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!!!!

Good Morning Ladies,

Hope you are all doing well. I am still batteling a stupid head cold/sinus infection. I started to take sudaphed and hopefully it will kick in soon.

Blessins to you all,
Dogpal

Tasha - thats exactly my problem. its the fat over the muscle. ive always been a big kid. ive always been chubby, but ive always been active too, so i am kinda a wierd enigma. my main problem is i dont eat enough. i dont get hungry and i dont sleep on a normal schedule so i go to bed arround 3-4 am and sleep til 1-2pm, maybe later - aah being a student

basically what they did was this... they weighed me, took my inches, and did a skinfold test.

from that, they figured out the % of body fat (this part i dont know how they derived the answer)

but they did (body weight x %body fat) = fat mass
then they did (body weight - fat mass) = lean mass

the only "machine" they used on me was the scale and the skinfold caliper.

also, losing inches is GOOD!! it means you are replacing the fat with lean muscle! just because you dont lose pounds doesnt mean you arent losing fat mass. thats really a good thing. people say that fat and muscle weigh the same, which is PARTLY true. a pound is a pound either way, but have you looked up the difference in size between a fat pound and a lean muscle pound? you'd be surprised the difference. reason is, muscle is much denser, so it takes up less space. our bodies are wierd... lol.

find a gym or a trainer that is there to help you. is there a curves anywhere near you? they are a little pricy (it was like 50/mo around here in california) but maybe they can at least help you find out where you really are starting from. i know that it made me feel a lot better to know that even tho im 300 lbs, almost 200 of that is lean muscle

elmay - did they mention why you were losing lean mass?


Princess ~ I belonged to a gym for a year. They measured me, but mainly I measured myself. I lost a lot of inches, but no pounds the whole year. Every time they were supposed to use that machine on me (you hold it in front of you with two weird handlebar-like things), they claimed it was broke (I was under the impression that machine tells you your percentage of body fat too). They also had the scale set back 20 pounds to make people think they were smaller. The only thing the staff were interested in at the gym was looking at themselves in the mirror. They only took an interest in you if you signed up for multiple services (like tanning, B12 shots, etc.), shelling out megabucks.

I would love to know how much muscle I have (though I'm big, I am very solid). I'll have to see about finding out. It was interesting to hear you guys talk about how much muscle you have. I never even thought of that. That makes me feel like a higher goal weight would be good because a lot of it would be muscle. Thanks for sharing that.

Good Morning Chickadees!

I am in an AWESOME mood today! I am finally feeling 100% better. I jumped on the scale today and what did I see?? 351.8lbs! Holy! I nearly broke the scale I tried so many times! That makes it 50 for me!

I also finally got things fixed up with the insurance agent and received my payment on Thursday. Steve and I have been shopping ever since *L* We went into the city yesterday and bought ourselves a new sofa for the family room. Its white and beautiful!

Steve has just gone out to finish his Christmas shopping... for me of course! I get to wait here and finish wrapping gifts Notice how much wrapping I am accomplishing

To all that are still under the weather, please feel better soon! Maybe some chicken soup

To those with loses and NSV's, congratulations!

Sorry I don't have more time today for individual responses! I am expecting company in a bit and need to tidy the house

To everyone else, Have a Wonderful Day!!

Brenda

Good Morning Ladies,

Feel better Kristy and everyone else who is not up to par. As long as I take the psuedafed (sp) I am doing ok. My energy level is low though.

Goingtoloose200: Congrats to you on your -50. Weigh to go!

We are finished Christmas shopping and last night we went to Walmart and bought a few snack (not good ones) items to take with us on our trip for Christmas. I am very excited about it. I haven't been anywhere in over 4 years. We will be leaving this Thursday around noon. I know for sure that we will not be where we have computer access so I will be off-line the entire time from the afternoon of the 23rd to about January 2 or 3rd depending on how tired I am etc. Hubby and I will be exchanging gifts early before we leave so we don't have to take all of them along with us. It is a good thing too because we will be pretty packed up as it is with other gifts for my parents etc. One of the things that I got for my hubby is a huge and very powerful "shop vac". It is way too big to take with us.

