LittleBill

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I went right to the top and got a Garmin Fenix 3 HR. Part of the reason for that was it is the only one that fits my giant (bony, not fat) wrist. But it is waterproof, has an excellent heart rate monitor, and lots of other stuff besides.

Sleeve damage, maybe. Mindset damage probability is a lot higher. Your sleeve is a tool. If you don't follow your guidelines, you will damage it. Then the issue becomes, why did you bother? The more important issue though, is what kind of mindset you have. If you aren't willing to make the tough choices, your sleeve, and all you went through to get it, will do you no good. Is that what you want? Keep in mind, what you do, what you decide, affects no one here but you. We can offer advice and opinions, but none of us are living in your skin. Only you have to live with your decisions.

I did not mean to put you on the spot. I've just seen some Christmas pictures over the years where the subject had on what you describe, and nothing else. I did not mean to pry into your privacy. But I could not resist asking.

I had a small slice of pumpkin pie today, and I felt NO GUILT AT ALL! Do you know why? It was because this is a lifetime change, not a daily grind. Yeah, we have to pay attention day by day, but we can also let loose on our restrictions for a single instance now and then, because we are human. Tomorrow it will be back to lots of Protein, little carbs, and working out. In the meantime , I was able to relax and enjoy the day. I hope you can do the same.

As I grow older, I realize more and more, things change. Life is not static. While we might want things to stay the same, they never do. The best thing is to realize that change will happen, and embrace it instead of fighting it. As the Marines say, Improvise, adapt, and overcome. It really does work.

Thank you! We had a wonderful Christmas with my parents, my brother, and his daughter. It was small and quiet, and we really enjoyed it.

@@Alex Brecher it started working again after a while. I must have tried to respond to a post at least 10 times over a period of half an hour. I could not quote or use the @mention feature, and any text posted just disappeared. But then it started working again. Here is the URL. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/385868-have-a-holly-jolly-christmas/ I was semi joking about the ban. Many years ago I got into a discussion with the owner of a forum where I am a professional. It was a private discussion, and I was as respectful as I am here, but he banned me for life. He even went so far as to ban the mention of my name. It backfired on him big time, as he essentially martyred me. But as you can see with my fiends - I mean friends - above, I have to watch my back.

I just lost the ability to post in one of my threads. I thought maybe I was banned for a minute! I am posting here to make a note of the issue, and partly to see if I can still post.

@@Sai Now you're making me blush. Thank you.

Thank you. It is a Fedora - supposedly a genuine Panama hat, although it is made in Ecuador, so maybe not genuine at all. It is close. I have wanted one for years, but no one made a size 8. I have gone down a hat size, so this one works for me, and is even just a hair big at 7 7/8.

And that's what it all comes down to, right? Believe what we want, based on the information available. You are telling me that GENEPRO is great because you do this stuff all day every day. The owner of Genepro claims it is great because he is shrinking molecules. My question now becomes, if what you are saying is accurate, then why isn't HE saying that? Why go on record with some fantastical claim? This is rhetorical of course. I do not expect you to work on Christmas, nor do I expect you to answer for someone else. And with all due respect, your response does not address my experience with the staff at my own medical program. I guess I am just talking to the wrong people or asking the wrong questions. Or maybe I just got lucky and I have the only ones out there who aren't doing the same research you say I need to do to come to the conclusion you have drawn. In any event, I do not need to go read a bunch of studies so I can feel comfortable about a product I don't really need or want. And it is not important enough for me to argue about. So this will be all for me on this as well.

Mrs LittleBill just hollered at me for getting this stuck in her head.

Family friendly picture?

Here in Pennsylvania German land, we say Hallicher Grishdaag, which means literally, "Happy Christ's Day".

My BP went from normal to low. There have been times where I got so dizzy standing up I thought I was going right over. More liquids, salt, and political discussions have helped.

Tough it out! It ain't easy, but it will be worth it in the long run. If you are two weeks out, you should be close to pureed food anyway, but as you mention, check with your doc first. He will be the one slicing you back open if you screw something up.

I don't know if it is time to call the doc just yet. The first few days your body is adjusting to a whole bunch of new things. My stomach felt weird for a couple of weeks, although I did not have the sensations you describe. If you are feverish, or have severe pain, bleeding, then yeah, call. But if you can tough this out for a couple of days, it may just settle down on its own. This is not medical advice - just my opinion, which is free, and worth every penny you paid.

If you want some humorous reading sometime, Google "damn you autocorrect".

I think this is "Goodbye Protein bars!" We'll see, but I can say at the least they are going to be showing up a lot less around here. I made my first batch of beef Jerky today. Actually, it was my second batch. The first batch - well, we don't talk about that. Let's just say that my normally well functioning smoker turned into a crematorium that day. Anyway. I did some looking around on the interweb, and found a list of recipes to try. After that it was just a matter of assembling the ingredients, disassembling a beef roast with a freshly sharpened carving knife, and as our oldest daughter used to say, "Walla!" This stuff is great! It tastes way better and costs way less than the stuff you see in the stores, and I have about as complete a control over it as possible. I just put four ounces down my neck, which according to the table I found should be around 39 grams of protein. I did hand off a few pieces of gristle to my faithful dog, Jester. Of course, he was being as faithful as he was because he knew what I was eating. So if you're thinking about some alternatives to Protein Bars and shakes, and don't mind carnivorous activities or a little bit of work, give it a try. If you are concerned about the fat content, there are also recipes all over the place for turkey jerky. As a side benefit, I think my jaw muscles got more of a workout than they have in months. Pretty soon my face will be bulging with new muscles too.

