SPEAKER_02 0:00

And welcome back to another episode of Vitals and Values. This is a very special podcast episode with Kara. And I want to start this off by laying down the groundwork in apology, because last time, uh this was like two months ago, we had a podcast episode where I was I can't remember the exact even context of why uh Kara and Levi came into my head, but I ended up talking about how Kara is doing incredible on uh dealing with lymphedema and the process of she's down hundreds of uh over a hundred pounds at this point. And I had met her a few years ago and on a on a podcast with John, and I may or may not have made Levi seem like he was this knight in shining armor that transformed your life, and it completely discredited everything you've incredibly done in your life. So if you want to yell at me, this is your opportunity. I'll take it.

SPEAKER_03 0:59

Yeah. So I mean, I do know you mean well, and I do know you know what all I've put into this journey, but it was just like, first of all, I had no idea you were talking about me until I saw it on social media, so it caught me off guard. I was like, this sounds for me, oh, wait a minute. Like, and then it's just Levi takes credit for everything he can, and so to hear someone else give him credit was like, oh, okay. And then I was like, I met David before Levi. And like in my surgery journey, that like we talked about what all I was doing, and it was like that whole Kara was disappeared, it's just now Kara Garrett, and it's because of Levi. And I was like, oh, okay. So then I sent you like a thousand voice notes on Instagram. I was like, first of all, and then this, and then and a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

And I'm like, I I was like, I remember watching that back, and I'm like, all right, I'm not perfect, no one's perfect. And so I'm like, I okay, let me rewatch what I said, and like, does that make sense? And I remember watching, I'm like, oh yeah, it just sounds like basically Levi saved your life. And I'm like, yeah, I could see that that looked bad. Like I'm like, when I did it, I was it was just like a it was honestly just an accolade towards you, but then it just kind of pivoted.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

It was just it was like two seconds towards me that it was like Eva.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:21

And I don't, I don't discredit the amazing stuff he has done for my life and like the support and the motivation and like the hacks so that I don't feel like I'm missing out on like the foods that I do like because I'm a very picky eater and I only eat like five things like a toddler or worse, probably. And so to not feel like I'm giving up everything that felt like me was huge because some of the stuff I wouldn't have known or tried without him. Um I like I wouldn't be in the gym without him.

SPEAKER_06 2:52

Like I I do enjoy it, which I hate to admit, but to uh I was just gonna say to the people listening that don't know you, do you want to give a little intro about who you are?

SPEAKER_03 3:08

Yeah, so um I am 44. I am a single mom, well, not single anymore. I am married with the teen. And it's so used to introducing myself and that. Um so now newly married, it'll be six months coming up.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Woo! We were at the wedding. I was I was called best man in the wedding.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

Yes, and um I live in Pennsylvania. I have two conditions. Well, I have multiple, but the two main ones that I talk about are the lip edema and lymphedema because they kind of go hand in hand. And lipedema is um a connective tissue disorder that's also paired a lot with being a fat disorder. And it's basically when the body overproduces lip fluid and the fat cells absorb it and create these painful nodules. Those nodules typically don't react to diet and exercise like a regular fat cell. So they're painful to touch, they're heavier, and then they don't react to the lose weight and just move more that every doctor and internet doctor and random stranger on the street feels like they could tell you like you never thought of in the 40-something years of life. Like, oh, if I moved more, like this would, you know. Um, and I had extremely bad ankle coughing that like I couldn't wear regular shoes. So how am I supposed to go walk miles a day if I can't even have proper footwear? And so there's like a lot to it that like made the struggle even harder. Um, and then I had seven lipedema removal surgeries, which is a form of liposuction.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

I told I told Lyra I thought it was like two or three. I didn't know it was seven.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

No, you didn't say so it was seven. A lot. It was seven. Um, yeah, from 2020 to 2022, I had seven removal surgeries. Um, my first one was right before the pandemic. And then I came back home from that. That was in February, and then the world shut down in March. And so I joked around that, of course, I was getting my health in order and wasn't gonna be allowed to do anything. We weren't gonna be like stuck in the house. Um, but yeah, I had multiple rounds of liposuction on my arms, my legs, my abdomen, my back. I had a large-scale tummy tuck for lipedema removal, which they took three and a half feet of skin that weighed 20 pounds that was all nodules. I have some very, to me, interesting to a lot of people disgusting post-op photos of the removed skin, and you can see all the nodules. And like there was a video where Dr. Jamie was like, there was no normal fat in your abdomen. Like, this was literally all lipedema, and um the scale went down one pound after they removed 20 pounds of skin. So it's such a mind like game because it's like you can't focus on the scale of lipoedema. It doesn't react the same as normal weight, it doesn't weigh the same as normal weight. Like, I can literally eat something that's an inflammatory trigger and go up five pounds of inflammation within a day, like instantly. And so I never owned a scale before Levi moved in. Um because I knew me, I would be like obsessive about it in the like, I feel puffy. Am I puffier? And I would like, I would be on it every chance I walked past it. Whether I cared the number was going down or not, it would just be a like, well, how did this react? It would be consuming. And I know it happens for a lot of lipidema women um because that's what we're taught to focus on is the scale. So I try to focus more on like the measurements going down and having to size down in compression because it's not as tight or not as working. But yeah, I've had the seven surgeries for that. And then in 2024, I had my totsils out. And when I was like not able to eat for two weeks, I decided to cut out sugar and detoxed from sugar because I noticed my legs were aching um when I would eat something sugary. So I gave up sugar in 2024, September 2024, and from September to February dropped 70 pounds just from cutting out sugar and increasing protein because this house is obsessed with protein.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

Wait, Levi and myself wouldn't obsess with protein? No.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Yeah. Um, yeah. I have since found a protein powder that I actually like, and I use two scoops and a coffee every day, at least. So yeah, at least.

SPEAKER_06 7:38

Now, um, when did you when did you like know you had this? Or like what was your childhood like? I don't know that whole story.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

So I have always been like the chubby one in my family. Um, my dad was a Fitmarine, injured his back and put on weight. So a lot of his like fat phobia, self-hate got projected on me because I was like the next chubby one in the family. My brother played football. So that was okay that he was like bigger because it worked for football. Um, and so I was put on every diet, every exercise in the 80s and 90s that like came up with that. My dad tried. The only one that ever really worked for me was Atkins, and that was cutting out the carbs, which we later found out that I need to be gluten-free for celiac disease.

