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!!

Valerie -- Welcome back! You seem ready to move move move!!!! Please come back to the exercise thread -- we miss you! As for not noticing I'm Heather, you didn't miss anything -- I just didn't post it until recently!

And the dress was only really slipping at the shoulders (it's wide at the shoulders). I think it fit perfectly 10 pounds ago, but I can certainly still fit into it.

Nancy -- Congrats on the unexpected loss!
And Crock, down another 4!!!!


Hubby and I went shopping yesterday, and I am apparently an 18 now!!!

Though I must continue to express my frustration at "women's" sections of stores. We were in a new mall, in a major store, looking for the plus size section... we thought we saw it in the directory and did two laps around the floor looking for it... nothing!

When finally, in frustration, I asked a cashier where it was, turns out, it was on another floor (next to kids) and not even IN the directory. I tried to complain to the manager -- saying that it's bad enough there's little to buy, and worse that it's stuffed in some stupid corner, unmarked, making me feel like a second class citizen -- but she did not want to take the complaint in person.

What completely eludes me is that there are TONS of women who need plus size clothing. Don't the manufacturers and stores get that they could make more MONEY if they gave more options to all these women???????? Am I missing something here?

My husband, who is my height and weighs about the same is now in the position of being able to find clothing that fits him anywhere, while I am still relegated to tiny, hidden bits of the stores that deign to serve plus-sized clothing. I don't get it

That all being said, once I got over my mood, I had a great time shopping! 85 pounds down and it's my first big shopping trip... I actually went shopping a couple of months ago, but ended up returning everything I got, as I found smaller clothes in my house.

Finally, as I understand it, we keep the thread to about 30 posts to more easily track the number of posts over time... thinthinker (moderator) explained it much better.

All things considered, the posts/thread is not overly problematic, but, I do wish we went longer before switching for a couple of reasons. I think I sometimes don't make all the personal responses I might because they are 3 or 4 threads back and not on the current thread. And I find it frustrating when I type a response only to find out the thread closed while I'm typing (as just happened).

Finally, I don't follow how the number of posts in the thread affects load time. I would think it would be number of posts/PAGE... which you can change in the Options area. If you set it so that there are 40 posts/page (which I have) it will take longer to load, but if you set 5/page, wouldn't every page load faster? I guess it's harder to find your "place" -- where you stopped reading -- with a lot of posts... but I wonder if there's a better compromise between load time, tracking posts and continuity... but I doubt there's enough hue and cry to change... I guess we just get used to it!

Wyllen~ I agree with you whole heartedly concerning clothing.. It is like we should be hidden in the shopping center. As if carrying PLUS clothing is an embarrassment,, they have Big and Tall mens stores.. Where are the Big Beautiful Womens outlets.??????????????????????? Congratulations on size 18.. I am now in 20's that are some what lose..I hope to be there soon as well.. I dont have any 18's here I have 16's but no 18's so I soon will be shopping.. Take Care of yourself. and I must say I just love reading your posts....

Afternoon ladies....well last Friday was my last nutrition class..I talked to her about this heat we here in Arizona. I have got to plan for sucess she said. She said I need to set aside time everyday that is ONLY for exercising. And plan what I am gonna do. So that is what I am doing today. I dont really know where to start but I suppose somewhere is better then nowhere....

This was posted on thread #911

Kayley this is too funny.... I posted this as well.. I deleted mine..

Hi All,

It's weigh day tomorrow, I don't wanna, lol. Oh well I shall get it out of the way and no matter what I see I shall carry on regardless.

Sharon - boy oh boy weren't those cybermen something, much more scary than the original ones huh.

I hope you can get an appt to see the doctor tomorrow. If the pain is so bad that you are crying perhaps you need to go to Casualty if you can't get a doctors appt.

Patti - I am glad that your foot is much better after having the day off from exercising. Seems you have caught up with what you missed though, I bet that makes you feel good. Come on then fess up, what did the scales say today

Kayley - woohoo you are in the 280s now, that is fabulous news. You are closer and closer to your birthday goal!

As for me, yes this time the diet does feel differently. I was talking to Sharon earlier and we were talking about having a treat day a week. I said I don't want to have one yet, and when I thought about it afterwards it's because I don't feel like I am missing out on anything right now. I'm having three good, tasty meals a day, and yummy desserts. It just doesn't feel like a diet so much now, which is bound to help me keep on losing

Heather - oh yes life is so much easier for the photographer with the invention of digital cameras. Not only can you delete pictures if they aren't right the first time, it's also so much easier to put them on the PC and share them almost immediately. And if you want to print just one pic you can take the card to the store and just have the one print done, not have to wait til you finish a whole film and have to have it all developed. Yes I know you can print pics yourself too, but with ink as expensive as it is I prefer to have mine done at a store.

