[VermontChick]

COME JOIN US!

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 and hope. We are aware of the distinct problems that come with weighing over 300 lbs.

We want to invite everyone to join us in our journey.
We share laughter and tears.
We share what works for us and what doesn't.
We often use a "Topic of the Day" for discussion.

Motivational Monday
Tuesday Tips
Wednesday Wish List .. and What you are doing to obtain it.
Thankful Thursday
FUN Friday ... don't wait until you lose your weight.
Sit-up Saturdays - any physical activity
Share your Success Sunday

These are not required topics ...just ideas to share. We often find them very helpful. We also share heartaches and fears ... joys and celebrations.

We have several extra threads going on simutaneously such as Monthly Challenges, Weekly Weigh-ins, Recipes, Bios, and more. Please feel free to check them all out.

We have a bi-weekly 2x2 Challenge.
Our goal is to lose 2 lbs in 2 weeks.
We have a long term goal of losing 300+ lbs within our 300+ group in 2005.

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.
__________________

[VermontChick]

Boy that sandwich hit the spot...still didn't opt for pizza (yet, maybe next week). I had a pretty good day, I've been trying NOT to think about this little undeserved suspension I have. I talked to my boss and apparently the second case manager that was present during the alleged "hair pulling" saw a COMPLETELY different story, one that was MUCH closer to my story than this other kid that reported me. We shall see, still waiting.

In case none of you have noticed, I worry A LOT about everything. I find a tiny bump on my tummy and suddenly I run to the doc thinking I have cancer or a hernia...I get sick and I am convinced I'm going to die...I get suspended for allegedly pulling someone's hair I get visions of police coming to my house to arrest me Thanks all for listening to me. Anyways, this probably should have gone on the off topic thread, ahh well

So ehem, dieting yes. I was at around 800 calories for the day before I ate that grinder ...I wanted it badly though, and I don't feel guilty because I was good today, and did my exercises. Tomorrow I shall either visit my dad or go to the movies, I'm not sure which...I guess it will make more sense to visit the dad since I don't know what the financial situation is going to be in the next upcoming weeks

Well, my Sassafras is begging for food (as if she needs it, she's 14 pounds), so I better go feed her.

[JuleeCeeS]

Pizza Casserole
The deal here is to add to it whatever toppings you would like on your pizza....you also have the option of using meat...or not. I used the Boca crumbles instead of extra lean ground beef.

10 oz. whole wheat rotini
1lb. ground sirloin or turkey (or 1 bag meatless crumbles)
16 oz. fresh sliced mushrooms
7 oz. jar green sliced olives
2Tbsp. minced garlic (in a jar in water) or fresh garlic to taste
4 tsp. olive oil
28 oz. + 15 oz. tomato sauce (try to get one with italian spices)
1/2 tsp. italian seasoning
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
8 oz. FF ricotta cheese
8 oz. FF shredded mozzarella

**Again..if you don't like mushrooms and olives, use whatever veggies you do like on your pizza.

1) Cook pasta, drain and set aside..do NOT rinse
2) heat 4 tsp. olive oil and sautee mushrooms and garlic and medium high heat. If you are using any other veggies, throw them in now too for about 4 minutes
3) Add meat (or fake meat) and keep sauteeing until the veggies are soft and most of the pink is out of the meat. If you have lots of veggies, add a little more olive oil.
4) Add tomato sauce and seasonings (I used Trader Joes pomodoro marinara sauce)
5) Add olives (if youa re using them) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
6) Add ricotta, stir till blended
7) Add mozzarella, stil till blended
8) Add pasta and stir till well mixed
9) Pour into 9X13 pan.
10) Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

I got 8 healthy servings out of this and it froze and reheated VERY well.

It's not pizza, but you get all the toppings and the cheese and none of the guilt

I wish I could remember what web site I found this recipe on. I don't have a calorie count on it, but I do know that with the ingredients listed and if you be sure that the meat is extra lean then it is CORE for WW and you can have it once a day (b/c of the pasta).

Good luck!

By the way...I never realized how much I enjoy cooking. I love looking for recipes, gettingthe ingredients together, and how wonderful my apartment smells all day. I've been doing most of my cooking in the crock pot, but that's because my kitchen is about the size of a shoe and the oven isn't big enough for most regular sized pans. Plus I hate my stove.

