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.
I was glad to see Scott sent home just because of his attitude. I think at times, both Anthony and Scott can sing well but they are not Idol material. IMHO
I finally got up to do morning exercise. 20 minutes of pilates and 22 minutes on the spinner. Its a start at getting back to my routine.
I didn't get anything done last night. DH sold his scooter yesterday and wanted to go look at a show saddle for me. Fine but the lady in the store drags out this awesome saddle that was more than I had wanted to spend. We ended up taking it out to put on Tanyah to see if the color is right and if it fit well. That pretty much killed my evening of productivity. I will be glad when DH gets this business off the ground and is busy all day and WANTS to stay at home at night.
Food was okay even though we ended up with pizza last night. It was thin crust and I do light cheese. I dipped into my flex points some but that's what its for. So yay me.
Hi. I'm still here (new, but still hanging around).
I've had a horrible time of it lately, but I thought if I came here, it might inspire me.
I was on vacation recently and my eating started going downhill a few days before vacation (talk about a girl gone wild). I have gained 7 pounds in the last 2 1/2 weeks! (I can't stop myself.)
Does anyone else sabotage themselves? Do you know why you do it, or how to stop?
I'm really annoyed because I had been doing really, really well. I do this all the time. As soon as I realize I'm doing well, I blow it. It's like a reflex or something. It's crazy!
I guess the fact that I'm still coming back is a good sign though.
HELLO ALL! I would love to join in, share the successes and help motivate! I'm from NYC, lived in NJ most of my life. (I'm 27) Now I live in the UK with my hubby (Hey can someone tell me what DH stands for? and SH etc? lol) I picked up the dh means partner somehow.
Anyway, As you can see from my signature I have a mighty long way to go. I can't believe I was nearly 300 lbs! I'm only 5'3" and I didn't think I looked that large. But my fear of scales kept me in the dark on that one for quite a while.
Tasha, I have spent most of my life sabotaging my dramatic promises to lose weight. I think it has to do with fear. We are so afraid of feeling out of control and failing that we take control and DECIDE to fail! It sounds so stupid but I do it everytime - except this one. I have this ridiculous fear that I will deprive myself of chocolate, bread, sweets, and rice, exercise like a maniac and still not achieve any weight loss. Ludicrous, I know! But, I've reached the point now where it's a medical issue. I already have a bad knee with arthritis, I developed sciatica and am in a great deal of pain on a daily basis. A few months ago I started to feel sharp chest pains and I was getting out of breath from just walking and talking. At my old job, I worked on the 5th floor. We had a fire drill and had to take the stairs. I nearly passed out at the top and felt I couldn't get any air in! I'm only 27!
I realize that Exercise helps relieve the pain in my leg, it keeps me less winded, and makes me feel more in touch with my body. Eating a well balanced, refined sugar low diet makes me feel better, more energetic, and less depressed. I have reached the point where I am focusing more on these non-scale related benefits. Whenever I feel the urge to sabotage I concentrate on these things because 147 lbs is such a long way to go! I also concentrate now on mini weight loss goals like my 5lb May challenge. Whether my brain can believe it or not, with these changes, I have a better chance of losing weight than stuffing 4 cookies in my mouth.
Tash, I hope you find your motivation soon - aim to lose 1 lb in 2 weeks or something. Even the smallest thing helps!
I'm feeling rather crappy today, mostly because I think we're closing in on yet another 2X2 challenge and I doubt I lost anything. I've been exercising religiously though, go figure. Fitday has been helping me keep track of stuff more though. I NEED TO EAT LESS CARBS AND SUGAR, LOL. I know that is why I am not losing and just hanging around at the same weight week after week, because I'm only eating about 1700-1800 calories a day.
Catherine I know you went through this..gah...do you suggest I eat more or less or what because this is so frusterating to me, I am just so disgusted with myself because I feel like yet again I am failing.
Ok, sorry for the negative vibe but GRAH! I am just SOOOO pissed off with myself.
Good morning everyone.
Welcome to all you newcomers !!!!
