So, for those of you who might actually be paying attention around here, you may have been noticing a few subtle, and not-so subtle changes happening here and there. From the layout and colors, to adding a logo (which I think turned out much better than I planned on), and more.

One of the most recent changes came about after I got the offer to speak at the NW Weightloss Conference, you observant types may recall the tagline for the site used to say “Life After WLS From a Dude’s Perspective”. Now it’s “Life and Weight Loss From a Dude’s Perspective”. Subtle, but in some ways fairly significant.

See, I’m coming up on two and a half years as a post-op. And while I still consider myself a sort of “newbie” when it comes to WLS, the fact remains that WLS is part of my life, it is not my entire life. Yes, I am faced every day with choices… do I exercise, what to eat, what not to eat, I view those choices less and less in the scope of “I had WLS so I need to deal with this” and more “I want to continue to be health so I need to deal with this”.

It’s a sort of interesting dichotomy, especially in light of things like this speaking gig. I continue to work within the system, but I also want it to be clear there is more to me than that.

So yea, in the coming weeks and months, I hope to start addressing things that are not specific to weight loss, but deal with life in general – which may or may not be influenced by the fact that I have had bariatric surgery. It will be an interesting experiment of sorts, because it’s not like I can just turn off the part of me that had gastric bypass. I guess it comes back to my basic belief in how things like this are a part of me, but they’re not all I am.

Also, because as always, I am hoping to lure other dude’s to lend their perspective, I feel the new sub-title opens that up a bit more. I’ve tried (and continue to try) to lure guys that can give their perspective, even if they’re not the ones to have WLS themselves (like the spouse of someone who has had surgery)… or someone who is still exploring it as an option. Or maybe other guys that are just dealing with obesity and weight loss no matter how they choose to tackle it.

If you are someone that is interested in this, or know of someone that is… check out the Contribute page for more information.

So, I’m taking the plunge and have created a page for Former Fat Dudes on Facebook. Wheee….

So how about doing me a favor and heading over there to click the LIKE button? I’ll be using the page as a way to keep friends and family up to date on stuff with the FFD site without cluttering up my personal wall quite so much. And if I can get some other dudes to join in, sharing stuff from them as well.

I mentioned this last week… that I was going to be teaming up with a bunch of folks for a WLS Food Tracking sort of event, and inviting others to join in as well.

Some of the folks involved are tracking their food today to post tomorrow… others (like myself) will be tracking my day with Joe tomorrow to post (hopefully) later in the day. I thought I would throw out the list of those I know that are taking part and invite others that plan on doing so to start posting links to their blogs or facebook pages or whatever – just post a comment here… and I’ll add links when I do my posting tomorrow.

• Pam – Journey to a Healthier Me
• Beth – Melting Mama
• Andrea – WLS Vitagarten
• Tom – Beariatric
• Shelly – The World According to Eggface
• Nik – Bariatric Foodie (she’s the one that started this particular ball rolling BTW)

So… you going to join us in sharing your day… at least as far as your food goes… with the rest of the world?

Wow… so last month I hit the two year, post-op milestone. Now this month, Former Fat Dudes is hitting it’s own two year milestone.

See, before I started formerfatdudes.com I was blogging about my WLS stuff over on my personal site (which has been woefully neglected in recent months…). But then I got the weird idea about starting a site dedicated to weight loss surgery from a dude’s perspective. Actually the fact that I started inviting other dude’s along for the ride was more by chance than by design – see, the domain formerfatdude.com was already taken, so I ended up pluralizing the name… and since I alone am not a “dudes”, I figured I would try and get others to join in on the fun.

I’ve had a few other guys join in here and there… most recently Ian/Baka (by proxy anyways) and now Tom/Beariatric (who has his own great site, but is becoming a regular contributor here as well). I’m always open to having others jump in to the fray as well, I think it’s important for us guys to get our side of things out there – plus it’s less writing I have to do myself!

Anyways, speaking of less writing – I figured I would pull out the Way Back Machine and take a look at some of the posts from May of 2009 and 2010 – see, it’s an easy way for me to fill in some posting space here. Not only that, there may actually be something of use to someone that hasn’t been here before, that may just be starting out on their own WLS journey or may just be worth taking a look at once again.

