LittleBill

@@sgc I'm sort of there right now too. I just suck it in if I am around other people. So far it is working out. I figure things will sort themselves out eventually.

@@izzy13 Thank you, and I hope your progress is going as well as mine is, or even better!

@@suzzzzz Good points. We need to be ready to educate others, but not at the expense of ourselves. If we can share with others without worrying about how it will affect us personally, it goes a long way toward "advancing the cause".

Water heaters are part of my life. We don't actually have one, as we have a summer/winter system with our furnace. BUT, my parents have a water heater, and their very acidic water kills it on a regular basis. My father hates strangers coming in the house, so guess who gets to do the plumbing? Yeah, that's right. You got it in one, right?

Back in the bad old days, that would have been a sign of a different sort. And, I was an expert at one handed removal. But I have reformed since then. Just ask Mrs. LittleBill.

Nooooooo!!!!!! Sugar alcohols, regardless of cravings, are going to make you squirt like George Jetson on steroids. Don't ask me how I know this.

Around here, free Protein means road kill that hasn't been hit so bad that some of it can't be salvaged. Good for you. I hope you do well with it!

I am not going to be any help at all. But, I want to contribute something. Mrs. LittleBill will often ask me, "How does this look?" I say fine, even before I have looked. I have the bruises to prove it. Good luck, and there are many people here way more qualified to help you than me.

I was all excited, because I am terrible about cleaning closets out. I figured I had plenty of clothes to last me through the winter. I was wrong. I dropped 4-5 sizes in pants within WEEKS, and had to go out and buy some more. Right now I am shopping at Walmart instead of Casual Male, figuring I am only going to get a few weeks out of smaller sizes anyway. Pants have slowed down a bit. Belts cost me a fortune, but that is because I carry a lot of stuff around on my belt, and I need a good one no matter what.

Being a guy, I can't actually offer a testimony, but congratulations on your pregnancy. It may not be easy, but I am here to tell you that once that baby pops out, it will be worth it, and it STILL won't be easy. We had three daughters, and I would do it all over again. Good luck with it. I hope you and your little one do well.

@@jaynamy3 If you have the picture stored on your computer (I am assuming you are using a computer, since I am old), click on the button for "choose file" under attach files and then click on "Attach this file". That will upload the picture to this site without having to use links to somewhere else.

I was as close as "don't matter" to you in starting weight. My high weight (as far as I know) was 481 lbs. I dropped 67 of those pounds just by going to a 2000-2500 calorie a day diet pre-op. Today marks three months post-op for me, and I am down 125 lbs. It does work, and it can work for you. And if it doesn't give you the results you need, the sleeve sets you up for the duodenal switch. Losing 44 lbs (20 kg) by February might be tough. I started out losing a pound a day, but that slacked off fairly quickly. Looking back at my timeline, I lost at an average of 7.6 kg a month pre-op. But every one of us is different, so I say go for it. What do you have to lose, except weight? I do not have any advice on books, or even reflux. I had a very slight case of reflux before I started this process. It required one Prilosec every two to three days to control it. My doc says he fixed a very small hiatal hernia, so small it did not even show up on the endoscopy, so that may help. Right now I am still taking one Prilosec a day as a preventative against acid as my stomach continues to heal. Good luck with it!

@@Torriluv87 Thank you! I tell Mrs. LittleBill what a lucky woman she is on a regular basis. She just rolls her eyes.

