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!!!!

Wow.. I can't believe the amount of posts made today alone. This place is really hopping now. I do have to say though, please remember to start a new thread if you notice that we've hit 30. It's increasingly hard to keep up, but the new threads generally help a bit.

Thank you everyone for the support, well wishes, and congratulations. I am still in a funk - I'm hurting quite a bit and haven't had much luck with this darn cold yet either. I did, however, finally get my WATP videos and weights I bought on ebay. Maybe after my appointment on Monday, I'll be cleared to start exercising again. I also bought a huge stability ball (not sure if I've posted this yet, so if I have, sorry!) that reaches up to 3 feet. It's 90cm compared to the 65cm I have now. It also holds up to 600lbs. I'm anxious to get it because I've really gotten used to sitting on it at the computer, or even if I happen to watch TV. My other one is too low for me to get up easily right now, so I'm going without =(

Congratulations to all those who've had any sort of victories. Welcome to all the new ladies. And, best wishes for everyone. I'm off to bed.. one of these days I may be able to do individual replies, but with the way this place is flying now, it might be a bit!

Thin - I tried to reply to your PM, but your inbox is full. Anyhow, this is what I said:

2LosinIt - glad you got the reference ahhh pizza delivery...

brandnewme - I hope you are feeling better soon!

Valerie - UGH! That sounds even worse than just having the small desks! I wonder what was going on in THAT teacher's mind!

Garnetfairy - Haha, I'm trying with Andrew! But he's still got that avid love of video games and action movies all the time. He's really great, though, so I don't really complain. He's still young, too (21), so he's got a little more time! But I don't really try to CHANGE him per say...just broaden his horizons. He'll put up a fuss, and then end up liking it! I know I shouldn't be ashamed, and I'm trying SO HARD not to think like I do. Your post said it all perfectly...now if I would just LISTEN TO IT! Ooooh...that books sounds like it'd be REALLY helpful...If I get the office job, I'll have to look for it on ebay or amazon or something, and get it! Thanks for the info, and thanks for being so kind. There's NO WAY I could ask for different seating! I'm so shy and embaressed about everything, I would just shrivel up and die, hypothetically. I mean, I can SIT in the seat, I just can't bring the little desk part up, so I use my book for my desk. Even my thin friend Susan said they are quite uncomfortable and cramped. I guess that counts for SOMETHING.

Cindy - Definately keep us updated on NutriSystem! I've heard great things about the plan, and I know you are going to do fantastic on it! It's not an option for me, as I'm poor! lol. Drinking all that water can be tough, at least at first...and going to the bathroom all the time sucks! LOL. But you'll get used to it, and you'll feel healthier just from drinking it!

Luan - I have bought a few things from Ebay within the past 6 months. I was actually looking at some of their business attire the other day. I also used to shop at Torrid (the website and the store), when they sold...shall I say...more eccentric clothing! LOL! But I remember that their website DID have a lot of nice business stuff, and I remember seeing like the sale that was "Half off the clearance section". I LOVE SALES, too! I'm constantly bargain shopping. I get it from my mom. I didn't know that Old Navy even went up to that high of a size. I remember going into the store once, and the highest they had was an 18/20, and at the time, I was a 26/28. Maybe if I get this job, I'll check out the website. I was just really hoping to use the program, since it would be FREE clothes, which is even BETTER! But I guess the second option would be for me to go shopping, take my receipts in, and then they reimburse me up to a certain amount. They have this stuff at Walmart that's like Crystal Light...but it's Fruit Punch flavored, and for some reason, I have a weakness for it! No sugar, no carbs, no nothing, really, it's amazing it tastes so good! But it tastes like Kool-Aid, and I was drinking that stuff UP when I gave up pop a long time ago. Same with flavored water. That's all I used to drink. Walmart has some good flavors of that as well. I'm with you, Luan...I've tried to lose weight before, but this is the first time I'm so COMMITTED!

MsCrockett - HA! That's great that others followed you when you moved up by the podium, so it wouldn't be as humiliating.