SPEAKER_06 8:26

Oh that would do it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

That one that one I'm diagnosed for 30 years as well. The medical community has failed me multiple ways. Um, but we so I every diet and exercise as a kid, um, I was very active. We swam every single day. We have we were like right above a public pool. We would go all the time. Um, and then it was when I got a little bit older in high school and the time to go to the pool every day wasn't there that I start started noticing some more inflammation and growth. I also joked that at puberty I got hips when my friends got boobs. Like I didn't, and it's a very classic lip edema sign is that you get the pear shape, you get the hips, you get the column legs. Um, because it's considered very bottom heavy of a condition. And then senior year of high school, I fell and I injured my left leg and a lump appeared in the front. We confirmed it wasn't broken, and they said just like massage it down. And I did that for a while, and then the pain stopped, so you forget about it and you just go about being a teenager. And then that led to one leg being larger than the other in my lower lip. And I was like Googling, and I was like, this was like 2000, trying to figure out what's going on, and um came across lymphedema. And I was four years into my lymphedema journey when I was complaining to the physical therapist who was like re-wrapping my legs for new compression garments, that I was tired of being told just to lose weight and nothing working and nobody giving me any solution or any tips. It was just, we'll just lose weight. How? I've been on every diet, I've tried everything. I at the time I was a single mom with a four-year-old. I was active. I took care of my dad too. I worked multiple jobs. Like I wasn't just sitting at home doing nothing all day. And she was like, without even looking up from her paperwork, she was like, Oh, you're not gonna lose weight. You have lipoema as well. And I remember like trying not to fall off the treadmill because she had me on the treadmill at the moment, which it was like this flash of anger and sadness all at once. Cause it was like, I knew I wasn't wrong. I knew there was something going on that like wasn't just typical like fat, because I didn't eat, I didn't like you know, I didn't eat the best stuff, but I wasn't like gorging all day long. And like that it was this sadness of how has nobody told me? I was in my early 30s, like how has nobody noticed it at this point, and then mad at the same time of if diet and exercise aren't gonna help, why are you forcing me on the treadmill when you know it hurts my legs? And you've been working with me for two years now. Why did you never mention it to me that, like, hey, you know, you also have this, you should be wearing compression garments on your full legs, not just your lower legs. So, like, I just even the people that knew about the condition, I felt let me down. It was just this, and then she and even what she told me was just it's this condition that doesn't react to diet or exercise. The only real way to get rid of is expensive surgery. And you'll probably just have to live with this and get worse. And like, here you go, our session's up for the day. Like, and so I really thought that like I wasn't gonna be able to fix anything. This was just what I was, and so it I started to try to work on the mentality of like embracing my shape, embracing the extreme pair and like the fuss size, and like dressing for my body shape, not trying to hide it in baggy clothes and just embracing who I was. And I started my Instagram of 2028 or no 2018, and um it was supposed to be like plus size fashion because all I ever heard was you dress well for your size, which is such a backhand and conflict.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

That's so ridiculous. Dad's literally talk about that in the pot in the documentary.

SPEAKER_03 12:24

Yeah, it's just such a you know, it's right up there with like, oh, you have really, really pretty hair. Okay. Okay, you know, like just it's such a little like thing that and people aren't even realizing some of the times, some of the times they do, but like um started the Instagram, and then one day, um, it was actually in April, like I remember it because it was around the time of the anniversary of my mom passing. So like April's not a good month for me. And I had some guy that just kept commenting on my post about my tree trunk legs, and it just hit the redheaded temper at the wrong time. And I did a whole post about, yeah, my legs are like tree trunks, and here's why. I did it and like just rattled off all of this stuff and tagged lipedema and lymphedema, and I started just getting flooded with people. I have this as well, or my legs look like yours. Who do I need to talk to? Or there's a lot of creepy men on my Instagram account back in the beginning.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

I've heard some stories that we can't even say a podcast. Like, that's wild.

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Yeah, it's uh yeah, and so a lot of them were like, I think my girlfriend has this, or I think my wife has this because like she's built like you. And so that's part of the reason I didn't block a lot of them is because they were learning to educate the women that they fetishized and liked, that at least if they were gonna end up with a plus size woman that has lipedema, they know how to help her and treat her, and like understand that it's gonna be a lifetime of adjusting compression garments and massaging legs and like you know, hey, can you run downstairs and grab that for me? Because I just got comfortable. I'm not doing it. And if you're not ready to take that on, don't get in a relationship with us because we can be needy at times.

SPEAKER_06 14:16

And when so you started your uh you started the Instagram 2018, and then you did that one post, and then you said it started as fashion.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

Yeah, and then it just blew up, and so it kind of switched more to a mix of fashion and living life with lipedema and like showing compression garments, and then through that I connected with um Dr. Jamie Schwartz, who was my lipedema surgeon, and I connected with his Instagram, and I was gonna be out in LA for an event my friend was doing, and I scheduled a consult with him basically just for like an official diagnosis from a specialist in the condition and to get a price of what it could possibly cost me. And I even like said to him in the consult, I was like, look, I'm a broke single mom from Pennsylvania with no assistance. This probably isn't gonna happen for me. I just want to know in case I win the lottery or find a rich husband. And he started laughing, and we like went through the console, and he I vividly remember sitting on like the little table thing, and he was on the doctor's stool and he was like, Can you take your knee highs off? And I pulled one compression garment on and he dropped to his knees on the floor and grabbed my leg and turned to his nurse and was like, I can't not fix this ankle coughing for her. Like, this is so bad. And so he like examined over it. He's like, Do you mind if I look at your stomach? And I was like, Okay. And he was like, You have it in your stomach. He was like, You're gonna make Dr. Cared Hurts like extremely happy. And she's like the known researcher in lipedema. And I was like, good for her.

SPEAKER_06 15:57

Like, yay!

SPEAKER_03 15:57

And he was like, Well, she he's he was like, She's been trying to prove that it can be in the stomach, that it can be anywhere fat nodules are. And I was like, Oh, my stomach is all it like you could feel it. It felt like if you would squeeze it, it felt like those mesh things that have all the like the jelly balls inside that if you squeeze, they like pop out through the mesh. Like, that's how my stomach looked. You could see the nodules, they were so like pronounced in the stomach. And so he was like doing the whole thing. He's like, You are the poster child for this condition, like you have it everywhere from my do I get a gold star? And he was like, I was just telling my office staff yesterday that like I'm part of this TV show and I really want to showcase lipoema, and that it's like part of the issue as to why some people are overweight. Like, would you be open with me telling them your story? And I was like, hey, if it's something that can help me get the surgeries, I already shared online to Instagram for free. Like, why not? And so he contacted me with the show that Des and Jart were supposed to be on, and um, so that's how I connected with them. And then the show I was picked up for this to be on the show. I worked with um pre like Lipedema stuff. I had been a photographer for comedians, and I reached out to Stephen Lynch's manager that I was still friends with and was like, Can you review this contract? Because like he's an entertainment lawyer, and he was like, sure. And he like fixed a bunch of stuff and was like, I added it that even if the show doesn't air or like gets dropped, that like your surgeries, all of your surgeries still have to be covered. And that was the saving grace because first surgery was February of 2020, the world shut down in March. The show never got filled, picked back up after they filmed my first surgery. Like they never came back to film. And so I would have been stuck having just one surgery if he had decided to say, like, well, I helped your ankle cuffing, I'm not gonna touch anything else. Um, and so I I lucked out that like the deal we had worked out for my surgeries was still covered for all of them. That's awesome. And I didn't know. And so I just kind of started the surgery journey from there.

