LittleBill

I refuse to get another belt until I'm done because I'm very picky with my belts. I've already burned through the 4 holes that I didn't use previously and I've drilled an additional 3 holes. My belt wraps all of the way around the side of me and the tip tucks into the belt loop behind my pocket. I had to go to a second belt. My previous belt was a Wilderness Tactical belt, which had no holes, and used a cinch of sorts with a Velcro end to hold the flap. I wore it until I pegged it and it would go no tighter. I have special requirements in belts as they often have heavy things hanging off them. Yeah, lots of things are shrinking that I wasn't sure would shrink, but my wrists are very bony. They are huge, but there is no fat on them. My forearms are sort of like Popeye's, at least for strength. A lot of that comes from the work I do. About 11 years ago, I had a drill press accident, where the piece of wood I was drilling came loose from its clamp and spun around to smack my hand. I was sure I broke bones. I went to the ER for X-rays. The doc looking at my hand said, "You have some of the biggest bones I have ever seen." They weren't broken. I just had a huge lump on the back of my hand for about a week. You are a naughty girl too. That is classified information.

You are a naughty, naughty, girl.

It is possible. I looked at the Charge 2 and the Surge. Finding the XL band is like trying to find a unicorn. And for the Surge, they want a premium of almost $40 for the XL band over the large. I will do some more looking tonight. I'm fat in a lot of places, and I have lost a bunch of weight already, but my wrists will stay the same - are staying the same - regardless. I've gone down four sizes in my pants, and one size in shirts, and my wrists are exactly the same size as they were six months ago. There is no fat on them. There isn't even a lot of muscle right at the wrist itself. It is all bone and tendon with a covering of skin.

I am going to have to look at other options, that's for sure. Thanks.

Warning! There may be dry humor contained within this post. I'm a big guy. That sort of goes without saying, or I wouldn't be here, right? Well it ain't all fat. I really am big boned. I have size 15 feet. I have a big bone head. At least, that is what I am told from time to time. One of the other issues I have that WLS is NOT going to help is the size of my hands and wrists. The biggest gloves I can find are 2XL, and they are almost always tight. When I used to wear watches, I always bought the flex band style. Then I had to buy an extra band so we could add several links to make it fit. I could officially reach anorexia and none of this will change. I've been tracking my steps with my phone, but it is cumbersome some of the time. The phone is smart, but maybe I wasn't for getting such a big one. But hey. I have big fingers, remember? Anyway, it is not recording any other exercise activity, so I decided I would look into a Fitbit. Well, there's that wrist thing again. My bony wrist measures 8 1/2" in circumference. It looked to me like Fitbit was out. Then I stumbled on a post by a fellow traveler here who mentioned the Garmin Vivoactive. I checked it out, and the band was big enough for me! After some quick negotiations with Mrs. LittleBill, I ordered one up from Amazon. It arrived today. It doesn't fit. The band is long enough, but the ergonomic wizards who designed the attachment points clearly had more petite people in mind. It is already back in the box, and I will just have to do things the old fashioned way, and hope that I don't push my aging ticker too hard in my enthusiasm to get skinny(er).

I've not been sleeved for all that long, but I have found that between meal hunger is often thirst. I take a few slugs of Water or coffee or whatever, and I am good again.

HAHAHAHA! I was going to write this very thing, but you beat me to it.

While I was on liquids, my nutritionist told me it was a meal. Once I made it to solid food, I am to treat it as liquid, even though it has Protein in it. Your best course of action would be to consult the nutritionist where you are having your surgery, if that is possible.

I bought several flavors in smaller containers to last me through to post surgery. Now that I am back to solid food, I have not had much trouble getting to 100 grams plus of Protein, so I am not drinking as much. Protein Bars are a lot more satisfying and a whole lot easier to stick in my pocket for when I am running around, or even just up in my shop. I do have a five pound can of Gold Standard Extreme Milk chocolate, but I came out of surgery loving that stuff. It has replaced my desire for a big ole glass of chocolate milk.

I am negotiating with Mrs. LittleBill about one of these things. She is resistant, but I am like the Borg. Resistance is futile.

I was in a 3 month pre-op plan. My wife was not, but she started following my pre-op diet very closely. We both started using My Fitness Pal to keep track of calories. We also stopped buying the stuff that sabotaged us on our good intent. It is one thing to have to walk past it in the store, and it is something else entirely to have it calling out to you while you are sitting at home. If it ain't there, you can't eat it. Both of those two things combined allowed me to lose 68 lbs pre-op. My wife lost 30 lbs. Neither of us was 100% successful, but we were successful to make a difference all around. Every day is a new day to start over again, and for every day, that is the only day you have to succeed.

Thank you! My nutritionist gave me all sorts of dire warnings pre surgery about how tastes and tolerances might change. To make it worse, I am the person who always hears, "That never happens to anyone!" in all sorts of situations, so I was prepared for the worst. So far things have been very good on the food front. I am very happy to report that the things I seem to have lost most of my taste for so far have been the things that got me here in the first place. I am like a reformed smoker, only with Tastykakes. I am sorry to see you lost something you really enjoyed and is good for you to boot, but I am glad you got a laugh out of my story.

Not even close to being right. Do you not understand humor when it is written out like this?

So, I went for round two for the mid morning snack. I tried the method Vinasu described, with much better results. I did look on Amazon, and I can get egg cups for $9.97. They are on the way. Hey, it's a tool right? And in the words of Tim 'The Toolman' Taylor, "There's no such thing as a tool I don't need!"