May 2009

• Bariatric Advantage – my first review based on a sample pack of stuff I ordered from Bariatric Advantage
• Resistance is (Not) Futile – A quick intro in to using resistance bands for exercise
• Five Must Have Things For Your Post-Op Kitchen – A quick list off things I feel all post-ops need to make sure they have on hand

May 2010

• BTV Video: Turkey Quinoa Meatballs – one of my early BTV videos
• Go Ahead, Call Me Obese, I Dare Ya – A flashback of a flashback – reposted last year as something from my personal site the year before.
• BTV Video: Protein Bars – another Protein Cooking video.

image credit: Cake Picture Gallery

I’m going to be playing with the theme for the site, try to find something I like better.

So… you may see the theme change to one thing, than another, and maybe another as I play around with things…

Just to warn ya.

I had thought about using something along the lines of “Dude Looking for Dudes” or “Dude Seeking Dudes” – but.. yea… probably not a good idea.

Anyways, get a peek at my office, and find out how YOU can help out formerfatdudes.com

This came up in a recent comment – someone asking if I had a YouTube channel… and, well, I do. You’ve noticed a few videos I’ve up up here (I hope). I had a personal page, but decided to do one specifically for formerfatdudes.com – which coincidentally enough you can find at http://youtube.com/formerfatdudes

Right now it’s just me – but I hope to entice some others to both write for the site here and add videos… so we’ll see. I’ve also contributed, and hope to do so again in the future to another channel started by Melting Mama – The WLS Reality -  that’s where the refried beans recipe is posted (linked to my channel via the favorites).

So go check them both out, and if yer a dude looking forward to, or looking back at your own WLS and would like to do a video for FFD, let me know!

So…. you may notice it gets a bit quiet around here from time to time. See, I’m just one dude with an idea. There are a ton of great WLS related sites out there, with more popping up all the time. I think some of the best are the more personal sites, done by patients, talking about their experiences, sharing ideas, etc.

The vast majority of WLS patients are women, so it’s a given that most of the sites out there are by women. No big deal, I’ve gotten to know a ton of great women through their sites and twitter and various forums. But sometimes, a dude just needs to hear it from another dude. Thus, my idea for formerfatdudes.com came about.

But even tho I’m a dude, I’m not sure I’m your typical WLS type… and likely there isn’t even one. I can give you MY perspective on things, but I’m not the end-all and be-all of WLS dudes. That’s where YOU come in.

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My name is Tim Grayless and I’m from Indiana. I used to weigh 385 pounds until I had my RNY surgery on August 5, 2009. I have discovered so much about a disorder that used to control my life, and from time to time I will share those ramblings with all of you her at FFD.com

I am married to my lovely wife Doreen, who is the Director of Scholarships at Indiana University, South Bend, IN.

We have three children: Megan, who is 27  and going for her PhD in Communications at the University of Kentucky. Erin, who works for IBM in San Jose, CA, and Andrew who is finishing his certification for becoming a Physical Therapist. Andrew and Erin got their BA’s from Purdue, and Megan got he BA at Columbus State in Geogia, and her Masters at the University of Arkansas.

I am a part time United Methodist Pastor, and currently on disability. In the near future, God willing, I will be off disability and back to full time work.

Enough for now…see you on formerfatdudes.com.

As we get moving along here, one of the ideas I had was to do some “email interviews” with some of the more infamous folks around the WLS scene. And since it’s partially the fault of the folks over at BariatricTV.com that this site is here… I figure we’ll start with Lynnda, Toni and Mike, the group that put the word Freak in “Surgically Altered Freak”.

But…. I’ve never done this sort of thing before. So I’m asking for your help dear readers. Register and post some comments with the questions you want them to answer…. I can’t promise we’ll use yours… but more than likely we won’t be able to come up with our own so we’ll have to.

Your first time commenting it needs to go through approval, so don’t despair if you leave your comment and it doesn’t show up right away… it just means I haven’t checked my email yet.