“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that. The really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great." ~Mark Twain

Hello One and All,

I hope this email finds you well. As many of you know I’ve been busy dealing some “issues" with “loved ones". Thank God yesterday “we ALL" got out final “good bill of health", so I am refocusing my energy onto ME.

While it may seem selfish to some, I was reminded before one can help another – they need to be healthy themselves. It’s sort of like traveling in a plane with small children. One of  the “directions" you are given in case of an emergency is to put the air mask on YOU first, then help those around you. The reason being, if you aren’t “strong" enough for yourself, how can you help others?!?!?

One way for me to get “healthy" is to get “back on track". Over the Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years Holiday I gained about 20 pounds, and I am up almost 30 from my very lowest. I’ve been trying to lose the weight, but nothing seemed to be working. Finally 3 weeks ago I said enough is enough. I have re-upped my exercise (jogging), and have cut down the portions (but believe me when I say I’ve been eating like a bird, and NO, not constantly ;D). The next step is to see the Nutritionist come Monday, and then my Doctor in 3 weeks. And of course, getting back to Support Groups, and maybe even doing a too long waited Inconvenient Get Together!!

I just want to thank those who have reached out to me over these past months. It meant a lot. And I need to apologize to those who felt I may have “abandoned" them. That was never my intention. Always know I am here if you need me, no matter what is going on in my life.

So happy to be “back", and can’t wait to “bug" you again!!!

Tom

 

 “You don’t have to be perfect in order to be successful." ~Anonymous

Dear ObesityHelp Members,

ObesityHelp is committed to your privacy.  Since our inception in 1998, we have endeavored to protect the sanctity of our members’ privacy.  Over the years, we have been asked to sell and lease our database or grant unrestricted access to the same.  We have continually refused all such requests as we deem our membership to be our dearest obligation.

ObesityHelp conducts operations in a social network environment which means postings, content, blogs, and any other ancillary information sharing on our website message boards is 100% open and searchable by all major search engines.  This means that posting on ObesityHelp.com requires members to be conscientious of their own levels of comfort when posting any information on the Internet. 

A historical review of our commitment to your privacy over the years has been as follows:

2004 Email addresses:  We removed email addresses from showing up on every profile. While still required for membership, your email will not be visible to the public.

2006 Customizable Avatars:  This allows members to post without using a personal photo.  This was done to help protect the identity of our members from public viewing of a member’s likeness.

2006 Member names:   ObesityHelp website was augmented (usernames created) to allow privacy for our membership.  Your name was no longer required to be public.

2006 Private message (email) system created: This allows our members to communicate privately one-with-another.  This system is similar to other social networks currently in existence. 

2007 Launch of private groups: This feature allows individuals the ability to have discussions in a privately member-moderated environment.  This was done in response to requests to be more like “Yahoo Groups" and other social media.  Private groups are not visible to search engines and are considered privately operated by the creator of the group.

2008 Integrated privacy settings: Allows you to set who can see your profile (*can be set to keep your profile completely private).

2009 Health Tracker Settings:  Allows you to share your information with your surgeon/hospital or keep the information private.

2012 Privacy Policy:  Released new Privacy Policy, review HERE.   

We have limited control over the indexing, linking and sharing of your publicly shared content on ObesityHelp.com, however, we have created customized tools to help you protect your privacy while enjoying our website.  To adjust your privacy settings (and review the entire open letter from us), read it HERE.

After you have had an opportunity to review our Privacy Policy and adjust your privacy settings to a level best for you, if you have any questions, please let us know at [email protected]. 

Sincerely,
ObesityHelp Management and Staff
 

 “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives." ~William James