[brandnewme]

WELCOME !!!

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 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.

WELCOME!

I know you'll all agree that we are really thankful for the free services here at 3FC. The sisters offer all of this support and information with no charges to us. There are a couple of ways though that we can help out.

If you are thinking about buying anything at Amazon, why not help out 3FC at the same time? You can do this by clicking on the button for Amazon on any page in the forum, or by clicking on the button on the main 3FC page at www.3fatchicks.com . A portion of your purchase price will be given to 3FC by Amazon. It doesn't increase your price at all, but it does help out 3FC. You can use any of the Amazon.com links that you see on the site in order to help contribute to the site.

Also, BTW, in case you didn't know it, you can view the message boards "ad free" for a minimal charge. I think it's like $15 for 6 months. A very small investment to be rid of the annoying ads and make your pages load quicker.

There have been some concerns expressed by the powers that be about copyright infringement. So please, if you are directly quoting someone else or printing an article in whole or in part, please give credit where credit is due!!!!

[teahoney]

I'm down a 1.5 this week. Just four more pounds to reach my 20 pound New Years goal. Can it be done by next Sunday??? Stay tuned....

[kayleystar]

Teahoney - You can do it!!!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday. I worked today, and now I'm so worn out, I don't even feel like going over to my Aunt's house...blah. Waiting for my fiancee to get here, so we can exchange OUR gifts...I made him wait!

[going to lose 200]

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

I only have a few seconds to post. We are supposed to get a big snow storm today and tonight so I want to run out and stock up on a few things to get us through.

Thought I would catch everyone up. I decided not to deprive myself of anything over Christmas. I weighed this morning. I gained 10lbs in 3 days. I can't blame anyone or anything other than myself. All that is keeping me sane is the fact that I know much of it could be water weight from excess sodium intake. I can barely move my rings on my hand ( which are usually pretty loose).

SO, on that note, I am adjusting my siggie to reflect that and adding a Valentine's Day goal. I hope you all will join me

Welcome to the new people

Brenda

[Tashabella]

I also gained over the holidays. I put six pounds back on. I had (salty) ham yesterday so I'm also sure some is fluid, but still gotta get it back off and keep going.

I also will change my signature and I will join you Brenda in making a Valentine's Day goal!!! Thanks for inspiring me. Hopefully, we can reach our goals together!

We are planning a healthy, low fat dinner for New Year's and I'm back on track so I'm not going to let them (my family) get me sidetracked with food. My mother gave us a huge basket of homemade Christmas cookies (even though I asked her not to) so I'm going to freeze them in batches and bring out a bag at a time. I will count any that I have (calories). My husband will probably eat them all up anyway so that will save me, but not him.

I hope most of you did well over the holidays! If not, then I guess we're all living up to our forum's name and are "ready to try again."

[NoLifeWithoutHorses]

Hi all, I was MIA over the Holy Day, but I'm back on track and ready to go at my weight loss goal with a vengence. TOM came today - perfect timing! After the Big Day and before my weigh in... which I think I'll postpone for an extra day and put off till Friday. If I really get back with the program, I should be able to show a loss by Friday in spite of the last 2 days! I'M READY!!! I'm going to live today, focus on the future and NOT dwell in the past... except perhaps for the happy memories of the laughter shared! At Curves BEFORE the holiday, I actually weighed in at 294 - but I'm not changing my ticker until this week has had a chance to balance out the brownies and the stepped up work-out.... we'll see what happens.

Elmay - I love that name "Ayana." I hope you had a great Christmas spoiling her.

Wyllenn - I ADORE Harry & David pears!!! MY mom used to send H&D every year, and when the card came that there was a package waiting at the post office I would zoom there, and ripe it open just for those pears! I don't care much for pears otherwize, but H&D's were always awesome! In her usually manner, she changed the custom when she realized they were my favorite thing. She started using a really lousy fruit company from Florida. It was bad every year. But that's another story.... by the way, anyone down near Florida want a Swainson's (Rainbow) Lory that she was madly in love so I bought her last February? Now she says it has to go. sigh. I just feel sorry for the bird .... I'm NOT doing well with this month's walking goal... Can we try again in January? I promise to do better!!!

Nancy - WAYTOGO! on the 8 pounds gone! A fantastic step in the right direction, and a great example and boot in the fanny for me! In all honesty, I'm having trouble getting going with the on-line course, but it's the ONLY way I could go back to school at all with my current life. I can't go to regular courses while I'm driving, but after 10 years, I REEEEEEALLY want to come home to stay.

Voodoo - I hope your son is better! Did he have to have the surgery after all? What a challanging season you're having. I hope you snuck some fun and relaxation in there somewhere!

Neurotica!!! - W!2!G! on breaking the into the twos!!! It was a real barrier for me, and I know you must feel GREAT every time you see it! Congrats!!

Kayley - Go for the BAR, girl!!! The BAR!!!

Mel - Welcome to the neighborhood! I hope you've got a little breathng space before your next semester starts, and it's great that you've got the new x-bike! Give that baby some serious breaking-in! .... and what's this about somebody schmoozing on you??? Did I miss some details? or are you about to share??? C'mon. We're waitin.

Andrea - SO great that you got accepted to nursing school!! I know they don't have as many openings as they have applicants, so it's really wonderful that you were chosen! Best wishes to you on that journey as well as with your weight & health!

Teahoney - You are SO close to your New Years goal! If you made it this far, you can make it ALL THE WAY!!! Keep up the good work... I'm stayin tuned...

