What's on your Thursday Menu, RNYers?

Enjoy your hair day!

I happy for your hair day.

I am growing mine out and I suffer many sad hair days. I will prevail!

Mornin' All!

I'm leaving in about an hour to go to the Milwaukee airport (I hate going all the way there - and to O'Hare - esp since we have an airport here in town, but it would have cost a FORTUNE to fly out of here this weekend. It's worth it to make the trek to MKE!). I'm feeling super bloated again this morning. I'm going to really watch my sodium intake this weekend - AND cut calories and carbs - because I"m not sure what's going on here, but this is miserable. Ugh!!! Anyway, I'm officially off (to NC) to attend my stepmother's memorial service, but I'm staying with my brother and the trip is really more to visit him (my father remarried when he was in his 70s, and I didn't know his wife that well since they lived pretty far from me). I'm also going to meet up with a friend whom I haven't seen in probably 25 years. We were buds when we both lived in NC about 35 years ago, and I saw him a couple of times when he was in graduate school in the Chicago area in the late 80s or early 90s (and I was living here in southern Wisconsin). So...it's been forever. Looking forward to seeing him again.

accountability was great yesterday. At least eating-wise. I was planning on getting a lot more exercise, but I only managed to eke out a 30-minute walk. Although that's better than nothing. I'll do a lot of walking around the airport this morning.

I have no idea what I'll be eating today, but here's a stab at it:

4 years 2 months out:

B: plain Greek yogurt with homemade fruit compote (no added sugar), coffee with half & half

MS: protein shake

L: the plane leaves at 12:40 - so I'll be sitting on it at noon. I'll have protein bars with me - and jerky & cheese sticks if I remember to pack them - so something with that

AS: see lunch

D: my brother wants me to meet him & his GF at some BBQ place, but I'm not going to be up in the mountains (where he lives****il around 8:00, so I may just eat yet another protein bar when I get to Charlotte and just have something to drink when I get the BBQ place. Although 8:00 EDT is only 7:00 CDT, so it might work for dinner. We'll see. If so, I'll have a small amount of pulled pork and pack up the rest for tomorrow. I don't want to eat a lot that late in the day.

have a great day, everyone!

Enjoy your time with your brother!

Good morning, everybody!

Well, one year ago today, I got up, showered, applied my pre-surgical scrub, triple checked that I packed everything and headed to the hospital. I thought that the morning would seem endless, but it really didn't. Before I knew it, I was registered and being wheeled up to pre-op. Before surgery, one of the technicians came up to me and said that I don't need the surgery, I had lost a lot pre-op, I looked great (did I though?), why don't i just keep doing what I was doing? I asked her if she had read my chart.

The last question that I asked my surgeon was whether Colchicine was an NSAID. He assured me that it wasn't and soon I was counting to ten. I had kind of a rough recovery. I had managed to get dehydrated during the liquid diet and my creatinine went way up into the mid three's. For some reason, the Scopolamine patch made me unable to pee. Not one drop. I ended up spending an extra night in the hospital and went home two and a half days later.

They discontinued a lot of meds, including my Lasix after surgery. So I peeked at my weight on Sunday to make sure that I didn't have end stage Heart Failure. I had gained only three pounds. I was pleased with that for having been on an IV drip for 72 hours and the patch problem. The next Sunday, when I weighed in I was 276 - 16 pounds in one week.

In a nutshell, September was spent in constipation. I didn't have much pain from the RNY, but they did a non-laparoscopic liver biopsy and that incision hurt. I remember the day that I stopped wearing my surgical binder. It felt like losing an old friend. I still have my little red ****tail forks that I ate cottage cheese with.

I started Miralax on October 1, and life has been better since then. October was travel for work. It makes me kind of sad to type this because I could have met all the people if I had the same travel schedule this year (Los Angeles, San Fransisco, Portland, Seattle). On one of my first trips, my boss asked if I was coming to dinner. I told him that I thought I would get something at Walgreens and eat in my room. He said no, and that was the beginning of really learning to live a normal life with RNY.

The day before Halloween the gout came on with a vengeance. Before that was over I would have some new firsts: bringing crutches on an airplane, being wheeled through an airport, sitting in the handicapped section of a football game, using a coat hanger to put on my shoes. Also, for some reason my weight loss really accelerated in Month 3. I had four weeks of 6,6,3, and 6.

December brought food temptations but I lost for the month. The RNY menu board after Christmas back to basics week got me under my first goal of 215. I didn't realize at the time, but I was pretty much at goal.

January was the last month with gout. I don't know if it was the cherry extract I started taking or just getting the Uric acid out of my system, but I still have a half used bottle of Colchicine in my briefcase. By the end of the month I was starting to go back to the gym.

In February I did my first ever pull-up. March was the beginning of the 100 day Burpee Challenge. Sadly, it does not appear to be destined to become a part of the fabric of life on the RNY menu Board. In April I went back to Crossfit for the first time since 2015. I found it easier without the 130 extra pound of body weight.

Two exciting things happened in May. We went to the Kentucky Derby at the beginning of the month. When I returned, I learned very quickly that when hats and Fascinators are involved, pictures do not wait until photo Friday. Also, I got to meet Jen. We have a lot in common and had a lovely tea. The look on her face when they asked if she was my wife was worth the price of admission.

In June I got to meet Trish. Fortunately, they did not ask her if she was my wife because her actual husband was with us and if she said yes it would have been awkward. I already have picked out where we are going next, hopefully with Amber in tow. Also, June was Dead and Company at Wrigley Field. I reluctantly acknowledge that the concert only had a peripheral connection to my weight loss journey.

In July I got a Dexa scan and found out that I really shouldn't try and lose any more weight. There is one workout that I really want to complete before I declare myself in maintenance and make a celebratory trip to the jeweler.

In August I did Murph again and reduced my time to 57:44. It felt good to run around the pond that I walked around when I first came home from the hospital.

I so appreciate everybody who is here to help me on a daily basis. I know that most days I am largely off-topic, my menus are basic and I probably can eat an unfair amount compared to many others, but I need to be here every day for the advice, laughs and companionship.

QOTD: Rhinocéros.

Breakfast: Bratwurst

Snack: Protein Bar

Lunch: Brisket

Snack: Light and Fit

Dinner: Shrimp

Have a great day, all!

and we're glad you're here!! Don't ever go away!! And a huge congrats on your success!!

CONGRATS Jim, what an incredible transformation. Love having you here with all the ladies on the RNY menu thread and I hope you are here for a long time.

If you ever make your way up to Toronto let me know - we must plan a coffee date or dinner.

Keep up the awesome work, proud of you!

We are glad you are here!! Your stories are the highlights of the thread some days so keep coming back!!

Jim, congratulations! What a year! What a transformation! You should be so proud of yourself!

I was going to say you are the funniest CPA I have ever "met", but maybe just the funniest person. Your wit and stories crack me up. I hope you stay around to keep inspiring us and making us laugh!

we're so glad you found and joined us here Jim! I always look forward to reading your witty posts!
you've done so well and you look fabulous!