As for the threads and how often they change, I don't mind either way if we have one huge one, or lots of little ones. Can I just say that just because one thread is finished doesn't mean you can't comment on the things said, you just do it on the next thread. It's what I am doing here, you made the thread comment on 212, I am answering on 213

Xena - thank you for explaining more on how the new points system works. You guessed right that I am going by the old system, got the info 9 years ago So with this new system do you have to use the 35 spare points? It's just that I am having 29 - 30 a day with no extras all week. If this is going to slow my weight loss then I need to make some changes right now.

I know what you mean about clothes shopping at your size, I am exactly the same. I keep saying that this will be the last time I buy clothes in an outsize clothes shop, but then I forget that until I lose a LOT more weight even though I am losing I will still have to shop there. I just look forward to when I can choose any shop to shop from! Did you end up getting some nice clothes?

Crock - OH WOW that is FANTASTIC that you lost 4 lbs this week. Far from slowing down from 3 lbs a week, you are now losing more. That is pretty awesome. Well done my friend In just a few short months you are already half way to your main goal. Well done!

I love the photo of you showing how long your lovely hair is. You are going to look just like a curvier Barbie by the time you have finished dieting. Lovely figure and long long hair

Yes I play Spades, but have never played it on Yahoo, it's a much better game, graphics ways at least on pogo.com I always play it there, it's one of my fave games.

Glad you had a great time at camp. Did you take photos of those little cubs playing?

Nancy - welcome home I wish I had known you were interested in Eurovision, their website had a link to watching it live online. I could have given you the link. It was a great show, and I quite liked the song that won. It was sung by Finland people dressed up like something from a horror movie Never thought I would see the day that a group like that would win, not when the likes of Cliff Richard and Abba won in the olden days

You are right that it feels good to break the patterns that helped get us to the size we are. I have another pattern to break on Beth's birthday next week. Instead of just going to the Pizza Hut, and eating what I want and not caring about the points. I have been online to figure out what I can eat and how many points are in it. I will count the meal into my points, and then just allow a slice of her birthday cake to be my treat. That's my plan anyway, and I hope I can stick to it

You must have done plenty of walking and other fun activities to see a loss not a gain when you weighed. I bet that was such a wonderful surprise for you, well done Glad you had such a nice vacation, I especially loved the sound of your day at the beach. Bliss

Mel - oh those enchiladas would be no good for me, I am not keen on spicy stuff anyway, but with my ostomy I would be emptying my pouch every 5 minutes lol. My hubby loves spicy stuff though, the hotter the better. He sure does regret it when he goes to the toilet though, severe butt burn

I think you need to go to the doctor about that pain in your heel. It sounds like it could be a heel spur. I haven't had one, but I know somebody who has. She ended up having it removed surgically, but it doesn't always have to come to that. It's best to go and get it checked out just in case.

Heather (wyllen) - it sucks where that plus size shop was located, and worse still that nobody would listen to your complaint about it in person. You are right, business people should realise there is such a lack in the market when it comes to shops that sell plus size clothes. There is a big comedienne over here, her name is Dawn French. She decided to start a clothes business, and some of the stuff is gorgeous, but with not such gorgeous prices. Pretty plain tops start at about $80. I commend her for realising big women need a better selection of clothes, but I just wish she wouldn't charge so much for them. I mean not all of us are rich actresses/comediennes.

Cyn - how are you doing with planning some time to set aside purely for exercise? I hope you can come up with something and that it won't be too hot to actually stick to it.

Dancermom01 - hello and Glad you found us because as far as I am concerned this is the best place for you to be for encouragement, motivation and inspiration to lose the weight. I also think that if you stick with us, you will lose the weight this time and keep it off. Personally I have never managed it, but this time I am determined to. We all have long journeys ahead of us, but we are going to get there!

Ok I better make a move now, it's midnight and I have to get up early again tomorrow with the girls. So take care all and I will be back tomorrow.

Hugs,

Ammi

Ammi too scared to weigh today after taking yesterday off lol!

WELCOME to DancerMom and HPNOTQ! Jump right in !!