2LosinIt - I can be a bit of a scale freak myself, but luckily, the scale I weigh in at is at my boyfriend's house, and I'm not over there EVERY day...but when I am, I'll weigh myself sometimes 3 times a day...NOT GOOD! I would NOT be able to have it right by the refrigerator, that's for sure! I know you are going to do GREAT with your weigh-in! Good luck! Lucky! Going to see "Chicago"! I've only seen the movie version, but I LOVED IT! I remember, the only shows I've been to were to see "Hello Dolly" and "Cats" with my mom when I was a bit younger, and I thought it was so NEAT! Again, I know that the school probably has things I could use, but it's that embaressment/humiliation factor. Basically, I'd rather just suffer than face that every week. It's just a once a week class, so I'm just going to grin and bear it. Isn't that awful?

Brandnewme - I hope everything goes well for you, and you can start using all your new stuff! I am really wanting one of those stability balls! Maybe I'll be able to find one tall enough for me to have here at my computer desk. That'd be fantastic!

Well, it is SO EARLY, but I've taken my vitamins and been up and about for the past 40 minutes, so I'm going to go and work out for at least 10 minutes. Then, maybe I can do some more this evening when I get home! I'll be back after a while!

So, we just went through like 3 threads in about a 24-hour period...INSANE! I can see why people feel bad about not being able to keep up, and I can definitely see how it might feel like even when you do post, you just kinda get lost in the shuffle.

Anyway, I just wanted to come and make a little note about how drastic of a difference TOM makes! I mean, we all realize by now, I'm sure, that most of us gain weight at that time due to water retention and whatnot, but yesterday morning, my scale read 285.5, and I about had a heart attack thinking I had gained so much more weight! Then my TOM finally started yesterday afternoon, and this morning, my scale said 281 4.5 pounds of water (or whatever else is going on in there) in 24 hours. CRAZINESS!

Well I read the last thread this morning, wow, I can't keep up. I was even late exercising , trying to read all the posts, but I hope everyone is well and eating healthy.
Kayley, I hope your mood is better today, I'm sure with the exercise it should start to get you feeling more 'up'. I agree with Ammi, you ought to consider a course, if you have time!!! in confidence building, I did one and it helped. There were five of us, all women, and everyone felt they looked unattractive, even though I was the only fat one there. Three of them were ok/nice looking, one was really pretty, very slim and well dressed, yet we all felt inadequate, ugly, stupid, lonely, unwanted etc, the list could go on, but the fact remains that MOST NORMAL PEOPLE FEEL LIKE THIS!!!! so you are normal, just 'act' confident and you project it, people react positively to it. We were set tasks every week, like smilimg at strangers and talking to people we didn't know, its amazing how well people take it, I chatted to lots of new people and only one person looked 'funny' at me when I smiled, out of about twenty, so try it! You will be amazed at how good you feel if you do smile. Sorry if you think I'm being bossy, I'm not, just telling you what I learnt and how it helped me.
Well got to finish off my cauliflower cheese, home made, of course!
bye for now,
xxxxsharon.

Hola Chicas!

You girls ROCK! Wow! I thought I was keeping up with threads. That'll show me to take an evening away from the computer!

Had a few replies I wanted to make...hope I remember some of them!

Ammi: The only major difference between 1-2-3 Success and the new "winning points" or "flex" program is that fiber is capped at 4 grams now. So if you just never go over 4 grams on your slider you'll end up with the right points under the new program. Apparently there were people who thought they could throw bran on chocolate and make it low-point! Also, instead of a daily "range" of points and banking points for your splurges, they now have a "target" of daily points and you also get 5 pts per day or 35 per week for your splurges (that's the "flex"). But, if you take the "target" of 28 for me and add 5 pts you have 33 pts, which is the high on the "range" under the 1-2-3 plan. So you see the points are the same. And, with the flex plan you can use all 35 flex points in one day if you want, when with 1-2-3 you couldn't go over 10 in a day I believe. Very, very close to the same.

