300+ Weekly Thread #1218
 

We are a group of individuals who weigh or have weighed 300+, or near there. This group was formed to provide a place for others like us to find support, inspiration, and hope. We are aware of the distinct problems that come with weighing over 300 lbs.

We want to invite everyone (roosters as well as chicks!) to join us in our journey. We share laughter and tears, heartaches and fears ... joys and celebrations. We also share what works for us and what doesn't.

We know the thread can move very quickly, and that people often make "personal" remarks and keep a number of conversations going. Please feel free to contribute even if you can't make personal comments all the time.

Finally, we also have several extra threads going on simutaneously such as Monthly Challenges, Weekly Weigh-ins, Recipes, Bios, Photos, Exercise, Info for Getting Started and more. Many of these threads are stickied at the top of the page. Please feel free to check them all out.

We have found this thread to be more than just a support group... we have found it to become a home. We invite you to join us.


There have been some concerns expressed by the powers that be about copyright infringement. So please, if you are directly quoting someone else or printing an article in whole or in part, please give credit where credit is due!!

morning ladies...

Debbie54: glad to see ya back posting. We have missed ya!

Jacquie: Thanks for that website about high blood pressure. It was really informative. According to that site I really think I do have it. Will know more when I start monitoring it.

Yesterday we had a bday party for my son at my sisters. She has a pool and stuff so it was fun. I could not swim because TOM was here but it was ok still. I was crying alot yesterday as well.

Today I ahve to go into work early because a couple grils are off and I am covering the early shift.

Morning all!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Ours was rather low key, but we bbq'd and watched the fireworks our neighbors always put on. It was nice relaxing on the deck and watching them.

I made a big bowl of strawberries and blueberries topped with whipped cream for our 4th of July dessert. Yum! Nothing like fresh in season fruit. I have been enjoying it each night since!

Summer cold/cough still hanging on. Nights are the worst for me. Hard to sleep as I start coughing and can't stop. BLECH!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Finally weighted in today. The damage is a gain of 8lbs. But I am adding into the factor of TOM. So here we go again!

So the goal will be to be 308 lbs by July 31. Day one of cleanse has gone well. Not feeling and of the mild ickiness that they say might happen. Maybe cause I feel icky already with TOM and the weight.

What are other peoples goals for this month?

Hi everybody!

Torister - strawberries are one of my favorite things ever ever ever! Your fruit salad sounds a lot like paradise :D

My goals for the month? I would LOVE to be 299 by the time I go to NY on August 5th. But my main July goal is to maintain the week of the 12th - I will be spending the week in Maryland with my BIL taking care of my nephew and BIL and I can get out of hand with food pretty easily. But I'm not gonna let it happen and I am going to AT LEAST maintain if not lose!

Hi Cyn- Thanks for the welcome back and it feels good to be back and accountable again. The weight sure does come back on really easy if you let it get away from you.
Hope you get your bp under control soon if that's what you determine it to be.

Peggy, sounds like you had a nice time over the weekend. Gotta love those yummy fresh fruits!

Julia, my goal for the month is just to stay focused and get back to the basics of a successful weight loss program.

nooch, you can do it! Just set your mind to what you Boy, the want to accomplish and the sky's the limit!!

Ok, I gotta get busy getting some work done around here. Vacuuming, washing clothes and waiting for my Avon orders to come in. Things are going pretty well with Avon. I did a fundraiser for the USO this weekend and was sorta surprised how people wouldn't give a donation but then once I think how bad the economy is, I can understand. I think I'll get a few new customers out of it too. It was fun and the fireworks show at the end of the day were great!
Hope everyone has a great day!

Glad to hear Avon is going well! One of my mom's friends does Avon so when I lived in NY I had a near-constant supply and it was great :D

I just posted a few pictures of my wedding in March and my mom's wedding in June in the pic thread btw!

Julia - I think my goal is just to keep on track. I'm doing a maintenance week this week (lots of food) and then back to the usual the week after that, and hopefully keep everything good until I'm back in school. I'll be canning cherries probably next week, and we'll do dill pickles maybe the week after that. So I'll definitely be busy. :)

I am sitting here reading http://www.ontariofarmfresh.com/cons...ats-in-season/

Then going to get more recipies for new stuff to try. You would think that I would have planned ahead and bought a case of jars each month during the winter so I would have enough jars for my ambition! Already did 12 quarts of strawberry jam.

Hi all,

Out from just lurking for a moment...

