WELCOME EVERYONE ~ Please join us in our thread: to give support and encouragement; to share ideas, and/or just chat with one another about everyday issues ...

This special thread is for anyone with any kind of physical obstacle and/or challenge like SB, CP, MS, MD, PK, Lupus, Osteo, Arthritis, Rheumatism, or any other condition (s), whether genetic or acquired (like injuries), that causes some physical limitations and/or difficulties.

We try to focus on the positive here -- not seeing ourselves as victims, but as victors and overcomers. It is so nice to be able to talk with others who have some idea of what we are going through each day!


HAVE A WONDERFUL WINTER EVERYONE!

You know, I thought & prayed long & hard about whether or not to restart this thread at this time, but in the end I noticed that over 600 persons were reading this thread, so obviously it is useful to them and for me and any others who may come by this way ...

This thread was started for those who have extra challenges or obstacles to deal with while also trying to restore their health and weight to a better place. I am doing much better than when I first came here about 3+ years ago too. My body has healed some and some of my injuries are getting better; and I am thrilled about that!

I am grateful for the support that I received from friends that came by here; most have moved on to other places, but that is OK too. I hope that they are better people for having come here. I know how much I have enjoyed it. I will continue to share the things that I have learned along the way, as well as my daily menus and exercises that are ever evolving in this life journey towards better health.

I hope some of you lurkers continue to come by and read; and maybe some day find the courage to stop by and chat for a little while. Welcome to our new winter thread and yes, winter is here for sure in our area. We have had 3+ days of windy, snow-blowing storm; and are now nice & cozy within a very thick blanket of snow.

Some say that winter isn't officially here until December 21st, but up here in Canada, winter has been here since around November 18 or sooner. My posting has been slower since mid-November as my best computer got a very bad virus that sent it to PC heaven ...

So for now, I am using my old PC which is verrry, verrry, slooow ... zzzzzzz! Well, at least I can get on here and post now & then; until I can get another one in the near future (I hope). We have been busy; finished all my Christmas Cards & have all my Christmas decos up -- and they look grand. I love all the lights up around town; they are very festive and pretty!

I hope everyone out there is having a wonderful week so far -- take good care, until next time ... Rosebud

Hello, Rosebud and all We spent this afternoon shoveling and blowing snow again, so I think I was able to burn a few stray calories, since I was the one on the business end of the shovel!

DS2 made it home from college fine, but we called a couple times during his 3 hour drive just to make sure it was going ok-the car had been giving him trouble a few weeks ago and, of course, there was all the now and ice on the roadways. So, very glad he's home for break. He has to have his wisdom teeth out between Christmas and New Year's so he'll be unhappy part of the time, but he knows it has to be done-might end up having to get braces too to fix the problem.

DS3 is serenading me with his drum set right now-it's electronic and he has it hooked up to DH's stereo and is playing along with some of his music (some group called All That Remains). He's pretty good, especially since he's self-taught.

DH had to work noon to midnight today, so won't see him until I'm sleeping-LOL! Not sure what tomorrow's schedule is, but there's supposed to be some kind of holiday potluck dinner at noon, BUT since he hasn't told me what to make, he may just have to go without-don't know why men plan these things and then can't seem to get the communications out to the ones who actually have to make it happen He won't care if he misses out though-he can't stand most of the people he works with -bunch of butt-kissers, if you know what I mean.

We had tacos for supper, so that was an easy meal Not sure what tomorrow's plan will be, but waiting to hear what the DH's work schedule will be. We actually had tacos for brunch today also, so he could have a decent lunch before going to work-kind of weird to have tacos at 10:30 in the morning!

Well, take care and have a great day!

HI THERE ~ Me and my PC have been having some challenges, but every now & then, it co-operates with me and I can get some serious posting done. We have had some lovely ***** here this week. Thank goodness, the temps have warmed up and it feels much nicer now.

We have all our shopping done for Christmas; and I am almost set. I am thinking of making some of those mini-loaves -- Banana chocolate chip for DH and guests since I have so many bananas in the freezer. DH is thrilled with the idea ...

Still have to locate our stockings so that I can fill them on Christmas Eve and decorate my tree; gee, I got off to such a great start and becuz of fatigue (too many sleepless nights becuz of all-night parties next door), I am now a bit behind but these things should ony take on afternoon, I hope.


