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!!!!

Amber - I wish I was confident with my arms! Today, I went with my friend Susan to the mall before our class began, and we went into Deb, because she's looking for a cocktail dress for her anniversary. Well, anyway, they have plus size clothes, and had some CUTE tank tops and spaghetti strap tops...that I LOVED. I just wish I could pull them off. I'm so tired of being limited to what I wear.

I had a very "fat day" today. Was very depressed that I've lost 55 pounds, and I'm still SO DAMN FAT!

I posted this on the exercise thread. Thought I'd be honest with all of you and tell you how I feel.

Amy -- awwwwww.... Thanks for the flowers!!!!!!!!

MariaLucia -- I missed that post on the exercise thread, but we all slip up! You need to just get back on the horse! This is not an all-or-nothing endeavor, after all, but a lifelong journey. YAY for you for getting on the bike tonight!!

I was in a funk for a week or two, but I am feeling much better and much more on track again. I hope I can stay this way for a while, I am really close to my next mini goal: 75 pounds lost, which will be about 25% of my starting weight!!

OOPS! Posted too late on the last thread. THis is copied from there



Man, it's hard to keep up with these threads! I love it though. You all are fabulous and I am so enjoying reading your posts. It also makes me happy to know there are so many dog (and cat and horse) people here. Animals rock! And so do the people who love them.

voodoo - Your idea to have Maryanne's neighbor reported as a peeping tom made me bust a gut laughing. You are so funny, girl!

Violet - sorry you've been struggling with the food. I can totally relate. I can only reinterate others' advice and say try not to beat yourself up and just move on from here. (Now if I could just take that advice myself too I would be in great shape ) And, by the way, your posts always make me laugh too. You always have such a funny way with words. I really enjoy reading your posts.

Kayley - I am a little late on this, but way to go breaking into the 200's!! And you did it with AUTHORITY too!

Crocket - bottomless pit = me too! I feel ya, girl!

Wish I had time for everyone but am still having a hard time keeping up!

As for me, I am wiped out. Have been working so hard trying to get it all done so I can have next week off. And tonight was my ESL class. (I volunteer as and English as a Second Language teacher on Wed. nights). Normally I love it, but I was tired when I got there and I just couldn't get into it. I tried as hard as I could but I know I didn't give them as fun a class as they are used to. I feel bad about that. But, at least I was there. And hopefully they still learned even though it might not have been as entertaining.

I am struggling with staying OP in a big way. Trying hard not to give up.

Take care all!

{{{{{MariaLucia}}}}}}} You have no idea how much I can relate to what you have just posted. Hang in there. Don't give up. You are not alone.


Kayley - You have come so far. Don't be discouraged by how far you have left to go. We all have a long journey ahead of us and we are in it together. You are doing great!!!

Thanks for the support! I really appreciate it. And, congratulation on the 25% loss - that is, no punn intended, HUGE! :-)

To explain further, and for the sake of being brutally honest and open about what I'm dealing with, and also cuz my therapist says that hiding things only brings shame and that shame doesn't heal anything:

It's not like I feel bad because I ate something "wrong." I have this eating disorder - I eat and eat and eat to the point of feeling SICK and I cannot stop eating. THAT's what I've been doing for three days now. It's hard to explain - i feel out of control, completely isolated, desperate for something intangible that i cannot have without knowing what "it" is. So I eat, and eat, and eat, and eat for hours, past any feeling of hunger, past any feeling of pain, past my body having had so much food it has to expel it by having me sitting on the toilet more times than I can count in one day. I feel empty and hurt inside, and I eat - totally and completely out of control.

Most of the time my attitude towards food is healthy. I eat healthy and allow myself treats in MODERATION. But the binging is NOT about eating the wrong thing. I mean, on Sunday I binged for hours on HEALTHY food - vegetarian soup with lots of veggies, non-fried veggie spring rolls, etc. For me it's NOT about the TYPE of food, but the behavior of being out of control - unable to stop myself from HURTING myself, even while at the same time I can SEE myself inflicting the pain.

I sit here trying to explain it and it just feels bizarre even describing it. <sigh> It's almost my bedtime. I will go take a hot shower and get into my jammies. Perhaps tomorrow I will feel better.

Oh yeah, and I've decided to skip my WI morning tomorrow at WW. I just cannot deal with the possibility that I've gained weight on top of all the rest of it.

Maria - I'm so sorry that you've been feeling down, and I hope all gets better!

Wyllenn - You're doing so well! Keep it up!

