Vermont, that's great! Actually 5 pounds is really good for 3 weeks, especially at your size when you are so close to your goal weight. Sounds like you are right on track. I always do calorie counting or WW points but if I were to pick another diet, assuming I actually ever diet again, it would probably be south beach.

I actually have a 3 day weekend coming up. I can't wait but I don't really have any big plans. It will just be great to be off.

Hi everybody,

I'm in the middle of my time off and haven't done a darn thing. I'm feeling better from the sinus infection except for a lingering cough. As I said I really don't have any plans but should really get the house clean since I have the time. I also thought maybe I would do my taxes too and get it over with. So far I've only been watching Law and Order reruns. Anybody else have any plans or words of inspiration that will get me off of the couch?

I don't even know where to begin. I've always struggled with my weight. Right out of high school i was in a very abusive relationship and became anorexic. I dropped to my lowest weight of 147 and got so many compliments from my family and friends. If they only knew how I got to that weight. It seemed like no one noticed...and it was my secret. I moved away 4 years later to get away from my abuser and gained weight once I got into a stable relationship. I moved home 4 years later, and lost weight again. Only to lose it again when going through a divorce. My highest weight was 220. After my divorce I lose 65 lbs and got down to 155. Now I am back at roughly 180. I'm so severly depressed. I don't know where to start. I don't want to fall back into my old habits...but i feel myself doing it. I work somedays 14 hours and do not eat all day until usually 7pm at work. That meal consists of a graham cracker. I am on my feet all day long taking care of patients and residents and really do not have the time to eat. Until I get home...then I sit at this computer and eat. That is my downfall. I looked up some exercises to do at home, in the mornings before I leave for work, and plan on starting tomorrow...I just need to know more about how to use this site, as I have used others in the past that really didn't help, and ideas on how to control my eating when I get home at night. I need the support more than anything. If anyone has any ideas for me I would greatly appreciate it. Not even sure I'm posting on the thread I should be. I should also add that I have been on zoloft for a year now and recently changed jobs and am between insurances so i haven't been on my meds for a month now. Its really effecting me. I need to get back on them as soon as possible. That might make this weight loss a little easier...or at least get me out of this funk.

Hey Krystin, if you are depressed or have ever suffered from depression, then you are among friends!! so sorry to hear of your struggles. That is one long workday!! I am also not given the opportunity to eat at my work, I just have to work it in. I actually hide in a stairwell to take some bites, it sucks. But it's what I have to do. If you can make yourself try to find the time to pack a few things at night, to have ready to take in the morning, that might help?

Yay to you for looking up exercises, that is a great start!! you can find things on youtube. Amazon has alot of low-priced dvd's. And I pick up used tapes/dvd's from second-hand shops and such. You can 'make do' with just a small space on the floor, with a mat, and a few hand weights or even soup cans to start.

please feel free to always come here to talk at us or vent.

Hopeforme - I know you were feeing un-motivated yesterday, but just watching re-runs is good too! Maybe you'll feel like doing something today. But hey, no pressure from me...my house is a wreck, lol.

Hello to everyone else!!

Kristyn, nice to have you here. Vermont is right, you are in good company and not alone. We all struggle here and I know how hard it is even to make the smallest changes. Not being on medication makes it really hard. Is there any place where you could get a few samples or maybe pay for one month of meds before you can get your insurance worked out?

As for food I don't know how you go that long without eating. Is there any way to pack a lunch bag with simple things that don't take a lot of planning like fruit and microwavable soup, or single serving brown rice or string cheese? Sometimes it's hard when you are really down to plan extensively and prepare things that you may rather eat or think that fits your diet plan better. Just start small or with things that take little thought or prep effort. I actually kept a little note pad with me at one point and wrote down meal or snack ideas as they came to me throughout the day and bought them later.

Vermont, are you still decluttering off and on? I was envious of that. So far I've done a load of clothes and washed the sheets. My goal is to vacuum and get the bathrooms clean. Let me mention too...Buying any Easter candy is a mistake. Those daggone Cadbury creme eggs that I tell myself I can only get once a year are the devil!!

Thank you for the encouragement ladies. I should add that its not my choice go without eating all day...I work as an LNA not only in a LTC facility...but in the dementia/alzheimers unit. So i am on my toes and feet all night. These patients are tough so i can never really relax until I leave at 10pm. I work 2 jobs. I do private care during the mornings usually from 8-1 and work my full time job from 2-10. So really the only time i get to sit, other than driving, is after 10:45pm whne I get home. Which is the worst time to eat. That is going to be my goal tonight. To come home from work and not eat crap food. This will be tough.

Krystin - that is an incredibly long day. Somehow you have to fit some bites of food!! I understand sitting down is out of the question. But I would hope that maybe you can take bites of things throughout the day? Fruit, cheese sticks, a sandwich cut into fourths?

hopeforme, my de-cluttering stalled a bit ago, but because I get such satisfaction from the latest, the upstairs bookshelves. I let DH know that I am not happy with his desk area, which one sees as soon as they enter the house, and I will not tackle it without his supervision/help. Because i would throw absolutely everything out. I need to give him some more pre-emptive warnings before I start to get miffed, lol.

