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!!!!

Jen -- I am so happy that you are so close to getting under 300!!! Way to GO!!! I will be there too before you know it. I haven't been under 300 since before I got pregnant with my son and he is almost 6. I see that as a major milestone to be under 300. Keep it up girl...you can do it!!

G'Afternoon everyone! Hope every one has better weather than we have today. Rain, rain go away!

Jen- Congrats on being so close to that 300 mark! It seems so close but yet so far away still for me! I can't wait for that day!

I have had a pretty sweet experience today that I will share! Today I threw out my bra extenders haha!! As silly as it is, I was pretty excited, did a little dance around the bed and looked around to make sure that my husband wasn't awake!

Girl that is not silly at all!! That is a a great victory!

going to lose 200 -- That's great that you were able to throw your bra extenders away....I am sure you were excited.

Jill -- I hope the couch is still there waiting for you. It sounds like a great deal. Good luck!!

Hello All,

I am so glad I found this place. Meeting all the wonderful people here in the same boat as me it makes all the difference to me. Any time that I think of giving myself a little treat I think, no, I really don't need it, and I automatically think of coming here to let you all know about my latest non scale victory

Brenda (200) - I got your name right didn't I? I had a big smile on my face when I pictured you dancing around your bed when you threw away your bra extenders, and hoping your hubby was sleeping You have been doing so well to lose as much weight as you have, I am sure you have had quite a few non scale victories.

Amy - congratulations on your 1 lb loss. Don't be too disappointed that it wasn't more. I find those lbs that come off slowly are the ones that show more. Keep up the great work.

Jen - yes you are very close to being under 300 lbs, it's going to be quite a milestone for you. That's my first small goal, to get under 300 lbs, then it's only another 100 lbs til I am excited about getting under 200 Ok it's not so much only another 100 lbs, but it's in the right direction no matter how long it takes.

Andrea - I see you are aiming to have being under 300 lbs as one of your mini goals too. It won't be long until we are all under that and striving for our next mini goals. Did you find your weight caused any problems with your pregnancy and giving birth? I was 224 when I had my daughter, and the doctors treated me like I was the worst mum in the world by being pregnant and overweight. It wasn't very nice. The worst bit was when people used to comment to my mum in law or even me, about how much weight I had gained. They couldn't tell I was pregnant. Yet now when I am not pregnant many people ask me 'when the baby is due'. I used to make up a date just to save them any embarrasment. and then I thought, what the heck, tell the truth. I make light of it, but it does annoy me.

Jill - did you get that couch you were trying to get? I really hope you did, I am sure it will be the crowning glory in your new living room.

It's time for my hot chocolate and biscuits now. I hope everybody is doing well, oh and remember Blondie, no not the singer, one of the women who post here occasionally? She started WW two weeks ago and she is doing brilliantly with it. So in case you are reading this Jessica - well done you!!

Hugs,

Ammi

Hi everyone~~

I've been pretty busy so I haven't been able to come here to post. I've been able to come and read a couple of times, but I always end up having to leave before I can say hi. I have had a pretty tough few days--starting with the fact that I gained 1.2 lbs. I'm pretty sure that it's because I've been working out with weights and just started it a couple of weeks ago, but it's still depressing. I want to get under 300 so bad--only 9 more lbs. to go. So I'm kind of bummed out about that. I figured that if I have a "carbohydrate weekend"--that's where I let myself "cheat" on my diet and eat whatever carbs I want (I had Chinese food and I read someone elses post about the hot dog not being as good as you were imagining--ditto to that)--anyway, I figured that if I do that and then re-start my low carb eating that it will jump start my weight loss again. I know that I should be happy--going from 357-309, but I want to lose more. and I want to lose it NOW! (Insert temper tantrum here. ) I just noticed that I have to update my ticker--you know--that will make me feel good so YAY.

Now--I don't remember who ate the hot dog and didn't enjoy it--sorry--I'm a big Red Sox fan too. I just love those guys. Did you see the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy episode that had the Red Sox on it? Great show and OMG--Johnny Damon's arms are stupendous. I just love that man. Sorry that they didn't win the game you went to see--but they're still great to watch.

