Mike & Molly’s Billy Gardell reveals he no longer has diabetes after 150lb weight loss… two years after gastric bypass surgery
- Billy Gardell, 53, helped him lose his type 2 diabetes by losing weight
- The married father of one underwent gastric bypass surgery two years ago
- Gardell said his healthier self has helped his relationship with his 20-year-old son
Billy Gardell announced he is no longer diabetic after his impressive 150lb weight loss following gastric bypass surgery in 2021.
Reflecting on adopting a healthier lifestyle, the 53-year-old actor gushed about finally being able to shop for clothes in stores and said his diet consists of “small but very healthy” meals.
“I think you need to find peace with yourself and at some point look in the mirror and go, you know, it’s probably time to take care of you,” the Mike & Molly star told Entertainment Tonight.
She continued, “Then I didn’t get that note early. So I’m a firm believer that if you get it, you get it. It doesn’t matter when. As long as you understand.’
As of now, the father-of-one who said he “swims between 205 and 210 pounds” is “walking around pretty healthy these days.”
Trimmer than ever: Billy Gardell announced he is no longer diabetic after his impressive weight loss of 150 pounds following gastric bypass surgery in 2021
While he said it was “a real gift” to be able to find clothes more easily, Gardell explained that “the health stuff” was “the big thing.”
Aside from no longer having type 2 diabetes, his “resting heartbeat went from 113 to 68.”
“To be honest, I eat like all the people I used to make fun of,” he joked. “I’ve had enough and now I’m at the place where I can grab a few bites of something decadent if I want to.”
Gardell told readers that “self-care is important,” but admitted the last vice he’s trying to quit is “smoking cigarettes.”
For those considering gastric bypass surgery, the Pennsylvania native said the surgery is just “the beginning.”
“Because what you have to commit to on the other side is what you have to look at … if you’re not willing to commit to that routine. Do not do it. But if you’re willing to put yourself into it on a daily basis, the proof is in the pudding,” he concluded.
He also contributed to fatherhood to motivate him to take steps to live longer and be able to participate in all of his 20-year-old son William’s biggest milestones.
“I have a kid, and when you turn 50, you start counting that dad, like, ‘If I can live another 25 years, he’ll be 40. So I want to be there for him,'” he noted.
“I think you need to find peace with yourself and eventually look in the mirror and go, you know, it’s probably time to take care of you,” the Mike & Molly star told Entertainment Tonight; seen in 2011
Gardell then looked back at how he was “in many good ways an example to” a child but not a “good example of health to him.”
“And that’s why I want him to see that it doesn’t matter how old you are. If you are willing to do something every day, you can change everything. That’s the message I wanted to convey to him,” the actor said.
Gardell is best known for starring in Sullivan & Son and Bob Hearts Abishola, and for the voice of Santa in Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas.
He has been married to his wife Patty Knight since 2001.
Distinguished Career: Gardell is best known for starring in Sullivan & Son and Bob Hearts Abishola, and for the voice of Santa in Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (seen opposite Melissa McCarthy in Mike & Molly).
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