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 the Amazon "store" in the upper right hand corner of the screen on the PURPLE tool bar. 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!!!!

What a great way to think about it!!

Morning everyone!

Heather I'm glad you locked that thread - I would definitely have posted after you stopped it!

Nancy: I really hope the new place/job works out well for you. I'd miss that Canadian bacon too though – it's a staple in our house! Good luck!

Sandy – thank you for the compliment – You could too do the elliptical though – everyone can…just a matter of doing it a little at a time until you build up! I suspect it's not that much harder than the gazelle.

Mechelle – When you get to Washington it'll be a whole new ballgame for you! Moving is so stressful.

CHRISTIE That's a great victory!

Annie – Good job with the exercise – Keep it up!

Catherine – Has it been a year already! How times flies! Happy Anniversary!

Heather (Aengusmommy) First of all – I LOVE the name Aengus! Second, how incredibly cool that you play the bagpipes! I LOVE bagpipes – must be my tiny drop of Scottish!

Heather (Wyllen) I totally feel like you just said. Not that I'm by any stretch doing the kind of working out you are, but I feel like I'm learning to appreciate and control the things my body can do. Even after only 3 ½ weeks of doing the elliptical steady I feel like I see a difference and I certainly feel a difference. I look at other people and see muscles and I think "My body CAN do that! I could do that if I work at it!" It’s a feeling that's entirely new to me.

Everyone! Thank you so much for the nice things you've said about my exercise. I know I tend to go on and plan to do so some more!

Did the usual exercise this morning and then decided to walk to work from my far spot. It's a bit rainy here but almost 50 degrees and I thought I'd use the extra 9 minutes or so to round off my exercise goal…which I increased since I was almost ½ way there on the 5th! I still trying to decide whether to count that morning and evening walk when I do it. The state lot is .2 mile and up hill. The other spot is downtown on the street and .6 of a mile. I'd decided I wasn't going to count something as "exercise" if I'd do it anyway…For instance, going to the mall to shop isn't exercise no matter how long I walk around, going to the mall to walk because it's raining is. Walking the extra does take about 10 minutes, but I do it a lot just trying to get in some exercise and Never mind – talking to myself. I just answered my own question anyway.

Time to go! Have a terrific OP day everyone!!!

Man, it's hard for me to keep up when I'm actually BUSY at work instead of surfing the web all day (imagine that!)

Just wanted to stop by, though, and say that I had a loss of 2.5 pounds at TOPS last night That's 12.25 pounds gone since I returned to TOPS on December 7 According to my TOPS book, the last time I was at 280 was back in April. When I weighed in on Feb. 9 of 2006, I was 275.5, so my next goal is to be lower than that by my first February weigh-in at TOPS this year--that way, I can at least say I didn't gain for the year

Looking back through my TOPS weight book, I see my lowest recorded weight since I joined (which was March 2005) was 268.75, and that was on Dec. 1, 2005. It's time to reach a new low (in a good way!).

Lilion -- Being able to see that kind of progress is a really great NSV. I'm thinking I need to focus on those kinds of things more, as the scale has slowed down. I want to learn to focus on other ways of measuring my progress.

As for the exercise, I wasn't sure of the answer to your question... if you park further away to get the exercise in, then perhaps you SHOULD count it.

I make my own rules for that, and I am trying to change them as I get fitter. I really like the idea of counting the walking I do with my dogs. When I was starting out and not in good shape, it was a great walk for me and a great motivator. I counted the walks as they were over 10 minutes.

But I'm fitter now and walking with my little dogs isn't really as much of a workout (though I try to keep moving, even as they are doing their business). However, I'm afraid that if take away the incentive of counting my minutes my poor doggies will never get walked! So, I'm compromising, and only counting our walks if they are at least 15 minutes.

More than anyone probably wanted to know!

Jill-- on the weight loss. You are in the zone and it is paying off!

That was my feeling. I mean if I'm doing it for exercise, as opposed to just because, then it IS exercise after all. If I walk the downtown fitness mile at lunch, it's exercise. If I walk downtown to get a latte - it's not. If I walk the dogs around the block for exercise then it's exercise. I could just walk them out to the backyard to pee after all and usually do - I'm not walking them around the block for them, I'm doing it for me! So, since I purposely park 6/10 of a mile from the office so I have to walk briskly to get here in 10 minutes when I could park in the state lot that's only 2/10 of a mile away and stroll, I'm not doing that for fun - I'm doing it because I want the extra exercise and that makes it exercise. But I may not count the walk back...because I usually stroll and window shop then. We'll see.