SPEAKER_06 18:17

Now, for the surgery, was it then planned that you would have these seven at the initially, or I don't know how that works. Is it like later you determine you need more?

SPEAKER_03 18:26

So he like in the console, he was like, I say you're gonna need about six to eight from like how much you have and what we can safely remove. And the original game plan was that the tummy tuck was supposed to be like the last surgery. And so when it came to be surgery number four, and he was like, We're gonna do the tummy tuck, and I was like, but we're not done. Like, we haven't touched the arms, we haven't touched, like, I like instantly went to panic mode of like there's stuff we have to touch. And he was like, No, no, no. He's like, after some research and talking to Dr. Earth, Speakfield that if we get the large hanging stomach off, that you can get compression to fit better and help keep the lymph flow like coming up and out, versus when you have such a large belly hang that the compression doesn't hit tight against the lymph nodes like in the groin. And he's like, So you're pushing it up the legs and then it's bottlenecking. And he was like, So we feel that if we get the stomach out of the way where you can get better fitting compression, then overall it will like help improve in recovery. Plus, you'll be able to move better with like all that skin off. Because we had done my thighs for surgery three, and once my thighs were gone and the stomach had like nothing to rest on, my lower back was like killing me. And I I remember like standing in line at like grocery stores, like waiting to check out, like holding my stomach like I was pregnant again, like because just the weight of like the lip edema nodules in the stomach just was like it was it was no longer supported, so it's just like hanging.

SPEAKER_06 20:01

So after you had the stomach surgery, then did did the compression work?

SPEAKER_03 20:07

Yeah, I mean it helps so much better because I could like really pull it up each leg, you know, like you pull up pantyhills and get them in position, and I could like tuck it into the leg crease and really get like flat compression. And I wore for the longest time, I wore of like a bodysuit garment that was like from chest to ankle. And then I had my stronger knee highs for lymphedema on as well. Um, because the compression they recommend for lip edema is like 20 to 30, but my lip my lymphedema was so bad in my lower ankles at the time that it needed like 30 to 40 compression.

unknown 20:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

So I would like double stack it. Um, now I can get away most days with just the one um because between the surgeries and cutting out the sugar in a GLP1, like like managing my inflammation much better.

SPEAKER_06 20:56

But you've come a long ways, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

But like even with the seven surgeries, I was only down, I say only, but I was down like 50 pounds. I was still like 330 pounds, and that fluctuated between like 333 to 368 back and forth over like the next several years, based on like how I was feeling, how inflammation was, like it just bounced back and forth. And I remember like because like growing up overweight, and I'm sure you've probably heard this, like your total of course your body hurts because you're carrying all that weight around. Like, of course you're gonna ache. I had the lipidema removal surgeries, was still 333, and I did not have the aches and pains that I had prior, and was like, I this is why I'm telling you guys like this is more than just like your fat, so your body hurts. Like a cat paw touching my leg would bring tears and leave a bruise from like how the non Modules would react and stuff. And so, like, just to show that relief of like, I'm still over 300 pounds, I don't have the pain. So, like, maybe we need to stop this like bullshit line of no 100%.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

I mean, that's always the the fascinating one. And like, that's why I years ago when we had you on the podcast uh for ALG, like John and I had that conversation where it was like there's so much it's so disingenuous for myself. Go, well, yeah, I lost 200 pounds. I'd have weight loss surgery or anything like that. So if I could do it, you could do it. Like, it's so disingenuous because there's so much more to the human body than that. And like, yeah, and and then I I late conversation because I still want to get into obviously we talk about the surgeries, we're gonna talk about the next the next evolution of uh leaning in on sugars, GLP1s, all this kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

But part of what brought up the whole thing that I wanted to yell at you about was that um you had made the comment about I let it be an excuse not to do anything.

SPEAKER_05 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:11

And I fully, I fully own that I did. But I will also kind of add that that's what lipidema women are told. Yeah. That like you you can't fix this without surgery. And even surgery only removes so much, and then like you're still just stuck. And so it was more of a it was more of a way to like kind of preserve your sanity of like I just have to embrace this, like, because it's not gonna get better. And so, like, fully admit that for the longest time it was like, I got this, I'm not doing shit. Cause it was like years of trying to do stuff and nothing working, and then finally having an answer of why it wasn't working, it was almost like a I'm just gonna take this in for a while. And then having seven surgeries in like three years was a lot.

SPEAKER_02 23:59

I sit there, I mean, it's I mean, it's just so easy um across the board. I mean, again, it's just like uh uh fault research. There's so much to unpack because it's like, am I gonna be Chris? Like I from a from a lens of Levi and how we talk, am I ever gonna be C Bum and Chris Bumstead? No, I'm not. There's plenty of things genetically that will never let me get to that level. However, simultaneously, am I do I try to optimize and get the best out of this body I can? Absolutely. But don't kid yourself, there's a lot of people that are so obsessed with getting to some uncapable place that they're willing to harm their bodies, harm the mental health, harm their physical health for the sake of an aesthetic picture on the on on the stage, all this kind of stuff. And so it's so much to unpack because you sit there and go, I totally get why people out there that get diagnosed with lymphedema just go, well, F it. Like, I'm I'm just gonna accept this and have the surgeries and call it a day. I totally get it. And then you get the opposite, I'm sure, Kara, like there's people you've met that try so freaking hard and they're running through a brick wall and like you're gonna burn out, you're gonna hurt yourself. And like you need to find that balance of that whole process.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

My heart breaks for the ones that were as bad as I was or worse and are told their only hope is surgeries that are never gonna be in their budget. Because my tummy tuck alone should have been like 22,000. And so, like, if I hadn't met Dr. Jamie at the time I met him with the TV show option, I wouldn't have had the surgeries. I would be immobile in bed right now. Like, I know that for a fact. And I like like I owe Dr. Jamie like my life because like he took a chance on me when other people didn't want to. Because a lot of the lipoema surgeons won't even do surgery over a certain BMI, which is so frustrating because you're working on women that have a condition that doesn't allow their BMI to drop. Even after surgeries, my BMI was like 50 something that even after seven surgeries, some lipoema surgeons wouldn't touch me, some wouldn't touch me now. And like it's just so frustrating because it's like I get it because nobody wants to jeopardize their license. They worked hard for it, and I understand that. And it's kind of more of a medical community overall, because if the local hospital isn't prepared in case of an emergency to take in a larger patient with the machines and equipment and bedding, the surgeon's not gonna risk the patient's life and not gonna risk their license. But people just automatically go, Oh, these surgeons don't want to work on us. Um, it's a bigger picture, like the whole system is broken. Amen to that.

SPEAKER_06 26:51

Well, okay, and I was gonna say, um, so when uh I met you through David, but I remember the first time David was telling me about you and Levi and all those people that you knew, David, from Instagram, and he mentioned that you had lipodema, and I was like, uh, what's that? It's like I going through all the medical training that I did, never once do I mean maybe it was brought up, but I don't remember lipoema ever being brought up. And I asked my sister, and she does not remember it as well. So that's gotta be super frustrating from you that you probably ran into people and physicians in the medical community that didn't even know what you were dealing with. And then how did you end up learning more about the condition? And how how did how was that process?