Brenda - I'm game for a Valentine's Day goal. I'll put some thought into it and get back to ya.

Ammi - Where u at?? We have a bunch of MIA's thru the holidays. Hope you're all having fun and come back soon.

I probably didn't mention it, but I started the Curves "advanced" workout. They go thru every machine and really get you to crank it up a notch (without OVERdoing it) and make sure you're getting the most of your workout instead of just sliding thru it. It's just what I need right now. I can hardly wait until tomorrow.
Happy New Year EVERYONE!!! -val

[NoLifeWithoutHorses]

Oops - Hi Tashbella! You beat me to the punch... or the post! I'm with you gals on the V-day goal!

[Softykins]

Hi everyone!! Did everyone have good holidays?
*phew* Christmas is over! Now, back to the ol'
drawing board. It will probably be tough - I just
realized that I can't have chocolate now. lol

[RebeccaJohnsonx2]

I just signed up for the Discovery Health National Body Challenge. Last year, if you completed it, you won a watch.

I am moving to California and look forward to working out in a new environment.

My goal is to be below 200 by 2/14. It's a bit aggressive for my progress so far. . . but, we still have Easter right around the corner.

[NotTheCheat]

One holiday trip down, the other one is coming up on Friday. Christmas was a nice time with my family, and I think I did OK. There were probably a few extra cookies that could have been left alone. It was more the way I ate them then the fact that I ate them. I felt like I grabbed them sneakily and tried to eat them without anyone seeing rather than sitting down and savoring them. That is still one of my issues, especially with my family. I was a chubby child and my mother was always monitoring what I ate. That sneaking behavior which I developed as a child continues and is one of the things I need to heal.

However, today was a real success. My boyfriend wanted to go out to eat for lunch – fast food or pizza. I opted for pizza, we went to Uno’s and I tried something different. Instead of a deep dish, like we have always gotten, we each got an individual and I got a Mediterranean thin crust pizza and only ate half. With a salad it was a very reasonable lunch. Partially what helped was that I had done a workout tape before we went, so I was feeling really good about myself.

I hope everyone had a nice holiday and is getting excited for the New Year.

[kayleystar]

Glad to hear that everyone had an enjoyable holiday. And to everyone that slipped, just remember that THANKFULLY, Christmas only comes once a year! As long as you hop back on, you'll be fine!

I did a weigh-in this morning, and I'm down to 331, so I changed my signature to reflect that. So, I'm pretty darn happy. And so glad I only had ONE chocolate covered cherry on Christmas! lol

[Sheri~C]

Hi All! It sounds like everyone did pretty well for the holiday, I managed to lose 3.2 as of today which means that I have now lost the equivelant of my 6 year old son!
I am so glad to have you all here to chat with, it sure makes staying on track easier knowing that you all are here and dealing with the same challenges. And speaking of challenges I have started a new challenge called "losing for april fools" in the support forum so if any of you are interested in another challenge for the next 94 days come on over and join in, I know that I was very motivated by the Christmas Challenge and it sure kept me accountable to have it there.

I am looking to lose 12 pounds by Valentines day and 27 by April Fools day that will bring me to the 200's which I cannot wait to get to. It is such an exciting challenge. My next mini goal is to lose 8 pounds by the end of January which will earn me my 50 pound magnet!

On a food note, I have discovered the best tortillas, "healthy request sprouted grain tortillas" they are 2 points each for a large one and are so good, so much better than plain flour or wheat and very filling. I spread one with laughing cow cheese spread then fill it with chopped shrimp mixed with 1 tbls of coctail sauce, some lemon juice and some salad that I dice up and it makes a great 4 point lunch.

I have found these at sobey's and safeway here in Edmonton.

[kayleystar]

I can't WAIT until I see that 299! I haven't seen it in YEARS!
I'm so happy that you all didn't slip TOO much for the holidays. It can DEFINATELY be hard, since you have people constantly eating, and bringing things into work and such that look SO good, and you just want a little taste, and you CANT! Ugh!

Do you all allow yourself like a cheat day? I was thinking once I lose 50 pounds to let myself eat something...like something breaded...not too much...like not gorge or anything, but just have something I normally can't have when I lose 50 pounds...I don't know if I'm making a whole lot of sense, but I think you all will get what I mean...so lemme know!

[elmay]

Kayley, I have allowed myself a few cheat days since I started this journey in September. I count calories, and I count the calories on my cheat days. I figure I am making a life change here and what I'm doing needs to be sustainable. Counting calories has been very informative for me -- for instance, I have decided that movie popcorn is not worth the calories or the cost. Typically when I have a high calorie day or two, I follow it with several days of lower calorie eating. (I have a calorie goal of 2200 calories/day). I have noticed also that a few bites of something "bad" can satisfy me. It's when I get obsessed about eating something (or not being able to eat something) that I tend to eat a lot of it. Anyway, it has been working for me. I suspect that as I get closer to my goal weight, I may need to be more careful with my food choices.

I have been quite consistent with my exercise, getting in 2 days/week of strength training and 3-4 days/week of aerobics. I enjoy high intensity workouts -- I like getting my heart rate up. I have a number of goals which are physical -- like being able to ski again, for instance -- but I'm sure the intensity and consistency of my workouts are helping my weight loss.

Anyway, that's my $0.02 .

[kayleystar]

I commend you on being able to count your calories...I tried that once, and I just couldn't keep track.

I'm the opposite...I won't want more of something, unless I taste it. If I get one bite, I want more...so I just have to stay away completely.

Perhaps, a cheat day when I get down to 280...yes yes