boards and things like that.

Amanda (07:08):
No, people that had suppo that had had the surgery, you know, you’re gonna have these problems and stuff like that. You are gonna have problems, you are gonna have issues, but there’s a way to fix the issues. And you just have to learn how to, how to work with your body.

Dr. Schniederjan (07:26):
And like, give me an example. So like, let me, let me say, you mentioned that, that moment

Amanda (07:32):
Vegetables

Dr. Schniederjan (07:32):
Of, that moment of regret when you woke up, I always tell all my patients, cuz I hear this, your first two weeks, it’s,

Amanda (07:40):
You’re miserable.

Dr. Schniederjan (07:41):
It’s an adjustment. You’re like, oh my goodness, what have I done?

Amanda (07:44):
You’re, you’re miserable. And it’s, it’s like, and, and you know, Bobby was, my husband was trying to be so supportive and he would come in there, what can I, well, food. I need food.

Dr. Schniederjan (07:57):
He want to eat, everybody wants to eat.

Amanda (07:58):
And it’s like, you’re sitting there going, you don’t have enough food, but you really don’t realize you do. And my main deal is, I, I couldn’t take the Zofran, I don’t know what the deal was with the Zofran through the IV because I was, I was out so I couldn’t drink, I couldn’t drink like they needed me to do in the hospital. Yeah. Once I finally drank and started getting up and walking and stuff, I felt better. Yeah. I could function and I just couldn’t go my 90 miles per hour that I was used to. The protein waters saved me the waters, anything to get your protein in, to get your waters in. That’s what I would say. A lady told me the other day that Gatorade now makes a protein drink.

Dr. Schniederjan (08:51):
I have not seen that

Amanda (08:52):
So I that the first two weeks was miserable. And then I got to, then I got

Dr. Schniederjan (09:01):
What And what would you say? Just, just staying hydrated.

Amanda (09:04):
Hydrated and trying to get proteins in. And you get tired of eating liquid .

Dr. Schniederjan (09:11):
That the number one thing that I

Dr. Schniederjan (09:14):
Always get is people just want to chew something. They want to chew something mm-hmm. . And and that’s just something about us that we, you mm-hmm. , we, we take for granted every day. And you’re right, it drives everyone crazy cuz they wanna chew something.

Amanda (09:29):
And let’s see. So then the clear liquids was the worst, but when I was able to eat the soups and stuff and start eating the jello, that helped, that helped me a lot. I could kind of chew on it and I would be okay. Yeah.

Dr. Schniederjan (09:46):
What, so when you get to soft food, like eggs and things like that, you feel like that’s a turning point? Or when was it a turning point? You’re like, ah, I’m okay. I’m gonna be okay.

Amanda (09:57):
When I could eat something. Yeah. Just put something in my mouth that was normal, like a yogurt or even a shake. Cuz I was already used to the shakes, you know, and I could put my fruits and, you know, mix ’em up in there real good and stuff.

Amanda (10:13):
I know I probably did my fruits a little early, but I could put my fruits in there and, and I could feel like, oh wow, you know

Dr. Schniederjan (10:21):
It’s something more normal. Mm-Hmm. . So during those first two weeks, when your life’s hard and you’re like second guessing things, what would you tell patients be? What would you tell?

Amanda (10:33):
Just be patient. Be patient and just do what the diet says. It’s, if you do the diet before and after when you stumble during your trip of this journey, you can go back and start that diet over. And that’s what I’ve had to do a couple of times. I’ve getting off track and I’d say, okay, I’ve gotta reset and I’ll go back and do three or four days of clear liquids or three or four days of just liquids, you know, and kind of get going and get back to my normal, getting my proteins in, get my waters in.

Dr. Schniederjan (11:15):
And I, I’ll say even my personal life the weekends are the hardest for us. Mm-Hmm. , I’m a routine guy. I like Monday through Friday, I have the same routine. Routine. I exercise, I’m eating right. I’m cooking. But the weekends I tend to eat stuff that I probably shouldn’t because we’re, we’re doing kid events and things like that and,

Amanda (11:38):
And it’s fast.

Dr. Schniederjan (11:39):
And so unlike you, I, on Monday, I kind of have to reset things. And one thing about the diet that I don’t know if a patient, a lot of patients appreciate, we try to cut all the sugar out mm-hmm. , and that’s part of kind of helping reset things. Mm-Hmm. , it’s cutting all that sugar out of our diet that really helps us feel better actually. Mm-Hmm. .

Amanda (12:01):
And that’s one of the things I can recommend. When you start to crave something and you’re going to, and no matter what I still do, I still have cravings buy certain things in packages that come with like little drops of a piece of candy or if you crave a carb, something that’s, you know, not that big of a carb have it readily available because my, I still crave sugars and I’ll still eat candy, but I can eat a couple of pieces of candy compared to eating the whole bag or eating the whole candy bar because I’ve learned if I don’t still, now, if I don’t do that, if I try to go eat something good for me and stuff like that, 30 minutes later I’m still craving what I wanted. And it’s just easier to eat that small piece then two hours later feeling so full. You can’t, you can’t move, you can’t do anything. Yeah. I’d rather eat a small piece.