SPEAKER_03 27:40

Um, I mean, after that physical therapist kind of just like dropped it on me, I Googled as much as I could. Um, and then at the time I was kind of seeing somebody and he knew what it was, um, which surprised me looking back, it was more because it was a fetish thing. So that was like that's lovely. Um, but uh I just I just Googled as much as I could, and then it was starting to become popular on Instagram. Okay. And I just started following all the lipedema surgeons that I could um and see like their take on thing that hella was. But like every example I came across was like stage one or two. And I was like, I wish my legs looked that good. Like, I know I'm never gonna have Barbie legs, I don't care about that. Like, I just didn't want to like buy wide leg pants just for them to fit like a slim fit. Like, I wanted to be able to buy clothes that like I liked. I was very much stuck in that like here's a cold shoulder shirt with flowers or Mickey Mouse because this is what fits. And like none of that is my style. I wanted Bantee and ripped jeans to show off my tattoos and go about my day. Like, um, now I'm in leggings and gym t-shirts because that's become my life. But like, I want more of a like my look. I want to like not be stuck in a certain way, and so I was like frustrated that like all of the examples were just like the beginning stages, and it's like, yeah, that's good, so you can recognize it earlier, but like people that are as bad as I was aren't gonna look at stage one and two and think that's the condition I have because our legs don't look anything remotely close. Like I had extreme saddlebags, and all of the one and two are more just like the straight up and down column with like the slight hip curve. And like, so it didn't look like me, it didn't look like the same condition. It is just extremely advanced, and so I started showing it more and more. And when I was talking to some different surgeons and not just Jamie at first, I went up to everybody and I was like, whoever I pick has to be okay with me showcasing every step of the process because it needs to be out there to show that there is some hope for the later stages and what surgery and recovery and everything is honestly like for a later stage. Because you can ask all the one and two people that have had it done, but if they've never lived in a larger body, they don't know the basics, let alone recovery in a larger body. And all the others were like, Well, we'd have to see, or like you'd have to get it approved, what you want to post. And I'm like, You're not telling me how to talk. Okay. Yeah. And but what Jamie was like, you want to do a TV show? I was like, well, like, well, like, sure. And then like we continue to have, you know, like a like social media partnership where like, you know, I showcased every step of the way. And when I would go out there in LA, like I would go into the office and would talk and talk to other patients and just do kind of like an ambassador thing for them and just showcase what it's like realistically.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

It's always interesting from that standpoint, because like from and Lara, correct me if I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_05 31:02

What?

SPEAKER_02 31:03

Um, in general, when you think of like medical diagnoses, it always starts from the most extreme outlier and gets pulled back. Like, think like autism. Like it's it's nonverbal autism was how it started. It was this bit like it's in your face. And then slowly we've been creating the spectrum, getting cleaner and cleaner and cleaner. But it seems like lymphedema is the exact opposite. It was like we're only gonna focus on the one or two that we can probably handle. And the extreme outliers, we're not even gonna talk about because it's not we can't even do anything.

SPEAKER_06 31:34

That's that that's the my gut, like well, and I think I mean some of it is that I don't know, Kara, if you know, but I would assume that some of those earlier stages, like you were said, stage one and two, are those much are those much more common. Do you know?

SPEAKER_03 31:46

I don't know. That's a good stat to look up, actually. Um, but visually, I don't think so. I think visually, like I can spot a stage, like later stage two, to stay, they used to say stage four, and now they just call it lipo lipedema, which is where you have both lymphedema and lip edema together. But I used to be like you could spot, like it was so bad that like Riley, when he was like eight, we'd be walking somewhere and he'd be like, I know, I know, she has lipoema. Because I would like point it out. And like now, like Levi can even be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or he'd be like, oh, can those lipylike like he sees it because like as soon as you know what to look for, you can spot it, which makes the medical community not knowing even more frustrating. But like if my eight-year-old at the time could spot it, I'm like, now you know.

SPEAKER_06 32:32

I know now I do know. Thank you for informing me of all this.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Um, I think what it is is I think with stage one and two, some of them were going in with like, I have this extreme cellulite, because that's what the nodules made that rippled effect like. And they wanted to know what it was, and then it was like, oh no, this isn't cellulite, you could feel the nodules. And I feel like that's how one and two were getting looked at and diagnosed. Where stage three, and what they called it four, as bad as I was, it was like, you're just really overweight. Because with the additional weight and additional inflammation from the lymphedema, I looked a little smoother. Like you didn't see the nodules as much as much. And so until you noticed to look for like the larger upper arms or like the extreme shapes, or talk to me about my pain or felt for the nodules, like it was just easily like, well, you're plus size or you're fat, like you just need to lose weight. And it wasn't looked into it, like, you know, it was like, well, let's let's let's try to lose some weight first and then we'll see. Because maybe you don't really have it. Like, I remember asking for testing for the lymphedema when I was pregnant with Riley and to see if I could go get wrapped for it. And the doctor at the time was like, you read too much online. And I was like, and I was like, okay, I was like, I'll make a deal with you. I was like, give me my referral, I'll go over there. If they tell me that I'm right, then I get the treatment I need. If they tell me that I'm wrong, then you can come back and say, I told you so. He was like, okay, deal. I had to have him to have my OBGYN, which I wanted to keep while I was pregnant. So I had to tolerate this guy. He took 22 tubes of blood while I was pregnant because he was convinced that something was wrong with me. There was just nothing he tested for. And um, I remember waddling back in like six, seven months pregnant with my legs wrapped for lymphedema. And he was like, What's all that? I'm like, the treatment he didn't think I needed. And he was just like, and he starts reading off my blood work, and he was getting angrier as each test was coming back clear. He was like, Even your cholesterol's low. And I'm like, okay.

SPEAKER_06 34:47

Okay, so this is a question I have. Um, for us in the medical community, say that are not experts on lipoedema, um, and say someone out there runs into a patient that has it. What is the best way to talk with a patient that has it? And how can we best help somebody with that condition?