Jilly: YOU GO GIRL! EXCELLENT!

I think you're thinking smartly about this! What counts as exercise really may be different for each of it. I really like thinking about it as what encourages us to do something intentionally!

Since we're on the subject of exercise....is there anyone here who is disabled? I walk with a cane because of nerve damage in my left leg and it's almost impossible for me to do long periods of exercise. I still weight lift, but that's about it [I can't box/kickbox anymore ]. I just ordered a DVD called Chair Aerobics and I'm looking forward to that...but I was wondering if anyone here has had any similar issues??

I lost my head and hopped on the scale this morning. I wasn’t going to do it until I was sure I had lost my Christmas weight. I didn’t want to upset myself and put myself in a tailspin. Plus, my scale only goes to 390 and seeing that error irritates and scares me at the same time. I also always weigh first thing in the morning, without anything on, before breakfast. This was after breakfast and after getting dressed. I didn’t get the error. I was down a pound and a half below my pre-Christmas weight. I had such a huge smile on my face, that my husband was freaked out and wanted to know what I was up to. Yeah! I’m on my way back down again finally! Watch out, there’s no telling what I might do next.

Aengusiwmommy-I played trombone. With nothing but older brothers some of my hand-me-downs were not exactly dainty. Bagpipes take some serious air. How are your lungs? If you choose the pipes, there’s a company called Elderly Instruments that sells a practice pipe. It’s about the size of a recorder or tin whistle so you can practice without the neighbors complaining. My uncle played, and he used the chanter to practice on the subway going to work, and he got weird looks but no real complaints. As for the drums, I understand that there is also a digital practice drum that you can practice on with headphones. The reason I bring this up is that I gave up the trombone because I couldn’t find a place to practice that didn’t bother people. The more you practice an instrument, the better you get, and that’s what makes it fun. It’s like exercise, if you like it, and it’s convenient for you, you’re more likely to stick with it.

Annie-When people ask us to help them move something, himself will tell them that I’d be better help than he is. He was raised with nothing but sisters, and his dad was a professor of medieval literature, and he’s never owned a car, so he’s not exactly what we’d call a Bubba in the south. He looks like one, but I’d be surprised if he’s ever had a wrench in his hand. Needless to say, I do most of the fixing up around here. I’m still waiting to try out the new basketball I got from Santa. I haven’t had one in my hands in over 15 years. He got me a black one in case I lose it in the snow. My big goal is to be able to play church softball next summer. I’ve got the mitt I used in college re-laced and reconditioned and ready to go. I just have to lose a little more weight, and rehab my back so I can twist enough at the waist to get the ball over the fence. See, if I hit it out, I don’t have to sweat the fact that I can’t run yet.

Christie-That’s great that you met a goal. Way to go!

Wyllenn-Sometimes I think being an athlete was a disadvantage because I could get away with eating a whole lot more food back then, and I think that was the beginning of my warped view of serving sizes. Research says though that once you’ve been in shape, it is easier to get back in shape than if you’ve never been in shape before. I hope to some day find out for myself. In my book I talk about being an athlete who never exercised or expended much energy. I used my size as a tool.

Lillion-yeah, it will be a year the 16th. He somehow or other talked a big drug company that is having a conference 8-10th at this expensive resort into paying our entire way, plane tickets, hotel, food, transfers, etc., in exchange for him giving an hour lecture and me a half an hour to a bunch of drug reps on the new medication he is taking. You know stuff like side effects of the new drug versus the old one. It costs $7-800/month, so I guess they need all the ammunition they can get in order to sell the stuff to doctors. I guess they will ask me questions on my view of his improvement or whatever. We’ve taken 8 trips since I’ve been here, and only paid for one. He always has to give a speech or go to a meeting, but I get to relax and enjoy. He may not know how to clean a sink trap, but I think he could sell dirt to a farmer.

Jilly-losing 12.5 pounds in December is outstanding. Not many Americans can say the same thing.