Tonight I made a garlic chicken, broccoli and salad and baked apples...yum!

The rain is back...again. Hopefully it will be gone after tomorrow. I realllly need Sunday to be clear and sunny. ARGH.

Have a wonderful weekend...

[thinthinker]

Hi all! Just a quickie before hitting the bed. I went and picked up Honey from the airport and he turned in about 10:00 after sitting in the recliner sleeping for an hour or so! Poor thing, jet lag!!!

Don't really have time to do up replies right but wanted to congratulate all of you that have had losses this week. Awesome, girls!!! You GO!!!

Melissa: My mom used to make some great "little pizzas" when she had her card club over when I was a kid. You make them on English muffin halves. Spread each half with pizza sauce and top mozzarella cheese and slices of pepperoni. You could use the 2% cheese and Canadian bacon like someone suggested and it would be great and pretty low WW points. Satisfying too.

BarbPA: Glad to have you back safe and sound. It's wonderful that you were able to have the get-away with Jeff. Sure hope this IVF round works for you.

Joanne: Good to see you joining us again.

Julee: I enjoy your recipes and print them out when you post them, but you should post them over on the recipe thread so that they're easy to find again in the future AND they're there for any newbies who join us later.

Ok, girls, I'm outta here. I had a long day trying to get my "showgirl" jobs done this afternoon before running out to the airport and back. Hope you all have a good night. Love ya bunches.

[2cute2Bfat]

Hi guys.... I have not read tonight. I am just too far behind. I will try to get it done tomorrow while hubby plays golf. LOL
I did want to show you my new car/SUV. I finally got it. They promised it Tuesday but I finally got it today. It is sooo comfy. It has lots of little extras ... like heated seats. and dual heat and air for both driver and passenger. It has the best mileage for a SUV too. It is a Nissan Murano.

I am worn out... I am off to bed now.

[hippygoddess]

HI all,

I am checking in from my work laptop - my computer has been having huge overheating problems and my adsl modem got blown up by a huge thunderstorm a couple of days ago! So I spent most of today trying to get this laptop working with a new modem ... and I still don't have the network fixed up. I am missing my daily 'fix' of 3FC!!! I am far behind in my work because of the computer problems, so I don't have time to read the threads and reply - but just wanted to check in and let you know that I haven't just disappeared ....
*hugs* to all

Leanne

[j-ann]

Mornin'

Well, W/I was a bummer. Up 1 lb. It could have been a lot worse thou. to quote my post in the W/I thread:
GULP! This is what happens when the "ya gotta journal before you eat it" Queen doesn't journal for 3 days.
(Self, I say ... "Remember this and write it down"!!!)

Thank God I only let myself silp for 3 days.

LEANNE: I missed you. Thunder season will be here soon. I'll have to get back in the habit of unplugging before I go to work. I don't have a lot of faith in surge protectors.

2CUTE: Neat car. I want one too!

THIN: I used to make muffin pizzas. Thanks for reminding me.

JULEE: Nothing could make me love cooking. But I like to read recipes.

gotta run,

[Terri in MO]

Good morning ladies!

Its sit-up Saturday. I have a few minutes before I need to jump up and whup on the house cleaning. It shouldn't take long if I just get at it and don't stop until its done.

My mom is coming up to spend the night. She already knows the rules - no stupid behavior or I'll smack her upside the back of the head. She knows all the stress we've been under from DH's family so she's coming up for a distraction for us. DH did tell his mom not to call and complain about anyone else and she doesn't understand why he'd feel that way. Clueless. At least we've had a couple of decent evenings.

So we're both ready to hit the healthy eating and exercise again full force.

Tonight one of my brothers and his fiance are coming up for our monthly eat out and see each other adventures. We're doing a Japanese Steakhouse and Suishi bar. Steakhouse I've done; suishi not. But since we're being adventurous, I'll try it.

Since mom is the one responsible for the horse obsession (she has always had horses), we'll be going out to the horsebarn for most of the afternoon.

I did post a couple of pics of my new boys, in case anyone wants to see.

I may drag her to Fashion Bug to see if I can find something to wear to my nephew's wedding coming up on April 2nd. We haven't had a wedding in the family since DH and I got married 6+ years ago.