SPEAKER_03 35:07

One of the most reassuring things is like the confirmation that it's like not completely our fault. Okay. I don't like to say, I know a lot of people say that it's like, it's not your fault, it's not your fault. But yes, the start of the condition was not my fault. How bad it got, partially my fault, partially being a child of the 80s and not being taught proper nutrition and having proper medical care. Of like, I'm very much from the time frame of if it wasn't a peanut allergy that you were gonna stop breathing, like they didn't believe anything was wrong with you. And that's how my celiac disease got like undiagnosed for years. Um because I was just told I was a picky eater, and then I made myself so upset about what I had to eat that I would throw up. Not that all of the gluten was making me sick every time I ate it. So I think a good way to start with it is like having this condition is not your fault. How we maintain it and treat it and stop growth or regrowth if they've had surgery and are concerned of it coming back is in your hands to a degree. Like sometimes the body's just gonna react and there's nothing you can do about it. You will have flares no matter how diligent you are. But there are great ways to manage it, like for wearing compression, getting in the pool, because water is a natural compressant. That is so great. Or, like, you know, if you're close to a lake and stuff like that with access during the right time of year, you know, water is a great natural compressant. Even getting in like a full bathtub, I will do that when we travel at a hotel. I almost always try to get a room with a tub because it's better than nothing. And it really helps like decompress from being down either on a plane or in a car ride. And so um, water compression, cutting out the sugar. I mean, it's a huge inflammatory trigger. Um, and believe me, I would have been the last person that would be like, you're not gonna touch a Snickers bar again. I'd be like, okay, sure. Um, but I like can't do it. Like, I the pain from having it is like not worth it. Um, but cutting out the inflammatory triggers, there are some like other like blood work and testing for inflammatory triggers, which I'm sure like you know, but like um that I'm used to talking to people that don't know. Oh you can do to get a list of like the sensitive foods that might bother you and like work from that list to see like, is this a really a trigger? Or okay, so I could have a little bit of dairy, like cheese on a pizza, but if I have like pizza and ice cream, then I'm inflamed for the day. Like you can find your balances. Um and like one of the great lipedema um influencers, I hate using that term, but like she's one of the first really like social media pioneers with it was Patty Cornute. Um she had um a account called Lipedema Fitness, and she was a later stage like myself, and she her husband was a wasn't a like a bodybuilder athlete, and he helped her modify exercises because she couldn't even walk to her end of her driveway for her mail. And she said, I he she asked him what the exercise for the day was once, and he was like, Why? And she was like, I want to be able to get back up off the floor if I fall. And that's how they started her whole thing of doing these modified things where like she would do push-ups on the kitchen sink instead of like on the like just out kind of like little things to make it easier at a at a later stage. So there's so many great ways to modify and safely do movement because you move, you keep the lip fluid going. Um, and then just I advise everybody to like reach out to the community. Um, there's enough of us that if you meet up with somebody or connect with somebody online at first that you don't necessarily get along with, that you will find your people. Um, Hiba, my maid of honor in the wedding was through the lipoedema community. Kim that was in the wedding was lipedema community. I met Kim in the parking lot of Dr. Jamie's office after my first surgery. I was coming out for my checkup and she was going in for her first surgery and we connected, and it's now six years later, and we talk every day. And so, like, there are people in the community that understand what you're going through and can be a source of like, oh, I don't feel so alone. Um, but we can't just sit and like let it be a death a death sentence.

SPEAKER_02 39:48

Now, as we kind of transition to the newest season, where I was trying to like, it's it must have seemed like a backhand accompliment, and I totally get it. I totally get it. Um, over the last 18 months, you have gone through a whole new season. Um, obviously, with dating and now married to Levi. Last since surgeries, you're down how much weight? Like 110. That's what I thought. I thought it was like a little over 100.

SPEAKER_05 40:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Um, which is incredible. I like what like you you kind of alluded to the sugar side of things, the fitness side of things. Um, walk me through that season after the kind of the nodules working through that. Um, now that you're kind of working into that new the lifestyle side of things, but again, uniqueness. Like I would be the first one to say, stop freaking worrying about sugar. But again, obviously there's bodies that are different. So, like, I get it. Like, if you're getting these massive inflammatory responses, like I get it. And so, what's that process been like for you now over the last like eight? Because I what I want to make sure like that this is one of the coolest things to me. When we were on the final production day of, and I'm just gonna restate the story that I brought up before, which is when we were on the final day of production at the beach house, you came with Levi and all that kind of stuff, and there's a lot of stairs at the beach house. It's there is no flat at the beach. Like, we're there's even talks of putting in an elevator for my parents as they as they like get old, like because like to have access to it. And when you walked up that first flight of stairs, now obviously you probably had sitting all day, and there's a lot of to unpack there. You were hurting. Like getting up those that flight of stairs was tough, and you could see the pain you were dealing with just on that whole bit. Fast forward 18 months to your wedding day, and were were you did you plan to basically choose a third a three-story building with only stairs to get married at? No. Was that like uh now that I can, I'm gonna be way up here because I can. And I just remember you walking up and down those flight of stairs like seven, eight, ten times, like it was nothing. Yeah, and just 18 months earlier. In a wedding dress. In a black wedding dress.

SPEAKER_05 42:01

Black wedding dress.

SPEAKER_02 42:02

That that was that was I so like I it's just so friggin' awesome to see progressions that that it's just incredible to see. And so, like, kind of walk me through that process over the last 18 months.

SPEAKER_03 42:12

Yeah, so the beach house was torture on the legs, not just from the steps, but the sand. Because like sand lipedema legs feel heavier, like they just feel like you have a how like a giant bag of dog food strapped to your legs. Like, that's just the best way to describe it. Because it's nodulely like the rough dog food, and it's just heavy and it's awkward. And so imagine strapping a 50-pound bag of dog food to each leg and then trying to walk through sand up a sand dune. And so I like walked up to like look down and take pictures of everybody down low, and I'm like, I'm not even good, because I won't go back up. Like Levi would have to push, and he would, he would have pushed me up, but like I was like, no, I'm not doing it. Um but yeah, so it was just we had just gotten out of the car, it was like a five-hour drive, and so I was stiff from sitting, so stiff, and then instantly the steps was like, okay. Um, but I that was like July of 2024.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 43:17

