Thanks so much . . . . .P3 . . . . .if I may call you that!?

I felt a bit a of relief just hitting the "post" button. I am doing fairly well so far. I hit major resistance snags in the beginning, but I finally got my head around what I must do. It really isn't about vanity for me. I missed my chance to be Miss and Mrs. America several years back. I am just trying to get healthy. I do not want to spend the last half of my life miserable and nonfunctional and that is exactly where I was headed.

I am a calorie counter by nature. I just cannot do diets that restrict any food from me. I am a big "Rebel without a Clue". If it is my choice, I tend to do better when picking my foods. Go figure. I have also identified myself as a stress eater. I do not eat when I am angry or depressed as a general rule. There has to be stress involved. Ergo . . . .one could assume that I have been stressed for 40 years.

OK, I'll end here. Tomorrow is the "official" weigh in day for me as Fridays are my Fat Days or "Free Days". Having that keeps me on track for the rest of the week. So far, so good.

Thanks for your friendly welcome! And congrats on weighing under 300 with the "gear" on!!!!! I am going as fast as I can to get under 300 myself!

Hi everyone~~

I am so excited! Remember how I told you all that I cheated on my eating the other day? I mean I ate a plate of spaghetti and 7 yes I said 7 potato and cheese perogis and all of that pasta--I won't even mention the potatoes that were in the perogis--anyway, all of that pasta is a big on a low carb diet. Well guess what? You probably already did, but I was very good with my eating and I lost 3.2 lbs. in 6 days! That means that I'm down to 315.2 lbs. now--I weighed myself 3 times just to make sure it was correct. I am so, so glad that I didn't screw myself and gain weight because I couldn't say no. Can you all hear the big sigh of relief and the joy that I'm feeling?

Now, I'll go backwards through the posts and try to answer them.

Neurotica~~ Welcome and I'm glad that you're here. I joined before and I stopped coming for a while. I guess that I lost my motivation and I felt like a big "fake" for coming here --I have recently realized though that this is where I should be coming when I'm not motivated. The people here are WONDERFUL and they are so inspirational and they even kick your cyber butt once in a while if you need them to. I am totally with you in that whole putting your weight down thing talk about SCARY but you know what? In a strange way it also empowers you. It's almost like you're taking ownership of YOU and deciding what is best for you now. Basicly what I'm trying to say is I'm glad that you're here and make sure to keep coming because the people here really care about each other.

Princess-- WOO-HOO for you! Congratulations and please send some of your determination my way. I'm doing really good with my eating--(most of the time )--but actually getting my big butt to work out has been so hard lately.

Sue Marie--I hope that you enjoyed your day off. What kind of classes are you taking? Have fun. I don't blame you for avoiding the scale--I didn't step on it after my pasta binge the other day--I was way too depressed and disgusted. Just keep on keeping on and you'll get back on your program.

Sharon--Please don't be all bummed out. It sounds like you've hit a plateau and they suck. Thankfully I haven't hit one--YET--and I'm not looking forward to when I do. Just keep trying and you'll do it. Have you thought about changing your workout a little or your eating? Sometimes that is all you need to jump start yourself. Either way big ((((HUGS)))).

SicknTired--Were the donuts good? Because I'll tell you what--I have NEVER met a donut that I didn't like. I'm kind of jealous . You have it right though--just start again and don't beat yourself up about it. It's so not worth it. It sounds like you are very busy right now. I got tired just from reading your post.

Julee-- I am so happy for you! Breaking that 70 lb mark must feel AWESOME! Keep it up because you're an inspiration to all of us. And please don't forget to let us know when the bf decides to "ask" you any um...er...interesting questions . I'm not going to jinx it, but you know what I mean.

Ammi--glad to hear that you're having a good week.

Catherine--don't make yourself sick because of being nervous. Everything will be okay and work out the way it's supposed to. Not that my words will really help, but at least you know that we're all thinking of you. Are you going to be able to post while you're in Canada or are we going to have to wait the whole time for any and all information? I just thought of that and I'm kinda bummed myself now. How's the sewing coming? Good luck and keep up the good work. You can do it.