I can't remember who was looking at a bike. I have two. I used to do a lot of serious bike riding because of the great exercise. I have a hybrid bike and I have a touring bike. I started out buying cheap bikes and what I got was cheap bikes and little satisfaction. I invested in good quality bikes from a bike store and have had them for 10 years and they are still excellent bikes. Its like any other exercise equipment, spend the money for quality and you'll be better satisfied and more apt to use it. I can't hardly wait to get my bikes out here soon.

Judy - You've experienced the consequences of not journalling for 3 days and its a painful reminder that you have to stick to it. I have been relearning that kind of lesson myself. I have to plan our meals out ahead of time and I have to have to groceries in the house. And journalling before you eat it is another thing I have to get back at. Thanks for putting that in your post as a reminder to us all. BTW, you really inspire me to keep working at this. You've done great!

2Cute - Great looking car. I wish I had the heated seats in my little car. Enjoy it! Hope you get some rest.

Thin - Enjoy the hubby being home.

Julee - I too enjoy your recipes. Have you checked out www.foodfit.com? Good stuff. Plus I get a lot of stuff from FoodTV.com too. They have a couple of light cooking shows.

Leanne - I hate it when I have computer problems mainly because I used to be able to fix them myself and now its all gotten so complicated. We miss you too! So are you into fall yet? What kind of fall weather do you get?

Lilion - We've got sunshine! How about you today! We'll have to meet sometime for a walk (or ride) on the Katy trail!

Okay, its 7:30 and I need to get up and get active. No sitting around allowed.

Have a good Saturday and check back in tomorrow evening.

Make it an OP weekend!

[MichelleK]

Its a BEAUTIFUL day here in North Carolina...the sun is shining and its starting to feel like Spring!!

Andrew and I already ventured to the grocery store this morning. I usually go on Fridays when I get out of WW but the girls from work all went to the salad bar buffet so I joined them then we went to join the gym and it started getting late...so I just went and picked Andrew up and went home. I forget that he is growing up and not a baby anymore. He usually will ride in one of those car baskets while I shop but this time he wanted to push one of the little carts they have for kids. THey are sooo cute! I said ok but if you don't listen to me we will put it away and you will have to sit in my cart. Well the little man was just that! He did so well, he was so funny too, mommy I need some pretzels here, I'm going to put them in my cart! Made me laugh...of course he got the pretzels and a toy cell phone and a Mario gum tape thingy. Just because it had Mario on it. And he only ran into the back of my heels ONCE...and I told him to be careful he can't run into people or we will have to put it back, so then everytime someone came into the aisle we were in he said mommy you have to be careful of the people! Little smarty pants!

Anyways, I need to tackle the rest of the laundry and get my kitchen organized today so I will surely be needing a break soon and need something to read so you all better come out and post this morning!

Catch you all later! Michelle

[VermontChick]

Good morning ladies!! Thanks you guys for all the yummy pizza ideas, I'm definitely going to save those!! I just wanted to pop in before I left for the day, I'll be heading to dad's for the day, and I'll probably just spend the night, so I won't be back til tomorrow afternoon at some point...just gotta get away from these walls for a while, it's been way too depressing.

Michelle - I've always wanted to ask you, is that avatar from Wallace and Grommit? I LOVE that show!

Terri - I saw the pics, they're beauties!

Leanne - let's see, australia...you're about what...anywhere between 14-16 hours ahead of us, depending on the clock switching thing, huh? I have a friend who lives in Victoria.

Well, foodwise I'm kinda off to a rocky start cause I had FOUR pancakes for breakfast, but i've been craving them for a while, and I had enough of my extra core points banked so I guess it was ok...it's just I hate starting my day off with like 600 calories

Everyone, have a great day!!

Mel

[ageoldie]

Just stoping in to let you all know I'm still lurking.

Barb.g

[j-ann]

Just got back from a fantastic Thai dinner. Mmmmmm Good. Even better I was able to stay 100% OP all day. I needed to successfully face a challenge. Kind of recharged my spirits (and the food left a nice warm feeling in my tummy.)

BARB.G: I see you lurking. Come on out and play.

MICHELLE: Loved your shopping tale. Andrew is just growing so fast. I'm glad he could control the cart and "help" shop. He's a boy to my own heart .... he shops for pretzels!

TERRY: Hope your enjoying Mom's visit. Bet she loves the new "boys". I'm not a very adventuresome eater. Don't think I'd try sushi. Did you???? How the dress shopping go? Did you find something to wear at the wedding? I'm just full of questions tonight.