Biggirl... DH usually stands for "Dear Husband". But sometimes it stands for "Dumb Husband" SO stands for "Significant Other" ....TTFN stands "Ta ta for now" ... LOL is "laugh out loud" ... WI is "weigh in". There is an ongoing joke here that includes that WI stands for Wisconsin so often you will see "WI (not Wisc)"
There is also DD "darling daugher" ... DS "darling son" ... DIL "daughter in law" etc etc.
I am off to a good day. Will check in more later.
Make it a good day !!!
Morning everyone! I just wanted to get this information out while I was thinking about it. Some time ago there was a discussion going on here about what to do with the irratation that occurs in our crevices. Anyway, I went to the Women's Expo here last weekend and I got a sample of a new product called Smoothing Care, Chafing Relief Powder-Gel. It's made by Monistat. I have not tried it yet as I don't have any of those "areas" right now, but I'm sure they'll be coming as the weather heats up.
Gotta get some paperwork done. See ya later.
Oh, I almost forgot,
BIGGIRL: Welcome. Glad you joined us.
Twinkled: Welcome to you as well. No, you don't have to redo your tracker every time. Make your tracker and copy the URL like it tells you to. Then you can go to the upper right hand corner of the screen and you'll see "userCP". Click there and then you'll see some choices along the left side of the screen. Choose "edit signature". Then you can paste the tracker URL into your signature and it will be there until you change it again. Hope that helped.
Good morning Ladies....one more day til Friday Woohoo!!!
I know what you mean, Tasha I tend to sabotage myself too. It starts with thinking how well I'm doing (which is fine) then moves to I'm doing so well, I should treat myself (which is also fine) then become I'm doing so well, I should treat myself with food or skipping exercise (which is the point, at which I sabotage myself). It seems to come from two places...habit and fear. Even as a kid, 'treating myself' tended to come in the form of food. I think I kind of picked it up from my mom and I find that I do it with my residents too...for instance, when I feel like treating them, it's generally a trip to Baskin Robbins for ice cream. I know it's an ingrained habit and one of the things I'm working on. Not that I think I should stop treating myself, I just need to work on the treat being non food related, maybe going out to buy a new book or going to a movie *leaving extra money at home so I can't be tempted by the popcorn stand*. The main problem with that is that I can be a bit lazy and the fridge is much closer than the bookstore lol.
I agree Big, it seems like many people (myself included) are, subconsciously, afraid of change. It's almost a two edge sword, if you try, you may fail, which is a scary enough in itself or you might succeed, which is frightening in it's own way. No matter how much you might wish for something different, doing things the way you have always done them,deep down, just feels right even though it may not be best in the long run.
Since it's thankful thursday, I am thankful for my residents (I mangage a group home for 6 adults with developmental disabilities). It's a bit like having children and it gives me something outside of myself to think, care and worry about. In a way, they are an inspiration because they generally take life as it comes. When it's time to get up they are up. When it's time to go to work, they are walking out the door. It doesn't seem to occur to them to complain or procrastinate (unlike me...I set the clock a 1/2 hour early so I can hit the snooze a few times).
Anyway, time to get some paperwork done, so have a good day everyone.
BTW Thin, I'd be very curious to hear how well the anti-chafing powder works. I saw a commercial for it a few days ago and I was thinking about picking some up the next time I'm at the store...No problems at the moment but summer is coming and I live in Southern California so I do run into problems sometimes.
First, let me say Hello and Welcome to KecharaEQ, Biggirl, Shadypurple, Futurediva, TwinkledPink and any other of our many newbies I may have missed in the past. This is such a great place. I'm so glad I found this group and I'm sure you'll find the support you need here!
Now, I seriously need a kick in the butt! It could be the fact that I've been losing or maybe that my clothes are getting big or maybe it's spring fever, but I'm getting lazy. DH actually suggested we get back on track by going to the Y last night, and I said no, we have yard work to do. And we did do some yard work, but first we went out and had our usual fajita's for dinner. So not only did I not exercise, but I ate junk in the middle of the week. In all fairness to myself, I ordered chicken and only ate 1/2, and brought the other 1/2 for lunch on a salad today, but still! Not happy with myself today!