And even more importantly, who is the idiot who thought it would be a good idea to buy? I was canvassing the house looking for a small cooler. I need to be able to transport a couple of meals of refrigerated items from time to time, and I knew we had something somewhere. I queried Mrs. LittleBill through the modern miracle of texting. She replied that she was pretty sure we had a soft sided one down in the laundry room. I found it. It was some sort of corporate gift, as evidenced by the company name proudly emblazoned on the top. And, it looked like it would probably be a serviceable, if not ideal cooler. But then I pulled it off the shelf. Some mental giant designed the thing with two CUP HOLDERS in the top. Now, on the face of it, that might seem like a great idea. Cup holders on your cooler. It evokes images of happy people sitting around on the ground, or even a bench somewhere, quaffing their drinks, which are ready to hand at a convenient location, because their soft sided cooler has cup holders in the top! But let's think about this for just a moment. Soft sided coolers, by definition, are SOFT! They have no real structural rigidity of their own. While they may be very good at containing items, they really aren't designed to HOLD THINGS UP. They can't even hold THEMSELVES up! You have to stuff them FULL of something to get that. But wait! When you stuff your soft sided cooler FULL, where are the cup holders going to go!?!?! Do you make two little holes in your food, ice, and extra drinks? How do you close the thing up? Maybe you wiggle your cup slowly and gently every time you push it into the holder, so whatever is inside is pushed to the sides as the holder extends itself into the interior of the cooler. One thing is for sure. You ain't a gonna put an opened drink into that cup holder while the flap of a lid is open, and then slam it down to close it. :P In the whole scheme of things, this really isn't that important. But I am sitting here with not a whole lot to do at the moment, and I felt like venting my spleen where it concerns the wiz bang brain trusts of the corporate world. On the plus side, I found a rigid Little Playmate that cleaned up real nice. It has no cup holders, but I can make do. What it DOES have, is a bullet hole decal someone put on it years ago. At the least, it will help me establish my redneck credentials without any effort on my part. And the way things are around here, this is as close as I am getting to anything that is described by the term Playmate.

Good luck! I hope it goes well for both of you!

This is a common phrase around here. "Best wife [or husband] I ever had!" Yes, we need to see pictures of the truck! You know the rules of the internet. Pics or it didn't happen!

I've been writing thank you again and again here. I just want to say that I am overwhelmed by the kind words on my progress (and on my work too). It is good to be a part of this community here. Thanks to all of you.

Thank you, and yes, I have been peddling my stuff to anyone who will give me money for the last 24 years.

Thank you everyone! Here are a couple of pictures of things I've made, and which I teach others to make.

@@Raymia Thank you! Yeah, I know. I was in high school back in the early 70s, and was only allowed one shop class in 7th grade because I was in college prep. I am essentially self educated. I tell my students I already know all the things they are going to do wrong because I've already done them! And I have. What kind of furniture did you build?

Congratulations! But with such a quick turnaround, you will have to work extra hard at the whole "changing your habits" part. Good luck with it!

Thank you, although the "handsome" part might be up for some debate. Seriously, that is very kind of you to say so.

@@sk101 Wow, that's a pretty busy schedule! My teaching is sporadic. I do demos like this when called upon, and have students in my shop on a regular, if not frequent basis. I used to travel, but I got tired of that, and we no longer really needed it to make ends meet. Now I confine my demos to less than a day of travel, and teaching is for those who still want to come to me.

The problem is, the medical community can't even educate ITSELF, much less the general public. People are remarkably stupid on a number of issues because they lack the desire and even the ability to actually research anything. Compounding the problem is the refusal to change their minds about long held beliefs. It spans the entirety of human behavior. We just see it more in areas where we are interested.

My grandma had a saying. "Wish in one hand and poop in the other, and see which one fills up first." People have a remarkable resistance to educating themselves, while at the same time displaying another remarkable ability to sound off about stuff about which they know nothing. It affects people at all levels of society, regardless of station, education, or income. It would be nice if they would change, but they won't. I have a couple of prepared replies for when I meet someone like this. I have yet to do so since I embarked on my WLS journey, but I have encountered them in the past. Anyone is free to use these or modify them as you see fit. "Yes, I was fat and am working hard to lose my weight. You on the other hand seem determined to remain stupid for the rest of your life." "You can think that if you want. It is not my responsibility to cure ignorance wherever I find it." (This one is borrowed from a movie) "If I am to be insulted, I must first value your opinion." These are just a few examples of what I have ready to fire in defense of boorish behavior. I create others on the spot as the need arises. It is fun and satisfying, and every now and then a barb goes home and causes the other person to think. But I don't really count on that.