Think I'll watch the tube for a while and crash early.

[JuleeCeeS]

Ahhh sushi..my one true love. Having been a suchi afficianado for quite some time, I was a bit saddened to realize that my sushi habits would be altered drastically when I started WW. Most of what I was eating was rolls...which of course means rice..white rice..lots of it. It's hard to find places that make brown rice sushi. Thankfully Whole Foods does, and I can get tuna and avocado rolls and be happy..or just tuna and salmon sushi (fish on rice) and be happy too. I have come to discover sashimi though..which is just plain sliced fish, usually on daikon radish (just for show..has no taste). If the fish is good..this is DEELISH, chock full of protein and for me, totaly OP. I mix a little soy and wasabi together for sauce and Julee smiles. I miss tempura veggies for sure...but that's OK. When I was a sushi virgin...I enjoyed the adventure. Good fish does not taste fishy or smell bad. Some of the funky sounding stuff is the best stuff too!!

BF and I always liked Japanese steakhouse and the teppan tables, but the cook everything in butter...so unless I can find one willing to cook in some sort of healthy oil (unlikely), we won't be going back there any time soon either.

J-ann...what did you have at the Thai place that was OP??? I am dying to know. I LOOOOVE Thai food..especially the soup.

MWAH!!!

[MichelleK]

Come out come out wherever you are!! Only a handful of us are out today huh? Must be a beautiful, sunny day and everyone is enjoying the outdoors and exercising right???

Judy...Andrew surely is growing up so fast. I have to remind myself that he is a little boy now and not a baby anymore. Its sooo hard! He will always be my baby! Tonight we went to an Easter play at church and he was so good through the whole thing. Makes me proud! Oh and do tell...whadya have at the Thai restaurant? I love thai food too. Especially chicken pad thai! My favorite and Nime chow!

Julee...you made me laugh! I mix a little soy and wasabi together for sauce and Julee smiles. I don't like sushi...I was raised to try everything once before I say I don't like it...well I tried it and can't say its for me!

Mel...I'm not sure about the avatar but it does look like it! I just picked that one off the 3fc avatars...way back when! I love dogs so I just stuck with it! I thought it was cute! Don't get discouraged with the calories you ate early...sometimes we need to shake up our bodies with extra calories and then keep on track. I know if I eat below my points sometimes I don't lose or lose just a small amount and when I mix it up and shake things around I tend to lose quicker. You'll just have to experiment and see what works for you. But don't get discouraged and give up...or nothing will come off...keep fighting the battle...it will all click together eventually...it did for me once and I think I am on a roll once again!!

Barbg...come back and post!

So Terri...how was your dinner adventure! That sounds like a fun event you all have once a month! I miss our adventures we had with the neighbors in PA. We have made several friends down here already and are starting to socialize once again! I enjoy it!

2Cute...I want a new car too! Will you buy me one?

Leanne...I hate computer problems and car problems. When I start having them I tend to go out and buy a new one! Those are the two things I am anal about!

Thin...you never came back to post today...where'd ya go??

Well, I think I covered everyone on this thread. Now for the rest of you! I hope you have had a succesful day and if not...get your hinies back in here and post!

Barbpa...ya gotta come tell us about your trip...any pictures?

Ok I am going to hit the hay because my little guy will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow! Talk at you all then!!

Michelle

[j-ann]

Originally Posted by JuleeCeeS

J-ann...what did you have at the Thai place that was OP??? I am dying to know. I LOOOOVE Thai food..especially the soup.
MWAH!!!

Hi Julee,

I had 1 cup of Tom Som (or Yum .... can't remember) w/chicken: 3 pts. My main dish was a stir fry w/scallops, mushrooms, green peppers, bamboo shoots baby corn, thai basil and a couple other veggies with jasmine rice on the side. The chef, very willingly use only a tbls. of oil in the stir fry so I figure 4 pts for the rice (I don't think I ate a cup but I'd rather guess high) and maybe 9 pts for the scallop stir fry. 16 pts! I drank iced tea and water. I had a 7 pt lunch and 8 pt breakfast. Totals 31 pts. exactly what I'm supposed to have each day. I don't usually have a 16 pt, dinner but it was well worth no snacking all day.