Well, I'm off to the other thread. Have a great night everyone.

Vicki

Neurotica – I too had a hard time putting down my starting weight as 378lbs. For
A few years, I never really knew how much I weighed. I only knew it was over 300lbs because that’s as high as my bathroom scale would go. I too count calories. I can’t go without certain foods either. At least this way I can have my craving (in good portions) and adjust calorie intakes with other foods. Altho lately I have not been doing so well.

Dolfingirl – hey long time no see… Course I been MIA as well. I’m taking a Capstone class on American Childhood Culture. This incorporates about 3-4 classes in one. I believe Humanities, Social Science, and a few other things… will have to look on my syllabus… then I am taking a Children’s Literature course and Calculus 2. A full plate! Good going on the 3lbs gone! I am going to weigh in on Sunday… *gulp* We’ll see how that goes

Well… my car is fixed. The battery was fine. James took it into the store to have it tested for me. It was fully charged and in perfect condition. So he bought some battery terminal cleaner and cleaned off my posts on the battery and the connectors. Guess what?? My car started right up well at least it wasn’t anything major! WHEW!

Class was interesting. I think I will be able to handle this class. LOTS of reading tho, and 4 exams but no final exam. YAY! Tommorrow I have my Children’s Literature class. We’ll see how that one goes. I know I am going to dred my calculus class. My only hope is this teacher doesn’t have such a thick accent. With my bad hearing, it’s going to be a killer for me.

Take care everyone!

Sue…

thats why i really like WW. i can have whatever i want, i just cant have an entire pie. a slice tho, is ok.

P3 is fine to call me- you can also call me Luan. its my name

my real drive is that i just dont want to look like this anymore. i dont WANT to go to the gym every day, but i do, and when im done im glad i did. because i know its for me in the end. ive spent a lot of my life doing for others, now its time to focus on me before its too late.

my strength comes from my conviction. i cant sit here and give you encouragement and not get off my butt and do something myself, ya know? its an accountability thing. what kind of person would i be sitting here stuffing oreos down my throat telling you all to get off your butt. that would be awfully silly. you all are my inspiration. thanks for that!

Good Morning All,

Well it's 8 am here, Friday, but there isn't much good about it lol. It is so dark and it's raining. I hate days like these. It's like my body says, dark dismal day, EAT. For as long as I have been dieting I have been waking up, doing my housework and then having breakfast at 9 am. Today though as soon as I woke up I thought, I don't want to get up, I am starving, and I thought of the Jelly I have sitting in the fridge. Ok, so it's sugar free, but that doesn't mean I should be eating it just because it is there. So here I am, my home from home, writing here and keeping myself from even going into the kitchen until 9 am.

PJ - so glad to see you back posting. Seems like you have had a pretty hectic week. You said two of your kids have been classified as having special needs? Do you mind me asking what those needs are. If you don't want to answer, or if you want to PM me, please do. I only ask because I am about to embark on trying to get my step daughter some help in school as I am sure she is Dyslexic. With my daughter being deaf I didn't have to prove it or fight for the support she needs, but Dyslexia is something so varied in each person, I can just see me really fighting the good fight to get SD the support she so obviously needs. It tickles me how she can get brilliant marks and comments for her work in school when 99% of the spelling is wrong. Even in English it isn't picked up on which seems so stupid. Anyway sorry to go off track there. I hope your boys will get all the support they need, and one tip. If they are going to get an education statement, make sure instead of it saying your boys should have x amount of support a week, don't sign it until it says your boys WILL have x amount of support.

Thank you for the compliments on my wedding photos, I felt really beautiful on the day, and I love the photo of me and Daren on our own because corny as it sounds, we really look in love. Which of course we were and are, but sometimes photos just don't capture it. I didn't even think about how big I was, I was just so happy to be in Las Vegas marrying the man of my dreams.

