"You Don’t Have To Live Another Day Unhealthy"
9/22/2026
Alan Lost 230 Pounds And Turned His Health Around With Bariatric Surgery
Alan, a 38-year-old attorney and brown-belt jiu-jitsu athlete, didn’t see himself as someone who needed bariatric surgery. He thought of himself more as an ex-football player and all-around “big guy” who just needed to size up his pants – again.
“When you gain 15 pounds a year for 10 years, it adds up,” Alan says. “As I got into my mid-30s, the effects of eating large quantities of food – and the speed at which I ate it – were harder to hide. Everything was getting miserable.”
When Alan told his physician, Sanjaya Hebbar, M.D., that he was worried about his racing heart, sweating and increasing inability to do the things he enjoyed, Dr. Hebbar referred Alan to bariatric surgeon Stephen Burpee, M.D.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted surgery,” Alan says, “and while I was thinking about it, I went to a comedy show where the comic’s whole thing was to roast people. Being roasted was a phobia of mine, so I tried to keep laughing and get smaller in my seat, but how can you hide when you’re six feet tall and 445 pounds?
“That’s when I decided to get my surgery.”
Alan didn’t just want to lose weight, though – he wanted to become more athletic and build a strong, balanced physique. With that in mind, he dedicated himself to the gym before and after his bariatric procedure.
“Besides the physical aspect, I needed a community, and I needed to answer a question for myself: How do I fix this so the weight doesn’t come back again?” Alan explains.
First, in addition to regular workouts, he stopped drinking and smoking.
“I really just tried to live a clean life, because I realized I had a whole life to live and I didn’t want to throw it away,” he says.
In only 18 months, Alan says, he turned his health around – and only part of that transformation was losing 230 pounds.
“For a long time, I thought I was going to live and die in that body,” he says, “but now I feel like a million bucks – two million, adjusted for inflation. It’s been an absolute miracle – a lot of people don’t even recognize me.”
Alan, who wishes he’d had surgery 10 years ago, has advice for other people in his previous situation.
“If your doctor says you’re a good candidate, jump in with both feet,” he says. “Do not delay. You wouldn’t delay getting, for example, ACL surgery if you tore your ACL, so why is there a stigma around bariatric surgery? You don’t have to live another day unhealthy.”
Congratulations to Alan on his life-saving achievement – and thanks to Dr. Burpee and the whole team at Northwest Bariatric and Foregut Surgery. To learn more about how we can help you on your weight loss journey, visit https://www.healthiertucson.com/bariatric-weight-loss.
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