What's on your (PHOTO) Friday Menu?

Good Morning! We made it to Friday! How should we celebrate?

I woke up feeling like my leg is finally a lot better!!! Today it feels bruised instead of sprained, which is great. It still hurts to the touch but it didn't feel awful with weight bearing. Hoping to stay off it enough again today to keep the healing going.

QOTD: Round up! What's good that you are watching, reading, listening to? We finished The Diplomat on Netflix last night and I couldn't recommend it more (except that Grim kept hitting my leg, again...we are going to have to switch sides if we keep watching exciting shows, haha)! I also finally got around to reading Demon Copperhead which has been on my shelf for months. I'm about 1/2 way through and I love it so far! If you haven't heard of it, it's a modern retelling of David Copperfield, but the main character is an orphan in Appalachia. I also really liked the true crime podcast, Devil in the Ditch.

Pics are: Some Taylor Swift cookies I made because she is performing here this weekend and a t-shirt that Grim bought me at CookieCon ;) Ignore my bruised elbow--there are not too many parts of my body that are not banged up at the moment.

My accountability was **** yesterday. I wasn't even hungry, but I just kept snacking on whatever was in front of me, including one of my cookie mistakes, cheese, and an unplanned bag of pop-corners.

B: Protein Coffee & TJs Eggwich

S: Pop-corners

L: Chicken Burger

D: RGF Chicken Strips

Good morning QJB and menuers!

Friday! Yes! Glad to hear your knee is still on the mend. It feels so slow to get where we want to be. Those cookies are beautiful! I'm assuming your printer helped with things like signatures. So impressive! And love that tee! Your poor elbow.

QOTD- A friend of mine has me rewatching Outlander. I did also watch the Queen Charlotte spoof and enjoyed it more than expected. It, of course, has no historical accuracy whatsoever but I enjoy this alternate timeline. Rest has been a search for good international movies and shows.

I got a care package in the mail from a friend yesterday. Fortunately, saw it on the way back from the doctor since UPS still won't drive up to my house after the guy got the truck stuck in my yard a couple years ago.

My doctor gave me the referral to a neurologist. It seemed to be her plan to just wait it out since it could take six months. Probably my fault for telling her the 2017 pain went away in a few months. As I was leaving, she told me to go eat something. Then the person I normally see told me I look gaunt. Message received. I crammed over 2k calories in me through the day, including eating fish for breakfast because weird cravings.

Today I intend to be at the cajun restaurant when they open at 11am. I was surprised to find it around here and they're only open three days a week. I've reviewed the menu and there's plenty I can try, so looking forward to it. Hole in the wall local places are often awesome.

Accountability- Like JB, I ate everything in front of me. Pistachios, plantain chips, apple chips, dried mango...

Exercise- More baby weights. I'm so weak.

Menu - Cajun! Yay! Protein pudding, seasoned rice, will give yogurt another try, leftover okra, leftover chicken, more protein pudding, blueberries and seaweed, probably more dried fruit.

Pics are just of young dog and the ways he stays close. Enjoy the day, everyone!

The printer did the backgrounds but I'm proud to say I piped the signature with icing!

"Gaunt" is a rite of passage that we've all been through. It feels scary in the moment but I would caution against trying hard to regain--that will happen on its own, I promise! Getting your body used to 2K calories won't help you in the long run.

Just...wow! I am envious of your super steady hands! The details work required on a lot of your cookies shows it but just...that's amazing to someone like me. I came with the klutz gene and if I were trying to do what you do, there would be a lot of "oops" commentary going on.

I do hear you on trying to regain. Yes, there's kind of a panic moment because I'm attempting to get my body used to food again in general and nothing tastes or feels right. Really, I just want to stop losing right now and need to figure out what that consumption level is since the last couple of months have thrown a wrench in my plans.

Thank you for the accountability. I always appreciate the reality checks and such in these moments of admitted panic. :)

The extra calories always affect my head more seriously than my waistline. It just makes me want more, all the time.

Totally agree - it's why I needed surgery in the first place.

your dog is so cute!!

and yes - I echo what QJB said. I looked gaunt at one time as well. No more!!

Thank you! He knows he is, too.

And thank you. I'm working to come to terms with it all. Sounds like we all go through it...I'm just newer!

Looking too skinny is part of the journey and you are in the early stages of that part. I know it is hard to believe but you will stop losing weight automatically when your body is ready. One of the things that helped me a lot was regularly attending my twice weekly weight loss surgery group meetings.

That allowed me to watch what happened to others. Almost all of them ended up too skinny and often with weak muscles and hanging skin. Everyone of them had a face that looked gaunt and sunken in. Everyone of them regained fullness in their face and body by the end of the third year after surgery.

For me the regain period was a shock. I thought I was cured of obesity and then regained five pounds in month 30. The next month I gained another five pounds and all of my clothes were way too tight. When it hit fourteen regain pounds with no end in sight, I took myself back to Weigh****chers. That stopped the regain but I did not lose the regain.

That was the first of several regain episodes and many, many Weigh****chers meetings. For me, it is a matter of how much I eat determines what I will weigh. I feel like my body holds on to weight much more efficiently than it did before surgery. I don't have any forbidden foods or food groups and I can easily eat almost anything.

I realize your surgery is different and you will have lifetime malabsorption, however I have seen DS patients who also had significant regain. My surgeon tells us that the body is smart enough to know that it has been cheated out the calories from the food that it did not get to absorb and he says that the body is smart enough to figure out how to get its weight back no matter what we do.

Thank you for the insight! It does sound helpful to have been able to see people over time. There are a couple of post RNY people I know at work but one never got scrawny and the other I met after her regain.

I'll try to get comfortable with the thought that my body might stop on its own. There's just been too much going on recently for me to be in a good spot with it mentally. It'll get there...and I have a pretty good cushion for regain!