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm doing a one pound a week weight loss goal since I have so much to lose, my fitness girl suggested concentrating on that and not fretting about big term goal weight loss and it's worked great. I am stressing less because I don't feel as much pressure to pull big numbers. The results: I'm in Week #7 and I'm down 12 pounds so I'm over goal and very happy. It's a great start.

Cyn...be very careful with high blood pressure if that's what you have. They call it the "silent killer" because you don't have any symptoms from having it. I have never had high BP until the past few months and no one, myself or my doctor can tell me suddenly why I have it. I'm now on my third mixture of pills to bring it back down but thankfully there is something available, even though I had taking pills, that can help - it's finally coming back down. Take care of yourself - watch your BP closely.

Torister (Peggy?)...your strawberries and blueberries combo sounds delicious. I miss getting fresh fruit. I only buy a little because it's expensive and I hate how fast it goes bad. Hope you're feeling better soon - worse time is summer to be sick if you ask me. Doesn't seem natural.

Julia...my goal is to stick to OP as much as possible. As I said above, I have a small 1 pound goal each week so I concentrate more on making small changes and it seems to be working. Don't fret the weight gain - it happens to all of us and TOM isn't a very good friend, is he? And wow...homemade jam...Mmm...I sure miss that being from Ontario.

Nooch...I hope you hit your 299 goal by August 5th. I'm cheering for you!

Debbie - hi there. I'm fairly new to the site. Nice to "meet" you.

Anne - greetings from another Canadian (from Windsor), but who is living in the US right now. I hope to go back "home" someday. You've done so well so far - keep it up. You're a great inspriation to us all.

Well I hope to stop lurking so much and get writing but I just seem to never have a moment's peace. No excuses, I know.

Have a great day everyone and an even better week.

Heather,

I have a technical question. Do you know why even after updating my signature with my new weight, the slider bar in my signature is correct showing 12 pounds lost but under my name on the left side where it shows my starting weight, current weight and goal, it is incorrectly showing my current weight? I thought if I updated the HTML in my signature that does that too but I'm wrong? If so, where does that part get changed?

Thank you and sorry to have to ask.

I'm not Heather, but if you go to User CP and then Edit Profile, you can scroll down to Additional Information and edit it there :D

Dani -- what nooch said! The trackers and the side info are independent of each other!

My goal this month. Well, I don't like setting time based weight goals, so my goal is to get my eating under control. Specifically, to write down everything I eat this month. And to keep my calories around 1800 every day. That should get the scale moving a bit.

Nooch and Heather - thanks so much. I was looking all over the place for it and couldn't remember where I'd found it before - duh!

Thanks!

Dani - greetings back. I'm in Burlington myself. I understand the lurking bit, as I seem to do more of that lately myself. I'm back in college at the moment, and I'm not sure if I'll eventually relocate myself. Most of the better opportunities at the moment are in Alberta or the east coast. Although I still have work terms and 4 more semesters of classes, so who knows, maybe Ontario will have picked up a little by then.

Hey y'all. I mostly lurk too but I do read the thread every single day and I always send positive thoughts to everyone who seems to need it. :) I can't say that I have that much of a goal this month...I'd LOVE to be able to fit back into all my old size 16s by the end of July but I don't know if that's a possibility. All my new 18s are swimming on me so I'm only wearing old 18s and new 16s right now...I was a very small 16/large 14 in 2003 but sizes seem to have gotten larger in the last 5 years. So right now I wear a 16, but I'm not really a 16. That is probably way TMI for all y'all LOL! It's just been a lot on my mind lately.

Last week was super stressful for me. Instead of diving into a popeye's fried chicken, birthday cake, beer, wine, and smokes...like I would have done anytime previously in my life...I actually went to the gym and ran the stress/nervous energy off.

To me, that's more of a victory than any single pound I've lost yet. Dealing with stress healthfully rather than by hurting myself is not something I've EVER done in my life before. I'm starting to think this might be a permanent lifestyle change...and as a cool side effect, I lost 7 lbs in one week. That hasn't happened since last October.

Happy Monday everyone. :)

Hi all,

I had a nice long post to everyone and I couldn't post it for some reason earlier.

Just wanted to say hi to you all and say that I may be MIA for a bit. Tons of company coming tomorrow for a week and one of Joel's sisters is moving in with us for a year. I will check in this week when I can.

Blessings all,
Annie

Hey everyone...just got back from my morning walk. Yeah, starting that up again lol. I'm sort of "restarting" and hopefully going to punch through this wall I've hit. Going to tackle a few issues this time around, emotional eating, things like that. I still do that, even though I've made two promises to my boyfriend. It is just hard for me to cope with emotional things, so though lately I've been doing really well with it, I still slip up.