Simone-yes, I’m disabled. I’ve had an ankle reconstructed, two knee surgeries, and in ’91 I was severely injured. I messed up my knee and back, left hand, and had a brain injury bad enough that my memory Swiss-cheesed. For example I can still read Spanish and French, but can no longer speak them or understand them when being spoken to. I sometimes watch the French language channels here by turning on the close captioning so I can read what they are saying. I was medically retired. I walked for 5 years with a cane/crutch, and in ’96 I re-injured my back so badly that I couldn’t stand up straight any longer. I’m not sure exactly what I did to it because by that time I was too heavy to have a cat-scan or MRI or even a decent X-ray. I ended up in a wheelchair for 8 years. I couldn’t lose weight because I couldn’t exercise, and I couldn’t exercise because of my size and disability. I couldn’t even do any kind of water aerobics at the time because I couldn’t walk far enough to get from my chair to the pool. I eventually started by just doing scissor kicks lying in bed. 5 seconds at a time at first. Then I did sit-ups in bed. Eventually I was able to get flexible enough to try to learn to walk again. Once I could walk a whole block, I started water aerobics. Now I can walk for 2 hours without stopping, not without pain, but without assistance. Chair aerobics can work, but just keep in mind that a lot of them are designed not for the overweight but for the elderly and are designed to increase movement not burn calories. You can try regular aerobics tapes while lying in bed so that it doesn’t stress your injured areas. Even those silly rope and pulley things you are supposed to put on a door knob or your head board can help. The key is to get moving. I kept telling myself that even 5 seconds was 5 seconds more than I had done the day before. If it makes you feel any better, my doctor, I hate to admit, was right, if I lost weight I’d feel better. Big shock. Just do what you can, when you can, and don’t re-injure yourself. That doesn’t help anything.

Catherine - on the loss!

way to go catherine!

Dear Sweet Catherine, I am so glad you're feeling better. Thanks so much for your words of encouragement and caution regarding DD playing basket ball. I actually have her doing just a couple reps/sets a day to strengthen her knees. She's a little heavy, but solid as a rock, and super strong. She HATES high top shoes, but she does have good basket ball shoes. They have good support and gel in the heels etc.....(her dad and i suffer from heel spurs)
I've had surgery on one knee as well as an elbow and 5 children. I agree the pain is about the same. I will definitely get her supports for her knees when she starts her cycle. I really appreciate your advice. I feel it takes a village to raise a child....at least a child that's kind,
trustworthy and productive as an adult. You are truly an amazing woman and an inspiration to me. I feel so honored to be able to call you my friend,
Congrats on your loss too!!!!
Heather.....my opinion...definitely the bag pipes. It's an art and few can do it.
I hope you get your gym buddy.

Christie :woo hoo: on meeting your goal! Keep up the amazing work!

2fat4u...You know about my blood clot. Please, please do what Catherine tells you and get it checked. Especially if the front side of your calf is swollen. I don't remember the link, but do a search under DVT. There's lots of info with all the symptoms and even photos.

Jilly. I am so proud of you. Congrats on your loss. I was thinking about you a lot today. And YOU saved me!!! I went grocery shopping and guess what they had in the marked down bakery section. I big fat creamy lucious carrot cake.....I almost RAN past that thing. It looked so good, but I didn't want the headache that goes with it, or use up all my calories on it. Keep up the good work.

Today I was under my caloric intake again. Day 5 :woo hoo: (even if a new restaurant did donate 25 pizzas to our office today.) It wasn't the healthiest day, though. I had plain cheese, thin crust and mostly at the naughty cheese off the top. Still counted the entire amount on fitday.com
I haven't gotten on the gazelle today, but I did leg and arm stuff today and did the grocery shopping....two hours walking around at the store.....I still count it as exercise in my mind, but not on my minutes. My legs hurt afterward every time. At least my ankles didn't hurt tonight when I got home. That's a first in a long while.

I want to start laundry tonight and run the vac. My son will be here just for a little while in the morning and I want the house to be somewhat presentable. And, as you all know, I HATE laundry the most of all chores. Maybe I can get it done and out of the way tomorrow.

Hope all of you are hanging in there. :hugs: to all and sorry to those i've not been able to give a personal reply.

thanks for the info sandy .. i am taking the weekend off exercise and if i still have pain will go to the dr.thanks for the concern!

