I just received the following comment on my blog in response to my post entitled "Educational Fee."  Normally I would just leave this comment there but it made me laugh so I wanted to share it.  I do not know who the author was, only that it's a RMAP patient.
____________________________________________

Dude...Now that you really broke it down in ways that I didn't really give a hoot about before-I am pretty fricken pissed. And Carly is a ***** Sorry you incurred her wrath of her self-centered, elitist, holier than thou attitude.

Nice to meet you too Maria!

I did go to Amsterdam-a cool little city! I do have have to admit-I like Dublin better!

And as for Dr. Simper-I was very satisfied with him! I have referred a couple of my friends to him who are equally satisfied. He is a realistic guy and he won't b.s. you. Which is a totally good thing!

And thanks for the good wishes on my last 40 pounds. They are a struggle!

Re-Committed

  On Friday, January 23, 2009, I weighed myself in the morning and came in at a stellar 223.2 lbs. Over the next four days I gained 7 lbs. Yes, that's right, 7 lbs!!! I weighed on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 230.2 lbs. How can I gain 7 lbs in 4 days? That's a good question. It freaks me out everytime I see a fluctuation like that but I always know what causes it.

1. Poor diet. I wrote about this in an earlier blog (titled: Snacking). I was horrible for about a week or so. It ALWAYS takes time to show up.

2. Low Water. Yes, for the same week where my diet was poor, I wasn't drinking even close to the 64 ounce mark.

I know some of the weight gain is from water retention. Here are my steps to reversing what has happened (I always do this when this type of fluctuation happens):

The first step was to commit to myself that I wouldn't snack on sweets anymore. Today was day 1. Did it!! Woo-hoo! I had a really good day diet-wise. No sweets and pretty near perfect.

The second step is to increase my water intake. I did really well. I drank 80+ ounces today (32 ounces by 10am in the morning). I've already started shedding some of the retained water. By keeping up on my water, I help control my appetite as well.

I expect that it will take about a week to 10 days to get back down to where I was but I know I can do it. I'll keep you updated.

Sean

Hi Becky, great to meet you.  I too work for IHC, though not in the clinical area.  I was so pleased to see Select Health offering bariatric procedures.  Very exciting.  I'm a little older than you, at 45 and can't wait to begin this next chapter of my life.

I am looking into the Duodenal Switch, I had never heard of it before joining OH here, but now look forward to giving it a whirl.

See you around the boards!

Exercise

  Ah! I didn't want to tell anyone this in case it set a bad example for someone but I don't exercise a lot. Yes, I've lost 250 lbs without much exercise. Yes, I do move a ton more. In essence I really do get a lot more exercise than when I was at my highest weight but still...

I do eat a lot of protein which helps so I don't lose a lot of muscle mass but now that I'm down to my initial goal weight, now I need to exercise to tone up my muscles and help augment my soon to be plastic surgery.

Plus... if you see my post about snacking below, you'll know why it's important to exercise. It has to be a life change as well as with the eating. The reason? Sure I've lost a ton of weight (1/8 of a ton actually) in just 21 months but I want to keep the weight off for as long as I live (which hopefully will be another 40 or so years).

Anyway, that's my two cents worth!