Kayley: Hun, don't worry about a thing! You are SO on the right track! And when I was 19 and first in college, I was sooo shy! But I took a drama class and others and gradually got more confident. In law school we had to video tape ourselves speaking in public - I was SO awful! I was literally wringing my hands as I spoke! But I got better! As an attorney I had jury trials and even argued before the State Supreme Court. Now I'm an administrative judge and have to talk in front of people all day long! Self-confidence comes to you if you work at it. You have YEARS to get it together and you are doing GREAT right now!

For Valentine's day I'm going to make DH a chocolate heart-shaped diet coke cake, with strawberries and FF whipped cream! That way we can have our cake and eat it too! Have you heard of Diet Coke Cake? Any pop will do. You simply mix a box of cake mix with a can of diet soda and bake it. Turns out great and I think a servings (like a cupcake size) is only 2 -3 points! YUM!

Jilly: Back on Track and In Control! Good for you! Now don't stay that low on calories! Like you don't know that! You'll be losin' again soon!

Valerie and Heather: Yep, I have Xerox dogs! I also frequent a Boston Terrier board, where people are used to looking at these type pups and even the people there comment on how much they look alike. In real-life, Mac is taller and thinner and has a more wrinkly face. Also he has two little white lines over his head on top and Suzie only has one. This does NOT mean that I haven't yelled the wrong dog's name more than once! I often say I should take highlight markers and make one pink and one blue! (We've actually had boy-girl collars when they were younger. WAY easier from a distance!)

I just know had more to say! I know Princess, Zelma and someone else had good losses and I wanted to say Sorry I don't remember who else deserved pat's on the back! Oh well...

I ate 0 point veggie soup for dinner last night, and a 3 pt sandwich and a 1 pt muffin. So I went over by 4 pts. Kindof proud of that. In the old days having eaten badly at noon would have made me eat badly at dinner and dessert!

Must run chickies! Onward and Downward you go!

Mornin'! I've missed some pics that you guy have been talking about - dogs & personal photos & such. Must have been posted within individual posts while I was on the road. Sorry I missed them! I may not be THE Dogpal, but I am a critter lover, and of course I'd appreciate the personal pics, too!

A-HA! Lilion, you ARE a judge! Thought I had that figured out, but then you said something about a meeting and the Big Boss, (Judges have bosses?) and I was confused again. This is Great!! NOW I know where I can get away with speeding. After my little brush with the law last night, it's nice to know I have connections SOMEwhere! (...I was walking/jogging with my dog at 1 am in black clothes in the parking lot of some darkened stores & the local constabule had to check me out.) BTW, you're doing great with the ! I hope new robes aren't too expensive - it's not like you could replace them at Goodwill!

As for the rest of you doing WW and all those points - jeepers! Good for you! and I'm really glad it works for you, but I don't think I could ever figure it out. I get the concept of points & flexpoints, but I think I'd just get confused by everything I put in my mouth! But that's just the silly trucker talking.

SO. This morning I got up and as usual, obsessively hopped on the scale and it was down another 3 pounds. Doesn't count, of course, since my official scale is the one at curves, but hey, it was a good start to a happy day. The sun is shining, my hinny is shrinking, life is good.

Well, I'd be more than happy to do favors if I were a REAL Judge! JOKING! That would be entirely improper and I'd NEVER do anything improper! But I'm not a REAL Judge...I'm an Administrative Judge for Social Services .. in fact the title is "Hearing Officer"...which means real judges overrule me on the decisions I make. (That sounds bad...actually, they often uphold the decisions I make instead of overruling them!) I won't go into any more details, but the advice I could give would probably not be of any relevance to any of you ladies! I DO have a boss, several in fact. Starting with the unit Managing Attorney, then the Deputy Division Director, then the Division Director, then the Dept. Director, then the Governor! (What's that they say about too many Chiefs?)

As for giving legal advice, I've done this for so long now I've just about forgotten how to handle anything more serious than a parking ticket...(I pay them! )

Oh, and I don't even get to wear robes, how lame is that? And I am in serious need of new clothes!