Dr. Schniederjan (13:18):
So not, don’t deprive yourself. Mm-Hmm. , no, I, I’ll that I think this is, this journey is all about us in life mm-hmm. and figuring this, this out for each one of us. I’m the same way. That, but I’ve Okay. I, I’ll enjoy that little piece. Like Reeses, I’ll use, I’m a sucker for Reeses peanut butter

Amanda (13:39):
Bobby is too

Dr. Schniederjan (13:40):
Okay. And, but I know this, I can’t keep ’em around the house because if I know that there’s a lot around the house, I’ll eat ’em. Mm-Hmm. . But if there’s one or two every now and then, then it’s Okay. And then I’ll tell you another thing. It’s a reminder to me when you’re eating healthy and you’re feeling good when you go eat something that, that is not as healthy for you, you, you’re reminded that, oh, that’s not as great as I thought it used to be. That’s just to me mm-hmm. . Okay. I, if I’m gonna go eat something that that’s a luxury, it better be really good. Does that make sense

Amanda (14:18):
Yeah. I did this weekend.

Dr. Schniederjan (14:20):
, what, what’d you, what’d you do? I know you did the, the burger. So let’s talk

Amanda (14:25):
Yeah, we we went to Lubbock for a golf tournament and I took my shakes and everything, so I was really good and took my almonds, took all my little snacks and stuff, and I did good. But when we went out to eat I didn’t choose the burger with no bread or carbs or stuff. I had the mushroom swiss burger. But instead of eating the whole thing like I normally would’ve, I ate probably half of it. And I did have we ordered onion rings, I ordered half a order of onion rings and I think I had two of it. Bobby ate the rest of them. So,

Dr. Schniederjan (15:07):
So in those, have you tried any burgers? That number one, then we just, I’m just because we’re visiting mm-hmm. , I, I always like to just share honest and because I have these struggles too. Have you done any burgers without a bun in what you think? Or have you done any that are like lettuce wrap type burgers?

Amanda (15:29):
We’ve done Herbalife has a plan that I have followed that has a lot of recipes and they had a skinny taco recipe and they had a burger that had the lettuce and stuff. And it’s okay, but

Dr. Schniederjan (15:44):
Sometimes you just need a bun.

Amanda (15:45):
Just, it’s, it’s sometimes you need a burger ,

Dr. Schniederjan (15:49):
As long as it’s a good one.

(15:52):
Now let me ask you about your protein shakes. So you’re doing Herbalife mm-hmm. that’s working for you. Is it because you enjoy the shakes or is it because it’s easy? Tell me kind of why you, why you do that.

Amanda (16:06):
I just, I wake up in the morning and I have to be at work at six o’clock. Certainly I wake Yep. I, I’m up at four. I go take my pills and I, I make my shake and within 30 minutes I’ve had breakfast. I can put anything I want to in those shakes and it’s 200 calories and 29 grams of protein.

Dr. Schniederjan (16:31):
Yeah. It’s easy. It’s,

Amanda (16:33):
And

Dr. Schniederjan (16:34):
It’s, it’s one of the, it it just allows you to have a good choice. Yep.

Amanda (16:38):
Yep. And then, you know, about 10 o’clock I’ll have my proteins cheese stick or they have a beverage mix that gives me 15 grams of proteins or you know, tomatoes or yogurt, whatever I want. That gives me enough proteins to get to lunch, which is another shake because I work in the medical field. I and law enforcement, I work at the jail and so we’re grabbing and going Yeah.

Dr. Schniederjan (17:12):
Gotta have things

Amanda (17:13):
Quicker. And the officer line they have is they have a salad bar and stuff like that, but it’s, it’s not sometimes real nutritious.

Dr. Schniederjan (17:30):
Looking at your life now and just over the past two years, would you do it again?

Amanda (17:36):
Yes.

Dr. Schniederjan (17:38):
What would you tell someone out there that was in your shoes with diabetes and struggle with their weight? What could you you pass on to them?

Amanda (17:53):
Just you can do it. I mean you can do it without the surgery or with the surgery. I just didn’t have the willpower and now I have the willpower to make better decisions because when I was that 313 pound person, I was the person that didn’t wanna be in the pictures. That always took the pictures, didn’t really wanna be wore the, wore the frumpy clothes, had everything covered up wore the big sweats, you know, just didn’t, I was more ashamed of what I, you know, I didn’t want people to really see me. And now I’m the person that, Hey, look at me. I I did it. Someone else can do it. I mean, it’s like, it’s like I told Bobby, you know, I looked at some of the pictures that I was sending and I’m behind him most of the time hiding. You know, I had to find pictures that, you know, I was actually sitting and doing stuff. But, you know, we went to Colorado and I’m in a lot of pictures in that trip in the castle. We walked up the castle and everything. When I went to Turner Falls after, it’d been a year and a half after the surgery, we walked down to where the falls was at. And I never would’ve done that. Little old me. I would’ve been that person that y’all go do it. I’ll sit here and wait.

