🎙️This episode is sponsored by an unrestricted education grant from Eli Lilly Canada

Metabolic bariatric surgery is often misunderstood as a last resort, or dismissed as “the easy way out.” In this episode, Dr. Boris Zevin joins Dr. Roshan Abraham and Michelle McMillan to discuss where surgery fits in obesity care, how it affects the biology of obesity, and how clinicians can talk about it with less stigma and more clarity.

In this episode

• Where metabolic bariatric surgery fits in obesity care

• Why surgery is more than “weight loss surgery”

• How surgery can affect hormones, metabolism and diabetes control

• Why timing and shared decision-making matter

• How stigma can shape a patient’s willingness to consider surgery

• What long-term follow-up can look like after surgery

• How to talk about weight recurrence with patients without blame

Additional resources

• Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines

• Chapter: Bariatric Surgery: Selection & Pre-operative Work Up: https://utm.guru/uscNZ 

• Chapter: Bariatric Surgery: Surgical Options & Outcomes: https://utm.guru/uscN1  

• Chapter: Bariatric Surgery: Post-Operative Management: https://utm.guru/uscN2  

• Free course: A Comprehensive Overview of Bariatric Surgery for Obesity Management: https://utm.guru/uscN3 

Calibre: Practical Clinical Strategies for Obesity Management

If this episode leaves you thinking about how to strengthen your own approach to obesity care, Obesity Canada’s Calibre course is designed to help.

Calibre is an accredited course for healthcare professionals who want practical, evidence-based tools they can apply in real clinical settings. The course combines self-paced learning with live, interactive sessions, helping learners build confidence in obesity assessment, treatment, communication, and patient-centred care.

The next cohort runs September 3 through October .

Learn more & register: https://utm.guru/uscN4 

Learning objectives

• Apply evidence-based criteria to collaborate with patients in assessing the role of metabolic and bariatric surgery within a comprehensive obesity management plan 

• Analyze the physiological and hormonal changes following metabolic surgery to better manage long-term patient outcomes and establish realistic clinical expectations.

• Evaluate how the stigma framing surgery as the ”easy way out” creates systemic barriers to care, and implement communication strategies to dismantle this internalized bias during shared decision-making.

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Disclosures

This episode script was developed using NotebookLM to synthesize complex source materials into a structured educational format. The tool was used to analyze the Canadian Obesity Education Competencies (COECs), the Obesity Canada Strategic Plan, and guest-specific research. Specific prompts were utilized to extract relevant learning objectives, map them to CanMEDS roles, and generate competency-based interview questions.

While NotebookLM assisted in drafting the narrative arc and educational framework, all content has been reviewed, fact-checked, and refined by the podcast hosts and Obesity Canada's clinical experts. This ensures the script aligns with current Clinical Practice Guidelines and authentically represents the lived experience perspective.