The Cuban comedian Carlucho (José Carlos Pérez Córdoba) revealed in an interview with CiberCuba from Madrid the details of his gastric sleeve surgery, which allowed him to go from 320 to 186 pounds, a total loss of 134 pounds that he has maintained steadily for a long time.
Carlucho explained that for years his medical tests came back normal despite his obesity, which led him to not take action: "I felt like a healthy fat person. In other words, I would take what I shouldn't take, I would eat what I shouldn't eat."
It was a kind of sudden revelation that made him react: “It was a divine sign. I got up and said: this is a lie, this is a lie. I’m going to die one morning just like this because I weighed 320 pounds.”
Before going to the operating room, the comedian tried the gym and diets without success. He bought sportswear from all brands and in every color, but his willpower failed him: "Four days in, I ended up eating the entire fridge in the middle of the night. Just me, the whole thing, I even ate the frost. I have no willpower."
Unlike other artists, Carlucho emphasized that he paid for the procedure out of his own pocket: “No one can say they know who operated on me because, unlike other artists, I didn’t do it for trade; I paid for it. In other words, for me, it was a serious commitment.”
The operation, performed in August 2022 in Miami, lasted only 15 minutes. Carlucho humorously described it: "The operation takes 15 minutes, but you know how we men are; we get a tooth pulled and request three days off work." The next day, they took an X-ray to verify that there were no leaks and sent him home for recovery.
In less than two months, he had already lost 55 pounds thanks to gastric reduction, and by December of that same year, he was celebrating having lost nearly 100 pounds, calling the decision "the best of his life."
By February 2024, Carlucho had lost 154 pounds and he celebrated it with a straightforward phrase: "Don't mess with me; there are 154 pounds less and a lot of health to keep moving forward."
However, in this month’s interview, he was honest about the emotional cost of living with a reduced stomach: “There are pleasures in life that cannot be negotiated. There comes a moment for every human when they eat, when they feel full, and they say: 'That was great, I ate!' I never say that anymore. I eat three times a day, but I eat very little.”
Regarding the external perception versus inner reality, he reflected with irony: "From 320 to 186. And I love it when people say to me: but you look really good. And inside, that’s where the real turmoil is."
Carlucho concluded the topic with a poetic phrase that encapsulates his experience: "The world's carnival deceives so much that life is a brief masquerade. When one undergoes surgery, they learn to laugh with tears and to cry with laughter." He added straightforwardly, "What wouldn't you give to live longer? At the rate I was going, I was going to die."
The interview takes place days before their performance at the Teatro Las Vegas in Madrid, on May 3, where they will reunite with Robertico after 25 years apart as the duo Los Bufomaníacos, amid the controversy with presenter Carlos Otero, who publicly stated that he would never work with him again.
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