Oh good grief, I just tried to go to the smiley page, and thank goodness I had the foresight to copy and paste all I wrote because when I clicked on the smiley I wanted, all this typing had gone!!!! SO copy and paste ladies, copy and paste lol. Anyway to continue:

Sharon - I looked for you online yesterday but I am guessing you didn't feel up to chatting because you were down. I guess no amount of me saying to IGNORE those scales will help you feel better. Or about muscle weighing more than fat, or that you are just at a plateau. All I will say that is new is that you have done so well so far, losing weight without having to resort to surgery. You are doing all the right things, and any time now you will get on those scales and you will see a big drop, or even just 1 lb. The point is that you will be on the downward track again. Surgery is an option for you, yes, but wouldn't you feel so much better if you could say, I did it, and I did it without needing the surgery?

Sue - I hope you can stay strong and that you keep choosing the healthy option of sandwiches or salad. If you have the odd little bad choice I am sure all the running around will compensate though lol. Oh gosh, the photos, they were one or two threads back I think. They were two wedding photos of mine. I will put the links again at the end of all this so you don't have to go searching

Glad to hear that your car battery wasn't dead and that the car is back on the road now. That's one less hassle for you to deal with.

Luan - I think you hit the nail on the head there when you said that even when you have to force yourself to go to the gym you feel so much better for it afterwards. I think we all need to push ourselves a little, and then we can reap the rewards. Yesterday I didn't push myself to get up early to do my cleaning. And I felt rubbish for it. So in the afternoon before the girls got home from school, I put some music on and did the jobs then. I felt so much better afterwards. A clean home again, and I know I worked off some points/calories. Those endorfins that are released are the best natural high you can get, and it just takes that bit of effort to get them.

Neurotica - WELCOME Well done on making that ticker show your start weight. Yep it's not nice to see, but it's pretty fantastic seeing those numbers coming down. You know you have the tools to lose the weight, you have done it before. I am sorry that you gained it back. Do you think that's because you didn't actually make the lifestyle change. Did you just see it as a diet that you could stop when you got to goal? That has been my downfall on many a diet. Though I never got to goal, I would lose 30 lbs and then think ok, have a break, and I would never get back on track and would gain that 30 lbs back. This time I am trying to educate myself, make myself see that this is for life. It doesn't depress me because as I get used to eating normal portions and not over indulging, and most importantly, not comfort eating, then it becomes less of a chore.

When you say you count calories because you aren't limited to what you eat, have you ever thought of doing the WW plan? You count points, which to me is far more simple than calories, and again you can eat what you want as long as you stay in your points allowance.

Good luck with your next weigh in.

Vicki - on that brilliant weight loss despite your 'naughty' day. Maybe you kick started your metabolism when it was bombarded with all that lovely food

Catherine - how are you feeling now, any calmer? I hope so

Well that's it, I have rambled on for long enough, and look at that, it's now nearly 8.40, just 20 minutes and I can go eat breakfast. See, just being here, reading and replying to posts has helped me beat the grey day eating blues Take care all, and have a wonderful weekend. Here are those photo links again.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ethreeofus.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ddingframe.jpg

Hugs,

Ammi

Hello everyone, its great to see new people, we've all been there, what do we put, are we honest about our weight? I hope so, we're all here to help and support each other. Not got much time,got to exercise, its strange someone said about changing my exercise, I did! to a longer and harder video, oh well. I feel a bit better today I've never gained when I'm good, and always lost when exercising, but at 40 I suppose your body is going through lots of changes, I jus hope I lose next Thurs. or I may just get the surgery!

Will try & be more positive & supportive to others, all I seem to do is moan about my own probs. cu all soon.

sharon

WOOHOOO! I lost 3lbs this week!!!!! I am so happy! And I made a real effort to UP my calories! I think I wasn't eating enough for my weight and I have hovered between 1400-1700 this week. Now it's FAT DAY! Thank God!

I'll be back shortly to read on everyone else's progress. And thank you so much for you kind welcome!

