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, inspiration, and hope. We are aware of the distinct problems that come with weighing over 300 lbs.

We want to invite everyone (roosters as well as chicks!) to join us in our journey. We share laughter and tears, heartaches and fears ... joys and celebrations. We also share what works for us and what doesn't.

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!

Hi guys hope all is well! Just trying to get back to normal from going away for the weekend. Got home late Monday night so Tuesday was spent getting some much needed rest after work. DH is having band practice now so I have been doing grocery shopping while I wait on him.

Our trip was wonderful! We had such a great time even though there were tears when we got there realizing that DH's Granny isn't going to walk around the corner any minute. We got to go downtown and did a lot of walking. It was a lot of fun. We are planning to go up there one weekend a month for a little while to help my FIL with the work that needs done on the house for awhile.

Going to keep it short but if you want to see some of the photos you can check out my instagram at Sakurako2686

Take care all!

Thanks Tootsie. It is really lonely. I am struggling so bad at the moment. My grand mother is really sick too, she has advanced kidney disease and needs an operation because she has other gastro intestinal problems, she is 94, and the family are going beserk, on top of everything else. I just feel really sad and lonely. My partners work situation is changing too which is stressful. Just feeling sad and lost.

Sam— Thanks so much for starting the June thread! I'm glad you had a good Memorial Day weekend, although that is sad about your husband's granny. I'm been meaning to tell you that your photo of you and your DH was really cute: both of you look so happy and like fun people to hang out with. I hope some day we can meet in person. We're not that far apart: at least we're both on the East Coast! =laugh=

Calda—I'm so sorry to hear that you are feeling so sad, lonely and depressed. You have even more on your plate than I do, what with your loss and the funeral, the pulled muscle in your back, and the way your family is being so obnoxious. I have heard that kind of story before, which is why I don't pay any attention to what's going on with my own family, whether they care about what I am going through or not. Please do not feel bad about yourself: you have achieved a great deal by having lost all that weight, and though it may be tough to pick up the ball again about going to the gym, I know you are a strong woman and you will be able to go back there and get back to what has been working so well for you. Just take it easy at first, and don't forget that 90% of weight loss is diet and 10% is exercise. If you are eating right, you should be able to maintain your loss and start losing again. That's what I'm telling myself. Even though I have been on a plateau for a really long time, I just keep trying to eat as well as I can. I know some day my weight will start moving down again. Take care of yourself, Calda, and know that you've got people here on this thread who really care about you! =hug=

Tootsie— I'm in such a messed-up state myself, I don't remember what you last said about yourself, except that it sounds like you, too, have been feeling pretty down. Please tell us more about how you are doing. Did you read what I asked you about whether you've considered psychotherapy for your self-esteem issues?

I am in the middle of such a such a big crisis myself, I made an emergency phone call to my psychiatrist yesterday, and he said it sounded like "a perfect storm."

In short:
• I still have not received the pain medication that was re-ordered after being stolen from UPS. I have called and called the CVS provider for my insurance company, and all they can tell me is that it's "in process" in the pharmacy. Even though all the i's have been dotted and all the t's crossed—the police report, the repeat prescription from my doctor, the UPS claim, etc.—the order for the re-shipment has not made it out of the CVS mail-order pharmacy yet! I am about to tear my hair out over this! My legs are really hurting.
• Tuesday on the way home from going to see Mike in Bethesda, Bob told me that he thinks the whole serotonin toxicity episode that damaged my legs is MY FAULT! He said that I should have known better than to take the serotonin-altering medications that sent me into that horrible episode that made my legs and arms go into continuous spasm and that made me so demented I didn't realize I couldn't walk, so I kept falling down and injured my knees so badly. I was so upset while in the car with him, I cannot begin to describe it! I felt betrayed by my sweet Bob and I could not figure out what had happened to make him lose his mind like that—except that maybe he resents me so much for all the things he has had to do for me, it's driving him back into the bad depression he had for several years.
• Bob had to go to the dentist on Wednesday because he has a crack in one molar. He says it's not causing him any pain, though. He returned from the dentist in like 45 minutes, which didn't make any sense to me since it takes 15 minutes to drive there and 15 minutes to drive back. He said he couldn't stay there after he got in the dentist's chair (we have a really nice dentist) because his neck was hurting him so much. So of course I asked him what was going on with his neck, and he yelled at me for being so stupid I didn't even remember that he had had a slipped disc about 25 years ago. I said of course I remembered, but he hadn't mentioned it in a really really long time, except to say that the way he sleeps now, with a buckwheat pillow on top of a regular pillow, has made it better, so his neck hasn't been bothering him. He said that he didn't know what had gone wrong, but that now it was bothering him a whole lot, that it had been hurting badly for days. And he hadn't even told me! That is not how our marriage usually works: we have been married for nearly 38 years and we usually tell each other everything that is going on.