Yeah. Um and then fast forward to um September, and I'm having my tonsils out, and I was like, I might throw in tonsils bothered me like my whole entire life. Um as a kid, I was told I should have my tonsils and adenoids out, and for some reason my parents decided not to. And so um I had gotten sick from Riley back before the whole July trip, and it just never really wanted to go away. And so I went to a specialist and went to my PCP, and they were like, Well, yeah, your tonsils look a little enlarged. And Levi's like, she needs to go see a specialist. So they're like, Okay, and I'm like, Okay. Like literally, like everybody. So it's like, okay. Um, and I get he's a little bit more forceful than I am, but it's just like, okay, you know, you've known me for years, but suddenly he says I need to it, and you're like, okay. Um, so I go to the ENT by myself. He did not go with me. And so I went to the ENT and I remember going into like the little room waiting. They shut the nurse shuts the door, and on the back of the door is a BMI chart. And I'm like, oh, this isn't gonna go out. So I am instantly defensive because when I tried 10 years prior to have my tonsils out, the doctor walked in, he had the old timey like head layup on. He walks in and he's like, looking at my chart, doesn't look at me, doesn't say hello. So he's looking at my chart. He's like, Yeah, your tonsils need to come out, but you're too overweight, I won't do the surgery. And I was like, Hello. My name's Kara, you know. And I was like, I had a C-section 100 pounds heavier. And he was like, Well, the baby had to come out. I'm like, you don't think I need to breathe? And he didn't like that. And he was like, Well, I won't do it. And he like laid the chart down and walked out of the room. And I went out to his nurse and I was like, You can cancel all my appointments. I'm not coming here for my allergy shots, I'm not coming here for anything. And so I did not think for 10 years because I he was the one that was like local in the area and that my children's covered, and I figured, like, he's not gonna help me, no one's gonna help me. And so 2024, September, I'm or it was like August, and I'm in there for the appointment. And he was like, Oh no, he's like, your tonsils need to come out. And he's like, You still have adenoids, like you shouldn't have adenoids at like 43. He was like, they're normally like disappeared by 18. He was like, You have the largest I've ever seen. He was like, I don't know how you're breathing through your nose at all. And I'm like, Oh, I'm not. Like, I don't breathe through my nose. I don't smell things unless it's like extremely strong or close to me. Like, it doesn't happen. So, like, he couldn't even get a camera down the one side because it was so like covering. And so he was like, Oh no, like I instantly went into defense mode with him and I was like, starts rattling off all this stuff. And he was, I was like, I've had seven surgeries. I was like, And he's like, Oh no, he's like, I'll do the surgery. I was like, Oh, well then you might want to take the BMI chart off your door. Cause like that instantly just makes people feel like you're not going to. And he was like, Oh, I would like rent this place with like the hospital, like I know how to say. And I was like, Okay. But like he agreed to do the surgery. We had it in September, and I like said to Levi, I was like, I think since like I can't eat for a while, like I'm gonna like try to cut out sugar like while I can't eat. And he was like, Okay, and like trying to act, like whatever. Like, meanwhile, he like now says that he planted the idea. I'm like, okay. Levi. You know. Yeah. Um, so I, you know, sugar-free popsicles and all that stuff at first, and then like kind of like slowly just cut it out. Um, I do like no added sugar. There's a few things just because I can't afford to be like completely sugar-free. Between sugar-free and gluten-free, like I would it would be like the most expensive meal ever.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

So like, you could have carrots for the rest of your life.

unknown 47:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

There's sugar in carrots too much. I know. I was like, yeah. I so I try to say under four grams of like natural sugar. Um, and try to like cu keep like no added sugar. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 47:34

So fruit, like you'll eat, so even fruit you try to like limit and things like that.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

Yeah, I really haven't had fruit since I cut out sugar, partly because I started cutting it out as the season in Pennsylvania was dying, that like fruit wasn't the best quality or price. Um, and then fruit, I have to this this is where like the on the spectrum stuff kicks in. Like I'm so bad with textures that if I like bite into an apple when it's mealy, I'm like instantly done. And I will be done with apples for like months until I feel like trying it again and risking it. Um, so I stick to my safe foods for that reason. But um, my biggest thing was like switching over coffee and because I like I didn't get it often. I drink coffee way more now than I make it at home than I ever did before, but I loved like the frozen coffee from Duncan, which is like basically a bag of sugar, if you actually look into it now. And um I didn't I noticed a difference in the sense of like my legs aren't hurting, but I didn't visually see a difference at first. And Levi was like, just humor me to step on the scale. And I was like, fine, like it's not gonna move, it never moves. And I stepped on and it was down 20 pounds. I was like, Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_06 48:57

He's like, I told you, and I'm like, So when you decided that you were gonna do this, did you have suspicions that sugar was inflammatory for you? Or why did you initially decide that?

SPEAKER_03 49:09

Um, I mean it's talked about all over the lipoemia community that's an inflammatory trigger for it. Um I just was in the mindset of like, not for me. It's not an issue for me, you know. Um, and then I cut it out and like dropped like 70 pounds and multiple inches like rapidly, and I was like, oh, okay. I have like pictures of like September to like December, and like my face is like completely different. And I was like, yeah, I was way more inflamed than I thought I was, but yeah, and then I decided in that February to add it a GLP one. Um low dose. Um it just just recently went up to like a 7.5. I'd stayed lower than that for like over a year or just over a year, and um because it was managing my inflammation how I wanted, and I was still like steadily losing about like two to four pounds a month. Like it was just still steadily like going down. Um but then like in the last couple months, I've like hit a bit of a plateau. Um, and so I decided to increase it a little bit because I noticed certain pockets of inflammation. I think part of it too though is like a little bit of like the lifting stuff and like in like I'm not gaining, I'm just it just fluctuates between these three pounds and drives me insane. And I think it drives me insane in the sense of it's a fear of like is the lipidema side of things coming back? That like the number's not moving now. Is it like regrowth that I'm not visually seeing yet? Not so much that like the number has to change. Cause if I don't ever lose a number, another pound, like I don't care in the sense of like I need to be a certain size or need to be a certain number, certain like like smaller. But my fear is that like it's gonna like go back to how bad it was. Because like I don't want to go back to that like that pain is like something that's so hard to describe. And then I don't want to put that that burden back on Riley because I feel like I took a lot of his childhood, which I know wasn't my fault, but like I feel like he didn't necessarily get like mom moments that he should have. Um and then like I don't want to put that on Levi. Like, I mean, I know he knows he signed up for whatever, and I know more than likely I'll be pushing his ass in a wheelchair at some point.

SPEAKER_02 51:53

All right, let's be honest here. He's 30, he's 39.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

No, he's 40.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

He just turned 40. Okay, I wasn't sure. I couldn't remember if he turned 40 or not. He he acts like he's 65, and I'm like, bro, you're 40. I know. And he's like, Well, I have a grandchild. And I'm like, you're still 40. I don't want to hear it.

SPEAKER_03 52:14

Yeah, yeah. I'm four years older than him, and yeah. He goes, yeah, I've got him staying up a little bit later, but he goes to bed like a little old man, and and it's like instant. When he decides he's done, he's like, Does he eat sugar-free jello like I do? He will eat anything.

SPEAKER_02 52:35

Um I'm in bed by 9:30 needing sugar-free jello. Does that make me old?

SPEAKER_03 52:42

Yes. Uh, we do the sugar-free, we do the sugar-free cool whip with the zero sugar pudding packet and freeze it like a moose. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 52:51

Oh, I like it.

SPEAKER_03 52:52

Yeah. That's like my ice cream replacement kind of thing. We have a ninja creamy, it's just too much work.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

Oh, I eat ninja creamy at least four nights a week.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

Every night.

SPEAKER_02 53:02

Literally four nights a week.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

We were out last night. It was sad.

SPEAKER_02 53:05

It hurt my soul.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

We didn't have one last night.

SPEAKER_03 53:08

I was like, no. Yeah, I would like to make it but with a teen and Levi. It doesn't, it it's not there when I want. So then I'm like, I'm not making it.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

Yeah, especially it's so loud, it's a jackhammer. You can't sneakily make it at freaking 11 o'clock. It wakes up the whole house.

SPEAKER_03 53:28

Yeah, it's definitely a loud machine. I'm sure they'll come out with a quieter version for like $200 more to make everybody want to replace it. Yeah, I was trying to be nice.

SPEAKER_06 53:38

Covered with a muffler on it.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

It's got a muffler.

