LittleBill

This looks good! ETA: I just read the ingredient list. I would probably put in twice the cumin. And more black pepper. But I am fanatical that way.

I'm a big tough manly man, and I will tell you I was scared like a little girl in a cemetery at midnight on Halloween. But I was also excited about the prospect of something finally working to lose weight. As you can see, I survived. Courage is fear holding on just a little longer.

@@rickm I did a 3 month pre-op diet. I aimed for 2000 calories a day. My nutritionist told me early on she would be happy if I stayed under 3000. Using that information, I fluctuated between 2000-2500/day, and lost 67 lbs from the start of the program in June until my surgery in early October. Total time was almost 4 months to the day, given the various things that had to happen right before surgery, the surgeon's schedule, etc. That works out to just under 17 lbs a month of weight loss.

We shall see. I am not opposed to it, and I am certainly motivated. It would be a weight I have not seen in over 30 years. I am going to post this picture in a couple of weeks on the day itself in my own thread, but here is a sneak preview. I am approximately 270 in this picture, which will be 33 years old in a little less than two weeks.

Don't ask me how I stumbled on this. I'm not really sure. But I thought it would offer up a little comic relief - on a couple of levels - concerning an oft discussed topic.

I used to tell my children, "I can't make you do anything. But I can make you wish you had." Unfortunately, you don't even have that option. The best you can do is to lead by example. If you are at church that much, prayer is a valid option. Use it to your best advantage.

Check with your surgeon. Fresh fruit, especially stuff with skins, was forbidden for a long time for me. They didn't want that stuff getting stuck in the suture line.

Pierogies, eh? I haven't even thought about them since my surgery. I loved them fried up in butter with onions. I guess if I made some of my own and mixed in some Protein powder, I could just about justify them.

Great response, although I would just say that you might surprise yourself about being thin. And I say this from a personal perspective. I, also, said/thought I would never be thin. I was always fat with the exception of a few years where I wrestled/played football as a kid. When I started out, I was 333 at 5'8" and just the thought of being around 200 seemed impossible. I am 9+ months out from surgery and about 11 months out from starting the weight loss process. I am now 148lbs and thin by any objective measure. I'm not saying you will be thin, that you even desire to be thin, or that you should aspire to be thin. Just saying that this surgery is really amazing thing that may surprise you in a lot of ways. I'm not special. I got thin just by following my plan and doing what I was supposed to. Thank you. I am open minded. I started out with a goal of 325 after doing the math, based on the information provided by the people at my program - math based on fat, Water, and muscle mass. I revised that down to 300 after I got started. If I go lower than 300 without losing muscle, I am fine with that. But, I will be very surprised.

Or the easy way out, or the magic bullet. But try to get people like that to actually read an article like this. I can see the response now. "It's tooo looong!"

We had two cats years ago, Claude and Stinker. Stinker loved noodles. We would feed him a spaghetti noodle just to watch him suck it in. We would laugh so hard we'd cry. Claude's nickname was CarboCat. He loved doughnuts, and if we left a box of them out on the table, we would come back to discover that he had torn into it and eaten the top off every single stinking doughnut in the package. Maybe he was trying to help us out.

It is an interesting article. Thank you for posting it, as I would never have found it myself. I found some similarities and some huge differences in the article compared to my own experiences. I was born fat. I was a fat baby, a fat kid, etc. The other kids used to tease me mercilessly, until I started handing out beatings. It bought me a lot of trouble, but they learned it wasn't worth the teasing. Fast forward to high school, I slimmed down for a short time, mainly because I was athletically inclined. But once college started, I started putting the weight back on. Even the Army couldn't cure that. Probably the biggest difference with me is that since I have been an adult, I have derived my self worth from my abilities to do what I do, my education, and personality. In other words, I do not - did not - see myself as a fat person who was not accepted by others. I have many acquaintances across the spectrum, from fat as me to rail thin. We have good relationships because I have chosen people in my circle who can and will look past the surface of others, including myself. People who are shallow are not worth the time or effort as far as I am concerned. I will never be thin. I did not expect that coming into this. If I hit my goal, I will be ecstatic. At that weight, I will still be classified as just about morbidly obese, but knowing my body and looking at the other numbers beyond BMI, I know better, and that is all that matters to me.

What she said. I had two very brief waves of nausea while still in the hospital, and nothing since. I had almost no pain. Count yourself among those blessed with a good constitution and no complications. And stick to your plan, even when you don't feel any pain. It really will work.

I'm not really counting my calories. I focus on Protein and Water, and keep carbs as low as I can without eradicating them completely. And the carbs I take in are about 90% "good carbs" from fruit or vegetables. Calories do show up on my calorie tracker though, and it varies between 800-1200, depending on how many grams of fat show up during the day. Every now and then, it will gust as high as 1400 or so, but those are few and far between right now. I am 60 lbs away from my goal, which will require approximately 2500 calories a day to maintain.

What he said (wrote). A lot of the things I really liked in the way of Protein are still things I can eat. It is all about the taste and texture, not the quantity. I have experimented with some of the other things - i.e. carbs that aren't so healthy - and discovered that I really don't have much of a taste for sweets anymore. I count that as a huge positive, as I really had a sweet tooth going into this. I have not regretted this for a moment, even when watching people devour all the fun stuff at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am healthier, and my family says I am happier than I used to be.

By the time I was 14, I was my full adult height of 6' 1" According to the government and several other sources, that was actually 6' 2", but I seem to have compressed somewhat over the years. In the following years, I did lots and lots of hard labor, and really packed on the muscle. I was always inclined towards chubbiness, but the work kept fat pretty much at bay. As the years passed, and the labor eased up, I neglected to reduce my caloric intake, and it landed me where I am today. Here is a picture from the dim recesses of time, when I was a mere slip of a lad at 15. This was so long ago, the entire world was still in black and white. Seriously, this is me as I just finished kicking some butt on the wrestling mat at 180 lbs in 10th grade.

Oh no, we're not off the rails by a long shot (nudge nudge wink wink)! Here is my cheese. It is not nearly as fancy as Dub's, but it is what I have. Besides, we have some big mice around here. And as you can clearly see, there is an accessory rail, so we are still on the rails - of some sort, anyway. @ And here I thought you were a wheelie gun guy. You need a wheel gun next to a wheel of cheese you know.

@@latia Thank you!

I have not heard of that, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. You might want to ask your doc about that. TWIO Okay, I looked, but didn't find anything. I am old, you know. What does TWIO mean?

@ You mean that backpack? That's what I was thinking. That would curve anyone's spine!

I certainly did not expect this, but keep the dog pics coming! I love it!

@@Dub I would.....but it's closely guarded....... Oh, no! That's not a GLOCK, is it!?!? And here I thought we could be friends. Repeat after me: If you're big, you need a SIG.

@@Aggiemae We need a picture of Choppy!

@@theantichick Yeah, I remember starving children in Biafra and all that. My mother, who I love dearly, would tell me in one breath to finish something so she didn't have to put it away, and in the next breath tell me I needed to lose weight. I wonder if that would qualify me for counseling?

@@sasharbinx and @@FindingCarrie, thanks for the pooch pics! I love dogs. I have trouble going to the shelter to pick one out when it is time, because I want to bring them all home.