HI RONNIE ~ yes, those are awkward shifts but I heard a dietician once say that it doesn't matter what foods we eat when so much; she even said leftover pizza for breakfast is OK now & then ...

Poor DS2 having to have those teeth out at that time; will pray for him for comfort and quick healing. Drums aren't so bad if you can hear the music to go with them and they don't last for 10 hours at a time. We just hear ... bong, bong, bong every second that repeats itself incessantly over and over ...

I always wanted to take up drums myself; I may still do that. Let's see -- those kids play all night and keep us up but then they sleep in the morning: hmmm, that would be a good time for me to practice, don't you think? No, I won't do that, but it is sure tempting, isn't it?

Time to go get some much needed sleep; take good care ... Rosebud

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hope everyone here had a lovely Christmas Celebration. We had some long-time friends over for the day and a good time was had by all. We got lots of chocolates and goodies (too many for us), so I made up a tray and passed it along to our SIL's party on boxing day. I also made up a smoked sausage and cheese tray as well.

Tried to have the treats as my snacks and keeping my meals on track; tonight I just had steak and veggies for dinner to control the damage, so2speak. Was sore and tired by Boxing Day so I just stayed home to rest. Am starting to feel more like myself today ...

The weather has been nice and mild here with a peek of today here and there. We've had lots of birdies visiting us the last few days: I took all the leftovers crunchy snacks; smashed them up and gave them to the birds -- and they just love them!!! Great way to use them up and it's a nice Christmas gift for our fine-feathered friends too ...

I have read a few good Christmas romances over the last week in the late evenings; very nice. Have a wonderful in-between-holidays week, everyone ... Rosebud

HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS!!!


Well, it's a new year, and a new month as well; hope you all had a nice time ushering in the new year as we did. It was a quiet one at home this year; the weather was not good -- after ing all day, the temps dropped and the roads and laneways are sheets of ice. Not safe to walk on at all. The road fairies have been out with the sand trucks but our lanes and porches are terrible. I had to put mats on the ground to get in our car yesterday.
We need to find a source of sand as this seems to be happening every year.

The temps have dropped but the peeked out in the late afternoon and it is clear out there now; I can see the stars, but will that last? I don't know; they are predicting a few days of for us this week; hope they are right.

Well, I have my new modified plan in place for this year; I have tweaked and tweaked it and think I have found a good groove for now. I have been eating my own version of the "Miracle Breakfast" which is a mix of large flaked oatmeal with Kashi (natural cream of wheat), wheat bran and oatbran. It has been good for my stomach and intestines too; I don't feel as hungry in the morning when I eat this. When I have eggs, I am always hungry by 11 am again; with the oatmeal mix, I can last until lunch most days now and witht the other advantages, I am going to stick with this for awhile and see how it goes.

For lunch, I have a tuna, salmon, chicken, turkey, or other lean meat sandwich with lettuce & tomato and some soup: either broth or cupasoup or homemade veggie soup.

For Dinner, I have baked or roasted chicken, turkey, lean beef, or fish with some variations along with loads of roasted or steamed veggies and/or a salad most days. We treat ourselves on Fridays to whatever we want.

For Snacks, I mostly have fruit, yogurt, pudding, cheese, wg soda crackers, etc most days with some tea and coffee for measure. I do vary this with a little ice cream (1/2 cup) now & then too.

This is a simple balanced plan and it is easy to follow; gonna give it a good try this year and see what happens. I am still doing my AM toning exercises, hand-weights, dancing, walking, chair aerobics, and anything else I can think of to burn more energy and calories each day.

Hope you all have a great week coming up; and take care ... Rosebud

LOVE ~ not sure what ugguggh means, but glad you dropped by ... I am gonna assume that is some kind of alien language and you were saying ... ... please come back sometime ... we'd love some company over this way, for sure ...


INITIATIVE ~ glad you found us over this way too ... congrats on giving up the ciggies; both DH and I did that over 7 years ago now. Yes, it was difficult, but it was the smartest thing we ever did; saving lottsa $$$ too!!!