@@Alex Brecher Thank you for the link. I read through it once, and will do some more reading on it. This quote below was my introduction to GENEPRO science when I started looking into it after my nutritionist recommended it to me. It was written by a person claiming to be Brian Parks, the owner of Genepro. "What makes Genepro so unique is that we are able to reduce the Protein molecule to half the size of normal protein through a process called Electrophoresis. This is a reverse electrical polarity method of extracting pure protein. In essence we take protein molecules that, for reference, are the size of a baseball. We push these baseball sized protein molecules through a Polyacrylamide gel (the gel stays below 87 degrees F) and introduce electricity through the gel. This process removes hydrogen ions, allergens and any fillers or binders so we are able to then bind the protein with a strand of six amino acids called a Hexapeptide which stabilizes the molecular structure. This hexapeptide increases shelf life of the protein as well as balancing the bitter taste that is present with the protein after electrophoresis and actually gives the protein a slightly sweet undertone. The protein is pushed through a filtration system and into a centrifuge which results in a pure protein molecule that is now the size of a golf ball (for reference). You may not be able to fit 30 baseballs into a shoe box but you can fit 30 golf balls. Thus giving us the ability to get 30grams of protein in a 1TBS serving size." The older term for this is "snake oil". I am not a scientist, but I do know that we do not possess the technoloy to compress molecules to "half their size" and keep them chemically the same. We can certainly remove parts of molecules to make them smaller, but then it ain't the same molecule anymore. Electrophoresis does indeed have the ability to separate molecules by size. It has no efficacy for changing the sizes of molecules. There are several possible conclusions that can be drawn from this. One, this poster is not who he claims to be. Two, this poster does not understand the process he is trying to describe. Three, this poster is misrepresenting the facts. The content is consistent with what I read in other places though, so I am inclined to take it as their official policy. Now we have the "as good as" double asterisk after the claim. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. When someone starts out with a shovel as large as the one used above, I am already skeptical. You posted a clinical study. That is a start, but the sample size and the run time are very likely statistically insignificant. The number of variables here are incredible, with no real system for controls, at least according to what I read. Twenty people over six weeks isn't much of a sample, particularly when you consider how that sample was gathered and apparently monitored. I googled Medfitrx, which is apparently the organization which conducted the study. They appear to be local to the Genepro people (not a huge issue) and appear to be, in their words, "Your one stop shop for diets, supplements, workouts and more that are designed by your genetics for you. # science." That is about as big a red flag as can be possible as far as I can tell. There are very official looking numbers, .gov, and other impressive terms sprinkled about the study pages, but it all looks just a teeny bit suspect to me. Then again, I am old enough to remember clinical studies sponsored by the tobacco companies that proved smoking cigarettes was not bad for you. @@Sai My nutritionist recommended Genepro to me immediately following my surgery. She said it was great stuff. She liked it, the doctors liked it. So I went out and bought it. After all, they know. This is their profession. They went to school for this stuff, right? I bought a can, brought it home, and started using it. Then I got to comparing scoop sizes with my other stuff. Then I started reading things like what I posted above. Then I had my next appointment with my nutritionist. So I asked her what her experience with Genepro was, exactly. "We've been recommending it for a while. People really like it." "Have you done any research, or is there any research concerning their claims?" "Uh, I know the doctors really like it." "How much reading and research do you think they may have done?" She actually snorted in laughter and said, "Probably not much!" Please keep in mind I was not trying to trap her, or back her into some sort of corner. I was honestly seeking information. I asked her open, non leading questions to start and these were the answers. So I got a little more detailed. "Can you tell me how they can fit 30 grams into a 15 gram (ml) volume which has a weight of 4 grams? "No." Do you think the doctors can tell me?" "I doubt it." "Is there any research out there independent of their own claims and publications?" "I am not sure." This is the response from my nutritionist at my program. I have no idea how other nutritionists might respond because I have not interacted with them. However, when I take this experience into account with everything above, it all appears to be supported on a very shaky foundation. There is plenty of anecdotal information from happy customers, but consensus does not equal fact. If people want to buy and consume this stuff, they have every right to do so. I am going to remain very skeptical until I see some solid, independent information that has been demonstrably gathered and sifted for reliability.

@@cuteNATL I bought one can on the recommendation of my nutritionist. Then I started doing some research. So yes, I count it as 15 grams, but when it runs out, that will be the end of it. I have a bunch of Gold Standard protein for shakes, and today I made my first batch of beef jerky. I posted about it in the recipe section.

You can put it in just about anything. But more important is to realize that they are blowing sunshine up your skirt with their claims. They say 30 grams in a 15 gram serving. That is pure BS. So do with it what you will. Jut remember, you can't put two pounds of poop in a one pound bag.

We actually have two. I bought an electric smoker for the summer months, and my son-in-law built me a propane fired one for the cooler months. Even with a pretty powerful burner though, it is tough to get it up to temperature here in the winter. Aggie, I used a dehydrator this time, although in warmer months I will smoke it. I suspect with less salt refrigeration will be fine. I know for me personally, I need more salt to boost my blood pressure. In any event, if this batch lasts a week, I will be doing well. I foresee this dehydrator getting a good workout until springtime when the smoker takes over again.