I'm new to 3FC.

I currently weigh 325, after being up to a high of 340 on August 12. I've got to lose this weight.

I've posted elsewhere on the site- but I'll tell you a little but about me. I'm 38, married, no kids, no pets, and live in Dallas, TX. I am a full time college student after not being in college in 12 years. I also work part time as an office assistant at a child care center.

Still trying to learn my way around here, and how to post stuff. I made one of those trackers and can't seem to get it to post.

I post mostly during the day, and can't get on much over the weekends.

Have a great Friday.

Babs

Sharon - I tried messaging you earlier but you mustn't have got them. So I sent an email to you, hope it hasn't gone into your junk box.

Neurotica - on your 3lb loss, that is awesome I used to have a 'fat' day like you, but at the beginning of a diet I like to wait until I really feel I need it before I have one.

Babs - welcome to our happy little group. That's a great start, 15 lbs lost already. It's good to be in control and I don't know about you, but when I am dieting I don't feel so horrible about being fat because I know that I am finally doing something about it. As for posting your tracker, when you have made it you will see a code for use on this board. You copy that, and then you go to control panel, edit signature, and paste the code into the signature box. Then I think there may be an option to use your signature with all your posts, you check that box, and then click on save. There is a better explanation on the help section of the board.

It's time for me to go prepare tea, cod in bread crumbs with potatoes, carrots, and brocolli, yum !! Bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi

Welcome Babs! studying and working, it's hard is'nt it? What are you studying and do you have any aims career-wise? I've only recently joined, 3 weeks I think, it is a bit fiddly getting the tracker thing, and the smilies I found.

Neurotica, well done!

The weather here at 4.36 pm is good, blue skies and sunshine, shame it rained the rest of the day! Got my 30mins. aerobics (video) out of the way, feel better for doing it but REALLY HATE it until the srtetches & cool-down at the end!
Hope you're all well and sticking with it! (Ami sent u an email, ta for the kind words )

regards
sharon

Wow...a lot to reply to. but I am really bad about that so i will do my best here.

SueMarie...battery terminal cleaner is sold very cheaply at the 7-11. It's called Diet Coke. In a pinch, the acid in a bottle of soda will eat the corrosion off of the terminals and after letting it sit for a few minutes the car will start right up.

New people..welcome welcome...When I began here in February I was 312. Accepting that I had allowed my body to get to that state was so humbling and scary too. This is a really open community where people do not judge and sharing can be very therapeutic.

Luan...I'm in LA too..we should talk sometime!

I am under tremendous work stress right now. I have a major project that I am trying to put to bed right now...it's happening this year a full month earlier than it did last year and it's kicking my butt. Last night I started losing it a little bit. I had a horrible dream that felt like it lasted all night. Yesterday when I woke up I wasn't sure what day of the week it was. I will be a lot better when next weekend comes and goes.

I need to get some breakfast and shower and get to work. usually Fridays are my day off but this weekend I am working ALL weekend. I am going to be so wiped out. UGH.

Have a good one.

Ammi – I don’t seem to get up to often feeling hungry. My biggest problem is, I have those midnight cravings. Then I wake up and not want to eat and I skip breakfast. Thanks for the links to your pictures What beautiful pictures… I’m teary eyed just looking at them. I’ve had about hmmm….3 dates set… actually 4. Then if you count the one I have set now that makes 5. October 2007. Altho I am once again thinking about pushing that to March 2008. I’ve been really bad at this whole wedding thing. I wanna get married, been with james over 8 years now. I pushed the first 2 dates back because I wanted to loose weight. The 3rd date I pushed back because I got a scholarship as long as I was single, my tuition would be paid for. So our 3rd date was set for March 2006. Well…I figured that was pushing it so I set it for October 2006. That would be date #4. Since I was gonna graduate in March 2006, I didn’t want any sort of conflict between my schooling and my being married. So October 2006 sounded great. Now I’ve pushed it back to October 2007. This is because… I once again wanna loose weight. I don’t wanna be a fat bride. :’( unfortunately now I’m starting to think of pushing to March 2008… UGH! Everyone says don’t let weight be a factor… but I’m having a hard time not thinking that and letting it influence me. You are so lucky! You look very happy in your pictures… Congratulations! This was probably more than you wanted to know

Voodoo – I know what you mean… I try to be as honest as I can with my weight even if I have to change that darn weight tracker in my signature line a few times a day. It’s hard to say… “Hi, I’m Susan and I weigh almost 400lbs.” but I figured if I’m going to keep myself true to my program, I had to be completely honest.