I am so excited because one of the gifts for me is obviously jewelry. It is a tiny little box wrapped and sittnig on top of the other boxes. OOOO how I am so tempted to open and re-wrap it during the day! I promise I won't though. We celebrated our 20th year anniversary in September and we were really too broke, that is when my hubby lost his job, and too busy getting ready to move to make anything big out of it. We didn't exchange gifts or any thing so I am wondering if there is a ring in the box. If not I will be thrilled with whatever it is. Expecially when he asked me what I would like for Christmas and all I could come up with is a new Franklin Planner and some weird yarn for crocheting scarves. On Sunday's when all the adds come in the paper he has been quizzing me for this whole year on what kind of rings and earrings I like the best. Anyway, I have rambled on about this enough.

I sure hope that all of you are healthy and joyful this Christmas season. I have spent most of the year with you all and want to thank you so much for helping me and encouraging me along in this battle to become healthy. You are all such a blessing to me.
Dogpal

It sure is nice to pop in here and see everyone. I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment. Yesterday, I all of a sudden realized that I'm responsible not only for a couple of kids for a week, but also for Christmas! (Marie doesn't get home til Midnight on 12/23). Christmas brings up a lot of memories for me, most of them not good. One year, I tried to ignore Christmas altogether -- very difficult to do.

I want Andre to have good memories. Last year he had just turned two -- all he knew about Christmas is that he got to open a lot of presents. This year he is a lot more aware of what is going on. He knows that if he's a good boy, Santa will bring him presents. Before Marie had to go out of town, she was planning on doing most of the Christmas shopping. Now it's up to me. I decided to take another day off of work next week, so I'll have Thursday and Friday off. I'm sure it will be fine, and compared to what lots of other people have to deal with every day, this is nothing. It just is more than I'm used to handling .

Also, I'm finding that as people start to notice I'm losing weight, I feel uncomfortable. For some reason, two people at work yesterday commented on my weight loss. One person thought I was sick -- I corrected that impression. The other person, a big guy who is a sweetheart and who has had his own weight loss journey, just said that I was looking good. My weight feels like a protective shell -- having people notice me makes the loss of that shell feel even more acute. I'm sure this seems nuts, but it is how I'm feeling.

Last night, I went off plan, to the tune of 1500 calories. It's not the end of the world, but given everything else, a warning sign. I'm hoping that at least writing about what's going on will help . Plans for today include going to the gym, paying bills, finding the Christmas ornaments that haven't ever been unpacked , getting a tree, buying ornaments if needed, and decorating the house. And, eating OP . Thank you for letting me ramble .

Dogpal, I hope you have a great trip! I hope it's safe & fun.

Brenda, congrats on your 50#! That is awesome.

Kristy, hope your cold is better soon.

Luan, my understanding is that with as much weight as I've got, some LBM loss may happen and is not a big deal. My LBM is around 170#. If you look on the height/weight charts for my height (5'9"), that is a lot of weight. I kind of think that I do have more muscle than the average female my height -- I've been pretty active most of my life and I've been heavy all of my life. I also think there is some error in the caliper method, especially with as high of a BF % as I've got.

Have a good day all!

Wyllenn ~ You’re right. I’m not going to beat myself up for not being 100 percent on track while feeling sick. I did get up and go to work every day last week and did a lot to keep my family going ~ that was a huge accomplishment. I will just get right back on track and continue. I will say that I don’t look for the finish line anymore ~ this is going to have to be for the rest of my life if I want to get in and stay in the best shape and health I can. (I’m glad you didn’t eat the Cheetos! Good for you!)

Princess ~ Knowing this makes a big difference to me “it made me feel a lot better to know that even tho im 300 lbs, almost 200 of that is lean muscle.” It takes off some of the pressure where poundage is concerned. I can’t afford to go back at the gym, but I have stocked my home with bunches of exercise equipment, weights, etc., so I just have to make myself work. (I did get Yourself!Fitness, which is a trainer also so that helps. She makes me work pretty hard.)

Goingtolose ~ Way to go with the 50 pounds! I’m also glad you’re feeling better too. (Kristy too.)