Hey everyone...just a quick check in. Still packing...I guess that is what I will be doing this whole month! The good news is I did my dancing today! I find I can do the short 3-5 minute dances to a song then rest and try to do another one. I seem to be able to do this a lot better than just walking back and forth in the house. Its sort of fun because its almost like a game because I try to see can I just keep moving until the song ends. Thank goodness they are short songs! Whatever gets me moving I guess.

Christie~Congrats on meeting your goal!

Lilion~I know...being back in the lower 48 will be awesome! And you are doing so good with the exercise. WTG!

JILL~You are doing so good! Congrats on losing 12.25.

CATHERINE~WTG on your loss!

SANDY~WTG being on Day 5! you are doing great hun!

PATTY~Hope your leg gets better.

Wow everyone is doing so well! So many losses and NSVs! What a wonderful start to a new year!

Also I forgot to mention. We packed away the scale today! I won't be able to weigh again for at least a month and a half. Unless we buy a new scale. Like I have mentioned before....its proably a good thing. I think I was getting obsessed!

Hope you all had a good day!

Congratulations to everyone who has experienced some weight loss during the past couple of days, and to the others that have done so well with the exercise - hooray!

Heather (Wyllen) ~ thank you so much for telling everyone - especially us new folks - that we don't necessarily have to respond to each post. After posting the first couple of times, I was just overwhelmed trying to figure out how I was ever going to learn everyone's names. But little by little, I am catching on.

I've been telling everyone I know about you guys. Everyone here is so supportive and so positive. And I think that's rare.

Today I spent a large part of my time trying to navigate the scholarship process at one of the universities to which my son has applied. I called the admissions office, which makes decisions regarding many of the merit scholarships, and could just tell that the front end person had no clue as to what she was talking about.

And I told myself that I was not going to let my baby go out like that. He has worked so hard to be a good student, he contributes the majority of his money to our household income and he stays after school nearly every day to ensure that he earns good grades. Not my child!

I realized that I was going to need some help from the inside, so I called a friend who gave me the names of a couple of people who work at the university and one called me back. He had me fax my son's information directly to him and said he would work on it.

So I don't know what may come of it all, but I do believe that you must advocate for your children and help them shake the world like a tree so that they get what they deserve from it. So today was a good mommy day!

I also worked on pulling applications and other general items for scholarships and universities that he still plans to apply to that have immediate deadlines so we can finish those.

Regarding weight loss ~ did pretty well with my eating. I kept my calories within my daily allottment, keep the fat at 30% of my diet, and made good choices even though I had to eat at a couple of fast food restaurants. Had McDonald's for dinner. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich, minus the mayo and minus half of the bread. I was cutting it close with my calories and wanted to make sure that I did not go over.

For lunch, I ordered a burrito supreme - I just love sour cream - but I substituted chicken in place of the beef.

So I did well with the calories and fat, but I didn't have any green veggies or fruit today.

Even though I haven't started exercising yet, I have found that my body feels much better since I have reduced the amount of food that I have been eating.

I know that I have lost weight. I'm just not sure how much. I have this silly digital scale that gives me crazy readings. Got on it five times yesterday within a short period of time and it gave me five different readings. I may have to purchase a different type of scale. But it's probably around 6 pounds.

My sister-in-law told me yesterday about a show she watched where a man orginally weighed 600 pounds, hooked up with Richard Simmons and lost over 400 and then ate his way back to 1000 pounds. That just let me know that I cannot become over confident with my progress. Even when I reach my goal, I must always be mindful of my eating and exercise habits.

Someone made reference to my post about struggling with what to do with my hands when I can't eat. I don't struggle at home. I have things to do there. Or when I have a makeup event, I definitely have something to do with my hands then. It's just in the call center, during the day. They restrict the internet during the day hours because of the call volume. I do crochet, but that is also hard in the day time. But I could journal, read books. I really struggled the first few days I made the change. It's starting to become somewhat easier.

I almost forgot ~ I found a small container. The one that you usually put paper clips in and also got 143 pennies. This represents the number of pounds I need to lose. I plan to put one penny in for every pound I lose and keep it when I'm done. When I pick it up and feel how heavy it is, it will serve as a reminder as to how heavy I used to be and where I don't want to go back to.

Lastly, I had a brownie yesterday. It was so good. But I learned - never tell anyone that you are on a diet and ask them to help you stay away from sweets. My mother nagged me so badly that she started to sound like an alarm. I just felt like "step away from the brownie." I ate it anyway, but I definitely did not go and get another one.