Yes, I can relate to what you are saying -- that is why I have been trying the "porridge" mix breakfast mentioned above. It was called the MIRACLE BREAKFAST by Sam Grossman, but I added some Kashi/Natural Cream of Wheat, some natural wheat bran, and oatbran to mine for the healthy benefits:

1 cup large flake or old-fashioned Oatmeal
1/2 cup regular 1 minute oatmeal
1/3 cup Red River Natural Cream of Wheat
1/4 cup Quaker Natural Wheat Bran
1 tbl Quaker Oat Bran (added later)

I boil 1.5 cups water; add the mix above and bubble 3 minutes; cover and simmer for 5 minutes. This makes enuff for 4 servings; I eat one and put 3 servings in the fridge. To reheat, I add 1/2 cup water, the 1 tbl oatbran, and nuke it for 3 minutes until hot. I serve it with milk & a little brown sugar splenda mix.

On the other mornings, I alternate with an egg breakfast or other whole grain cereal. About once a week, I may have a bagel with peanut butter and a banana. I find this breakfast fills me up and wards off hunger until lunch time better than other breakfasts. Sometimes, I add a tbl of Vanilla Whey Protein Powder to get in some protein (I add it to the milk).


It getting much colder here too; down in the -15C range up here ... I am chilled just sitting here, so am going to put the heat up a bit after. Am having leftover roast chicken and loads of veggies for dinner tonight; should be ready soon too ...

MY PC has been acting up; tried to come here on Saturday night and the net got knocked off for awhile, so went and read one of my Christmas stories instead. Then yesterday, it was just plain acting up, so I came in here first thing today and it seems pretty quiet.

I spent the afternoon upgrading my security programs; I went and bought a new McAfee only to find out it is too big for this old PC ... so I will just save it for a newer PC instead. I am seriously thinking about buying a new one right now ...

Anyways, nice to have some visitors over this way; hope you all come back and chat for awhile too; take good care and have a great evening ... Rosebud

HI TO EVERYONE HERE ~ we had lovely all day today; what a relief after the temps dove down to -25+ C last night. We had fierce northernly winds last night that were coming through our kitchen door. DH tried to plug them with some weather-stripping but it didn't work so we went back to an old stand-by that works -- stuffing the cracks with rags ...

This week has been a really good one for me; have been able to keep on plan pretty good -- getting back on track after the New Year. Any mistakes weren't too bad and I was so glad to do so well this year. This year, I hope to do even better; live & learn, they say ...

I wanted to share with you all the basic outline of the plan that I have been using for some years now. As you go along, you can tweak it or change it as you like ... http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/fait...diet-diet.html

I really like this plan as it is so simple & flexible; you can add good ideas and tips from other plans (like I did), or take away foods that may cause you to binge. This was the plan that a doctor and I created for me when in my teens; my mother's dietician gave her a similar one as well.

We often used this plan in my work as a counsellor for clients who needed/wanted to lose a bit of weight to get healthier. It worked well for those who didn't want to feel deprived, but needed to feel better and gain more mobility. We added daily walking as the exercise to go along with it.

I hope you are all bundling up and keeping warm out there; take good care and have a great week coming up too ... Rosebud

Hi, Rosebud and everyone -I see some new names since I've been here-Welcome!!

I'm so tired of winter I could scream Like you, Rosebud, we've had temps in the negatives and wind chills down to -25ºF for the last few days and have had snow almost every day/night for a couple weeks again. We've got over 18" in the low spots and piles that are over 5' tall And, this is after our January thaw, which actually came the end of December, which melted about 18" of the stuff we had already had!

DS2 is back to college after finishing his first semester much better than it began. He's taking antidepressants and doing much better with his adjustment disorder. He's even going to be teaching guitar lessons to a grade school child near the college

Still struggling with sticking to any kind of healthy eating plan. Part of that is due, I'm sure, to the winter blahs, and part due to still feeling the losses of the last year+. But, I know I've got to get it together and right now. So, my first step in that is to get back here and keep visiting regularly. I know how much the support helps with this healthy living struggle-I just have to remember that there are people here who want to help.

Hoping you are all having a good weekend!

HI RONNI ~ so glad to see you drop by again; and it's nice to hear that your son is doing better this term. Great idea to give those guitar lessons; could be a second career for him down the road (or a supplement). Yes, I find coming here so encouraging and the people are very helpful; offering so many good tips and ideas.

Take a look at the NO DIET-DIET (the basic portion plan); see the link in my last post. It is so easy and flexible; and worth a try. You might just start there; just remember, RONNI -- just take baby steps. One thing at time. Don't worry if it's not perfect: mine isn't you know. I am aiming for 90-95% becuz I realized that even if I make a mistake one day; it will even out over the week and month, for sure.

