I just had to share a victory…Today has been very stressful and to make matters worse, pizza is sitting in the break room calling my name ugh! One of the departments had a lunch meeting and they had a ton of pizza leftover. They ordered 10 and only 3 were eaten, good heavens, that’s 7 pizzas!!!! I kept thinking “just one little slice”, “I deserve a treat”, “I’ve had a hard day”. Those are just the kind of self-destructive thoughts that have gotten me here in the first place. Well, I’m pleased to say when I needed to take a quick break, I used the staff restroom and didn’t even peak at the leftovers. I went straight back to my desk, worked the last few minutes of the day and then I was outta there!

I had kind of an off weekend, so I decided to get some work done today as penance. I cleaned anything that wasn't moving, and stomped on anything that was moving. Then I did the yard work. I can feel muscles I forgot I had. Now I'm going to settle down with some hand sewing while I listen to a baseball game.

Good morning everyone!

Wyllenn - Welcome back! I thought about you this weekend as the weather here was beautiful. Granted, I am about 3 hours north of Boston so depending where you were it may not have been quite as nice....but still. Glad to hear everything got cleaned out.

Misti - good to see you back! I took a quick peek at your website....beautiful!

Laura - (Was it Laura?) I think so. Welcome! I have a bad habit of not taking notes in preparation for personals. I think I'm going to remember who I want to respond to, and their names...and then I get here and can't remember anything. Anyhow...welcome to ALL the newbies!

Battle - I too would like to discuss the relationship issues. Perhaps when Nancy posts her thoughts we could have a whole other thread....? I feel very, very blessed to be where I am relationship-wise right now but it was not always this way and I still struggle with insecurities and issues. Some are weight related and self-image related...some are deeper rooted but may contribute to my lifelong battle with weight issues. It's complex, for sure.

Xena - good luck getting back into the school routine! (How did the second round of stain on the fence turn out? You may have already said, but I missed it).

Catherine - I hear you about mucles you forgot you had. I stacked wood on Saturday and am still paying for it today! Muscles across my shoulders and back are letting me know they exsist!

Brenda and Luan - I will head over to the picture thread next - can't wait to see the tattoos. I myself have 4 and I love to see what others get.

Hugs to everyone else I've forgotten!

AS for me...the cough is getting better every day. I visited the doctor again late last week and he asssured me that it will just take awhile to get rid of it completely. I still lose my breath rather easily with any exertion, and he said I can safely use my inhaler three or four times a day while it continues. Odd for me since this whole asthma thing is relatively new and I previously used my inhaler so infrequently that I would have to replace nearly full canisters because the expiration date had passed.

On an up note - I am finally back down to my ticker weight! Hopefully I will get to move it again at the end of the week. It never went more than a couple of pounds above where it is...but I've spent weeks battling the same few pounds up and down. Seeing that I was back down to my ticker weight was a good motivater!

Hope you all have great op days!

Cris

good morning everyone.. things not going great here but oh well i will try harder. Ammie hope you are doing well i miss talking to you!

May I join in?

I'm Sandi and I've been here at 3FC for a long time. I am one of the MODs over in the 100lb club. I've been here a long time, but success has not been my friend. I lose and then gain...over and over again. With my weight topping at 340, something has got to change. Now. I am in the process of trying to get the lap-band, but I am only 6 months into a 12 month process (my insurance company requires a 12 month medically supervised weight loss program). The doctor I see isn't very helpful.

I am always looking for an easy way out. I change my "plan" like the wind. I do best when I count calories and exercise. I just never stick with it. Unfortunately for me, I am very black and white when it comes to losing weight and when I go off, I stay off. Until I get around to trying again.

I have a pretty great life. I have an adorable 6 year old boy (see avitar) and have been happily married for 15 years. I have a good job, a nice house in a nice neighborhood. I have tons of friends and great relationships with my family. The only negative in my life is my life threatening weight problem. I wasn't very heavy in high school. Maybe 175 when I graduated. But I have been over 300 for over 10 years now.

I need a fresh start. I thought maybe this would be a great place to do just that.

Can't wait to start getting to know everyone!

I am going to do what works...counting calories and moving my tush!!! I am going to tackle this 10 lbs at a time. On Monday I was 340.8. 330 here I come!

Hello everyone!

SJ, I'm glad you got to visit with your BF and everyone noticed your hard work. Eh, so you were overwhelmed for a little bit.. time to get back to the mindset you had before! I'm cheering you on! You are doing fabulous on your exercise too. Go girl!

Hiya Mommybear/laura.. I still feel new here. Everyone is very helpful and supportive. Glad you stopped lurking.