Lilion

Good Afternoon All,

So there I was, 1 am in the morning, all caught up with every single post. I had to take Beth to the hospital this morning, and am back, have eaten and now here I am with 40 or so posts to read and some to reply to. I wish I could stay awake and online 24/7 I haven't had chance to exercise today, but I am thinking of perhaps doing it late tonight when the kids are in bed. Somebody told me that the later you diet the least effect it has, is that true of just a myth? Now to the posts -

Garnet - OH NO, was that steak part of a sabotage to your diet, or a genuine act of kindness on your dad's part? I know my ex MIL always seemed to invite me for lunch, or cook stuff I loved every time she knew I was dieting. Perhaps she thought if I lost weight I would leave her precious son. If that's the case then boy did the plan backfire because he left me because I got too fat, and in his words, repulsive!

Crock - I enjoyed our chat last night, hope to catch up with you again later. As for those ab scissors, nope, never even heard of them. If anybody tells you about them I will be interested in knowing just what they are too. Since my surgeries my abs or at least the muscles hiding below all the fat are shot. I can't do ab exercises though, too much risk of a hernia, but I would still be interested in how those scissors work.

How are you doing keeping off the 'pop' I hope you are keeping strong

Kayley - I hope your mum does find a way to get all that back support from your dad. I wish I could do the same with my ex. He hasn't paid support since we split up. I know he works, but it's all off the books, and I can't prove anything. I wish I could, a nice back pay would be brilliant

I am sorry that you got upset over the remark your mum made about getting clothes to fit if you get that office job. You need to take that hurt and remember it every time you feel like going off track. Take it and turn it into motivation so that one day in the not too distant future you will be a slim, beautiful confident woman who can look back at your 'fat' days and be proud to have left them behind.

Fingers crossed that Andrew gets that job, sounds like a pretty good one if it pays his college tuition. Yes it will be well worth celebrating that, and of course an early Valentine's day if he does get it. Good for you for making sure you told him not to buy you any Candy. I have yet to tell Daren that, but I will I promise We are all going to the theatre to see a play called 'Rentaghost' on the Saturday after Valentines. So although it won't exactly be romantic, we will probably have lunch out too, so that will be our Valentines treat. I have bought Daren a CD and a little box of jelly hearts for his gifts. It's so sweet celebrating Valentines with him. With my ex even when we were dating he begrudged even buying a card. Why on Earth did I marry the man

Luan - WOW another 3.4 lbs lost and didn't you mention that you had been off track one day over the weekend of something? Off track for a bit and you still have such a great loss, that is so brilliant.

Thanks so much for your very kind offer of sending me the updated WW stuff. Believe it or not the UK system of working out the points is different to the US. Here we don't take the fibre into account at all, just the calories and the saturated fat. So your book wouldn't be much help. It was a wonderful kind offer though, thank you

Valerie - I am so thrilled for you that your trip to the pizza place ended up giving you such a buzz. I can just imagine how fabulous you felt getting those compliments. Are you down from cloud 9 yet? I bet those brilliant feelings of accomplishment at losing enough wait for people to really notice got you home with that pizza without even fancying one bite. Well done Oooooh just saw your last post and you are down another 3 lbs, that's a great weigh in, well done!

Jill - CONGRATULATIONS, I knew you could do it. Not only did you get under 2000 but you went way below that. Each day is just going to get easier now, I am so happy for you

Yes it is amazing just how much water weight or whatever can add up, I am glad you lost that 3.5 lbs once TOM arrived. I don't have a period, haven't for about 4 years now because of the contraception I am on. I wonder if I still get the fluid build up though. I wish I could find a way to know what week I would have it because then if I did weigh weekly I would know not to be too disheartened if I had a tiny loss, or worse still, a gain.

Wyllen - your post cracked me up, the one where you said there had been about 100 posts since yesterday morning, but now you had written that, you had no time to write more. Yes indeed things are speeding along here.

LovelyLatina - sounds like that new diet system suits you just fine. I look forward to hearing how much weight you lose in the first week. When do you weigh in? Is your sister enjoying the diet as much as you are?

2losinit - ok so you are resisting peaks on the scales, that's a good start, now come on, you can do it, take that battery out well at least after you have your weigh in Good luck with that!

That is so awesome that you went to see Chicago. I finally just got to see the film of it last month I much prefer going to a theatre to see musicals though, the atmosphere is just something special.

