Welcome to Dave's Crazy and Confused World

Welcome to Dave's Crazy and Confused World! I'm starting this blog to have a place to talk about some of the crazy and confusing... and sometimes really great things that happen in my life. So welcome to my world.

As of next week, I will be traveling with the wonderful woman in my life (Holly) to Fitness Ridge for four weeks to loose weight, get in shape and hopefully get my recently diagnosed Type II Diabetes under control. Several years ago in 2004 I had a very successful visit to TheBodyShopSpa which was the precursor to Fitness Ridge. So I'd like to start with posting my old daily emails from that trip.

Fitness Ridge's also has a blog that you might want to read.



Introduction to TheBodyShopSpa experience:
I came to the realization that I needed to loose weight and that my attempts to do so on my own were all failures. After researching the alternatives, it looked like it was either go to a weight loss spa or get gastric surgery. Surgery is always that last resort, so I looked at the weight loss spa alternatives. I looked and looked, and every place appeared to be to expensive and not necessarily effective looking. Until I came across The Body Shop Spa. This place looked both affordable and effective. I talked to my boss and my health insurance about doing this. My boss was very understanding and said that if I get a doctor's note recommending that I do it then I could use sick leave instead of vacation time. What a great boss! The insurance company (GEHA) was less understanding. They said that they would not pay for weight loss treatment. They'd be more then glad to spend ten times as much to pay for heart surgery, etc. as a result of my obesity and they would pay for gastric surgery but they don't pay for weight loss. What a bunch of jerks.
So I went to the doctor and he agreed that I needed to treat my obesity and that the weight loss spa treatment was worth trying. So he wrote me a note recommending that I go to a weight loss program.
So on September 18th I drove from San Diego to Mesquite, Nevada where I spent the night at the Oasis Resort. The next morning I drove the short distance to St. George to start my first day at The Body Shop Spa.

Results:
Well this is it, the big finale everyone has been waiting for... my final weight out. So I'll lay it out in a chart format:

	Before	After	Loss
Weight	318	286	32
Chest	56.5	51.75	4.75
Waist	56.75	52.5	4.25
Hip	49.5	44.5	5
Thigh	25	22.75	2.25
Calf	18.75	18	0.75
Arm	15	16	-1
Fat %	37.3	33.8	3.5%
BMI	42	37.7	4.3
Systolic	152	112	40
Diastolic	99	74	25
Pulse	106	84	22

A significant change! Serious pounds and inches! Oh, and for those who are wondering about the 1 inch gain in the arm, last week I had lost an inch but muscle gain drastically out sized the fat lost there this last week so I actually gained two inches in the arm this last week. So if anyone knows anybody who needs to get fit and loose weight, tell them to go to the Body Shop Spa (now Fitness Ridge) for four weeks. At the minimum I would say two weeks with the four weeks being optimum. The exercise is fun and the food remarkable good, especially considering the negative image of healthy food that we all have in our heads. If you follow their program it's a sure way to get in shape while having fun and enjoying yourself. Thanks to everyone for their support and good wishes, Dave