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!!!!

Welcome! I am sure that you will find much support on your weight loss journey! My name is PJ and I was over 300. Don't look at the long term picture. Set small attainable goals for yourself. I know someone mentioned to me about putting a sticker on the calendar for the days that I have been on track. I just started that. Also expect to have slip ups. They are common and part of our lives. We have to learn to live with them and learn from them. Meaning don't go backwards, start fresh again right then and there. Take one day at a time. You can do this and will do this.

I hope to hear from you soon and get to know you better! We are here for you!
{{HUGS}}
PJ

Hey I never thought of doing an online course either. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I hope it is not expensive. You are definately worth it. Did you do the sign classes online? I wasn't aware that your daughetr is deaf. I would love to learn sign as well since my babies are having trouble with the poken language. I haev picked up a few signs but would love to learn more!

Good for you getting all of that cleaning done!! Feel free to come on over here! This place could really use it! LOL Glad you were able to go back to sleep! I hate when I don't get a good night's rest. I am starting to get up earlier now that school has started again. Today school staretd at 9 and picked up at 1130. Tomorrow is the first full day. She has to be there at 745 and goes until 220. HOORAY!! LOL Not looking forward to getting up so early, but I may be able to get up at 7 and still out the door on time. We shall see.

You better get your hair done when you go out!! You so deserve it! You have been doing great! I bet you will feel so much better!! I know I feel better after a haircut. I just got one a few weeks ago myself. IT is a self esteem booster!

Hi all!

I'm back at the library again. . . the good thing is that I can still get online, the bad thing is that I have a time a limit. Oh well, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I think I still have one mouse left; I managed to get two so far. I did try the kind traps ("mice cubes") one time I had mice before, but I think they're too smart for them, LOL. Once I had one set up in my living room where I'd seen one time and again, and I sat there one night and watched the mouse carefully climb into the trap but stopping just before the door shut completely, grab the bait, and back out before anything could happen. And he did it again and again. I finally had to resort to a normal trap! Well, I don't know if this mouse has found the food cabinet yet, but I'm keeping it empty until I'm sure all the mice are gone (that last one burrowed into *everything*).

Despite a binge I had on rice crispy treats yesterday, the scale was very kind to me this morning. I'm down to 304!!! Two more pouinds and I'll have lost 40, and five more will get me into that magical area of under 300!!!

Getting that new little kitchen table has been a big help for me. I actually feel some kind of motivation to go into the kitchen and prepare meals. The old table was huge; although I have a decent sized kitchen the old table took up all the space. It was very crowded and frustrating having to work my way between the table and cabinets every time I had to go from one end of the room to the other.

I also started taking suppliments again, and I think it's helping me out as it did before. I'm taking ginseng, St. John's Wort, coral calcium, and flax oil.

I'm trying to keep my diet as natural as possible, and I hope that will help. I've sworn off soda altogether, at least for a while, and have been drinking lots and lots of water, soymilk, and grapefruit juice. I've been keeping my meals small, but I eat about five times a day.

Well, hope everyone's doing well. It's great to see so many newcomers! I'm not sure how soon I'll be back, but I hope everyone has a great week! Take care now.

Hi pj, how are the children doing, have you sorted out a specialist yet for what we emailed each other about?
Ammi, learn direct do many courses and they're free, you also get one to one help at the end of the phone, ring them, its free, you have nothing to lose, i did.
I also did Bsl, my youngest sister is very hard of hearing and we did a course together, she gets by with lip reading. BUT I failed! I was two weeks away from giving birth though so tht's my excuse!


best wishes
sharon

hippievanlady - what are you doing to lose the weight? how long has it taken you to take the weight off? thats so amazing that you have done so well! congrats! and you have the attitude that will get you where you want to be. thats so awesome! hope to hear from ya

Puffy - I had to start losing weight November 2001. I lost about 80 pounds at first by just cutting out take out and fast food. I plateaued for 18 months while I was going through some major life changes. When I started again really trying, I changed one small habit at a time. For exercise in the beginning, all I could do was scissor kicks or flutter kicks in bed. I shrunk my stomach by eating the same number of calories (around 5000/day), but only a large coffee cup full every hour. After about 6 weeks of doing that, I was down to 5 regular coffee cups a day.

