Thanks so much for this advice!   I'll be using it!  

I've been cruising around the forums for a few weeks now, and saw the call to men to come on over to this thread, so I thought I'd give it a try. 

I grew up on a farm, lived that childhood full of chores, working the land with my family, hunting/fishing and a love of roughing it on a camping trip any time.  I moved to town when my Dad got transferred, and learned to get along well enough in the city, but kept that farmer / outdoorsman outlook on life.  So many friends growing up didn't learn the stuff I did, so in my teens and 20's, I hunted with very few people.  I loved it though, and through college I kept my freezer full of meat for my 2 (non-hunting) roommates and I.  They never knew what I was making, and unless they asked, I never told them what it was (deer, rabbit, pheasant, whatever) but I never heard complaints.  Recently I've rediscovered my love of fishing, and I've introduced my two young daughters to it.  They're "hooked" (sorry, I had to).  The older one wants to learn marksmanship with a compound bow and rifle, so I'll be getting her into that as soon as I get this all sorted out. 

I've played drums since 1978 (born in '74), and that is how I occupy most of my time nowadays.  If I'm stressed, I hit them for an hour or two and run through whatever playlist burns off my stress.  It's a fantastic distraction.  I'm in a band, and the band mates are all supportive of this decision to have surgery.  I'm looking forward to seeing what me at around 200-220 lbs can actually do behind the kit.  From what I'm reading, energy levels go through the roof, so this oughtta be good. 

I was always a big kid, having that "meat and potatoes" approach but my weight gain didn't really get out of hand until late high school and into college.  After college I worked and wasn't paying attention to myself.  Eventually, by age 38 I was 391 lbs, though it was more evenly distributed on me than in one area of my body.  I didn't feel good so I started taking care of myself.  I got it down to about 360 and two knee injuries sidelined my efforts for a bit, until I bought a good bicycle.  It's been a couple of years now, but I've whittled it down to 324 (including the 7 months I've been in the bariatric program).

My RNY is on Monday, Feb 27th.  I'm not anxious or nervous in the least about it, which I find weird but I'm OK with that.  The Optifast has been not too bad.  I was dreading this step because of the horror stories I've read about "Opti-trots" and horrendous breath, and all of that.  I also walk 7 miles round trip to work, so the prospect of diarrhea doesn't really appeal much to me, LOL.  I honestly don't mind the chocolate Opti, and the only thing I notice is a metallic taste in my mouth for a side effect, though that could be ketosis as much as the optifast. 

Anyway, there's a bit about me, hope to see y'all around on here.