Ammi--I'm with you. Coming here helps me to face the day and not get all suicidal and crazy because I gained that stupid pound. Not that I'm suicidal but you know what I mean. I know that I'm still liked and appreciated even though the scale went the wrong way this week.

Going to lose 200--it's not silly at all! Congratulations and keep up the good work. After all, it's those "silly" little things that keep you going. For example--when I drive I can now keep the steering wheel lowered instead of in the up position. Or when I take a shower I find that it's easier to wash underneath my stomach now. I think that's one of the things that's most embarrassing about being this size--it's hard to clean yourself right, you know?

Jill--did you get the couch? Let us know because we're all excited for you.

Andrea and Jen-- I'm in that I want to be under 300 lbs. club too. Keep it up--I'm sure that we'll all get there soon.

Amy--A 1 lb. loss is just that--A LOSS! It's hard to lose 1 lb. so you just dang well better enjoy it and revel in your success.

A big hello to everyone else--I can't see the other thread so I can't comment on everything. Has anyone heard anything from Catherine? I hope she's having a good time.

Well, I've got to go read the rest of the board now and then take a shower. I worked out today for 1.5 hours and then came home and puttered about the house so I'm sure that I'm pretty stinky. I was doing so good with my workouts and guess what happened? I ended up talking to the gym manager and he said that if yoou work out 4 days a week that should be okay to lose weight so I apparently took that as permission not to go to the gym every day. Why did I do that? I told myself that I wouldn't and I did. I'm just going to have to re-program myself again and say that I have to go every day even if it's only to walk on the treadmill. Maybe that's part of the reason I gained this week? I didn't work out as much as usual. Oh well--this is another day and I'm okay with where I am right now. I just hope that my scale moves back down this week.

Talk to you all later. Have a great day or night.

dolphingirl -- The Red Sox and the hot dog I didn't enjoy was me!! Yes, yes, I saw the QE ep, and loved it. Big Papi is my favorite man these days. I am sorry the Red Sox didn't make it further but honestly think I would have eaten the fridge had this year been as nailbiting as last year was. I think a White Sox/Astros WS would be just fine!

Ammi -- I cracked up when I read your line about wiping our butts. I wouldn't have said this anywhere else, but I DID have that problem before I started losing, and let's just say that with the 30+ pounds I have lost, that task has become a lot easier. Let's hope for all of you too!


Like dolphingirl, I can barely get through reading all of these before I have to run -- right now my in-progress lentil soup is calling me... so I'll be back later...

Ammi -- Honestly I never had any complications due to my weight when I was pregnant. Actually during my pregnancy I lost weight. They found out after an ultrasound that I had an extremely large cyst so I had to have surgery when I was 3 months pregnant. Get this...the cyst contained 5 1/2 liters of fluid and it was in my fallopian tube so the baby would have room to grow. Imagine that and I got pregnant without even trying. Anyways I was in the hospital for 5 days and I lost about 20 pounds....of course after that I ended up gaining it back with my pregnancy and then more.

I have actually been dying to have another baby and we tried for close to a year. I was taking Clomid and unfortunately I never got pregnant. I am 30 and I still want a baby and I am thinking this weight loss will be good for when I do get pregnant. I am suppose to have a test done where they run dye through your tubes to see if there is any blockage.

And Yes we will all be under 300 in no time.

Dolfingirl -- You are almost there....I know that will be exciting to get under 300....YOU CAN DO IT!!!

I got the couch--YAY! Now we will have something to sit on! It also came with a free recliner chair, though the handle for the recliner is broken off (but I'm sure between me, my BF, and my father, we can make it work ). There's a picture of both here. Gosh, I LOVE Craigslist! In the picture, the sectional looks solid blue (to me, anyway), but it's actually blues and grays and tan and mauve thin vertical stripes, which is probably even better because a pattern won't show dirt or wear as much as a solid might, plus if we change our living room decor (from the present blue), it should match just about anything And I am loving the fact that it has a recliner on one end and a pull-out bed on the other. Jeez, how much can I write about a couch? I'm just so relieved to have found one that we can pick up this weekend while we have the moving truck. Otherwise, it was back to the stinky situation I was already in, which is, yes, I need a new couch, but once I find one, how do I get it to my place (since Jeff and I both drive Honda Civics, I don't think it would quite fit ).

