Patrick Deuel Rebounds a Bit. (Like the rest of us?)

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"Patrick Deuel said Tuesday that he hasn't stepped on a scale since last summer, which was the last time he saw his doctor.

Deuel, who once weighed 1,072 pounds, was down to 370 in November. Too many holiday sweets and his attempts to quit smoking have taken a toll since then, he said. He guessed that he now weighs 425.

"I feel a little heavier," Deuel said. "I'm working through a lot of stuff right now."

Deuel was so large in 2004 that a bedroom wall had to be cut out to extract him from his home. He was rushed to a hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., in an ambulance with extra-wide doors and a ramp-and-winch system.

Gastric bypass surgery - a stomach stapling procedure - was thought to be his best chance for permanent weight loss. A second operation a year ago removed a mass of fat and skin hanging from his midsection.

He regained his mobility and began driving again in July, but the former restaurant manager has not gone back to work.

Deuel said that he is not overly concerned about his recent weight gain.

"They (the media) talk about how he's making progress, and then if he doesn't lose a prescribed amount of weight, he's sliding and going back to where he was," he said. "But you have to come at it like anyone else. Everyone has good days and bad days. It's like people who play the stock market. They make all that money, and then the market does a dive. But they recover. Same with me. The weight is going to come back off."

.Deuel said he's not purposely avoiding the scale.  "I'd weigh myself if I could find one," he said.

He pointed out that he requires a special scale used by his doctor, Fred Harris, of Sioux Falls.
Harris said that although Deuel is overdue for an appointment, the 44-year-old seems to have done a good job taking care of himself. If patients lose 50 percent of their excess weight after gastric bypass surgery, it is considered a success, Harris said.