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.

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 the Amazon "store" in the upper right hand corner of the screen on the PURPLE tool bar. 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!!!!
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Annie - So sorry to here you have the flu. Take good care of yourself and I hope you get to feeling better soon!


Ammi - WOOHOO!!!!! You are so incredibly close now! I wonder if you will be it before the new year? Doesn't matter, I suppose. But you better start planning that celebration now because the big 1-0-0 will be here before you know it! I am so proud of you!


Sharon - You don't look old enough to have a 20 year old son! You look more like a 20 year old's sister to me!


EmilyMay - Well I certainly sympathize with you seeing people who knew you much thinner. It is not fun at all. But just remember, we are doing something about it now. We will get back to our old selves one day if we are persistant and don't give up.

Lillion - That buffalo chicken dip sounds like it would be good on celery sticks! I used to love to eat hot wings at an old neighborhood bar I lived near oh so many years ago. But what with the skin on the wings, I am sure it was fattening. Do you make your dip with breast meat? I'd love to have the recipe if you have time to share it.


Patti - Unmentionables 3 sizes smaller! That IS a victory! I can't wait to get rid of my big granny panties!


Nancy - I know how you feel being unable to concentrate sometimes even when you are on a closing deadline. I really have trouble with that! The accounting cycle never ends and sometimes it really is drudgery to me. Oh well, the pay is good and everyone needs accountants, right? As for my trouble with housework, when I am up doing that sort of thing for more than 20 minutes I get lots of lower back pain. In some ways I feel like a pregnant lady must feel in that regard with all the weight in my belly making my back hurt. It's good to here things got better for you in that way as your weight came off. At least now I don't feel hopeless!


Heather - I guess I never realized you had made it all the way to 117 pounds gone. I remember you breaking the 100 pound mark but you have now far surpassed that! You give me hope!


Toni - Are you sure you are getting enough to eat? I get headaches if I don't eat enough. Or maybe your blood sugar is low. Try some fruit or lowfat yogurt for a snack when you feel that way. If we try to cure low bloodsugar with sugary foods we often get a "rebound" effect where our blood sugar quickly spikes and then dips even lower as our body rushes the insulin in.



As for me, was a bit of a tough day with eating and exercise but I managed to salvage some small victories out of it, I think. First of all I went to bed too late last night and had a really hard time getting up in time to get in my full 30 minutes on the Gazelle. I almost threw in that towel altogether but finally just said to myself, "No, even 10 minutes would be better than nothing." So I dragged myself up and ended up doing 20. So that was good. Then we had a 50th b-day celebration at work and I ate the cake before I thought twice about it. Doing things like that generally send me on a downward spiral but I managed not to snack the rest of the afternoon. I was not so good at fending off my fast food attack on the way home. I stopped at Wendy's and a got a meal to go (just one and not a Biggie size, so that is a victory). When I finished that I really wanted to just keep going. I was putting on my shoes to go back out and buy ice cream. (Yes, it's that bad sometimes. Sometimes I will actually make a special trip just so I can be bad!) But somehow I talked myself out of it and put in my yoga DVD instead and then popped over here to post. So, not the most stellar eating day but I did avoid making it a horrible binge. For that small victory, I am grateful.

OK, that's it for me. Time to hit the hay so I can get started off on the right foot in the morning! G'night!

Well girls, I just wanted to drop in and give a short update.

I'm still working on getting everything straight for school in January. I'm excited and scared. Normal huh??


I had an NSV the other day. Amanda's aunt had someone that gave her some jeans. She said that they didn't fit her. I could get them on and almost button them.

Well yesterday I was like hmm, I wonder if my butt will get in them today. I tried them on and actually went grocery shopping in them! The zipper flubbed up but I'm not sure what that was all about. BUT THEY FIT!!!!!

I was sooo excited! It made me so happy!!

Anywho, unpacking is going really slow because I don't want to do it. THat's just that. But We're getting some of it done.

Hope things are good for you guys. Where is ( hopes this is the right name) Kayle?

Hi all, can someone explain what NSV is?