Dogpal ~ We could be sisters! “OOOO how I am so tempted to open and re-wrap it during the day!” I used to do this when I was a teenager.

Thanks to everyone for being an inspiration to me every day. You guys help keep me going.

Hey everyone! My name's Kayley, and I stumbled across this website today, and goodness knows I can always use a little extra moral support! I started the South Beach Diet on Monday, and I've already lost 9 pounds, so I'm pretty happy!

I forgot to say that you seem like a group of wonderful people, and I can't wait to become a regular part of your community.

Evening girls!
Thanks for all the congrats! It SO nice to be able to share your victories with wonderful people like you!

Welcome! Kayley!!!! You will enjoy meeting everyone and we will share your victories with you too

Dogpal ~ Hope you have a wonderful trip! Enjoy this time with your loved ones

Well, I am off to veg out on my new sofa Have a good night ladies!

Brenda

Does flying for 6 hours in 1 day count as aerobics? Yesterday morning I flew out to California; left Dallas at 8 and arrived in California at 9am (because of the two hour time difference). Then I went to my new office and met my team, had lunch with a few of them, set up my desk, looked around the cities a bit and went back to the airport (got home at 11).

Julee and Princess, My office is in Costa Mesa and I will probably be living in Alisio Viejo. I will be there mid-January. Jeez, though, the cost of living is CRAZY

Julee, I always get jealous of people who cheat and lose too. It is tricky though, because if you cheat, you will put it on slowly at first then you are back where you started. If I ever feel that way, I remember all the times I have done well and then cheat and thought that if I had just been successful then, I would be okay now. But I do it right now, I don't ever put myself in the position to cheat. Although, I may have cheated a little yesterday. I was in the airport in Santa Ana (John Wayne) and was starving and there really isn't any food there. So I got a sandwich at this little sandwich shop ($8.95 ?!?!?!?!?!?!) and it was ham, apples, and bree cheese. It also had some sort of apple sauce, I took off the half of the bread that had the applesauce. It was actually okay tasting, but different. Oh, and I always always plateau. I really only lose actual pounds after my "girl time".

Sharon - Juicing is a pain in the *** and very expensive. My veggies and fruits from juice are V8, Tomatoe juice, and Carrot Juice.

Andrea-We live in Roanoke, TX near Ft. Worth. You should visit your sister, Texas is really nice (I say as I escape the erratic weather and blistering summers )

Kristy - Move it sister!!!!

Lilion - What a nice compliment! You should invite her to join.

Moroka- 70! Wow! Great, we can all support each other.

Elmay - I don't think you are crazy at all. In fact, as someone who is shy, I hate all of the attention too. I think that it is one of the most difficult parts of losing weight. Everyone notices and comments and it almost feels like they are watching and waiting for you to fail. And fat is protecting. You don't have to stand out. But it is good attention.

Brenda - Congrats on your 50 pound weight loss. That is so awesome. Also, glad to hear you are feeling better.

Kayley - I'm happy you found us. You'll love it hear, you'll see.

Softykins - Glad to hear you are feeling better. But now I am sick...yuck! You and Brenda must have given it to me. lol

elmay - I hope you are able to enjoy yourself over Christmas. And try not to let the kiddies drive you too crazy.

I know I must be forgetting some so please forgive me. But I keep scrolling up and down and I'm starting to make myself dizzy.

Anyway, Aunt Flo is in town so I won't be having a weigh in tomorrow. I've been sick, thanks to my brother and my daughter and I have been feeling so out of it. I haven't exercised since Wednesday and I don't like that. So I'm taking tomorrow to try to get myself better and I'll be exercising again come Monday. If I allow myself to stay off plan too long, this can get disastrous. I also haven't been eating as well as I should. I haven't been overeating or even eating incredibly bad but it hasn't been good either. I've been jonesing for grill cheese sandwiches and have been eating that for the past couple of days. And I haven't been eating as much fruit as usual. So tomorrow I am heading to the supermarket to stock up the house because the fact is, if it isn't in the house it's so much easier for me to eat crap.