Starting each day with making myself look into the mirror and say something positive about myself to myself. Though today I just thought it as I walked hahahahaha. I thought, "I'm a beautiful person, inside and out." I even got the courage to jog a little, but I have a hard time picking up my legs. However, since the last time I tried I did see an improvement. :D I can pick them up in order to jog, so maybe that is a good sign.

Going to start participating in the exercise tally thread again. WOO! :D Today I plan on doing my aerobics and possibly another walk this evening. Today I am drinking juice as a "day 1" on a juice feast. Apart of me doesn't want to drink juice, but you know I know myself. When I focus on proving people around me wrong like they think I can't do it, then I do it and then focus on me in the process. So, I don't know what that is about. I think that is part of my Mother in me. Kind of like "Oh yeah! Well..I'll lose weight out of spite then!" lol

Anyhow, I'm also going to be looking into maybe going to the YMCA or something..I dunno. I am lacking friends and activities, so I was thinking about getting out there more. ACK!

*HUGS* I hope everyone is well! I'm trucking along. :D

Good morning Peeps - just a quick fly by reminding you to drink your water, move your bodies and SMILE.

Jacquie -- Reading your post, I was going to encourage you to post exercise minutes, but you said you would, so yay!!!

Just another plug for the exercise thread -- you are ALL invited to participate!! We just keep track of the minutes we exercise and keep a group tally. We are trying to break our 2007 record and need everyone's help!! It's easy! It's fun! And it helps us be accountable!!

Heather - Will do... :D I totally sucked the past two months for the exercise tally thing, so I'm going to keep myself active this month. So far I've done 30 minutes of walking + a little jogging, but plan on doing more later so I'll tally it at the end of the day. :D

****
First juice of Day 1...AWESOME! Peach and Orange, how can one go wrong? Creamy goodness. Of course lunch...not too sure about. Carrots, beets, and cucumbers....eh. lol Yum...lol

Just a fast post here this morning running on 3-4 hours sleep couldn't get to sleep last night and my boys got up at 5:30am. It's not even stinking daylight out yet suppose to still be sleeping them lol. I'm gonna make them take a nap later I won't get one but at least it will be quiet as the girls will watch tv or read a book. I need to get up and excerise soon not sure what I want to do today maybe kickboxing. I'm doing good on my food plan counting my points and not having too many carbs. Will be back later for personals need more coffee. Oh my goal for this month is lose 10lbs, stay on Weight Watchers even during a move and to drink 8 glasses of pure water.

Morning all...quick fly by ...

I could sit here and complain about how I feel crappy..lol..but nahhh.

Everyone drink lots of water today! Its gonna be friggin HOT here today!!

Hi all,

I am at work and it's been an odd / stressful week so far. I have a question for you all. How does one go from being aggressive / competitive / outspoken / overly critical to at peace and content? I would like to know how to get from point A to point B.

Angie

Hi everyone,

Angie...wish I had an answer for you. I have a hair-trigger personality - one minute I'm content and the next minute, even the slightest thing sets me off. I've never figured out how to control it. I hope someone can help you.

Anne: I moved from Windsor to upstate NY in 1998 to get married. Divorced now (husband was liar and cheat) but I'm still here...I have a good paying job for which I'm very thankful and am living on my own for the first time in my life so it's a challenge but also enjoying it too. I do wish to go back to Windsor someday - my mom and other family/friends are all there and I miss them. I only get home twice a year. It gets pretty lonely around here sometimes so I'm glad I found you guys. I understand thinking about moving out West. I have several friends/family who have done it for the jobs and they're happy.

Bazz...sorry to hear you're under the weather but you have a great attitude about it. Keep it up and you'll be rewarded!

Annie...my ex and I had the same problem with our dog and fireworks but we found even sedatives didn't work well so we had to put her in a well sealed car in a well sealed garage to keep her from freaking out.

Jacquie...I'm with you. I didn't do well with the exercising tally last month at all. Time to turn it up a notch! Good luck.

DCHound...great job. despite being stressed you didn't over-react and eat poorly - you got out and exercises. That's so great!!!! Good for you!

I don't want to leave anyone out - sorry if I did. I hope you are all doing well, hanging in there and fighting the good fight. I'm thinking of you and rooting for you all.

Angie, I know exactly how you feel. I think it's hormonal or at least it is for me. Half the time I end up apologizing to my hubby for things that I've said but it just seems they come flying out of my mouth without me even thinking about how he's going to feel. Sometimes even in advance, I'll let him know it's going to be a bad day so look out. If you find out what it is, let me know.