Dr. Schniederjan (19:33):
So you went from 313 down to 180 mm-hmm. . And you look fantastic, Amanda.

Amanda (19:39):
Thank you.

Dr. Schniederjan (19:40):
And I just wanna say I’m so proud of you. And I hope that you just inspire other patients that this is doable and to, to get back on to being healthy. Cuz that’s one thing I I’ve found it’s all about our everyday life. Mm-Hmm. whether you do surgery or not do surgery,

Amanda (19:59):
It’s about eating. Correct. And they don’t realize, I’ve noticed with my grandson, if it’s not fried, sometimes he don’t, he don’t want it. Yeah. And we’re instilling that in our kids and if it’s not driving through somewhere to pick up something, our kids don’t want to eat it. Yeah. And I’ve got, I’ve got him back on track and he’s eating good nutritious meals. Yeah. And he loves his vegetables.

Dr. Schniederjan (20:33):
So your life changes is affecting your whole family’s life.

Amanda (20:38):
Mm-Hmm. . Yep. Which

Dr. Schniederjan (20:38):
Is, that’s super cool

Amanda (20:39):
Bobby has lost 10 to 15 pounds. That’s awesome. He’s going to the gym like I’m doing he’s building muscle now. He’s where he wants to be on his weight. He wants to start building muscle and he works for the railroad. I’ll go ahead and tell you that. So it can be done on the railroad. He takes the shakes, he packs the lunches and he packs the protein and stuff. And he will come in and tell me if he eats junk. He’ll tell me I don’t feel good. Yeah. I shouldn’t have ate that.

Dr. Schniederjan (21:16):
Well, it does, it takes some effort to, to make healthier choices and plan ahead

Amanda (21:20):
Mm-Hmm. It does. Because, you know, they work such weird hours. They’re never, you know, they’re never, they have no schedule. And so he, you know, when we first started it, he’s like, oh, well I guess I’ll do it since you wanna do it, you know, no, we need to get on board and do this.

Dr. Schniederjan (21:39):
And I’ll tell you that’s over and over, I’ve heard from couples is when you’re on board and you’re both supporting each other, it makes it easier for everybody. Mm-Hmm. . And I know that’s how it is at my house. And so I think that’s key.

Amanda (21:55):
Yeah. She, when I started it, it, it was rough on him. And I don’t cook two meals. I cook proteins and then I figure out my sides. Because there’ are some days he wants a steak and potato and that’s fine. Yeah. I’m okay with that, but I’m not gonna eat that. I don’t I hardly eat potatoes, pastas rice you know, I eat a little bit of it, but I can’t eat a lot of it. That was one of the things when my nose starts running and I start itching my nose a lot, I can tell my stomach’s too full. Yeah.

Dr. Schniederjan (22:40):
That’s, that’s your sign

Amanda (22:41):
You know, that’s, that’s a warning sign. And that was another thing I hated when I overate the first time. And oh my gosh, I was miserable. And I told him, I said, I just need to throw up. I just need to throw up. You know, and I don’t want to ever, I didn’t want to ever throw up again. So I I don’t over eat that I was miserable that, that first time you do it one time. And that’s another word of advice. You do it one time and that’ll be enough for you.

Dr. Schniederjan (23:16):
Well, it’s a, it’s a learning curve because you’re mm-hmm. your, your stomach’s smaller mm-hmm. and learning what that feeling feels like and always liking it to this, that before we do surgery, you have a lot of room to maybe eat a few more bots, this and that. And then you get fulled. But with this, it’s one or two extra bots and you’re feeling that way

Amanda (23:38):
And you’re mission and, and you’re miserable.

Dr. Schniederjan (23:40):
So know you’ve gotta learn that and listen to those cues and stop before you’re mm-hmm. miserable.

Amanda (23:47):
Yeah. Cuz if, if you’re not, you’re sick.

Dr. Schniederjan (23:50):
Well, I wanna say this. Thank you for joining me. I’m so proud of you, Amanda. You look great. And I just I encourage you, you keep up the good work.

Amanda (24:00):
I will. Now I’m just waiting on the railroad to figure out when they’re gonna get cosmetic surgery in there.

Dr. Schniederjan (24:08):
Well, that’s again, you look great. I’m so proud of you. Well, thanks for joining

Amanda (24:12):
Me. Thank you, sir. All righty. Bye-Bye.