SPEAKER_06 53:43

Any of the questions you had, David?

SPEAKER_02 53:45

No, that all that all um, like that was the the big ones. I love the full story because again, going back to the old days, like I getting all the context there, I thought it was two or three surges. I didn't realize it was seven. Um and so that's fun. Now, from your end, uh with the new season of life you're in, kind of last kind of thoughts, is there anything currently you kind of alluded to um in the social media space that you want to like from people that you would like to talk about and like bring up to the forefront? Is there anything in particular you'd like to talk about?

SPEAKER_03 54:17

Um just that like I I think my big thing for like the lipedema world or people in it, or even just anyone in general, like if it works for you, don't be embarrassed to do it. Like, there's such you know, negative and positive, but there's a lot of like you know, feedback about people using a GLP1. And you know, I people have told me my surgeries were the easy way out. People have told me a GLP one's the easy way out. Like, you know, people are like, you know, you just need to be in the gym, you just need to be in the gym. Like, you need to- I'm like, you're telling me that like this free surgery body would have fit in any of the machines at the gym. Like, I wouldn't have been able to do stuff. Like, so being at the gym wouldn't have done anything. Like, and I I think it's just like people don't realize that like certain steps aren't the first step. And so I think that comes for the people that are judging, and I think it comes for the people that like have the condition. Like, you're gonna be told to eat less and to diet, or but to eat less and to like exercise more. And that might not be your first step. Your first step might be getting compression or in the pool to get movement that's safe for your joints because a lot of us have hypermobility as well. So then our joints pop out and then don't want to go back because of the weight of the lipedema and the way it shifts around the joint. Like, my one knee doesn't if it it's gotten a lot better, but it used to pop out really easily and didn't want to go back into place, and so like I would baby it. I still baby it now with a leg press. Like, but I did 435 pounds the other day. Woo!

SPEAKER_02 56:04

I mean, it fits so well. Love it, it fits so well because Lara on the on the drive here talking about this whole process, because like I find it so funny. Uh, because again, I've I've gotten comments before where with the two excess skin removal surgeries, everyone just assumes like, oh, I had weight loss surgery and or I had liposuction, get it off, whatever. Um, and Lara and I are just sitting there driving in the car, and Lara's just sitting there going, and if you did, so what? Well, you're on GLP one.

SPEAKER_05 56:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

So what? You had weight loss surgery.

SPEAKER_05 56:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

Who cares? So what? So what? And Lara's just sitting there going, I what is why why does it matter to you? Like what and so it's super important to know.

SPEAKER_03 56:44

Like, yeah, I always say, like, if they're not paying your bills, if they're not taking care of you physically because you can't do something, or they're not sleeping with you, their opinion doesn't matter. And even if they're doing one of those three and they are trying to talk you against something that's for your health, then they're not the person that should be doing those three things for you. Like the, like a perfect example, the guy that I had been talking to years ago that like when I first started my Instagram and like knew of lipoema because that was like the look and shape that he wanted. We weren't even together anymore. We'd still talk as friends here and there. And he was against me having the lipedema surgeries. And I was like, if you're truly a friend, it shouldn't matter if you're attracted to me anymore because I'm getting the surgeries. Like, you should be happy that I have the opportunity for my health because you also know my kid, and you should want him to like have his mom around. And I hung up on him. And he like text me a few hours later and he was like, You're right. He's like, I it he's like, I'm happy for you. Like, this is what you want to do. Like, it shouldn't, like, my initial judgment of like this is like not what I visually want for you, shouldn't factor in. And like, it's always been something that's in the back of my head because my whole life it's been a roller coaster of what my body should be for other people. And like my nickname as a like it's infant was squeeze or squeezer because I had chubby legs even as a baby, and they would say, you just have to squeeze her. And that became like that's what my dad called me was squeezer because like of that. So, like, literally, my legs depicted my like life from the start, and then it went into at 16 being told if you stay this fat, you're not gonna find somebody to love you. And 16 was nowhere near my heaviest. So then every time I went up, like that's playing in the back of my head, and then I get into my later 20s, early 30s, and I'm doing the Instagram, and all of a sudden I have all of these creepy guys that are coming on to me that have like the plus size fetish and are suddenly like crazing my body, and it's such a weird thing to take in because like you're not used to that. And then I start having the surgeries, and then those same guys are now you're getting rid of the best part of you. And so then you have this, like, all of a sudden, that like everybody that always told you your whole life to lose weight, you now have people telling you, don't you dare lose weight, don't touch those hips, don't do this, don't do that. It's like and so when I cut out sugar and like started to lose weight, like it was a thing that I was worried about with Levi.

SPEAKER_01 59:42

Not that I thought he would like really judge me, but you're kind of taught that if guys like bigger women, they want them to be bigger women, and so like it was this whole thing of like uh it's like this is so this fits so perfectly because so at one for the majority of my life, I did not have a mustache, and I had no significant other for most of my life.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:12

I get a mustache on John Arpino pushing me to do it as I kind of had it, and then all of a sudden Lara comes into the picture and I have a fiance and I'm getting married with a mustache. And then I'm like, well, I kind of want to cut off the mustache, but if I cut off the mustache, will Lara leave me?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:28

Because I think it's the mustache.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:31

And it was it was such a joke. And our first marriage counseling, uh, our our first marriage counseling uh uh counseling, premarital counseling. Uh, I brought this up as a joke, and I think the the our our pastor was like, is he serious? Is he not serious? I'm like, I'm totally joking. I'm totally joking. But it was it was super funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:47

Maybe she's gonna leave me if I cut off the mustache.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:50

I'm not that shallow. I want dude to cut the mustache off day one, so don't worry.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:56

See, I think the mustache worked, and I I wouldn't say that for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:00

Like now I see pictures of you, David, with the mustache, and I'm like, oh my gosh, that is a lot of hair on your lip.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:10

I feel naked.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:13

Uh yeah, I joke with Levi about about shaving the beard. Don't do it. But he he he keeps saying he's going to it. I mean, if he did, he he does, but I'm hoping he doesn't. But uh yeah, so we had actually done like a little reel like a year before, or right around the time before I started like cutting out sugar. And I was like, if I never lose a pound, like is like what is your take on that as somebody that's had a weight loss journey? Because that was like one of the things we got asked all the time was like, How are you okay dating someone that's like plus size and not trying to lose weight and not doing all these things? And he was like, I love her, like doesn't matter. And like we talk about doing like an updated version of that now being down like 110 pounds or whatever, because I get a lot of people that ask as well, is like, how is he okay with your weight loss? Or I have guys in my DMs that were like, I can't believe your husband stayed with you because like if my woman lost that much weight, I'd be gone.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:09

And I'm like, Maybe that's why you're single now in my DMs.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:14

Lara has no idea. I I've heard some of the stories through both you two. It's weird. Her social media, like, there's some interesting people on the internet.

unknown 1:02:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:22

Fascinating. It takes a it takes a lot.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:25

