Remi Bader is reflecting on the strength she’s shown throughout her weight loss journey and addressing critics who question her efforts.
Just weeks after revealing that she had undergone bariatric surgery, Bader, 30, posted a video showing her attempting leg raise exercises at the gym. In a text overlay, she clarified that the first clip was taken two days before her surgery, which occurred on December 11, 2023, as she shared in an interview with Self magazine in March.
On April 14, she shared another video that showed her workout three months after her gastric bypass surgery. The final part of the video featured her more recently, at one year and three months post-surgery. She captioned the video, “Don’t let anyone ever tell you surgery is the easy way out. I worked hard to get here and I’m forever proud of myself,” accompanied by the song “Ordinary” by Alex Warren.
In her interview with Self, Bader revealed the hesitation she felt before choosing to have the surgery, especially since she had built her online presence as a plus-sized influencer. She explained, “I loved being curvy my whole life. It was who I was. I will always believe that you can be a bigger size and still be healthy and happy.” She added that she was happy for a while, but eventually, things shifted and she became unhappy.
The recovery process was challenging, and it led Bader to experience a depressive episode. However, she gradually adjusted to her new body and the rapid weight loss. More than a year after the surgery, Bader admitted that she is still “healing and figuring it out.”
She also shared the struggles she faced with her identity during this journey. “I was lost before. I wasn’t big enough for the plus-size community at first. Then I became too big for some brands to work with. Now, I’m too small? I don’t really know where I’m supposed to be,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Bader is committed to being open with her followers about her ongoing process of self-acceptance. She concluded, “I’m going to continue to be online and cry and share and not share and just be me, and that’s not changing.”
