Yesterday I revealed to the world that Symlin is giving me tummy trouble, to put it mildly. Just for grins, I got on the scale this morning and I'm down 4 lb. since the weekend. Most of this, we can assume, is, ahem, water weight (bwahahahaha!).

Yesterday was better than the day before, but today has been worse. I'm not nauseated and my appetite continues to diminish, but my tummy is making terrible gurggly noises and sending me to the potty more than I'd like. At least once today I thought about emailing Dr. C to tell him I can't handle it anymore and that this is no way to live or lose weight.

And then I get back to my desk and start feeling normal and realize that it hasn't been so bad, that I'm not ravenously hungry All. Day. Long., and that I've lost some weight. And I think that I'm willing to put up with this a bit longer to see if it resolves, as Dr. C has told me it does in some patients.

However, I've gotten at least two criticisms for what I'm enduring. I'm sure they were meant in good faith, and I was prepared with some witty comebacks. The bottom line here is that some of us need more motivation than others. Some of us need different motivation than others. I have a friend who is motivated by stickers, of all things. She gives herself a sticker on a calendar for each day she exercises. She loves to look back at her calendar and see all kinds of stickers from the month. Me, I couldn't care less about stickers.

See the difference?

Our motivators for different parts of our lives are as diverse and individualized as our own brand of diabetes. I've been an eater for as long as I can remember. A mindless eater. I've tried all kinds of tricks, including ice, peanuts and Fiber One cereal, and none worked as well at keeping my hands out of the cookie jar as this has.

So I'm glad that simply riding a bike and eating fish is enough for some people, but I apparently need more than that.