They know I'm married and they still slot it through.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:28

So well.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:28

This is why I stick to puppy videos.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:30

Yeah, all her whole algorithm is just puppy videos.

unknown 1:02:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:38

Mine's becoming more and more gym content, and I'm like, I don't, I don't need to see all this all the time. Um yeah, one of one of the one of Levi's local gym friends was messaging me and he said something and he mentioned Ronnie Coleman, and I'm like, it pisses me off that I know who that is.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

Ah it was hysterical.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:02

And like when you mentioned C Bum earlier, he's a big bodybuilder. Oh, okay. Yeah. And then like you mentioned C Bum earlier, and I was like, why do I why do I know these names? No. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:14

Um I occasionally I occasionally show Lara all like some bodybuild, like the like the the open bodybuild. This Chris Bumstead, he was aesthetic. Like it, like the classic physic, like it's aesthetic. You get to the the open and it's just meat sacks. I just don't get it.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:30

I mean why? Why?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:32

Their heart their heart stops at 40.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:36

Yeah. Out of the ones that Levi watches, Bumstead, I I like, I can watch him. Um Samson, I can watch.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:44

Uh Will Tennyson, I like his YouTube stuff out of the stuff that like we watch. But yeah, I I I know way more about this than I ever thought I would.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:56

Yeah, you're just like, listen to those names.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:58

Lip edema and all of a sudden, I I I have a lot of bodybuilder accounts I follow. You're like, wait, what?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:03

Yeah, it's it's it's so funny. The world changes.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:07

Yeah, and I'm I like I have girls that'll be like, how are you like okay with Levi having a social media presence? I'm like, if you looked at his algorithm, it's half naked men. Like it's bodybuilders. It's like I look over. I mean, he did it at the wedding when you were talking.

unknown 1:04:24

Yeah. What?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:26

Well, David was giving his best man speech?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:28

Yes. Because that was a litzy bean.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:32

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:32

He like opened his phone and it started playing, and it was Samson because there was some competition going on. I like took his phone off of him. Like that's funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:40

That's something you would do, David. That is something I would do.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:44

But yeah, so I'm in the middle of a conversation, flip the phone.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:48

Yeah. But yeah, I mean, he knows about the libedema world now, so I can't say much.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:53

But yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

If anybody had told me that I would marry a bodybuilder and be watching my protein and in the gym, I would have been like, no. I mean, I'm sure you can attest to that from when we first talked. You would have been like, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:10

Yeah. This is not who she seasons of life. Who would who would have thought? That's funny. And then Lara, any last conversation, like thoughts from you to ask Kara, or did you have anything else you want to add?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:23

No, I feel like a lot of the things I was wondering, Kara addressed in her discussion of your story. So that was awesome. I just think it's helpful from my standpoint from the medical community as knowing how to talk to people that have lipedema. And I always find that helpful because I think it's great to learn from our patients. And uh, I meet many people that have conditions that are not super common. And I always tell them you're the expert on this. I don't know that much about it. I can learn with you, but I think it is great to learn from people that have the lived experience.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:58

Yeah, and I can. Send you over some like there's a do I have lipoema quiz that has some good questions to ask. There's like the standard of care for lipoedema in the US that like a lot of the experts wrote. This is what I need. Yes, perfect. Yeah. So I love it. I have like the medical stuff I I tune out instantly to um because I feel like I'm back in high school, but I have all the links to the people that enjoy that side of things. But yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:24

That's great. So thank you for spreading the word on lipoedema.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:29

Well, thank you guys for having me on when this started with just me yelling at you.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:35

I mean, you I think you're pretty tame. I appreciate that. I thought with when we first started this conversation about okay, if you want to rip rip at me for five minutes, I get it. Because I I I came off as uh a judgmental a-hole at the beginning there, or at least it I could see how it was perceived that way. And so you you were being nice to me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:54

Well, there's been a bit of time in between, so it's not as it's not as fresh. Um, but no, I I and I think it was just mostly the fact that it was like, once again, Levi gets all the credit. Like everybody just loves to give that man credit. Like even now, like the Lipedema people or like my friends that will see that they're like, she smiles more because of you. Like, which I get, but it's always like directed at him.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:21

I'm like, mm-hmm, that's funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:24

Nothing about like what I've done for him. It's just what he's done for me. So it's like, okay. But no, he has said a lot for both me and Riley, so I am grateful.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:39

Where do um, where do people follow you if they want to?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:43

So I am pale ginger pear across all social media. Um, and that's pale like see-through how how how blindingly white I am, and pear, like the fruit or the pear shape because of lip edema. Um, but yeah, I'm on Instagram. That's my main one, is Instagram. And then I just feel too old for TikTok. Um, but yeah, Instagram, and then um there's also Fluffy and the Pear, but that's Levi and I doing a car rance about coffee or the trash TV that I love to watch that I make him watch um and have him react to. And uh yeah, so that's it for now. We are starting a podcast as well. We're in the works of all of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:24

I'm looking forward to that. And I'm I'm trying to help with that process a little bit the best I can.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:28

Yeah. It's gonna be like a take on like we're gonna some of the stuff we're gonna like address is like the all the like, am I an asshole kind of thing on Reddit where you get, you know, people ask questions and you give your opinion because we all know Levi is very opinionated and we love his reactions. So we are going to do some of that. We're gonna do some controversial takes on the weight loss community and libedema community and stuff like that, because we are, you know, people that have both lived it now for five plus years. Um and some relationship controversy and like the take on like, you know, this is a second marriage for both of us, and we're in our 40s, and like yeah, we might have gone fast for some people's timeline, but like you just know and just kind of talk about like how a support system can make things like stepping into a gym easier and 100%, you know, because I never would have done it before. Never like I would go to the pool, like I stress over what I wear at the gym, and I'm will then walk out in a two-piece at the pool. Like it doesn't make sense. But I feel comfortable like in that setting, and but like the gym stuff, I like but like I know more people at our gym now than he does. Like people that are like, hi, and he's like, Oh, they're like, Well, you don't look at anybody. You walk in and go like right to your thing. I'm locked in.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:57

I'm the same way as Lebo.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:59

I don't know, David. You talk to people every time I'm with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:02

I get my I get my eight sets of talking in the beginning, usually the beginning of the end and then during the moment. But I'm also I work out differently with you. Oh, because normally I'm listening to like screamo, I want to stab somebody music. Like normal, like I'm just in my own little world, and then it's just a little different when when we're okay. I like to talk.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:22

Well, thank you, Kara. We appreciate your time. And we're excited for your podcast in the future. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:28

Anything else, David? Uh, hopefully everyone got some great value out of this. I know I did. And uh, if you guys have any future episodes or people you would like to have, like different uh anyone listening to this right now, if you have different types of people we'd like to have on the show, I'd love to add up a whole nother collaborative effort on this kind of topic of that dance between lived experience and the science. And there's they're both important.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:50

So absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:51

Well, it was a pleasure. Everyone, have a phenomenal day, and we'll talk to you all later.