Well, Ammi, I’m afraid I failed at feeding the ****-food (birthday cake) to the dogs. We had left them at home to take my MIL to lunch for her belated Mom’s Day and Birthday, then went back to her house with the whole family for a multiple birthday celebration. Without the hounds under the table, I ended up eating a small piece of cake, but that still only brings me to 850-900 cals for the days so far. I did manage to plan for lunch out pretty well by having a small hi-pro breakfast, and I ordered the salmon with double veggies instead of a potato. It’s only day two, and I only have ten days at home. I can’t mess up! I'm sure that I took in a bunch of sodium, too, but that will sweat out in a couple of days. I even drank plenty of water today, so I'll give myself 3 pats on the head... after I get my exercize in of course.

SHARON/voodoo – You’re so cute about the pony! Of course I’d be happy to get you one. All my ponies drive as well as ride, and sometimes a ride down a back road in a carriage is just devine. ***Go buy something pretty to wear! I know when I started to dress to take MIL to lunch today I felt awful. I have a few pretty tops, but I had to wear jeans and I felt just awful and self-conscious. You deserve to feel better about your clothes. I think that sort of thing not only makes a person feel more confident, it even makes them more effective at work or whatever it is that they’re doing. You said it straight on “Plan, Plan, Plan!” It’s definitely what got me thru an otherwise challenging day today.

KAYLEY – I agree with you – as long as you have a scale that’s consistant (not like Ammi’s very confused & irregular one) I think it’s most important to just count the weight on the same one every time. I weigh myself on lots of different scales all the time in various truck stops and some of them are just wacky, but I do it mostly for amusement or to re-confirm to myself that at least I haven’t gone over 300 again. I don’t get too excited whether it says 279 or 295, because I might register as both on the same day. I was using the Curves scale for my “official” weight, but I’m back to using my home scale since it’s often too long in between visits to my local Curves.

Oooo HEATHER/WaterChicklet – your counter just went down 2 more – Good Job!!!

XENA – think of it as a boost, more than a kick And feel free to boot mine back anytime.

CROCK – Silly me! That pic IS great! I’ll be glad when I have a dramatic change like that! I lost the 50 pounds over such a long time that no one really noticed except the lady in the pizza shop, since I hadn't been in to pick up a pizza for so long. HUGE CONGRATS on your continued loss!!!

CYN – Yes, exercising down in that heat can be really difficult. It just knocks me OUT when I’m down there, but then again, I’m a yankee. But you WILL find a way – and I found that mall walking (if you have one near you) is great when the weather is extreme. They’re open several hours before the stores themselves are, and have security in them. I thought I would feel self-conscious, but really nobody gives a hoot. You CAN do this, and I’m cheering for you! I wish I could have taken that nutrition class with you. What were some of the things that really ‘hit’ you that might be good for us all to know?

Ammi i am sure you will be just fine on your weigh in!

Just wanted to say hello...I'm new

Hi Hpnotq! Welcome to the neighborhood! You've got a really good start on your Memorial Day goal. What kind of plan are you using? Have you checked out the exercise thread? It's a "Do your own thing" but you join everyone else by reporting whatever exercise you do in minutes and we keep a group total. I've been AWOL from that list but have finally gotten back with an exercise program in the last few days. It's nice to have someplace to write it down and kind of 'get credit' for it. You can see from my ticker where I started exactly a year ago. I've stalled out since January, but this is my week to re-kick-start my weight loss program and re-commit to my health. Maybe every week is that week? At 46, and spending most of my time on a long-haul truck, it's a challenge.

WYLLENN - I've logged my minutes for the last two days. I copped out on my treadmill tonight and only did 34 minutes instead of the hour I WANTED to do, but at least I did something! And it's still better than the 10 minutes I started at. It may have been overdoing it to do it for an hour when I haven't been on the treadmill in so long anyway. Tomorrow I'm back to my workout class and maybe Curves later in the day if I think it won't kill me.

It's been hard to get going on the treadmill since there's no TV or radio in that room. I was sitting here writing you gals earlier and suddenly thought "COMPUTER!" I tuned in to Yahoo's "Launchcast" and took my laptop in next to the treadmill. That was much less painful than treading in silence, but I had picked a not-so-great station. I TOTALLY can't believe the words to some of the songs these days. I'll pick a different station next time. Hopefully I at least sweated off some of that nasty sodium they hide in my lunch at TGIF's.