Okay, so-what am I going to do about it? I don't know.
It was actually a somewhat productive evening. We did tear up this flower box we've been needing to get rid of and made some headway with our re-sculpting of our lawn. We never even turned on the TV last night...(which actually means we missed Lost and I didn't realize it until it was too late.) I'm not sure I screwed up my points, since I only had 16 to start with so I had 17 or so to eat, plus flex. And then we had a nice time, sitting by the firepit and drinking our favorite wine. But I can't be doing this stuff mid-week and expect to meet my goals, darn it. I already had a fattening weekend! And I've become very exercise apathetic since Vegas.
Okay, today is another day. I'm going to watch my points as best I can, since I'm not sure about that chicken, and drink my water - which is another thing I didn't do yesterday.
Ugh..I woke up this morning at 6:30 am with the most painful leg cramp...not a normal charlie horse in the back of my calf but this one was in the front and for the life of me I could not get it to release...I finally hobbled to the bathroom and somehow sitting down helped it..but wow what pain. Then my leg was sore and I decided to go back to bed for a few minutes...which somehow became 2 hours...oh well.
Kechara...I'm in LA...where in SoCal are you?
So i need to get my tush in mostion and get some breakfast and shower. I think that today is the day they are supposed to be filming a McDonlads commercial around the corner so who knows what sort of mess will be out there when I leave.
Hi. I'm still here (new, but still hanging around).
I've had a horrible time of it lately, but I thought if I came here, it might inspire me.
I was on vacation recently and my eating started going downhill a few days before vacation (talk about a girl gone wild). I have gained 7 pounds in the last 2 1/2 weeks! (I can't stop myself.)
Does anyone else sabotage themselves? Do you know why you do it, or how to stop?
I'm really annoyed because I had been doing really, really well. I do this all the time. As soon as I realize I'm doing well, I blow it. It's like a reflex or something. It's crazy!
I guess the fact that I'm still coming back is a good sign though.
Oh well. That's my 2 cents worth!
Happy day, everyone.
Hey, you have almost the same goal I do.
Anyways, I weigh over 300lbs and am ready to get healthy...I don't want to get any bigger than I am already.
Tashabella-Self Sabotage. That used to be a biggy for me. I think the main thing is just a feeling of avoiding change. Fat is at least familiar. Sometimes I would tell myself that I deserved to eat what I wanted. Sometimes it would be that I felt so worthless, what did it matter. The worst part is that right now I can not tell you how I stopped doing it. It is like a light came on. I finally, really feel like I deserve a better life. I have often described it as finally growing up and being able to tell myself no. It is embarrassing that I was in my 40's before growing up. Abuse survivors, alcoholics, addicts, etc. are often said to have stopped their emotional development at the point of their trauma or starting their addiction. I believe that happened to me. It was as if everytime I looked in the mirror, and saw myself large, I was emotionally transported back to that point of my childhood where it first hit me that I was different or damaged. It is hard to deal with major life changes while emotionally reacting to the situation like we were still a child or teenager. I also had the advantage of moving away from home. I am away from all of the places and things that remind me of that past. Recovering alcoholics and addicts often have to do the same thing. Give yourself some slack, and try to be gentle with yourself. Then view your decisions as if you were making the choice for your child and not for yourself. We will often give into ourselves about something that we would never allow our own children to do. I think that's how I was finally able to start telling myself no.