Battle, I hear ya on the fullness of life except for that one leeeeeetle area of relationships. When I started my journey in 2004, I decided to work on me and just dr00l over the movies. I guess it's easier to ignore that part of my life than to deal with it? Interesting topic, to say the least!!! My one brain cell is still giving me fits, but I've won the past few days and stayed OP. That cell is SUCH a whiner!!

Nancy, oooo thank you for looking at my picts! Something is wrong with my brain because when I look at them, I barely see much difference. My tiger tattoo stands represents facing my fears.. there's an asian phrase in tai kwon do (sp) that means the same thing called Stand the Tiger. Great NSV to wear a normal sized shirt!!! yay!!!

Deb, the pounds are running away from your bod! Keep going girl!!! Sorry about the water weight gain. Your working out has helped.. don't forget you mowed the yards too! That's a workout!

Misti, I peeked at your website. Very beautiful and easy to read. I love the pictures!!

Mizm, you rock by ignoring all that pizza!! That is the worst item in all the world that makes me retain a bizillon gallons of water due to salt.

Catherine, Whoa... a cleaning frenzy AND yard work. I hope you got it all out of your system.. just in case.. there's a house in DC that needs some cleaning... hehe.

Cris, good to hear the cough is getting better. Being sick sucketh mightily!

TFforU, hang in there!! *hugs*

Welcome Sandi! I'm relatively new here too. These ladies are great support.

I'm a single, 44 yo... no kids, just fur kids (2 goldens, 2 geriatric cats and a parrot). I'm a scientist and love the work I do. I started my weight loss journey in 2004. I'm currently doing WW points and doing okee dokee.

My back has been giving me fits since Memorial Day (end of may). I went to a different doc today and am going on prednisone for a week in a taper pack. I'm not looking forward to it, but am desperate to get this muscle tear healed (it's not disc or bone related).

I've been OP, but not very hydrated. Even been eating a veggie a day!! *gasp* I know.. scary. Lawdy, I hate veggies. It's finally been raining here, so it looks like no bike riding today. The good news is that it's temporarily cooled off..the bad news is it's gonna be steamy hot by the weekend. If you don't like the weather here, wait 5 minutes...it'll change!

Hugs and Luv to all,
Ratkity

Ohhhhhh, I hate vegetables too!!

Sue - So glad you're having so much fun with your new website! It's great to have a new passion and a great way to celebrate your faith. Have lots of fun with it and keep us posted.

Welcome Sandi! So nice to have you here...I've always admired your pretty signature over at the 100 Club.

Hang in there 2fatforu. Checking in here is a huge part of not letting it all go.

Debbie - Congrats on the 2 pounds!

I just today bought a cookbook called 'how to get your five-a-day' - it's a fruit and veggie cookbook. I don't hate veggies, but don't know how to do them in a non-boring way outside of yummy stir fry dishes. I'll pass on any interesting recipes I find just for Ratkity and Sandi.

I have a salsa question. I only use it on the rare occasions I make nachos. The rest rots in my fridge. So my question is this: what the heck is it for? What do the rest of you use salsa on? Or is it in? Perpendicular to??

Help.

Coming out of lurk mode because I LOVE salsa!

~Put it on scrambled eggs for a morning zip!

~Pour it on salad - in place of dressing.

~Adds a spark and no calories to speak of to baked potatoes. (with some FF sour cream and grated cheddar - yum!)

~Mix salsa with FF cream cheese and black beans and cubed chicken breast, roll up in tortillas and top with enchilada sauce - great chicken enchiladas.

~Use it to marinade shrimp/chicken/or anything else for grilling.

~Pour it over your choice of meat in the crock-pot and cook all day for burrito filling.

~One of my favorite recipes: Spicy Tilapia and veggies
Servings | 2
Estimated POINTS® value per serving | 5

Ingredients

2 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 med red bell pepper cut in thin strips
1 medium zucchini thinly sliced
2 large fresh mushrooms thinly sliced
2, six oz tilapia fillets
1-2 T fajita seasoning
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 T lime juice

Instructions
Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Stir-fry onion and pepper until crisp-tender, then add zucchini and continue to cook for a short time. Finally add mushrooms. Push veggies off to the side. Sprinkle Tilapia with fahita seasoning on both sides. Add to skillet. Cook about three minutes and turn. Stir lime juice and salsa into the veggies. Then cover and continue to cook until fish is done, about another three minutes. Serve.

This was a variation on a recipe I had that called for chicken breasts. It would be wonderful with either. You could use any veggies you like and make it as spicy or mild as you wish!

You are just all doing so well! Love you all!
Back to lurking!