Also you guys are al doing so great, any advice on how to get back on the exercise bandwagon? I'm having a hard time motivating myself to do it after a long day at work! Ugh!

NSV stands for Non-Scale Victory! It's any sort of achievement that shows that you're making progress even though the scale may not always agree It could be resisting a temptation, fitting into smaller clothes, noticing new muscles developing, doing something more active than you used to be able to do, or anything else that shows you're on the right track. The scale is by far not the only tool we have to measure progress

As for exercise, I couldn't get myself to do it after work, either. And so, I now get up at 4:15am to exercise every morning before work. Maybe you could even go for a walk at lunch time instead of waiting till after work? Or, if you belong to a gym, go straight there after work before going home. Exercise was one of the most difficult habits for me to get back into, but once you're in it, you're there!

Morning Chickies!

Hi Heathen, and to you and the other newcomers I've never welcomed before. A NSV is a Non-Scale Victory. Things that show progress but not necessarily weight loss. Getting into a dress you used to be too big for, climbing stairs at a run that used to make you pant, finishing a work-out you couldn't before, heck - crossing your legs! That was a big one for me. Sometimes I just sit around with my legs crossed because I CAN!

Xena...posted the dip. I went to the WW site and ran it thru the Recipe Builder program and was surprised at the points, lower than expected. It was a BIG hit too! I don't count calories per se...but as one WW pt is about 50 cal. you can assume 4 pts are about 200 cal.

Jilly: Don't feel bad about that frosting, at least you counted it. You should have been me last night! (Heck, I wish ANYONE had been me last night instead of me. )

The party monster got me. I ate WAY TOO MUCH of all the WRONG STUFF! There was SO MUCH fattening food and sweets at that party, including cholcoate covered caramel popcorn - I ate so many sweets I was ILL! (Actually, I wasn't really ill - but wish I had been...maybe some of those calories would not now be sitting on my hips!) BUT - that's the last party/event/get-together/social occasion I have until the 24th. I'm going to be PERFECT every other day of this month until then! I'm ALSO going to get back into exercising!!!! I can't let myself gain a ton because I'm too lazy and stupid to exercise and watch my food!

Alison: I love your photo on the photo page. You look wonderful.

Melissa: jasmine is as cute as a bug's ear! congrats on her.

Ammi: Whoop Whoop! Congrats on another -3 pounds. Only 4 more to go for 100. Great job.

Sharon: how you doing on exercising hon?

Emilymay: How are you? Are you staying op? Hope things are going well for you.

Patty: Wonderful NSV. Size 11 Chonies are super!

Jillybean: Hey, at least you got on the exercise ball. No matter what it looked like, you did it!

Lavandel: Welcome back.

Lilion: Good luck at the next party. I bet your damage wasn't as bad as you are fearing it to be. Good luck in any case!

Nancy: How are things going at home for you sweetie? Hope they are great!

Wyllen: your post was wonderful. Thank you for being so candid. It gives me hope.

Toni: Great choices you made in the food department!

Xena: Wonderful NSV! At least you didn't go get the ice cream.

Erika: Wonderful NSV on the jeans fitting. Excellent feeling!

Thanks for all the well wishers. I am feeling so much better today.
Zelma, Nitekat, Brandnewme, futurediva, Luann, Kayley, Shadie, Sue, all of you MIA chickies hope you are just busy with the Christmas time activities. You are missed.

Blessings to you all,
Annie

Annie i am so glad you are feeling better!

Quick note from work - my home computer crashed and burned last night... as in "Windows has shut down... Memory is being dumped... Can't find a drive - any drive...." So I'll be sort of MIA for a while. I only get a half our lunch and only work 3 1/2 days a week most of the time, but I'll look in on every body when I can. Hopefully be the time I'm back up and on-line again, I'll be thru this little emotional & diet rollar coaster that I've been playing on and I'll have something good to report. In the meantime, I haven't forgotten ya, haven't given up, and will keep on fighting the good fight!

C-ya!