Anyway, so I'm very happy about that. I got some more packing done last night--attacked some kitchen cabinets and packed away all but 5 clean outfits of clothing (for this week) and ran 2 loads of laundry. Not much more to go now! But then, of course, I have to scrub the apartment top to bottom so I can get every possible penny back from my security deposit (minus the $25 they are going to charge me to get rid of my current couch). It's so close to moving day!!!! Can you tell I'm excited?

So, back on topic now--I think I will be down a bit at this Thursday night's weigh-in. I had a better-than-normal weekend (since my weekends have been quite the dieting disasters lately), and when I peeked at the scale this morning, I was right on track, so hopefully I will be down a bit by Thursday. Good, I really need to break past 279--it was nice to get below 280, but I've been stuck hovering around this 279-282 range since early August!

going to lose 200--congrats on the bra extender toss-out! Before you know it, you'll be tossing out whole bras and buying smaller sizes

dolfin--I'm sure your body will catch up with you. You may have a few small gains here and there, but then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, you'll have a major loss of like 5+ pounds or something. I see it happen a lot, and it makes all the hard work (and frustration!) worth it

Ammi--oh, girl, I needed that chuckle here at 5:40am I have noticed that it's been easier to wipe my butt lately. However, even at my highest weight, I have always been blessed with quite a bit of flexibility, so I can just push my tummy overhang over and shave my legs myself. Oh, the things we discuss when in the company of those in a similar situation, eh?

Andrea--it's good to hear that you didn't have any pregnancy complications while being overweight. I'm 23, and one of the main reasons I want to lose weight right now is so that I can be healthier during pregnancies (I want 4 kids, or at least I think I do--we'll see how the first one goes ). Of course, I'm not married yet, or even engaged, so it'll still be a few years, which is why I want to lose the weight NOW! OH, and you're lucky that cyst didn't do more damage. A week after I turned 16, I had to have emergency surgery to removed a 10-inch fluid-filled cyst from my ovary. It was actually tangled in my falopian tube and cut the circulation off to the ovary, so they had to remove the tube and ovary, and while they were in there, they found another cyst starting on my other ovary I have been on birth control pills as a cysts-prevention medication ever since, and was instructed very strictly to NEVER go off them unless I wanted to get pregnant because I am a "cyst farm" (doc's words, not mine ). So, now I am half a woman on the inside and double the woman in weight, so I'm here to even it out a bit

Well, that's certainly more than enough for one post--Hello to everyone else lurking and readin out there, and have a great day to all!

Good morning everyone! I'm so sleepy. My kids get up WAY too early. I guess maybe I stay up too late at night. The bad news is that I allow myself one cup of coffee every morning, and I'm out of coffee filters! The only tea in the house is decaf, so I'm in a fix this morning. Well, maybe its just that I need a fix!

Anyhow, sorry for rambling.

Jill- Yay for the couch and recliner. It looks really good. I'm going to have to check out Craigs List now.

Andrea- Good luck with the tests you'll have run. Hopefully they will find no complications. How old is your son?

wyllenn- Hope the soup turned out well!

Ammi- I know what you mean about loving the list. It helps me stay on track, too!

dolphingirl- Don't give up with the weights. It's so good for you. I've been working with weights the last couple of weeks, too. It's becoming addictive for me!

Brenda- Yay! No bra extenders! Don't victories like that feel great?

OK, well, I guess I'll go see if I can figure out something for my coffee situation. Have a great day everyone!

Amy

Hi girls! Just getting my morning reading done before actually doing some work!

I found out last week everyone in my company is getting a HUGE bonus this month because our company did well last fiscal year. It should be about $1500 or so. I'm considering purchasing a tread mill with some of it, then saving the rest for a trip to England this spring.