Brandnewme - you mentioned for us please to start a new thread if we notice the one we are currently on has hit 30 posts. Is there a way that we can contact a moderator or something to ask them to lock the thread ASAP. It's just that sometimes when there are a few posting around the same time as you are closing the thread down they end up getting posted after the STOP post.

Sorry that you still aren't feeling too well, I hope that by Monday if you get the all clear to exercise again that you will be feeling up to it.

Lilion - thanks for telling me the difference between the old and new points plan. I must say I like the idea of having all those flex points, especially as you can use them all in one go if you want. Right now I am on 36 points, so I guess that would be something like 31 points and 5 flex points on the new plan. I doubt I would be allowed 36 points and 5 flex that would be one good day of eating 21 points a day.

I don't like the WW 0 point soup, but if I make a huge pot of vegetable stew with swede, carrots, potato, turnip, parsnips, onions and courgettes (zuchinni) it's only 5 points for a huge bowl of it. Just what I need on those days when I have got the munchies.

Sharon (voodoo) - going to look for you on MSN in a bit, if I don't see you then I hope all is well and that you are still loving your new diet.

Sharon (neurotica) - you haven't posted in a while, hope you are ok and that those lbs are still flying off you.

Lori - where are you, are you reading posts and not writing, I hope you are ok. You better be careful or I will have to send you one of my loooooong emails to find out how you are

A big hello to everybody else, dare I say it, please post when you can, Imagine how fast this thread would really go if we all posted at least once a day. There would be no catching up!! Take care all and bye for now.

Hugs,

Ammi

Good morning! I was just about ready to crawl in bed last night and watch The Biggest Loser Special Edition without working out. Man, something about that show gave me a kick in the butt and I put my clothes back on and went out and worked on my exercise ball for 45 minutes and then did 10 more minutes of stretching exercises I got my new sport bras yesterday in the mail- I really like the quality of QVC's products but I can't afford the prices but on Ebay there are a lot of sellers who get the returns/overstocks from QVC to auction. I got 3 really nice bras, including shipping for $27- I couldn't have gotten bras that cheap at WalMart & they certainly wouldn't be this nice of quality either. All of them still had the tags on them- only one looked like someone might have tried it on & returned it- which isn't any different then if I bought at a regular retail store where people try stuff on.

Kayle mentioned the clothing issue and I know as we all lose weight it can get expensive to have to buy new clothes as we shrink into our new selves. Something we did when I was active here @ 3FC a few years ago was to pass things down to help each other out. I know I sent out a few boxes & got some too- it really helped out a lot. I know you can do the Ebay thing & put your old clothes up for auction, but sometimes it seems like they end up going for so little money that its hardly worth the effort unless its something really unique or super nice, like a business suit. Would anyone be interested in trying something like that? What we did is have thread were we listed what we had & the sizes- it helped if you also described your body shape too so people could get a better idea if something would work for them. If there was something you were interested in, you let the poster know and when things were shipped the receipiant typically paid the cost of postage.

Kayle- do you have a Big Lots near you? I've been finding Crystal Light for $1. Or I guess I actually get the Lipton brand, but its the same thing- "Carb Options," sweetened with Splenda...and its the big container that makes 12 quarts (6 of those little tubs of stuff). I'm partial to the Strawberry Kiwi & Orange Mango personally... I've seen it at Dollar Tree in Grand Rapids & Lansing too, so if you you get a chance you might want to keep an eye out for it. Also, I picked up some low carb pasta at Big Lots for 25cents for 12 oz box- it has 200 calories per serving, 1 gr fat, 12 gr fiber & 16gr protein. Net carbs is 19grams- whatever that means???....I get it because my tummy can handle the fiber since I can't eat most vegetables. I'm planning on picking up some more today. Somewhere around here I have the Carbohydrate Addicts book that I picked up for a quarter- I'm done reading it if you want it...I know you're doing SB, but I would think a lot of the info would still apply.


I need to go fix a little lunch...I think since I got the pasta out to check the nutritional info I might just have to make some....I have some low fat Alfredo sauce I made in the fridge I need to use and little deli ham...sounds like a plan to me....