Remi Bader Reveals Family Member Offered Her $1K to Lose 20 Pounds as Binge Eating Disorder Developed in Childhood

Remi Bader is opening up about her weight loss after undergoing bariatric surgery in December 2023. While she revealed that her post-op road to recovery was brutal, the fashion influencer had already endured a lifelong struggle against diet culture.

In an interview with Self published on Wednesday, March 26, Bader, 30, looked back on her history of disordered eating — namely her struggle with binging — which started during childhood.

Bader claimed she went on her first diet at around age 10 and continued to modify her eating habits as she grew up. Her dieting efforts included trying WeightWatchers “10 different times” and joining her mother on “something called the Fast Metabolism Diet,” she said in the interview.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

She added that her loved ones regularly encouraged her body-conscious behavior. Once, Bader told Self, a family member offered her “a thousand dollars to lose 20 pounds.”

Bader told Self, “I loved being curvy my whole life; I just did. It was who I was,” but when her health declined as a result of her weight, she started to “battle” herself on the issue.

“I will always believe that you could be a bigger size and be healthy and happy. I was for a while, that wasn’t a lie,” she told the publication. “But there was a point when it shifted, and I became really unhappy.”

Because of her dieting tendencies, Bader said she would fall into a “diet and restrict cycle, which only got worse over time.” The article includes a quote from one of her emails to a dietician in 2019, in which the content creator says she was “getting pretty desperate” and scared of her relationship with food and eating. She was ultimately diagnosed with binge eating disorder.

Bader told Self she started exploring weight loss surgery options after various medications — including Ozempic, Vyvanse and antidepressant Wellbutrin — failed to yield results. She consulted with a doctor and determined which operation was best suited for her situation. They settled on a single anastomosis duodenal-ileal bypass with sleeve gastrectomy (SADI-S).

The SADI-S follows the gastric sleeve — which removes a large portion of the stomach to reduce capacity for food — with another procedure to close off part of the small intestine and connect the stomach to the lower intestine.

In conjunction with the surgery, Bader told Self she worked on bettering her mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing. She said she remained on medication for anxiety and depression “because it’s made me feel so much better.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, please go to NationalEatingDisorders.org.