At that point, I just bought a kitchen scale, and food counts book, and a case of small memo books. Everything I eat gets weighted or measured and written down. I know that sounds burdensome, but it is the only thing that has ever worked for me. I started at 1200-1300 calories a day. I lost about 100 pounds doing that, and then hit a plateau last November when I was able to start walking again. You can see a picture of me in my wheelchair in the photo section. I didn't cheat, but didn't lose for 5 months. I finally tinkered, and found I had to eat at least 1600 calories to start losing again.

My memo book is second nature to me now, and I hardly notice writing in it. I write down what exercise I get, and anything that is going on in case I feel a binge coming on, I can identify what might be bothering me. I basically do low fat, and eat a lot of the same things everyday. I treat eating almost like brushing my teeth or going to the bathroom, routine and no big deal. I've found other ways to celebrate birthdays and holidays, etc. It gets easier with time. I rarely ever crave anything I used to eat. Now I crave salmon or apples. About once a month I will crave chocolate, and I have some. I get Mexican chocolate, and write it down. As long as I am truthful to myself about what I am eating and take responsibility for my choices, I don't get into guilt eating, or shame eating.

I don't deny myself anything, but when I look down and see that I can have a cookie, or a big veggie burger, the veggie burger wins. I do two hours of water aerobics 3 times a week religiously, and mostly try to add activity into the rest of my days. I can walk up a flight of stairs now without being winded. My knee is telling me today that my heart and lungs like the stairs, but my knee doesn't, so that is something I am going to save to add later.

The biggest change is that I am no longer angry, agressive, and self-hating. I am calm, almost obnoxiously so, and I've let people into my life again. I've also shut out all the negative, soul-sucking people that would sabotage me. I always believed that thing of I wouldn't want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member. I hated myself so much that I believed that no one could ever love me for me. I was wrong. Once I started caring about myself, I allowed myself to be cared about. Falling in love was something that I never thought would ever happen to me. Since he is dragging me 3500 miles to meet his parents and sisters in 3 weeks, I'm assuming he feels the same way.

I'm getting a second chance at life, and there is no way that I am ever going to give up. You have to have the mindset that you may slip and fall now and then, but you will never give up. I probably have several more years ahead of me before I reach a healthy weight, but my father used to say that anything worthwhile is worth waiting for and worth working for. In 3 years I will be 46 years old. I can be 46, and a normal weight, or I can be 46 and huge. In either case, I'm still going to be 46, unless I'm dead. I'm choosing to be healthy, and the wheelchair went to charity.

Hi Gals,

Doing well today. I am so excited. I have been going to a local business college around where I live and after a year and a half I am graduating!!! I am Microsoft certified (very hard tests) in Word, Excel, Access and PowerPoint. I also have certificates in many other classes for accounting and QuickBooks and writing for business etc. I am thrilled. Yea me. It was so hard to go and finish it because I have severe panic disorder and agoraphobia.

I have taken classes on line as well. I did take Spanish on line and received a final grade of 98% on my exams. I also took a writing class and did just as well in it. I did take Realestate too. Now that one I stunk at. I dropped out of it because I couldn't follow through. The homework was very hard and the teacher was not helpful at all. The price for the online classes wasn't too bad. The business classes that I will be graduating from on Friday was pretty high. I think the total for classes, testing, books and all was about $5000.00 Praise the Lord that Vocational Rehab paid for it all.

The pool at the gym is still not ready until tomorrow they are telling me. I have decided to swim early in the morning and then again in the evening most days. I have a very heavy set neighbor that joined the gym and is too afraid to go, another lady down the street that talked with me at a yard sale and wants me to go with her and a wonderful friend who is very large and wants to go. I figured that before I move up North I could get all three of these beautiful ladies going to the pool together with me being the link that binds them and introduces them then in a couple of weeks they will be used to each other and going to the gym every evening and I can slip out of the mix and move North. That is why I am planning on swimming so much. I will go by myself in the morning and get my good 30 minutes of laps and 10 minutes of kickboarding then the other 20 minutes of water arobics in. That way I will not be held back or frustrated if they don't want to swim as long as I do at night. I will have already exercised so anything else will be a bonus! I would love to help these ladies. I know how scary it is to go someplace new and especially to put on a swim suit when you are so fat.