I agree...I have to fit it in. I am making myself eat oatmeal right now. I'm not hungry...so i don't feel right doing it...but i know i need to. I am also going to grab some grapes and string cheese on my way to work. Last night I actually got home and didn't eat crap food for the first time. I wanted to so bad but my friend who i was texting/IMing with kept saying 'don't you dare do it!' and i didn't. I tried a grapefruit...but didn't like it. So I cooked up a bowl of carrots. I feel so much better after getting through the first day. I've started a little mini challenge for myself and posted it on my fb page and had many of my friends join me...which will help. It's for 21 days. For the next 21 days I will not have any : chocolate, candy, cookies or biscuits, cake, donuts or muffins, pastries, white bread, chips, fast food, spreads (pb or nutella) or ice cream. I think the only thing that will bother me is chips. I can do without everything else...and usually do. So...we'll see how I do!

How the heck can I get a weight loss ticker at the end of my posts like you all have?

Click here for your ticker! http://www.3fatchicks.com/diet/weight-tracker/

Good morning everyone!

I had a not so great day yesterday. I am a contract worker, and I'm really trying to do a good job. So I found out yesterday that my position with my current client might be ending. I am on a long term contract, so even if I'm not with my current client anymore, I should still have work. I just hope it doesn't happen, I really like my position with my current client and I'm not looking forward to starting over again. So today, I'm trying to remain positive, and hope for the best.

kristynkayte, good luck with your challenge! I totally understand where you're coming from. My biggest vice at this point is wine and alcohol, especially on the weekends. I'm trying to not drink as much, and hopefully cut it out almost altogether. It's hard though, especially when I'm out with the girls.

Vermontmom, I need to do some spring decluttering. That's an excellent idea. Plus one of my new year's resolutions was to be more organized, and I think decluttering would definitely help.

hope4me, hope you enjoyed your time off. I hate to say this - but I'm almost scared to take time off sometimes. If I'm bored, I have too much "free time" to let my mind wander, which almost always turns into a depressive mood, because I start thinking about how alone I feel sometimes.

How is everyone else doing?

Kristyn, good job on not eating at night! Also great job on actually eating during the day! I know it's hard to get started on a good habit.

Grneyed, I know exactly what you mean. I always long for time off because I don't have the anxiety of having to face the day. But as much as I look forward to it I'm usually down in the dumps by the end of the day. Lately by 11pm I can't name any good reason to live besides hurting my family if I wasn't around. Nothing seems exciting and living seems meaningless. Don't get me wrong, I have no plans to do anything to myself but I would love to feel some excitement about living for a change.

Hey chicks

Hopeforme, it always hurts my heart when I hear that's how you feel I realize you say you're not going to 'do' anything...but that's no way to live, is it?! I am just hoping so much that there is some moment SOON that you start to feel some interest in something

grneyed, oh that must have been bad news to hear. I sure hope you get to keep your current client also. And those days off...I have wasted SO many days off in bed!! All I can say is that sometimes it just gets better. I haven't done that in a long time, thank goodness.

Kristynkayte, I'm so glad you were able to resist the junk food!!! that's a big start isn't it! Do you have a crockpot? some folks swear by them, throw some food in it in the morning, and there is dinner when you get home..plus leftovers for more meals. We always cook more chicken breasts than needed, so there is leftovers for next day.

I have one day off today, not two this week. It's President's Week so that's a big deal here with the ski resorts. Not cool that I have a scratchy throat and slightly runny nose..dammit! I got over a sinus infection barely 2 months ago. I need to do a few errands, vacuum, then I'll make up the bed with fresh sheets, get tea and Crystal light and my Kindlefire, then go to bed..but not because of depression, just rest

Oh and to tell the new-er girls (grneyed and Kristyn, I was diagnosed about 7 years ago. Started on Lexapro but I was always falling asleep (really) and still slipped into bad depression. Have been on Wellbutrin XL for a few years now, much better. And for some reason this past winter season, I have stayed happy! (usually fall into seasonal horrible mood until April)

You have to have to be here 20 days and have 20 posts before you can get a ticker. Don't worry, though, the time goes by fast.

I'm still trying to get the hang of this but thank you all for your help Day 3 and still hanging in there. Even though I feel like my life has completely gone upside down in the last 3 hours...i'm still hanging in there.

Vermont...I too have been on the depression road for years. I think they have put me on every medication out there. I have a slight heart issue as well, so when this was found we had to change my meds up a few times to find one that works. Now that I found it...i have been off it for a month because i have no insurance right now. it's frustrating. I think that's why everything is really effecting me lately. I feel like I could snap at any given moment...and my sarcasm...let's just say its at its peak right now. I have xanax for the occasional heart stuff since i'm off that med too...but i don't like to take it. The heart thing i have is crazy palpitations (sp). They did all kinds of tests, for months, and found nothing other than palpitations. Since some anxiety meds cause palps they had to take me off what i was on and change me to Zoloft. Things have been good since. But now that I don't have that...they are slowly coming back. Like right now...i just feel them coming on. Trying to keep my head straight today but i've got something that just popped up in my home life that is really distracting me and giving me a run for my $ as far as anxiety.
But...off to work in an hour...so that will distract me for sure. Think i'll leave my phone off while i'm at work today too. so the home stuff doesn't distract me at work. Don't know if i can do it though...i have a strange addiction with my phone
Hope you all have a great day! I'll be back on tonight to see how everyone is
And Vermont...I'm a VTer as well Lol