LittleBill

Any time you expel matter from your body, you lose weight. The amount of weight will vary. Some people are so full of you know what that they could practically disappear with a healthy bowel movement. The truth of the matter though, is that you will lose more weight from taking a healthy leak than pooping. But in either case, you will lose weight.

@@Fredbear I am not going to get into the whole thing about revenge, or who is right and who is wrong. None of us know the whole story. But I do have to write a few things in response to your posts. There are a lot of men out there who still believe in honor, integrity, and responsibility. I have no idea what the dynamics were in her marriage, but I do know that two people created not just a "contract", but a family. That family has been torn apart for whatever reason. The man involved still has responsibilities, whether he chooses to acknowledge them or not. Regardless of what passed between him and his wife, the children are the ones who suffer the most in this. They will spend the rest of their lives wondering if it is something they did, and if they could have done better or made it right if they had just tried harder. You might want to consider editing your post to reflect the fact that it is only your opinion. You sure as hell don't speak for me, or people like me.

Jokes like that aren't kosher! @@xoxococojay I haven't really had any issues, but we have been told repeatedly that it can take a while to be able to eat some things we used to eat. If it bothers you, let it go for a while, and then try it again in a few weeks. There are a lot of physiological changes going on right now, so don't give up on it forever because of one bad experience.

I didn't get my catheter until the day after surgery. That's when they told me, "Oh yeah, the anesthesia does that sometimes, stops your bladder from working". "Thanks a whole bunch for warning me, bariatric team!" I did not think I could grit my teeth that hard. Especially the second time. But I got better.

Yeah, I've got some friends and family members who could definitely benefit, but they are smart enough to see how things are going with me. One or two have even alluded to the possibility, and I said I would be glad to discuss it, but they will have to bring it up. As for fat strangers from NYC? Fuggedaboutit!

It's on TLC, new season begins January 4th! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Thank you! I will have to check it out. I don't watch TV, and have not for years. Mrs. LittleBill had to tell me there was something wrong with the cable the other day. If it was up to me, there is no telling how long it would have gone on. But give me a good movie...

I was off mine during the day on the second day. I took it at night before going to bed for a few more days just in case I rolled over. I wanted to minimize the chances of waking up because of a sharp pain. As has already been said, everyone is different in their situation both because of tolerance and the way our body was handled. Good luck with it!

@@theantichick We must have some sort of psychic connection, because I am the person who thinks that I am going to be the ONLY ONE who this doesn't work for. As for hunger. Pre-op, there were days where I thought I was going to have to gnaw my left arm off to survive. Post op, I still get hungry, but it is very controlled. In other words, if I am eating my protein first (and I am) and I am eating at my regularly scheduled intervals (which I do, most of the time) then I will feel hunger, but I do not feel like it is controlling me. I eat the portions that my nutritional plan recommends, and I am fully satisfied. Between meals, I drink plenty of fluids, which also helps with those occasional hunger pangs. Before my surgery, Tastykakes were a big part of my life. I loved them. I have not had a Tastykake since June, and I have not had any cravings for them. The same goes for Dunkin Donuts. I drive through there several times in a week, and sometimes twice in a day. I have yet to buy anything more than coffee. Well, there was that one time where my rider bought me a turkey sausage sammich, but that wasn't a doughnut. And I didn't eat the bread. I think you will do fine if you stick with your program, and find things to occupy your mind with besides TV shows, advertisements, and fantasies about food.

Congratulations! You sound a lot like me. Why wait for something to wend its way through channels when you can make some calls and accelerate the process! Good luck with it!

There's a TV show about fat people?

