Remi Bader Shares Her Struggles With "Brutal" Weight Loss Surgery

Being an iconic fashion model can seem like somewhat of a mixed blessing. While you have the opportunity to make a career out of your good looks and personality, it opens you to judgment and expectations from fans and critics alike.

This may be doubly true for those who model plus sizes, such as TikToker and model Remi Bader.

Before she underwent an intense weight loss journey, people criticized her size. Once she lost weight, people criticized her weight loss.

It's the kind of situation where you're criticized no matter what you do.

Yet despite all of the noise, Remi was able to harness her weight loss journey to improve her health and boost her confidence. In March 2025, she opened up about the way she lost all of the weight and how difficult the process has been along the way. Here's what she had to say.

In 2023, Remi decided to embark on a weight-loss journey by undergoing bariatric surgery.

In an interview with Self, she talked about the choice to undergo surgery and what the recovery was like. According to the outlet, the surgery she underwent is called single anastomosis duodenal-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S).

Mayo Clinic explains that first a sleeve gastrectomy is done, and then "a section of the small intestine known as the duodenum is closed off just below the new stomach sleeve. This opening below the new stomach is then connected to a part of the lower small intestine called the ileum." This duodeno-ileal bypass shortens the length of time and distance during which the body can absorb fat, while the sleeve gastrectomy significantly reduces stomach size to limit how much a person can eat at one time.

In December 2023, Remi underwent surgery. While she expected a quick recovery, that's not what happened. Speaking with Self, Remi explained, “I need to say that it was the most brutal thing.” Not only was her recovery time in the hospital fraught with complications, but the first three months saw her spiraling into the worst depression of her life. She shared, "I couldn’t tell people. I really — I wanted to die.”

But anti-depressants and anxiety medications helped her recover her mental state. As for her health, the surgery did what she hoped it would.

Remi explained to Self that she always loved her body, but she suffered from overeating and binge-eating episodes, yo-yoing in and out of diets and fads her whole life.

She told the magazine, "I loved being curvy my whole life; I just did. It was who I was." When she realized she needed to lose weight, she fought a "battle" with herself. “I will always believe that you could be a bigger size and be healthy and happy."

Remi added, "I was for a while, that wasn’t a lie. But there was a point when it shifted, and I became really unhappy."

While modeling, she was affected by severe back pain that limited her ability to stand or sit upright for long periods of time. She became overheated easily and described sweating off her makeup. Remi developed high cholesterol and fatty liver disease, and her doctor warned that her weight and conditions were affecting her fertility. That was the turning point for her that drove her to surgery.

The TikToker told the outlet that things are complicated now: “I was lost with my identity before. I wasn’t big enough at first and plus-size enough at first for the plus-size community. Then I became too big … for some brands even to work with. Now I’m too small? I actually don’t know where I’m supposed to be."

Overall, however, she feels better physically, with no more knee or back pain and regular periods. But she's struggling to find her identity now that the plus-size community no longer feels she's inclusive enough.

Remi mused, "I think I’ve let so many people take my power away for a long time. I will never regret having my time to heal, and I’m still healing and figuring it out. … That was none of the internet’s business — these people that don’t know me — and that was for me to figure out."