So anyway, you can figure out now, if you've read this so far (sorry for being more longwinded than I wanted to be) why we are in a perfect storm: my legs are hurting really bad, they haven't gotten the pain medication to me, Bob's neck is hurting really bad, he said that crazy stuff to me in the car about my Big Medical Disaster being all my fault, and so on. I mean, I know now why he seemed to be losing his mind: it was because his slipped disc in his neck had been hurting a lot and he hadn't even told me!

Sorry to hear you are struggling Fi. That sounds even worse than my situation. You and Tootsie have both told me similar things about your family situation and how similar it is to mine. I don't know why I care so much, but with everything else, it is just compounding my misery. I just feel so low. I am looking forward to starting at the gym again, I have missed it. With the exception of a couple of big splurges, I haven't really gone that far from my eating plan. I am not expecting a miracle weight loss, but I know I will be able to accept it, whatever the scales say. I miss my partner heaps, and to top it right off, I have had a period that has lasted a full fortnight. I just feel really out of control. I really hope things improve for you Fi.

Hay Girls, Ive been MIA for a good 5 or 6 months on here probably, but I was finishing off my Honours Degree back here in Scotland and I was stressing out! I went to Germany in January with some friends to go and stay with my best friend who is based over there with his Wife. We all spoke about how we had all put a little weight on and the girls decided to start a lbs a week club. I was doing very well at first and I was loosing my 1 lb a week slowly and steadily, until my university work got really out of hand! I was hardly sleeping, I was getting anxious (which I never suffer from luckily). I wasn't exactly stress eating, however I was just eating all the wrong foods.

6 weeks later, I decide to weigh myself to see if I had completely damaged the work I had put in. I hadn't! I stayed the exact same!

So since the middle of January, I am 12lbs down. However I am 5 weeks behind schedule and I am eager to loose my 2lb a week for the next few weeks to catch up on my slacking!

I even decided that being back on 3FC will help me considerably.

I hope you are all well

Scotsgal— Welcome back to the thread! Too bad we can't hear you talk: I bet you have a charming Scottish accent. =smile= It sounds like you have a good plan for getting back on track. Two pounds a week is quite doable. I know that personally because the best periods of weight loss for me in the past have been a steady downward line on my graph of exactly two pounds a week. And you are right that 3FC is very helpful, especially if you try to post every day. This 300+ thread is a caring and supportive community. You will notice that we talk about all kinds of issues going on in our lives, because anything that is affectiing us emotionally is affecting our efforts to lose weight. Whenever you feel comfortable doing so, you can talk about anything in your life. Congratulations on finishing your Honours Degree!

Well, the "perfect storm" I described in my last posting is not completely over. However, I have decided that when the Universe is ready for me to get a supply of that pain medication, I will get it. Until then, I just need to manage my pain as best I can with Chi Gung and ibuprofen. Today Bob's neck is a little bit better. I drove both to and back from my appointment with Mike, my Chi Gung instructor, and that was helpful to Bob, because he could close his eyes and meditate. I am focusing on the word contentment this afternoon. I figure if happiness is not within my reach, at least I can accept things as they are and try to be content.

Glad things are getting better Fi

Fi Fingers crossed that things start to look a bit better.

I feel I should introduce myself a little better as you all I am sure know each other a little better.

My Nickname is Caz, so you can call me that or Scotsgal.
I am 27 from a town called Ayr on the west coast of Scotland

Fi> Yes I totally have a charming Scottish accent, and It would also be one that you will understand as I spend 4 summers working in the USA at Camp as an international Counsellor.

I have recently finished my honours degree in International Tourism Management and in July I will be starting my new job as a Cruise Specialist. I currently Live with my mum and the dog as I recently moved back from the city.

I am also a Scottish Pipeband Drummer, however I now suffer from tennis and golfers elbow in each arm which causes me a lot of pain and I am waiting on surgery towards the end of the year.

I love to travel and I love my country music (which is very odd for a Scot)

Wish you all to have a great day

Caz— When you say "country music," do you mean like American country music? If so, that would indeed be odd for a Scot! I grew up in Texas, which is a hotbed of country music, but me, I'm rock, rock-n-roll, and blues all the way. I got my first little transistor radio in 1964, when the Beatles arrived in the U.S., and I've been addicted ever since. =grin= Sam's husband is in a band, although she hasn't told us what kind. As the years go by (I'm 61) and I look back on my history of lovin' rock-n-roll, even the really old stuff from the 1950s (Chuck Berry!), I realize that while I love going to bars & concerts to hear live music, and love my albums—Bob and I combined our vinyl record collections in the late 1970s, and we still have all of them (!)—I especially gravitate toward the live deejay format, which now I enjoy commercial-free on Sirius-XM (satellite broadcast). Something about knowing that a human being is lovingly picking out songs for me to listen to, in real time, just rings my chimes. Say Caz, that's cool you play traditional Scottish music. When my sister was like ages 8 to 12, she did highland dancing, with the fancy costume & everything. So I got to see a lot of men in kilts, going to watch her dance. She even got to do the sword dance in a big opera production of "Lucia di Lammermoor." So you'll have to tell us who some of your favorite country singers are... myself, I absolutely IDOLIZE Patti Smith, who in addition to being a great musician, is also an artist and a writer of poetry & award-winning nonfiction. =smile=