Heather - thanks for your honest and revealing insight into your weight loss journey. I am so pleased you are doing so well and have well and truly 'clicked'. I feel unsure that I have it in me sometimes, but am looking for insight and insipiration and am finding it here So thank you

Dogpal - am kind of OP; Mondays cals were 1,700 todays will be more like 1,900 (got over hungry after long shift and had to work a couple of hundred in for a snack before I ate the entire contents of my fridge!!), tomrw have an early shift 6.30 - 2pm, and hope to eat under the 1,700. No exercise yet other than work,but mite get a walk in tomorrow and am literally tooooo tired to go out in rain and walk, altho that is a bit pathetic, so who knows I may just get offa my assa and walk for 30 mins tonite? Will let u know if I rise to the challenge!!

Gill - the exercise ball sounds great I've been thinking about trying that lots as its good for core muscles isn't it and mine aren't too good, my son weighed in at 11 pounds 12 oz and I have never been the same since!! Lol Your recollections about feeling ungainly remind me of when I have tried yoga and bits of my body have not permitted me to do some of the moves because they get in the way!! Yuk! Doesn' t really make u feel good altho perhaps that sort of thing helps us to 'keep it real'!! I know somewhere I still think I'm a size 18-20!!

Weighed myself this am (didn't on Mon cos KNEW would have gained due to salt on Sun) and I am the same as last week, actually kind of releived as was pretty awful on Sunday. To be quite honest even just not gaining over this festive bit would make me happy in some ways, altho intend to lose too.

Good morning ladies,

It has been a while. I have though been posting on the exercise thread and also reading a little hear and there. Just been so busy, the three kids and my husband got the flu and I think I may be coming down with it. I am praying I don't. I just am so happy. I am not sure if anyone has noticed but I changed my ticker again. I lost another 3 pounds!!!! I wait to make sure that it is a true loss and then post it, but yes it has even gone down a bit more but am waiting to make sure. Even if it is a small amount it is in the right direction. Thanks again for all your support and just inspiration. I am so happy to have found all of you.



Terry

I had a realization last night.

I want to maintain this weight for a while and not worry about losing more right now.

I've been doing this for a year and a half and could not have imagined this success. I've lost almost 120 pounds and am now at a weight I must have last been in my freshman year of college -- over 20 years ago! I am, technically, no longer "obese" but overweight if you look at BMI. I am fitter, stronger and healthier than I have been my whole life. I fit into size 14s! It really is a whole new world.

The success came because I was consistent. But now, to continue the sucess of weight loss, I would have to reduce more and I just don't want to at this moment.

I have been struggling for a couple of months to bring my calories down and I just don't have it in me right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going crazy. But I know that to keep losing regularly (at least .5 pound/week on average) I need to keep my calories under 1800 on average. But they are more like 2000 on average.

I think the struggles I've been having have come from my ambivalence about losing more weight at this moment. On the one hand, I know I can lose more and see alot of room for improvement where I am. On the other hand, I've come a long way and just don't want to have to think about it or worry about it right now. I want to focus on my health and fitness. I want to try new recipes without feeling like I can't because the recipe has too many calories. And I can't help but thinking over the past few months that the more I push myself to eat a little less, the more my mind rebels against it. Very draining and not productive!!

So, I'm going into maintenance. Nothing changes. I am still going to write everything down. I am still going to exercise A LOT, eat healthy, eat balanced, and eat the same kinds of foods. The only difference, I think, is that I will allow myself that extra 100-200 calories/day when I want it (which seems to be all the time)!

I may even lose more -- heck, over time I probably will. But I am tired of thinking about it and just don't want to focus on what the scale says. (Though if it goes up, I will take action).

Somehow, I think I'll know when I want to move forward again... though I don't know right now if that will be days, weeks, months or years away....

Sounds like a great idea Heather, you have earnt your maintenance badge so I hope you wear it proud!! Please don't leave here whatever you do as its so great at the start of the journey to have people around who are at the end

Well done you!!

Em

Oops and I didn't mean to imply u were finishing the journey, cos we all know it goes on, but I think u know what I mean !!

xx