You know how people who were one thing, and then reformed themselves all of a sudden become fanatical about that thing they used to be? Ex smokers are one of the best examples, policing the ranks of those who continue to smoke, evangelizing them to save them from that particular sin. They are especially known for their zeal. I sort of felt that way today. After my post op check up (which went very well), I drove up to visit my parents and help my Dad with a few chores around the house. While we were working, my Mom declared that we needed to go to the store to get some things she had been wanting for a while. Now "we" translates and "Dad and I". As for the store, she did not care, as long as it had everything she wanted on her list. It was that discussion that led to the circumstances where I found myself a short while later. We wound up in the mecca for fat people. There were more fat people there than at the Golden Corral on 10% off day. Yes. I am talking about Walmart. I hate going to Walmart. I don't like having to walk for what seems like miles just to discover they really don't have what I want. What's even worse sometimes IS finding what I want. Then I have to stand in line to check out - a line that stretches into the hazy distance like people lined up waiting for Judgment Day. And today was even worse. We were at a Walmart in a popular vacation spot for people from a very large city whose initials are N.Y.C. So it was fat people with an attitude. I also made the mistake of texting Mrs. LittleBill to tell her I was at Walmart, thinking she would at least sympathize. I received an LOL and a list of stuff to look for. So now I had two missions. We had to park so far away from the building that all we could see was the top, peeking over the horizon. I am pretty sure we were in a different zip code. The parking lot was solid with vehicles. In the distance I could see people dodging back and forth between the city drivers zooming around looking for the best spot. I said to Dad, "Maybe today isn't such a good day to try and go in there." He turned to me and said, "It's not worth my life to come home empty handed! We're going in!" We eventually made it to the door. I grabbed a cart, and waded into the mêlée, calling out to Dad that we could split up and cover more territory more quickly. It was like a cross between bumper cars and the demolition derby. People were smacking into one another left and right, coming out of the ends of the aisles like they had been fired out of a cannon. Baleful glares and insincere apologies were exchanged with abandon. And in all of this, there was a huge number of human juggernauts, cruising through slowly, yet unstoppable. They drew my attention with fascination. Like the ex smoker described above, I looked from person to person, thinking: "You need bariatric surgery. You need bariatric surgery. You REALLY need bariatric surgery! I can't believe I used to look like that! Did I really look like that!?! This place is a GOLD MINE for my surgeon!" It was actually kind of weird. On one hand, I felt something of a kinship with these people while on the other hand I was repulsed. I think a lot of the latter had to do with attitude though. I really get impatient with rude people. In one sense it was something of an NSV for me. I am still fat, but I am not the land yacht I used to be, and to a degree, I felt a whole lot slimmer as I negotiated the killing fields of the retail environment. It was also something of a wake up call, to learn that I do not perceive myself in the same way that I used to. I am going to have to work on that one for a while. It kind of snuck up on me and grabbed me by the throat. But at least I made it out of there alive.

I employed the suggestion made by @@blizair09 and showed up in my stretchy pants, which are getting quite baggy on me. They are SO baggy I was afraid to put my wallet in my pocket for fear of being arrested in the parking lot for flashing people. I changed afterwards at my parent's house. I hate wearing stretchy pants if I am not lounging about the LittleBill compound. @@Dub Back in my really fat days, I was getting on the scale at my PCP's office. I forget the number, but it was well over 400, probably over 450. I looked at the young lady with the chart as deadpan as a judge, and said, "Well, I've got a lot of keys on my key ring." She nodded knowingly and replied, "Oh, I know, they can really throw it off!" Either she was an incredible actor with very fast response time, or it sailed right past her.

I did not do much in the way of socializing while I was on my liquid phase, since it was liquids in and liquids out. I had a few friends stop by to visit, and of course I interacted with Mrs LittleBill every day. She offered to eat bland, non aromatic foods around me so as not to cause me any grief. I told her to eat what she wanted, and not to worry about me. As has been mentioned, this is a lifetime choice. You are going to be in this position over and over again, unless you decide to go all Jeremiah Johnson on people, and go live on a mountain by yourself. Now is a good time to start getting used to it. The other thing, and I want to write this as gently as possible, is this. People cannot read your mind. If they ask you for input and you give them input, you should not be surprised or offended if they respond according to that input. Writing as a man who has dealt with the feminine psyche for many years, this is a sensitive topic. If you tell us things are fine, we are going to act that way. You can't tell people you are fine with something when you aren't, and expect them to parse that to get your true feelings. A little transparency will go a long way for you.

The past in in the past, and there is no amount of dwelling on it which will change it. Look forward to what the future brings, and resolve to be victorious one day at a time. You only have to do this for today, not tomorrow or the next. When tomorrow arrives, it is today, and you only have to do it for today. But if you dwell on the past, and contemplate the entirety of the future, it will crush you.

@@blizair09 That's an idea I didn't even think of! I may do that.

Tomorrow I have another follow up visit with the nice CRNP at the surgeon's office. I have seen my blood work, and all my numbers look great, with the exception that I seem to be a little low on zinc. Maybe they will try to rezinc my settings while I am there to see if that helps. But that's not why I am posting. No, I started this process in warm, sunny, June. I showed up for all my appointments in sandals and shorts. Even as the weather grew cooler, I was able to show up in stretchy pants and my sandals, because I was coming right back home. I dressed that way to be consistent on the scale for their records. Well tomorrow, I've got to leave out of the doc's office on errands, visits, familial obligations, etc. and I am NOT going to prance about the countryside in stretchy pants. No way. I'm going with my regular dress and load out for my belt and pockets, and THAT is going to add to the scale. I'm gonna have some 'splainin' to do. They will think I hijacked the Tastykake truck. Note to self: Don't schedule appointments on errand day.