My fav is on a chicken salad as a dressing. I add a lil corna nd black beans....ooooh yum!!!!!!

Sandi!!!!!!! Great to see you here!

You know, we have a really active exercise thread and we are trying to exercise 200,000 minutes this year as a group -- if you want to move your tush, you can join us! It's easy! Some of us set goals (I would not exercise if I didn't set a goal) and others just report what they do. It's stickied at the top of the page if you want to check it out.

We are doing well on the group goal, but I'm nervous that we'll hit a bump at the end of the year (cold weather and all those holidays), so we can use all the help we can get!!!

Everyone's welcome -- not just Sandi!

Speaking of salsa, I have started making my own pico de gallo this summer -- it is really easy and yummy --- though I'm still working on the proportions of the ingredients. It's basically like this:
take a few (3-5) roma tomatoes -- cut and SEED them
juice of 1/2 - 1 lime
a couple cloves of garlic
maybe 1/4 cup of minced red onion
fresh cilantro chopped -- 3-4 tablespoons
maybe a little jalepeno

That's it!!! The amounts are sort of to taste. This is better if it sits in the fridge a few hours.

Hi everyone,

Welcome mommybear and Sandi.

Nancy and 33tek, when we are ready/have the energy to discuss weight and intimate relationship issues, I'd love to talk about it further.

I stayed OP yesterday and am doing ok today. Today has been a hungry day, and I am trying hard to eat just the right amount to stay OP and take care of the pangs. Too much or not enough food, and I'm in dangerous territory. I'll probably go up to the upper end of my range, which is fine, but this is an important kind of day to stay with and learn to handle. After a few bad days and now a hungry day, this would have been about the time I'd throw in the towel in the past, but I'm not going to. Even though, in addition, I am up 2 lbs. since Sunday, and the punishment in no way fits the crime....I'm not going to feel defeated and give up. I think I am officially out of motivation and into commitment.

Since starting my new eating plan, my sleep has not been the best. Today was another day I was up at 4 am, feeling a combination of buzzing and readiness for exercise with sleep deprivation. It's strange. I need to sleep until 7 to get a full night's sleep. I waited until the sun came up and went for my walk. I don't know why my body is doing this--I would have thought by now it would have adjusted. Oh well.

Have a great rest of the day, everyone.

I did some more yard work today. I'm trying to get all the weeds out of the cracks in the parking lot and on the foot paths. It makes it easier to shovel snow on a smooth surface. Plus, if the weeds break up the concrete, it won't be the city paying to repave, it will be us. Well, we'd have to pay 1/12 of it. It may seem silly to worry about snow in August, but the weather girl used the S word for maybe next week. I told the polar bear I'm married to that if it snows in August, he will seriously owe me one for moving here. @#$%$^ SNOW in August!! I had to do lawn work in a coat and gloves today, and I'm not talking about work gloves either. It is raining, and 56 degrees right now. It got down to 48 last night. On the other hand, I'm not running for plywood in case of a hurricane which is what I was doing 2 years ago in Florida.

I've been struggling a bit, but no serious binges. I think I'm doing so much physical work that my body is craving more calories, and I'm too tired to really plan my food out like I should. A couple of more days, and I hope to be done so I can settle back into an ordinary routine.

Hi everyone. I'm posting today for purely selfish reasons, as I need a place to get this off my chest and maybe make myself think about it as much as I need to. I apologize in advance for being so selfish right now, but I truly feel like I need to do this in order to move past it and do what I need to do.

My feet have been swelling up something terrible the last month or so. The swelling has gone down when I wear shoes, but comes right back within an hour or so of not having any on. Yesterday, my feet were swollen as normal, but my right leg swelled up to twice the size of my left. I called and scheduled an appointment to see the doctor today, at the earliest possible time. I was scared because there is a family history of blood clotting disorders, so I knew that I couldn't mess around.

It turns out I didn't have to worry about it being a blood clot, but instead I have to worry about something far worse. Apparently I have the beginning signs of Congestive Heart Failure. I have swelling in my leg that's very apparent, but did not realize how much fluid I had in my lungs as well. I am on a diuretic and potassium to try to get rid of as much fluid as possible. I have a bunch of blood work that will take a while to get back, and I have to go in for some ultrasounds and x-rays in the near future. My doctor asked me if I planned on living to be 35, because if I did, I was definitely on the wrong track to getting there.

I am scared beyond belief, and probably in a bit of shock too. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage to get the weight off, but I will do it. I have to. I knew that if anyone would understand the life or death choice, it'd be you guys. Thank you for letting me get this off my chest.