Looks good! We've been smoking ours the past couple of years, since we obtained a smoker big enough to handle one. Everyone loves it.

I love eggs. I have been enjoying them again at least once a day since I was allowed scrambled eggs on my puréed diet. But I like variety. In the past, that variety was supplied by adding bacon, sausage, scrapple, Spam, and various kinds of bread to go along with them. While I plan to reintroduce some of those eventually, things have been getting a little tedious. Scrambled, fried, scrambled, fried. Hard boiled, scrambled, fried. You get the idea. So, I was standing in the kitchen this morning and decided I would try something different. I would poach my eggs! I have not had a poached egg for a looong time, and the last few times I did, someone else (i.e. the cook at the diner) was kind enough to poach them for me. I remembered my wife telling me that I didn't really need an egg poacher. I could poach them perfectly well in the microwave. All I had to do was put them in a dish of Water and heat things up. What could go wrong? I found out what could go wrong. I happily assembled my cooking device, using a small pyrex dish filled with enough water to submerge my two eggs. I stuck it in the microwave, and hit the express cook button for 2 1\2 minutes. I thought I was being conservative, and would have plenty of leeway to avoid any accidents. At that point, the aforementioned wife appeared in the kitchen to get her second cup of coffee. I explained what I was doing, and how I was looking forward to a different style of preparation. I was already starting to salivate in anticipation. Suddenly, without warning, there was a huge BOOOOM! I did not even have to look. I did not want to look. I already knew. She knew too. I opened up the microwave to discover that 1) I was not having poached eggs for Breakfast and 2) I had a cleaning chore ahead of me. The scene was awful. It was as if the notorious kitchen terrorist, Abu bin Overcooked had planted a bomb in my eggs. There were bits of egg everywhere inside the microwave. There was even egg on the bottom of the glass carousel. I am not sure how that happened, but it did. Suffice to say, I am sitting here bemoaning my lot, gnawing on a Quest Protein bar for breakfast. The microwave is clean, and I will be researching a safer and more predictable method for poaching eggs. I wonder what's up at the diner this morning?

I have no idea. I am only reporting on what I read about their product, and I make no comment beyond providing the facts as I understand them. I am very suspicious though, about compressing 30g into a 15g volume especially when that volume only weighs around 4g. As for shrinking molecules, here is a link that discusses that in layman's terms. http://www.schoolphysics.co.uk/age16-19/Atomic%20physics/Atomic%20structure%20and%20ions/text/Collapsing_molecules/index.html

I am very close to you in size/weight and am aiming for 100 grams of Protein a day. My diet is similar with regard to meat. I have Quest Protein Bars for Snacks. I have a giant tub of Gold Standard Extreme Milk chocolate sitting in the kitchen. It is as close to a glass of regular chocolate milk as one can get, and with 8oz skim milk, it gives me 32 grams of protein. ETA: I don't have a shake every day, as I am hitting my goal and then some without them ,but a glass of "chocolate milk" goes down very easy and satisfies what is left of my sweet tooth.

We buy skinless, boneless breasts, and roast them. If you soak them in brine (saltwater) overnight, and then roast them at 425° for about 45 minutes with foil tight over the pan, they come out extremely tender. Spray the roasting pan with some olive oil, add some pepper, onion and garlic powder, or any other spices you want, and you have several meals ready to heat for not a lot of money. We buy the stuff on sale for $2.00/lb. We eat it as is, or make it into chicken salad, chicken enchiladas with refried Beans, and so on.

My nutritionist recommended Genepro, so I bought a can. Then I started reading about it. The serving size is 15 grams, but they claim 30 grams of Protein is contained in that 15 gram serving. There is also an asterisk or two next to that. Watching their promotional video is like science fiction. They are claiming to shrink molecules down to smaller sizes so they can get all 30 grams in. We have a saying out in the country about trying to fit two pounds of poop into a one pound bag. I will not be buying it again. I have been drinking various flavors of Gold Standard. Now that I am back to food, I am eating meat with a side of meat, and have cut way back on the shakes.

I see you already got your answer, but I do have some similar symptoms with regard to an occasional lightheaded feeling when I stand up. Before surgery, my blood pressure was considered normal. Now, after surgery (I am just a few days ahead of you, Oct 11) my BP tends to run low. I bought a machine for home and have been checking it daily. The lowest it has been has been 99/61. I have been putting more salt in my food and talking politics whenever possible. It seems to be helping.

I am seven weeks out from my surgery. One of the things I was very thankful for was getting to the soft food stage in time for Thanksgiving. I did very well, eating mostly turkey, with just a taste of PA German potato stuffing, and a smaller taste of sweet potatoes. Three hours later, when everyone else was still feeling bloated, I did it all again. I was able to max out and then some on my Protein, and still have a taste of the other goodies without feeling stuffed or bloated, and I was completely satisfied the whole day.

Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours too!

The first round went successfully, and no one busted a gut (so to speak). I am 58, and for my birthday last month my parents gave me a brand new copy of Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel. This was one of my favorite books as a small boy, and my mother read it to me "every single day" by her report. Here is a pre bedtime picture of me reading that book to them for the first time. Even the baby sat still through it, although he was impatient to get to his book called Trucks Roll.

Interesting. I have found that I am the exact opposite on this. I hated wearing stretchy pants and slippers around the house, but since I came home from the hospital, I have been changing in the evening, often before dinner. Of course, I am trying to extend the use of my clothes for as long as possible, so some of them have gotten quite baggy on me. Maybe that is the reason. I hadn't thought about it until you posted.