There is a whole team. And they have been doing this for so long, that they are plodding along in their rut. I had a whole team too, and there were a number of times I had to do some stern talking on the phone or in person to get things cleared up, straightened out, or fixed the way they should be. Do not be afraid to advocate for yourself. You are paying these people (one way or another) which means they work for YOU. You need to make sure that they understand you want to be a satisfied customer.

Speaking of dumping... They call them slider foods, and not just because they slide through your sleeve. You may very well find they keep right on sliding out the other end. With force. All that is left behind is a sore butt, calories infesting your system, and a feeling of guilt. You need to get some help with the mental and emotional aspect if you want to win at this. Good luck with it.

Mrs LittleBill says I will never be normal, but as far as feeling that way, I have been feeling pretty good for the past month, and I am about two and a half months out from surgery. Life is all about changes. Some are more abrupt than others. This is one I had time to prepare for, so it is going well. Ninety per cent of this is mindset.

I'm pretty much the same size you are. I am at 364 lbs right now, and I've lost 117 so far. The thing is for me, I am only 40-60 lbs away from where I want to end up. I have a large frame and muscle mass. I would think real long and hard about the DS, and the fact that you have asked about it indicates you are. I think the question becomes, if you were told you would be staying at the weight you are at right now for the rest of your life, would you be happy? Would you be healthy? These are questions only you and your wife can answer. For me, if I did not lose another pound, I would be disappointed, but I am not sure I would be disappointed enough to go with a DS operation and all that would entail.

Not just nude, but for us hairier types, they come in and SHAVE your belly! Mrs. LittleBill teased me for weeks about looking like I was wearing a bra made of hair, since the rest of me was shorn clean. As far as I can tell, nobody messed with my manly parts, but since I was out cold, I could not say for sure. I do look closely at the various workers when I go to the doctor's office or the hospital though, to make sure no one is giggling at me.

@@theantichick @@Sai Okay, you two ladies have given me a lot to think about, and add to what I have learned. I am not above saying I was wrong about something if it turns out I was, and I am always willing to listen to new information. As to that other thing, my problems tend in the other direction. There isn't a .380 out there where I can hit the broad side of a barn - from the inside. My paw is so enormous I carry an N frame revolver when I can, so a .45 is just a natural for me. Mrs. LittleBill has a very nice Kahr 9mm. It conceals very nicely for her. But you can't really go wrong with a Ruger.

I've read the same stuff. They're not claiming that it's the same chemical structure. They're trying to explain in layman's terms how they're changing the chemical structure. They're describing stripping out everything but the protein chain and then binding the protein chain to less stuff but still stabilizing the protein chain and in the process making it more bioavailable. In trying to make it understandable to non scientists they've actually made their description not scientifically accurate. My scientist dad used to get driven crazy by this, he called it "simplification to the point of error". I've read some other documents by the company, and it appears to me they're claiming that their process of refining the Proteins reduces allergens and makes more of the protein bioavailable and that's what they're basing the claim on. I've also read the outcomes from the clinical trial. While I think there are some basic flaws in the study design, my conclusion based on the raw data from the study (available at clinical trials dot gov) is that Genepro is as good as any other protein powder. I have found it to be easier to mix in more foods at more temperatures than other brands, so I'll stick with it. For me, it's like the question of which is better, a .380 or a 9mm? The answer is the one you'll actually carry. My 9mm is a much better weapon, but it's not concealable. My .380 is, so it's the one I'm more likely to actually have at hand. If another protein powder is better, but I won't use it because it's gritty or changes the texture too much, or won't dissolve well in hot liquids, is it really better? You've been paying attention to all my posts, haven't you? If given a choice between 9mm and .380, I always go with .45 ACP. Seriously, I appreciate the way you have laid it out. To continue the analogy, if this is the way they are going about it, they are really shooting themselves in the foot. I am not a scientist, but I am fairly well educated, and I know enough about chemistry and physics that when someone says they are shrinking molecules... I am working real hard at getting my protein from natural food. I realize there will be some Protein shakes and bars in my life, but I am reducing them as much as possible, just because of some of the, uhhh, side effects (especially the bars). I don't gain or lose anything in the Genepro discussion, and that makes it easy to keep an open mind. Thank you.

I was as scared as a little girl contemplating my surgery. It was my first experience with surgery as well, and I had all the worries about things going hideously wrong. I was reasonably confident in the doc and his team, most of whom I never met, but confident because of their track record. I'm a little different than a lot of people though, because I am a Christian. Some will scoff, but I put my faith in God's will for my life. That did not exactly take away my fear, but it allowed me to deal with it and get through it. This is not a post to tell you you need to get saved and all will be fine. This is just telling you how I made it through. But if you do believe in God, this might be a good time to discuss it with him. "Courage is fear holding on a minute longer." George Patton

You look like you are doing great!