Missmeliss-Plateau horrors. I had 5 months of it. If I had cheated, it would have been so much easier to endure. I worked so hard, and had nothing to show for it. Unfortunately the beginning of the plateau coincided with my cutting off communication with my mother. I was truly convinced that God was punishing me for breaking the 5th commandment. One week I would refuse to go to church out of anger, and then the next week I was practically doing the Liturgy of Hours everyday (long Catholic prayer usually only done at big things like ordinations or pope funerals). I saw two shows on tv that helped me understand what was going on. An episode of Celebrity Fit Club and one of National Body Challenge dealt with this very issue. The first one was a guy who was exercising like crazy and not losing weight. They figured with him that he was converting fat to muscle. The second was a woman that they figured just wasn't eating enough calories. I had been losing steadily on 1,200 a day. My plateau hit right after I started walking. I was converting in addition to needing more calories. I finally settled at 1,650-1,850. I think the biggest difference has been the pool. I don't know why, and don't care. You have to tinker. Everyone is different. Just don't give up. I am embarrassed to say that I never considered giving up because I had the notion that I was being punished. I can think of no greater punishment than to work like a dog, and have nothing to show for it. It is so demoralizing. In the end, it is like cleaning out an old garage. You just have to endure it, take it one piece at a time, and know that eventually it will be clean. Hang in there.
Thinthinker-I've always called it "Fold Irritation." When you get to be 600 lbs., you can't clean like you should, and it can be pretty bad. I always used diaper rash ointment with zinc oxide. That worked for years until last summer. I was doing over 1,000 sit ups a day because it was the only exercise I could do at the time. 4 hurricanes tend to cause some humidity issues, and the ointment didn't work. I had to get a prescription for an anti-fungal. One thing that did help, was freezing dry washrags, and then taking them out of the freezer and stuffing them in the fold. It had a cooling and drying effect. We used to use cut up t-shirts to do the same thing when I was a kid and had prickly heat.
Now for me, I am having a very thankful Thursday. I had an eye exam late yesterday afternoon. My roommate had agreed to drive me since I had to be dialated. She decided to overmedicate instead. I took the bus. I also missed the bus coming back. I couldn't read the schedule to see if another was coming, because I couldn't see well enough to read it. So I started walking. It was about 2 miles. The longest I had walked was 1 mile. I still weigh 380 lbs. I have a really bad knee that doesn't have an ACL or cartilage any more and is arthritic. My back was injured so badly that I still can't stand up completely straight. I tore muscles, tendons, ruptured disks, and have much sciatic trouble. With all that, the biggest mountain I have is still fear. I am constantly afraid of getting somewhere and not being able to make it home without help. Eight years of depending on a wheelchair have left me without confidence. The wheelchair was a powerful safety net. I stopped having to worry about whether a restaurant or movie would have a seat for me. I took mine with me. The walk home from the eye doctor was like flying a trapeze without a safetynet. It wasn't real hot, but very humid. By the time I got home, I was drenched and dripping. I told my roommate that no amount of her being angry or disappointed in herself for letting me down could take from me my triumph. Every step gave me a boost of confidence. It may be time for me to donate my wheelchair to charity. I can't imagine going back to it now. How many of you are hanging on to your fat clothes? I remember how hard it was to part with them the last time I had a big weight loss. God has given me such a wonderful gift that at first seemed like it was going to be a horrible crisis. I'm going to be in pain today, but I don't care. I earned it.
A brief history, I've been dieting for the last 10 years straight and have lost the same 10 pounds over and over and over (I've been overweight for 25 years). I went to a shrink last year and found out some interesting stuff. Now I know why, but I still can't stop. I even joined a gym last year.
I did learn that the only one who can do it is me -- the answer is not in anyone else. I am healthier on the whole and I know I'm making strides because I've been able to set limits with people who trigger my eating and I was recently able to stay OP for two weeks straight (I haven't done that in years).
I also have health problems and HAVE to get this weight off (I have a heart disease gene). I am having trouble walking, pain, etc. I know the drill and that should be enough, but that doesn't do anything for me either.
I'm encouraged by the fact that I keep getting back on the wagon, but it just isn't going anywhere. It's very puzzling!
Thank you guys for your support. I really need your encouragement right now. I'm at a loss (and not poundswise).
Last edited by Tashabella; 05-05-2005 at 01:09 PM.
300+ And Ready to Try Again...#710
Still here
Not happy with myself today!