Boy, trying to come out of the fog and eating right is so hard. I have a headache, I'm sorta bit*chy, and feel like crap. Yesterday was a good OP day though. I got rid of alot of water weight. Hopefully in a couple days I'll feel cleansed and back to myself again.

Hope everyone is doing well and staying OP and drinking that water, speaking of which, I have to go get my bottle!
Have a great day!

Hi Ladies,

I got laid off last week just as I was heading out the door to my vacation. It was not unexpected but I was hoping the news wouldn't come just yet. An executive called me at home and said that almost everyone was being laid off, including me. They're keeping us for another 1.5 weeks so we can determine if any of our work will be carried on, and to pass it on the handful of people remaining. I will go in tomorrow and start determining if any of my projects will continue. I doubt it because my work was all about developing new offerings and there is no one to develop anything now. I lasted through 3 massive layoffs in one year as the company went into the death spiral but this time I didn't escape. So I guess I am in the first runner up category on the island.

I ate for a few days but have put myself back on track. I decided that I will use some of my free time while unemployed to kick up my fitness level and cook delicious, nutritious meals. This will be a great time to experiment with make-ahead recipes that I'll be able to use when I get a new job so that I don't end up bored and burned out on my food.

No personals today but I am keeping up with everyone. Hugs and strength to everyone.

Sorry to hear about your layoff :( It is just so hard right now.

But it is really good to hear your positive attitude about it - that is what I'm doing right now. I'm technically not unemployed - my MIL and I run a business but business is down so much that we are barely staying afloat and I am looking for PT work to supplement it. But with all the extra time I have since there is less work for the business I have been working extra hard - no farting around, that's how I got this fat to begin with.

So go us!

Goodmorning my Peeps!

Realist, I wish there was an easy answer. Right now, I'm going to therapy to try to untangle my emotions from eating. Boy, what a mess!

Lets, hugs to you... sorry you are being laid off. I'm glad your response by eating at it was limited! I do the same thing.

My back is still giving me fits. Ugh.

Meanwhile, I'm taking care of the collie across the street. He's a nipper and not a friendly dog. Well, I go to let him out and go look to see where the fish is located and almost stepped on a BAT!! UGH. I found an empty fish bowl and some paper and put him in it on the front porch, called the owners (they get them every 4th of July weekend) and waited for animal control to take it away. Took them an hour to show up, but the person was nice. I called the homeowner's cell phone and he asked if there was a charge for animal control coming out and testing the bat. Wha??? And the dog tried to bite me 2x when I was trying to look at the tags on his collar to see when his shots were due (he's due this month). Good thing these people rarely take vacations. I have to care for him all week.

Hugs to all!
Ratkity

Battle - :hug:

Battle - hugs to you - you are an amazing woman, I know things will work out for you but I still hate it you have to go through this.

OK ladies - day 3 of being OP - water, food and exercise. Why do I ever go off?

Battle-So sorry to hear you lost your job. We are always looking for incentive to jump start, but that's never the way we want it to work out.

I've been semi-MIA since starting this new therapy. It's based on constant re-exposure to the trauma, in my case, I have to constantly describe the attack over and over again in the session, which is taped, and I have to listen to it at home every day over again. It's making my whole body hurt. It's almost like replaying a movie over again, and placing myself back again at the top of those stairs. Every time I remember being stabbed, my head and hand hurt. My knee and back are killing me, and I don't seem to have the energy right now to do much of anything except survive it.

Hang in there Catherine! Warm blanket hugs. Just check in once in a while to let us know you are here, er um, there... you know!

Hugs,
Ratkiy

Battle, Sorry to hear about the job. And it would of been nice if they could of waited til after your vacation...wow!! That was cruel! But I think it's great that you turned it into something good. That you're going to work on getting in the exercise and great foods. Way to go!

nooch, good for you too! Stay positive.

Ratkity, well geeze, I hope the dog didn't get any rabies!! Keep an eye on the furbaby.

Carol, I ask myself that every time I get crazy with food! YAY for us on being OP 3 days!!

Catherine :hug: that's all I can think to do.

The headaches are finally gone and I feel pretty good. No fog to work thru and I feel more awake and can think better. Sure is amazing how food can affect the body.
Hope everyone is doing well.