Voodoo: as I said above, I know how it is to go outside and feel afraid. I can honestly say that our lovely Hippievanlady has inspired and helped me so much to just do it. Something just clicked for me when she talks about how she started out by doing exercises laying in bed. I did too. I started doing sit ups in bed then worked my way to the pool. I haven't been doing it for long. When I move I will have to find a new pool to swim at and do it all over again. Take your inspiration from someone who is soo much bigger than you are. I started here at 3 fat chicks at 505 pounds. I now am down to 466 with a 6 pound lapse gain. I will continue to loose the weight. You can do it and don't let any person keep you a prisoner in your own home.

Ammi: Proacitve works for my acne at age 39, I have it too. Maybe it will help you. Also, if you have like psorisis etc. I am an Independent sales distributor for Watkins and we have a product called Petro Carbo Salve that supossedly works wonders for that. Maybe it will help you. Don't worry about posting too much. Post all you want that is what we are here for, each other!

Sickntired: yes, the turkey was yummy! Congrats on being down to 291. I can't wait to get to the 300's let alone that 2's. You go girl.

Esmaraude: Yea for you getting to 304 I am so happy for you almost being at -40 pounds. That is wonderful.

Where are you Shadiepurple, Suemarie, Doxiemom, Hippievan, Mom2five? Missing you all very much.

Blessings and have a wonderful day,
Dogpal

Good evening all, I have to laugh, I pop on here on and off during the day and normally there are only one or two replies that I need to comment on, and then I come back in the evening and not only is one thread closed, another one is open with 7 or 8 replies lol. I have some catching up to do.

PJ - no I didn't learn sign language online, I didn't have the depression at the time, nor had I had any surgeries, and I was happy to go to classes in the local college. I got my BSL level 1 certificate and I did one year of level 2, but the class numbers dropped so low they stopped the class. That sucked as it was the only one that I could go to. I tend to just look things up in my sign language dictionary now, but it's not the same as being taught in person.

Yes it would be lovely if we did live closer, I could get more exercise helping you out with your place. I am sure you don't get much chance to clean with all those babies about

Well I did it, I made an appt to have my hair cut, now I just have to be a good girl and not cancel it. My hair is really bringing me down because I haven't had the money to have it cut, and it's gone from a nice short style to having to wear a headband to keep it off my face. I wore my hair like that in school and feel yuck being 37 with the same hair style. The sooner I get it cut the better.

Well done on your weight loss, I think aiming for 10 lbs a month is really sensible, and it does sound good doesn't it to think in just 12 months you will be down 120 lbs. I would love to aim for 10 lbs a month, but I know I will be disappointed if it doesn't happen, so I am aiming for 4 lbs a month. If I lose more, then great, but if I lose just the 4 then I will feel good because I have achieved my goal.

Sharon - I have heard of learn direct, but I thought they charged for all their courses, if they have free ones do you have to pay for the help line or something. It seems too good to be true. I would definitely do something, anything if it's free. Good for you for taking a BSL course with your sister, have you found that you have ended up helping complete strangers who are deaf? I can't believe how often I have seen a shop assistant struggling to understand a deaf person. I am not the best signer lol, but I can manage to help them out, so it makes me feel good that I have been able to help. I like to think that if my daughter is every struggling in a shop when she is older that she will have somebody there to help her out.

Karen - that is awesome on losing weight despite eating one too many of those rice crispie cakes!! 7 more lbs to go and you are out of the 300s forever, that's a fantastic goal to go for, and it's one I am aiming for too!!

Oh what a cheeky mouse actually getting the food from the trap and getting out before the door shut lol. Well he shouldn't have been so smug because you had to end up getting normal traps and I bet he wasn't so clever then!!

Catherine - every time I read one of your posts I can't believe how well you have done, and I am sure you feel so proud of yourelf. Have you ever thought of becoming a weight loss counsellor when you get to your goal weight. I bet you would really help many dieters just as you help us all here!! That is so cool that you are going to meet your guy's parents and sister in 3 weeks. What a long way you have to travel. I hope you will love them all, and I am sure they will love you.