Valerie-Thanks so much for the welcome. I'm not following a specific plan. I've got high cholesterol, so I'm limiting my cholesterol intake and taking in my calories in a healthier way. I used to eat alot of crap, and I've exchanged my crap for fruits and veggies and chicken. It's not easy sometimes, but I gotta do it for my health. Yesterday we grilled out, and it was hard to say no to the burgers and hot dogs....at least I had chicken to have. I'll have to hop on by the exercise thread...I've been playing Dance Dance Revolution lately and I'm loving it. My biggest problem has been sticking with anything. I'm at 2 weeks and one day and still going strong. My weigh in and measure helped me....it was 3 lbs and a total of 6.75 inches off. I'll talk to yall soon

Hi guys!!

This weekend, another weekend with no working out. As I was saying on our little newbie thread, if only I had 72 hours in a day I could get everything done!! I really wanna start working out this week, I have to but my bed is an evil temptation in the morning, and my snooze button has been worn smooth.

I bought this shake from LA Weight loss, and it was so gross, it was like sludge, but it turns out I got the wrong kind so thank GOODNESS for that. For a moment I was ready to throw in the towel after drinking a powdery glue-like substance. I used that sludge as a meal-replacement when it wasn’t; it was to replace a bar. So that made my whole day a little messy but alas, it was my own silly mistake!

Wyllenn, Great great great on your first big shopping trip. I so so look forward to it. I bought my size 26’s the other day, because I had to. I never buy clothes now except when I absolutely must. I look forward to shopping because it’s fun. Right now it just makes me feel bad all day, plus I get dizzy trying to find a where they’ve hidden my size!! Like you said, with all the overweight people in the world, why do they hide our clothes?! Maybe they think we need the exercise!! BUT it doesn’t explain why they think we all want to wear bright, wild colored clothing, OR why every other shirt in an overweight clothing store is a wide necked T-shirt with a statement about attitude on it. Maybe I’m not fat and sassy, maybe I just wanna travel down the street without being mistaken for a circus tent!

Cyn, thanks for sharing the advice you received! I am going to pack my workout bag and everything I need to get it done and plan to succeed!!

Ammi, Ohhh yeah, weighing in tomorrow. I just remembered, there’s this thing I have to go to…rather than weigh in. It’s very important, otherwise I would go and….awww alright I will go weigh in too. Good luck!!!

Valerie, wow even with the cake you managed to stay really low on the calerie count! Woo woo to you! And I am sure you had a very very happy weenie dog!

Hpnotq, hi nice to meet you! I LOVE DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!!! I got the home version for my Playstation 2! We have DDR parties all time. I totally suck! But it’s such a fun work out. I actually got a C the other day. I am so lame, that C made me very happy….and yes, it was on easy!! Oh the shame!! Welcome!

Ok guys, here’s to a good Monday and a great new week for everyone. Now... I’m only going to bed 4 hours later than planned…that’s a success I think.

~Dusty

dancermom01 and Hpnotq

Ammi: -8.5 pounds of fat and the rest was ..... who know. lol. Good luck tomorrow on weigh day!

Luan: Where in Idaho did you visit? I live in Idaho and I have never run across a restaurant like that. YUCH! I'm sorry that you were in an area that had poor choices for you.

Zelma: I think that the other teacher mom is very jealous of you loosing your weight and becoming so health conscience. I am very proud of you for apologizing to those girls. I think you showed them what a grown up who makes mistakes does and that is priceless for them to have such a great example. I think those young ladies are very blessed to have you as their teacher!

Sharon: 1st, Wahoo on loosing another 7 pounds. 2nd. You need to please get yourself to the Dr. It broke my heart to hear about you crying in pain. We don't want to loose you. Please, please go to the Dr. It may be something very simple but you need to go and have it checked out honey! Big

Wyllen: Wonderful NSV. Congrats on being a size 18!

Kayley: Wow! -23 inches is so wonderful! Congrats on getting to 289. I knew you could do it!

MariaLucia: So sorry that you are feeling so low. I sure hope you are able to feel better very soon. You are doing so well. Don't let anything slow you down!

Brenda: Wonderful job on the fundraiser!

Val: I am so happy you are home. Congrats on the baby girl! I am soooo proud of you getting back on the wagon. Who cares if you had a piece of It was your day! You deserve it. I'm sure you will be back on track tomorrow!

Hpnotq and dancermom01: I'm so glad that you found us. Jump right in and share whatever you feel like sharing. I'm looking forward to getting to know you over our journey to better health.

Nancy: Back! It sounds like you trip was wonderful. So glad you are home.

Well, if I didn't mention you by name, be blessed and have op days tomorrow,
Blessings to you all,
Dogpal/Annie