As you read this you're probably sitting in front of a computer, slouched back or forward, maybe with a cup of coffee beside you. If you're like me, you probably spend countless hours with your eyes glued to a screen and your back-end glued to an office chair. I sit behind a computer at the office for 7 or 8 or even 9 hours a day, five-days a week. Then I spend additional hours on the computer on evenings and weekends for education and entertainment.

I don't think this is natural, to work in an office all day and then purchase everything that you consume - from factory-farmed and overly-processed food to mass-produced clothing. It comes as no surprise to me that we as a nation are over weight, fat, obese. To me, the hunter and gatherer way of life or family farming seem the natural way that we were intended to live. The reality, for better or worse, is that sitting behind a computer is our system of lifestyle - used for both work and "edutainment" -- for most of us in the 21^st century. We can't necessarily quit our day jobs and begin homesteading (although some people do).

So, what's a girl (or guy) to do in order to maintain all that wonderful weight lost after gastric bypass or gastric band surgery? What follows are some of the unusual ways that I've snuck in exercise and "beat the system" we live in.  They may seem a little unnatural at first, but I remind you that there is nothing natural about sitting behind a computer all day under fluorescent lighting in a building with windows that do not open.

Facebook and lose weight

Do you know that I've figured out a way to exercise while I am using my laptop? It's true. I made a deal with myself that I could only go on Facebook while I exercise. Yeah, it makes me feel less guilty about using Facebook because I'm doing something good for myself. I simply flip my laptop case wide open and put it on the handle bars of my recombinant bike. I ride and read and type. When I stop riding, I can't Facebook anymore. That's the deal.

Sometimes I ride for a longtime and don't even notice it. That is, until I get up from the bike and my back-end is numb.

Stand like a flamingo and burn more calories

Have you ever been to the zoo and noticed that the flamingos stand on one leg?  You can use this same technique to boost your calories burned. Seth Roberts, author of The Shangri-La Diet book, did some experimentation and found that standing on each leg until exhaustion twice a day (for a total of about 30-40 minutes) gave him the same benefits as standing all day for 8-hrs, in just a fraction of the time! So this is a great technique for people like me who are glued to their office chair all day. I stand like a flamingo when I eat my lunch and again when I prepare dinner or wash dishes or fold laundry.

You'll look particularly elegant if you wear pink when you stand like a flamingo. Just remember to take off your sky-high heels and steady yourself on something solid, if you think you're apt to fall.