LittleBill

I did not read all the replies. I can see both sides of the split fee issue. It costs money to keep the doors open. I have no patience at all with rude people. It gets even worse with disingenuous people. If I had been in the situation you were in, I would have asked about the fee, which it seems you did. I would have very politely maintained my position with the manager, no matter how rude he became, finishing up with something to the effect that I understood they have every right to charge what they want for their food or services. I have every right to not eat there again. I have also been known to inform people that they will be surprised just how much bad advertising their (insert monetary value here) just bought them. However, I do not go online publicly. I merely discuss it with people I know. As for split fees, I never heard of one before today, which tells you what kind of dives I hang out in. ETA: I forgot to add, I would have emphasized that I was angry about the treatment and not the money, but the monetary thing I mentioned above still exists.

I was wondering about the lack of replies to this one. Mrs. LittleBill theorized on that. She said, "What do you expect!?! It's Beavis and Butthead on a forum where there are a lot of women! Women don't exactly like Beavis and Butthead." I said, "Huh huh huh, huh huh. Huh huh huh." She smacked me.

Not only that, when He ate with the disciples after the resurrection, He stuck with grilled fish and whole wheat bread. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” John 21:9-12

I'll tell you, my daily average took a serious hit today. Despite prior planning, and taking enough Snacks with me for three meals, events conspired against me and I am behind two meals and most of my drinking. It is a long unhappy story, and I am going to be up late guzzling Protein shakes to catch up on both counts.

I tried the search function for advice on posting images, and all I got was one post that is 10 years old, or will be in two months. Reading through it, it seems things have changed somewhat. Every time I try to use the image button, I get a box with a question mark in it, or a notice that tells me I'm not allowed to do that. I can attach images, but that doesn't always work the way I would like it to work. I get a result, but not the one I am after. So is there anyone out there with an idea as to how this actually is supposed to work? It appears to be different than any other forum I have ever been on, and I've been on lots.

@@Zoes.Realm The closest I have come to cooking with Protein powder is mixing it up in my coffee. It was just a thought. I loved pierogies, but between the potatoes and the dough, I am not sure I could handle the guilt right now. Maybe when I get closer to my goal weight I will reconsider. I do know that protein powder tends to clump when it gets too hot - like when you put it in coffee, for instance.

Maybe I am viewing it wrong, but surgery doesn't really make the weight come off. As @@KittyV mentions, you need to take in less calories than you need to burn. Doing that under normal circumstances makes us snarly, hungry, and generally unpleasant. Surgery removes the volume of our stomach, plus a big part of it (in some circumstances) which produces the hunger hormone ghrelin. That gives us a chance to eat lots less while still retaining our humanity. It does do some other things to our metabolism, but most of our weight loss is through changing habits and a proper attitude. That is, if you want it to be permanent.

If I were going to get a Bible verse inscribed on a portion control plate, I would have no choice but to put 1 Corinthians 6:13 on it, even though it does not qualify as my favorite verse. "food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The King James is even better, but I am partial to the KJV. meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. If I went with my favorite verse, it would be Job 19:25-26 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. I would write good luck, but I am a Calvinist, and do not believe in luck. May the LORD bless you in your efforts to lose weight and become healthier.

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.

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!