You had more than your share of stressers, but we can try to find strategies to overcome that. Practice makes perfect, they say. Things do get easier as time goes along. I just try to learn from my mistakes; and look for ways to improve myself as I go along.

YES, you seem to be in the same line as our weather systems; they seem to almost be in a straight line this year -- same for Texas too. You could have been describing us up here to a "T". It was -35 C here last night; might be around -30 C tonight, then it is supposed to warm up a bit the next 2 days.

I can sympathize with you becuz the cold really gets to me; maybe it's my age (dunno). I don't really mind the snow as much as the cold; it bothers my legs more (it stings my legs). The snow doesn't harm us in any way as long as we don't get snowed in; but the chills, yuck ...

Of course, if you have to clear the snow; you will mind it more (unless you have a snow removal business, then you love snow!). The snow packs pretty hard up here; probably becuz of the dry cold. The winds have died down here; that always make it feel about 10 % colder too.

Doing very well on my plan this week (end); so happy about that. We had a lite Shepherd's Pie for dinner with a small piece of pumpkin pie for dessert (I had mine as a snack a bit later though). Now having some tea.

Right now, I'm reading a very funny romance book called -- "MARRYING AN IRISH ROGUE". It's about a town of women who are fed up with the bachelors of the town who don't want to commit. They would rather stay at home with mommy waiting on them hand & foot. Well, no more -- becuz the THE MIDNIGHT COURT has commenced ...


Hope all our friends here have a wonderful week coming up -- and keep warm, Chickies ... Rosebud

Well, it's not been too bad a day today-warmed up to about 25ºF and very little wind-yay! And, they're telling us it may get to 32 by Friday! That will seem like a heat wave after this past couple weeks.

Eating has gone ok today-stayed away from any really bad stuff-my downfall is Coke-I just love it! But, no Coke or chips or even any chocolate until dessert after supper. And, kept a decent balance of protein, grains, and veggies, so I'm ok with that, even though my calories were higher than I wanted. And, Rosebud, i really appreciate the advice too. It's too easy to feel defeated after messing up (especially since I've really done badly this past year), but I was working this successfully once and I know I can do it again.

Time to see if the pres is done. Have a great Wednesday!

HI RONNI ~ that's right; just take one day at a time. Be proud of how well you did -- what you did right. Keep track of works well for you. I journal what I eat each day, then I can look back and see what days were the best. What foods caused triggers. What days I felt satisfied with. What meals made me feel fuller, and so forth. I'm ever tweaking and learning.

I seem to do best with my meals; but it's the snacking that can be off a bit some days. I have to make sure I eat enuff at the meals, so I don't feel hungry at night. Then I plan a good snack for that time now. I have been doing better this week too.

The temps warmed up here too; so nice we were able to go up town to do some shopping. It will cool off next week; but I hope it won't be as bad as they are expecting. If it is, we will be hybernating indoors for sure. It is a good thing we have my new fireplace stove and heaters this year.

Hope everyone is feeling well; keep warm ... Rosebud

HI FOLKS ~ We had lovely again today; what a blessing for us. It brings the temps up for us during the day so that will save a bit on heat and we can put it up during the night instead. January to March is the coldest time for us here; one month down, two to go ...

I had a great week this week, esp keeping well on plan; and that's a nice victory. Learned a lot over the last holiday which things not to have around and which ones are good for me. I'm slowly learning what snacks are best for me on a daily basis too.

When I tried to do my emails yesterday, it wouldn't work right -- then IE got knocked off for some reason, so I just gave up and did some reading last night instead. Thankfully, it was working better today.

Didn't get enuff sleep last night; DH kept waking up, then NIKO kept coming to me to go outside -- weird. DH finally got up and let him out. Then it was too hot in here so that woke me up again; finally got back to sleep and had a terrible nightmare which woke me up for good ~ but maybe tonight will be better ...

Did some vacuuming today; and we will be having leftover pasta tonight. I think I'll have a salad with mine tonight. Hope all our friends out there are having a nice weekend; take good care ... Rosebud

Heya, I normally only post in the 100+ lbs to lose forum but I wrote a blog today about fibromyalgia and exercise and my kind of...hopes for the future. (link below) but anyhow, this winter I've been dealing with it better than last, and I hope that next winter is better than this one.

hope everyone is doing well.