Battle - so sorry to hear about your job. It seems to be a sentiment I'm sharing more and more with people I know. The last place I worked (same company, two different plants) is seriously in trouble as well. They're getting rid of people left and right. The scariest is when they start dropping *** people (or new projects as you do). It means that there will be nothing new coming when the old lines shift out. My field was automotive, and it's a given that as models are phased out you need to have new stuff coming in. It leaves everyone who remains in an even more tenuous situation. I do hope that you find something soon. I have to say (so far) that any time I've been out of work it's ended up being for the best. Okay, it's only happened twice and until I'm finished school I'm not so sure about this time. :)

Catherine - sorry that you're having such a rough time with your therapy. I suppose the only bright spot is that perhaps it will make your life easier in the future. At least I hope so.

Anyways all, I don't really have much to add this week. I've been officially on a maintenance week (lots of food), no weight training, but have been doing lots of walking. This morning I walked for 95mins (had planned for 80, but at 40mins felt I wanted to go further) and when I got home I plugged in where I walked into mapmywalk.com - and I did 5 miles (8km). I was really quite surprised. I'd picked that path because I saw a couple of benches on it and I figured if I was pooped on the way back I could sit down. I didn't, but it made me bolder when I was heading out. I want to walk down to the lake on Friday (4 miles return to the closest park) so this was kind of a dry run.

Other than that, not much going on. We have company coming for dinner (and maybe a swim) on the weekend. Next week should be the start of the canning (sweet and sour cherries), so that will keep me out of trouble. I hope everyone is doing well, and having a great week.

Not too much going on here today. I didn't get on yesterday to post boys didn't sleep at all night before. I couldn't get on to type if I wanted I was so tired from no sleep. I took them off of meds for ADHD they have Autism and are boys they have no signs of ADHd yet they put them on a med for it. And it gave them insomnia so then we never sleep. Plus it would make them like zone out and just kind of be there I hate meds like that. We switched doctors because of other issues with this doctor and am so glad. She said we could take them off any time we wanted it was ok. And so I did yesterday and they sleep all night till 6:45sm. We all got sleep and hadn't had much in months. And then come to find out we have a mouse grrrr I can't stand those nasty things. So my cat does nothing for it she looks at me like you gonna do something about it lol. SO Mike set a trap heard it make its noise but I'm so not gonna look. I'm suck a chicken he will look at it once he gets home lol. And yesterday I was mad with my cell company my phone is under warranty yet they won't replace my phone got it in Feb. The sticker is telling them water damage yet it's never been near any water. So I go online looked at reviews and others having trouble with this phone like I was and them saying water damage. So I added another line to service and new phone so it should be here tomorrow.

Battle~ Sorry to hear about your job.

battle - *HUGS* Hang in there. I agree, you're an amazing woman!

Catherine - *big supportive hugs* It sounds like you have a good support system, which I think is key. Facing traumatic events in order to move on from them can be so overwhelming hard. You can do it and we are all here for you.

****
I have to remember to put my exercise minutes up tonight. I'll be doing my workout today, though I have to admit, I'm out of sync with what I want to do as a routine. So, I'll have to get back in tune with myself next week. I have had a horrible time sleeping lately. I think I'm eating too late and that keeps me up. I also have a lot on my mind, so we'll see.

I ordered a book that should help me with my diet of choice. It has a 45 day meal plan, which is what I've been searching for. I need some sort of guidance and structure, but I don't want to do something like Weight Watchers. I dunno, it is like trying to sort out everything I need to do has proved overwhelming and my emotions take over at that point. Then I just keep loosing the same eight pounds. This has been happening over the past 3 and a half months. Though, now my BC pills are A LOT better than before. I have the Ortho, not the Trinessa. I also found out apples make sick. Who knew! And apparently, they make a lot of people ill. huh.

I hope everyone is well *HUGS*

Battle, HUGS, I'm so pleased you're using this time to do something constructive rather than reaching for food (or drink) as I would WTG. Good luck on finding another job when you're ready to look for one.xxxxxxx
Catherine, hugs, take some painkillers & have a warm bath, maybe get hubby to massage your sore areas?xxxxxxx
Annie, sorry about your dog, I have no idea WHY fireworks NEED to be so loud!xxxxxx
Well the school I help in had a teacher commit suicide (he had just qualified & got a job there, starting next weeek) I helped in his class. I feel sad about it, he was a lovely man but wasn't strict enough with the kids. I have no idea whether it was job, college or 'personal' related or a mixture of them but it is such a terrible waste of a life.
My oldest son & gf looked at a house to rent, fingers crossed he'll be gone soon!!!!
Anyone tried Atkins? I'm thinking of giving it a go, make a change from other low-carbs I've tried & I know I lose faster AND feel better on low-carb.
xxxxxsharon