Anyone have a tread mill they particularly like? I need something sturdy, since I am a big girl!

Will check in later y'all!

Hello All,

Wow I am so tired today, I don't know why, I think it's down to the weather. It's only 1.25 in the afternoon, but it's so gloomy it feels like 6 pm at least. I have just woken up from a sleep and if I carry on feeling like this I might just go back to sleep lol.

I got my cleaning done this morning, so that's good, I should be up baking cakes, but that can wait til I am in a better frame of mind. I might be too tempted to 'lick the bowl' afterwards lol.

Jill - that is so great that you got the couch. I haven't checked it out yet, but I will when I am finished here. I am so glad you are doing so well with your packing, and I hope when the move happens nothing gets left behind lol.

I am glad I gave you (and Wyllen) a laugh when I spoke about us wiping our butts. I am glad too that the both of you don't have that trouble so much anymore. I think the main reason I had trouble with mine, and with shaving my legs still, is because I suffer with my back too. So all that stretching to reach does me no good. I mean at the end of cleaning my house I can hardly move until I lie down for at least an hour. It sucks and I hope it will get better as the weight comes off.

I am looking forward to hearing how you go at WI, I hope it won't bite you on the bum that you got on the scales to get an idea of how you are doing. Those scales are so unreliable, so don't fret if they show less of a loss when you do officially weigh:

I am sorry to hear about your experience with having such a nasty cyst, and that you are a 'cyst farm'. When you are ready to have children I hope you will fall pregnant without too much trouble and that you dont end up needing an op like Andrea did when she was pregnant.

Andrea - I was happy to hear that your size didn't bring complications when you were pregnant. I just keep seeing my doctors notes on my file saying that the fact I was so morbidly obese could be a complication on my pregnancy. If morbidly obese was 194 lbs I hate to think what he would consider me now

You must have been so scared having to have surgery while you were pregnant. That was one mean cyst you had wasn't it!! I am glad they could remove it and that it didn't upset your pregnancy at all. Phew!!

Amy - how did you survive without your morning coffee? Is it only the one cup you have a day? I only ask because I wondered if you knew that caffeine is a weight loss inhibitor. My mum loves her coffee and when she joined a slimming club many years ago they told her she could only have 3 cups of coffee a day. She decided she would have six small cups instead, totally neglecting the fact that she was having 6 teaspoons of coffee still and not 3 lol.

I am sorry your kids get you up so early. I was lucky when my daughter was little, she was like me, a night owl lol. So we were up most of the night, and slept most of the day!! It's weird because the only time I have had to put up with kids getting up early was when my step daughter moved in. She was 12 at the time and tried getting up at 7 am just to watch TV. I soon put a stop to that though and said she could watch TV quietly in her room til 9 am, and then she could get up. I am a right cow if I am woken up in the morning

Jen - that bonus sounds fantastic and what two brilliant ways to spend it. I personally don't like a treadmill, I would prefer a cross trainer (elyptical) machine. So I can't help you with your question about them. How cool too that you will put what's left towards a trip to the UK. Do you have friends or family over here, where abouts would you like to see, have you been over here before??

Luan - where are you my friend, long time no see. Are you lurking

Sharon (neurotica) - I am guessing you are keeping busy with all that you have on your plate right now. I hope you are keeping strong with your diet nonetheless

Sharon (voodoo) - just about to go have some lunch and then I will put MSN on and see if you are about. Hope all is well.

PJ - hello, have I forgotten you are going on hols or moving or something?? I hope you check in soon.

Alison - how are you doing. I hope you are still coming here to at least read posts. We want to help motivate you to keeping on track and proving to yourself that you haven't given up. We all said you aren't a failure, and I hope you believe us because it's the truth.

Catherine - I am sure she will be having too great a time to check on here, but just in case, lol, I hope you are having a wonderful time with your fella and that his parents love you as much as he does and visa versa.

Kate - I sent you a PM the other day in reply to one you sent me, I hope it reached you safely.

Everybody else that's reading this, I hope you are having a good day,a good week and that you are keeping strong.

Hugs,

Ammi