By Cam Delaney
“Hey bari community, just wanted to update you guys.” Dani Arnedo speaks to her followers through her phone camera. The TikTok video is a celebration of her latest milestone. Dani usually feels winded after going up flights of stairs, but today was different: “I was in the train station, and I went up the stairs, and when I came outside, I was not out of breath. I was like: Oh. My. God!”
Dani has been creating more and more videos since she received a sleeve gastrectomy at Columbia last summer. She’s one of thousands of users that make up TikTok’s robust and growing bariatric surgery community.
Spanning countries around the world, the community is as diverse and dynamic as people’s experiences with weight loss surgery. Content creators post about their milestones and challenges, their experiences with different doctors and procedures, and their day-to-day lives. In one clip, Dani talks about her experience wrangling with insurance. In another, she shares a recipe for a protein shake. Sometimes her content has nothing to do with surgery: “I also post videos just to cheer people up,” Dani says. Now, seven months into her recovery, her channel boasts a rich range of content and nearly two thousand followers.
Through videos, comments, and messages, users get to know each other and make connections. “I’ve made friends with complete strangers,” Dani shares. For her and many others, the community has been a lifeline throughout the road to surgery and recovery.
@danigotsleeved
Empowerment through Online Community
Born in Colombia and raised in Queens, Dani had been experiencing obesity since she was a child. Despite her regular exercise routine for years, she cycled through a pattern of losing weight and gaining it back. Like many, she assumed that her condition was a matter of self-control: “I didn’t have the willpower to not eat sweets and stuff like that.”
Despite its prevalence around the world, obesity is notoriously under-researched and poorly understood. Its range of intersecting biological and social drivers makes it difficult to study, demanding interdisciplinary research teams and complex methodology. Cultural stigma has also been a factor: obesity was long dismissed as a matter of self-control, rather than a medical condition worth researching. For decades, research funding was scant.
However, in recent years, investigators have begun to shed light on the complex interplay of physiological, genetic, social, and environmental factors that contribute to obesity. The shift has enabled many people to view their condition as a disease, not a personal failing—and one with an expanding range of treatment options.
Emerging weight-loss medications—such as single receptor GLP-1 agonists, and more recently dual action GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonists—have been heralded as game-changers for the field. However, for some people with obesity, bariatric surgery may still be the best option to meet their needs. It is also important to understand that taking anti-obesity medications does not prevent you from still having surgery – they can be used synergistically.
While forms of modern bariatric surgery have been in use since the 1960s, the field hit its stride in the mid-1990s. Laparoscopic techniques—the use of smaller incisions and video technology to make surgeries less invasive—revolutionized the field, reducing patients’ discomfort, risk of complications, and recovery time. Surgical methodology has continued to evolve with robotic surgery, as well as the growing body of knowledge about the complex role gastrointestinal hormones play in metabolism. Today, people seeking bariatric surgery may choose between a range of procedures that meet their needs based on their medical history.
The surgical risk involved with metabolic and bariatric surgery is very low, while their benefits are immense and span across multiple organ systems, and include curing diabetes, eliminating obstructive sleep apnea, improving fertility, allowing patients to regain lost mobility, and improving their cardiovascular disease, among many others.
More Than Willpower: Understanding Obesity and Treatment
After years of losing and regaining weight, Dani decided to consider surgery. The idea first came from her mom, but Dani was quickly on board. “She was basically the initiator,” Dani recalls. “But I’d had the idea too, so she didn’t have to convince me.”
Dani’s general practitioner in Queens referred her to Columbia's Center for Metabolic and Weight Loss Surgery, where Dani met with the surgery team. They recommended a sleeve gastrectomy: the option most appropriate for Dani’s weight and medical history. Her bariatric surgeon, Francisco Guzman-Pruneda, MD, specializes in a range of minimally invasive metabolic and bariatric operations.
The procedure would remove about three-quarters of Dani’s stomach. In addition to significantly reducing the volume of her stomach, the surgery would diminish her body’s production of ghrelin: a hunger-stimulating hormone released by the stomach, which is a main controller of appetite and food-related urges.
Taking the Leap to Surgery
In the lead-up to her operation, Dani dutifully followed the routine prescribed by her care team: a liquid diet, a 6-month weight log, and an abdomen ultrasound. Adjusting to the diet was the hardest part. “The first three days, I was not in the mood,” Dani recalls. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I didn’t even want to talk to myself!”
But things got easier after the fourth day, and Dani stayed positive. She was buoyed by her confidence in her care team and her vision of life after surgery. When the day of her surgery arrived, Dani felt excited and nervous as she headed to the OR. “I know and trust my anesthesiologist and my surgeon,” says Dani. “Though the nerves were there.”
The procedure took just over an hour. That same evening, Dani was already up and moving around her apartment to prevent clotting: “As soon as I got home from the hospital, I walked five laps around the house,” she says.
Over the coming months, Dani’s pain was minimal, and she experienced no complications. Still, the recovery process took patience. For three weeks, she was back on a purely liquid diet as the postoperative course requires a graded transition to a regular diet. Medications had to be crushed up and taken with water. Slowly but surely, though, Dani healed. Within a few weeks, she started reintroducing purees; by the summer, she could have soft solids.
Now, seven months later, Dani is reaching new milestones nearly every day. She’s just two pounds from her goal weight, and she’s made many “non-scale” victories, too—like going up and down the subway stairs without feeling out of breath. The surgery has also helped Dani achieve a renewed sense of control. “Nowadays, I can see someone eating candy or whatever, and I have the thought that I want some—but I also have the willpower to resist,” she says.
From Recovery to Real Results
In her TikTok videos, Dani shares her achievements and answers questions from the community. “I’ve been posting content for the newbies, even though I’m still a newbie,” Dani laughs. “And sometimes I post videos asking for advice too.” As Dani explains, the bariatric surgery community is a constant give and take of support: creators share their wisdom, but they also request help from others.
While the online community has been an invaluable part of Dani’s journey, she is also clear-eyed about the limits of social media. “I was scared before surgery because I used to search on TikTok, and there are people talking about the pain,” Dani recalls. “I got kind of nervous.” But in the lead-up to her surgery, she was careful to avoid spiraling—and she advises others to do the same. “Stay calm and don’t overthink things if you’re looking through social media. Everyone is different. There are people who have pain after surgery, and there are people who have very minimal pain. Stay strong, and you got this!”
Her surgeon, Dr. Guzman, shares, “There is no greater satisfaction as a bariatric surgeon than seeing your patient a few months down the road successfully taking a 180 degree in their health and lifestyle. It is so gratifying to see them regain parts of their life that they thought they’d lost to obesity, and Dani is a great example of what a success story looks like.”
While Dani has a lot to look forward to, she’s committed to living in the moment. “I haven’t thought too far ahead, to be honest,” she reflects. “All I want is to be healthy.”
Related:
- State of the Union: Weight Loss Surgery in 2025
- The Complicated Reality of Weight Gain, Weight Loss, and Weight Stigma
- A New Way to Think About Carbs, Weight, and Obesity
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