I'm looking forward to seeing my 16-yr-old great niece Grace today. I teach her art (mostly collage, which is my medium) and recently she flattered me by asking me to help her hone a rough draft of an essay for English class into a nice final product. (I'm a nonfiction writer, although I haven't published anything in a long time.) Today we will be doing Part Two of a lesson on all things pertaining to fountain pens, ink, and a bit of calligraphy. Part Two is all about fancy fonts: I've never taken a proper calligraphy class, but I can fake it pretty well, so we'll be practicing letter forms, making fancy address labels, that sort of thing. Grace is the light of my life: we've gotten to be really close friends. We think it's fun that in February of 2016, she turned 16 and I turned 61. =laugh=

Fi

Yes I do mean American Country music, My uncle who was in the British Army for 23 years was also very much into his country and he used to always have Garth Brooks or Dolly playing out of his car radio. While I am a huge fan of the classics including the adoring Johnny Cash, I like a lot of the newer country music, Someone once told me it was Bro country? My Spotify is full of Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Blake Sheldon, Jason Aldean, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Florida Georgia Line and Rascal Flatts. My friends have not a clue who any of these people are lol. It all came from listening to the Radio while working in the states. In 2014 myself and 2 others drove from near Danbury Connecticut, all the way to Florida, Via Tennessee. It was great to do all the tourist stuff in Nashville, I really didnt want to leave, but my mates who were English and Swedish, did not quite fully understand the country feel.

That is cool about your Great Niece, My big sister has 2 kids. My Neice Cadha (Kay-da) is 7 and my Nephew Joseph is about 18 months. My little brother also has a little girl who is only 10 Months old and her name is Ivy. I am the cool auntie who travels and brings them back rubbish presents lol No kids for me yet, still haven't found the right man to come sweep me off my feet lol. A lot of this weight loss is actually so that I feel a lot more confident and sexy in my own body

Its cool that you got to see you sister dance, I do a lot of shows in Germany, because the Germans love Scottish traditional music for some reason. But after drumming so hard for 14 years or so, my arms are in some pretty bad shape, it really does affect the way that I exercise, very annoying.

This weekend, I plan on going on a few walks with my dog along the beach, I live around 300 meters (1000ft) from a popular sandy beach, so I am lucky in that way when it comes to exercising.

For those of you who follow my collage art, I have a new one up: "gulf coast landscape". (As usual, click on the image for a larger version.)

Hi ladies! Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! Just thought I would quickly check in and let everyone know I am starting at the gym again tomorrow. I have been out for a fortnight, with everything that has been happening in my life, something had to give and I needed a break and the extra sleep. I know it is a pathetic excuse, but I was at the point of break down, and I had a complete meltdown at my partner and my best friend. I am feeling nervous and excited about going back and I am scared of the scale and if I have lost any of my fitness On another note, I am feeling much better now. I feel like I have a sense of closure after the funeral, and that everyone can start to try and heal. I have had a really quiet weekend with my partner and feel ready to start next week being healthy and happier again. My grandmother is still sick but is out of hospital, I am getting through my study and I am ahead at work.. The dragon woman I work with is even behaving like a human being towards me, because she can see the toll the last couple of months have had on me, which is nice.. I still wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her, but she is at least cutting me some slack, which is so appreciated. Hope everyone is well and is kicking goals! I will check in again soon!

Another collage in the theme of "Put a Frame Around It": "dancing for dionysus".

Nice to hear you're going back to the gym, Calda. I would say that you shouldn't be afraid of the scale or of losing a bit of your fitness. Look at me: in the year of 2015 I entirely lost the use of my legs. Now I can walk around the house quite a bit, and I can walk to and from my car in the carport. But I have days, like this past Saturday, where my legs are hurting so badly I have to take a day of rest—lying on the futon, getting around in my wheelchair. As I've heard more than once on 3FC: The goal is progress, not perfection. =smile=

Thanks Fi. Today was ok. I was asked heaps of questions about the funeral which was dreadful, I am not ready to talk about it yet, and it still upsets me. The gym was good, it was nice to be back with my normal gym ladies. I was weighed and I gained 1kg, which is honestly a minor miracle, as I had done no exercise and had reverted back to 2 weeks of comfort eating, which embarrasses me greatly. I am going to try to remember that progress is the key, not perfection. I have been really hard on myself. I hope you have been feeling a bit better!