Billy Gardell, Down 173 Lbs., Reveals What Prompted Transformation (Exclusive)

“Mike & Molly” star Billy Gardell is opening up to “Extra” about his 173-lb. weight loss. 

He’s half the man he used to be after making drastic changes and opting to undergo bariatric surgery. 

Gardell pointed out his list of past lifestyle issues saying, “It was overweight, smoker, sleep apnea, asthma… I had everything on my bingo card except 'over 65,' and that’s what I’m trying to get to.”

Billy went on, “So I got bariatric surgery… starting to think, you know, I want to be here for my kids and I want to annoy my wife for another 20 years… I want to be there for them, and so I knew there was a culmination of all the right forces pushing me.”

Keeping the weight off has been a challenge.

He explained, “Nobody’s going to have perfect days all the time but be more consistent than you aren’t. I had a wonderful food therapist who really changed my mindset on that because I would always be saying things like, 'I’m going to be more disciplined,' and she’s like, 'No, discipline is the end result of consistent.’ So, she kind of framed different things in my mind and my relationship with food… Changing those things between your ears, you can change anything.”

Now, he’s turned his weight loss into comedy on his new “Less Is More” cross-country stand-up tour.

Gardell confessed, “The old man in me doesn’t want to travel, but the performance is great. I just don’t want to go to the airport.” Instead, he wishes he had the beaming technology used in “Star Trek”!

Billy loves that all six seasons of “Mike & Molly” are coming to Netflix.

He shared, “I’m excited about that because hopefully we’ll catch a new generation of younger viewers that will dig into that show because I think it’s a classic."

What about a reboot?