Dogpal - congrats on learning all those Microsoft things, not only are you going to graduate after learning so much, but you have gone out to do the courses despite your agrophobia and severe panic attacks. You are amazing

Sorry to hear that the pool was still closed, you are so itching to get back in there aren't you. I am glad you love it so much. It's brilliant that you are going to help those other ladies bite the bullet and start to go swimming too. It makes all the difference if you have somebody to go with. I hope by the time you are ready to move they will have the confidence to carry on going without you. I also hope you find a nice pool once you have moved and that you will be comfortable swimming there.

Ok time to get to my emails. Bye for now all, and have a great night,

Hugs,

Ammi

hippie, that is an amazing story! i am so very excited for your enthusiasm. im the same way. im not going to beat myself up over having something i want. but i cant eat a whole bag or cake or pie. honestly, my weight watchers soup (yummy chicken corn chowder) is my fav indulgence right now, and its only like 270 cals. i eat arround 1500 cals a day, and that soup is so filling. every now and then i will have the tiramisu or the bread pudding, but i wont have the whole tray. i also spend 2 hours at the gym at least 5 days a week. i love the gym. i am so in awe of your commitment to yourself. you seem to be an amazing woman, and i wish you the best of luck! keep in mind, you have already lost the equivilent of the entire weight of a lot of people on here


Ammi!! im so sorry i missed your yahoo message the other day! i was sleeping! satudays are my only day to do absolutely nothing and i take full advantage. AIM works better for me if you have that because i can have it at work too. i hope you take the opportunity to say hello again sometime!

Karen

Awesome job!! Youa re doing fantabulous!! Keep those pounds coming down!! Hope the mice are gone soon too! Keep eating 5x a day! It is working for you! Congrats!!
{{HUGS}}
PJ

Weekly Goal Setting Guidelines

you
should set weekly goals for yourself. Here are some guidelines for weekly
goals:

1. Base your goals on where you are now, not on some unrealistic standard.
For instance, if you been eating sweets three times a day, it's more
realistic to cut back to once a day or three times a week then to replace
all the sweets in your diet with fruit.

2. Don't set "never" or "always" goals. They're usually too perfectionist
and cannot be maintained in the long run. So, instead of swearing off
chocolate forever, make your gal to eat it only in controlled situations, as
in a restaurant where portions are predetermined or when you can split a
dessert with a friend.

3. Set goals that are specific and action-oriented. Rather than resolve,
"I am going to eat healthier" or I'm going to get in shape," try, "I'm going
to switch from sugar-coated to tasty high-fiber cereal with fruit" or "I'm
going to walk on my lunch hour three times a week." It helps, too, to focus
on short-term goals rather than saying "I'll be thin by summer," think about
what you can do "just for now" to start moving yourself in that direction
such as having fruit or some pretzels at the coffee break rather than a
donut.

4. Be ready to change your goals. If you keep failing to meet your goal,
perhaps you need to scale it down. If having dessert only three times a
week doesn't work for you, try having something each night but watch the
portion size and try to find reduced fat alternatives. Also choose to work
on some of your goals for more then once week - until you find you've got
them down par.

5. Give yourself praise for any and all accomplishments., be they large or
small. Since dieters so often focus on their shortcomings, it's important
to go back through your day and mentally note all the things you "did
right." The may be relatively big steps, such as packing your lunch instead
of giving in to the temptations of a cafeteria at work. Or you may list
small accomplishments such as using skim milk instead of 2 percent on your
cereal.

Sharon

Thanks for asking about the kiddles. We have good days and bad with my lil guy. He is having a psych eval done next Monday. I did make an appointment with a developmental pediatrician, but that appointment is not until the middle of OCtober, so we are just waiting on that. I have yet to find the eye q fish oil stuff. I nee dto go to a health store nad try to find the liquid form.

As for your not passing the class, I think you had a the best excuse going!!

How have you done food wise the past few days?? Hopefully you are back on track!!
{{HUGS}}
PJ

DogPal

HUGE CONGRATS on your graduation!! That is fantabulous!!! I am so happy for you!! I was shocked to read that you are an agoraphobic. I suffer from that as well , but it has lessened lately.

I hope the pool at the gym is ready for you soon! You sound so motivated with your gal pals and committed to going! now that is one place I still can not get myself to go to!! I admire you!! Sounds like you do an awful lot in the pool! I wish I could/would too!
Glad you enjoyed that turkey!
Again CONGRATS to you!!
{{HUGE HUGS}}
PJ