Neurotica – Congrats on those 3lbs gone!! WOOHOO!

Quilting Queen – WELCOME

Julee – heheh yes, I’ve heard the same thing. It will also eat a raw steak in a few hours clean down to the bone heheh…

My heart and deepest thoughts and prayers go out to those in New Orleans. I heard in the news the Levy’s broke again. My heart is just breaking…

Take care everyone…

Sue…

julee! Definately! van nuys isnt too far!

I cant have "fat days" they lead to "fat weeks" then just "fat Luan..." when im committed to myself, i know it, and i do what i have to do. its NOT easy. its much easier to grab a box of oreos (thats the 2nd oreo reference ive made this week) than to make something healthy, but its what its worth to you in the end. i like the bags of prewashed veggies you can toss in the microwave fora few min to steam with some "i cant believe its not butter" spray. does the trick every time.

i woke up not feeling well today. actually i went to bed not feeling well. i usually go home after work, take a nap for an hour or 2 and go to the gym. well my body had other plans for me last night. i made dinner, ate half of it, layed down for a while and woke up at 9 this morning. i hate being sick.

on top of that its tape night here at work, its also my last day, so hopefully my friends didnt do a cake or anything. tape night = catering for dinner. its usually pretty good tho. they have lots of stuff to choose from, but my problem is that i usually taste everything. and if theres bread pudding, then its over. lol

other than that, its just another day here in sunny so cal.

Hello All,

Here I am again. Don't you hate it when you eat something that has no information on it to work out the points?? I just had a cake finger which had coconut on the top. I have no idea how many points it was, but I had 11 spare so I am sure it won't have been more than that. It was just plain sponge cake.

Luan - so sorry to hear that you have been unwell, I hope you feel much better soon. Oh? How come you are finishing in your job, has something better come along?

Julee - I know it's easier said than done, but try not to stress too much about your job. My ex did that, so much so that at 33 he had a heart attack. He didn't die, but he had to change his job after that. I hope this weekend of work isn't as bad as you think it will be. Look after yourself!

Sharon - I just sent you an email.

Sue - I just sent you a PM

Hope everybody is having a good night.

Hugs,

Ammi

You know Luan, if I didn't have Fat days, I would never have lost the weight I have lost so far and I wouldn't have lost 109lbs in 9 mos. before. I know that doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me. I have never met a healthy person that didn't indulge on occasion and that is what I am trying to do; eat more like a healthy person. My eating is so much more emotional than it is a physical hunger and that is what I am working on in addition to losing weight. And the truth is that if I thought I had to eat veggies or fruits only, when I was wanting a treat, I would shoot myself. That just isn't me. Maybe if I ever get to the 200lb mark, that will be what I have to do. But for now, I think I'm doing ok and I feel very committed to myself and my health. And as long as what I'm doing is working, I'm sticking with it. Now, when I have my Fat days, I do not sit and each a box or a bag of anything. I am just not a big snacker to begin with. Even when I wasn't dieting, I never bought cookies, etc. I like sweets, but I am not addicted to them. I have more of a fat tooth than just a sweet tooth. I had huge bags of potato chips in the house for my DH and I could go for weeks without touching them and when I did, I'd have one serving and be done. A pint of Haagen Daaz would last me through 5 sittings. Ask me to pick between a Prime Rib and a pint of ice cream and the Prime Rib wins every time.


I guess I am just a weird Fat chick.