'Mike & Molly' star Billy Gardell shares secret to maintaining 170-pound weight loss

Billy Gardell, known for his starring role on the sitcom "Mike & Molly," has lost a serious amount of weight in the last couple of years.

Now, the actor is revealing the details of how he managed to do it, and what he does now to maintain his new weight.

Gardell underwent bariatric surgery in 2022, and he told People in a new interview that the procedure "changed and saved my life."

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Billy Gardell has lost 170 pounds since his weight-loss surgery in 2022. (Getty Images)

He then added, "But what I will say about this surgery is it's not the answer, it's just the beginning. So my suggestion to anybody who's considering this is to study and really immerse yourself in the commitment it takes after the surgery to maintain this and take care of yourself. If you're not willing to make that commitment, don't do the surgery. But if you are willing to make that commitment, then it's been an incredibly healthy change for my life."

That commitment, for Gardell, includes a healthy diet and regular exercise. He also makes sure to go on a walk every day. He has a "cheat meal" once a week, but sets limits on it, such as "two slices of pizza as opposed to the entire pie."

Billy Gardell currently weighs just over 200 pounds. (Getty Images)

He added, "I've really learned that the thing is to not look in the mirror and be mean to yourself and go, ‘Oh, you got to change this. Come on, you lazy piece of crap. Keep going.’ None of that works. You got to look in the mirror and go, ‘All right, I love you and I'm going to take care of you today.’ And that's a hard thing to get to until you evolve emotionally. And I think that happened for me."

His weight currently hovers around 207 pounds, and he says he's lost about 170 pounds during his journey.

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Ahead of his surgery, he explained that he'd actually been planning on having the procedure done a couple of times, but he "chickened out."

Billy Gardell at SiriusXM Studios in New York City in 2017. (Getty Images)

"At some point you get sick and tired of being sick and tired," he said. "I was so big that I was at the point where it hurt to exercise. Then I developed type 2 diabetes, and I went on a drug for that for about a year and a half. And then I said, ‘Do I really want to be on a drug the rest of my life?’"

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He said that he "tried everything" to lose weight, but that he got into a cycle of losing 30 pounds then gaining 35 back.

Billy Gardell said that weight loss surgery was only the beginning of his journey to being more healthy. (Getty Images)

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"So I needed something drastic," he admitted, "but it wasn't going to come until I was ready to surrender that even with the surgery, I was going to have to change my way of thinking."

It was the COVID-19 pandemic that inspired him to change his thought patterns – his weight put him at higher risk for more serious symptoms.

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"The idea of not being here for my wife or my kid motivated my change, motivated me into I will commit to whatever it takes to get healthy," he said. "Sometimes you need help and you have to be humble enough to ask for help in order for that to happen."