Maria Lucia - Have you ever read any of Geneen Roth's books? Up until recently I had a quote of hers in my signature - "You can never get enough of what you don't really want." For me it is so true - I spent so many years trying to self medicate my problems, feelings, everything with food. It was my major coping mechanism and I would binge out of control. I didn't want the food - it wasn't the thing that would fill that void, so no matter how much I ate the void was still l there. Since it wasn't what I was really hungering for I could eat and eat and eat and never feel satisfied. I still do binge occasionally, but mostly I have found ways to cope with those feelings and found other ways to deal with them. Of course when we eat and feel out of control it only adds to the problem making us feel even that much worse.

Try and look at the whole thing from a distance - remove yourself and try to analyze why you ate - what was driving you - without judgment or self criticism. I used to think I wanted to kill myself by eating myself to death. I couldn't figure out why else I couldn't get myself to stop. Thankfully I have figured out that wasn't the case. Food has always been both my rebellion and my comfort. Just don't stop trying - even if (or should I say when because we can't stop these things all at once) you do binge, try to see it as a learning experience.

Big hugs you are totally not alone in this.

I lost .2 lbs....BUT......

THAT TOOK ME DOWN TO 90 LBS. GONE!!!!!!

We talked tonight about measuring success without the scale. We talked about all of the weeks where we are more OP than not...or all OP and we still either have a miniscule loss or even a gain...and how to get past that to see the NSV. It's not always about what you have lost....sometimes it's about what you did not gain...and smetimes it IS about what you did gain.

Did you gain a compliment? A glimpse in the mirror where you smiled and loved it? A smaller pants size? A night at the movies where you fit into the seat? Did you make a conscious choice to get a small and not a large? Did you drag the groceries(or yourself) up the stairs without huffing and puffing?

We are our own worst critics...mainly because we have seen ourselves through the same eyes for so long...and those eyes only see flaws.

If nothing else this week...let us all be kind to ourselves.

MWAH!!!!

Maria Luchia, you are trying, even if you are feeling such self hate at the moment, does your therapist help, can she/he offer any other help? Maybe hypnotism or something else to get to the root of the problem WHY you do it and how to STOP. There must be something which is causing you to over-eat to such an extent. I wish I could be there to hold your hand and talk to you.
Julee, good call, so often we focus on the negative, well done ANY LOSS is good!
Nancy, the flowers & chocs, at least he really loves you, my ex fiance bought me big bouquets EVERY week, but he still hit me and verbally abused me. I dumped him after the second time. Flowers are great, but as long as he treats you well and gets you some once a year or so be glad he's genuine, I hope you know what I mean, I'm not trying to detract from your pleasure at the 'suprise'.
Xena, I Should be teaching adult literacy (I'm a sahm), but did some English as a second Lang with three students. Its great when you see them smile as they realise they are getting better and making more sense! I volunteered before I had my youngest but there's no free childcare now so I can't, I really envy you.
Kayley YOU HAVE LOST MORE WEIGHT SINCE DEC THAN I HAVE IN 2 1/2 YEARS!!!!!!!! go and find something which weighs 50+ lbs and try & pick it up!!!!! Think of it as a sculpture, little chips coming off to reveal the beauty underneath, (if that makes any sense) all those little chips ADD UP!!! You have done phenomenally well so far!!!
Gotta go & exercise, Hi to Dogpal & WYllen & anyone I forgot.
xxxsharon

thanks for all the kind words. i did not get my nails done, however i did get to be an extra on a pilot TV show called "in case of emergency" with my future husband, David Arquette. so all in all it was an awesome day

Julee - 90 pounds!!!! Way to GO!!! And the whole thing about being kind to ourselves...well, for me...that's far easier SAID than done.

Sharon - "Think of it as a sculpture, little chips coming off to reveal the beauty underneath, (if that makes any sense) all those little chips ADD UP!!!"...I like that way of thinking, and it definately makes sense, but like I told Julee, it's easier said than done! LOL...

Luan - Ooooh! And did you get to MEET your future husband?!?!

Hopefully, today is a better day image-wise than yesterday....
After today, I only have 4 weeks left in the semester, which makes me VERY happy. Then, I'll get through my Spring class, and I'm taking the Summer OFF. I'll definately be needing a break by then!
Off to my mundane English class...

Good Morning Chicks~~

Amy~ WW was for Whole Wheat, Not sure If you are still interested in the Nutritional value, If so let me know.. from now on W>W will be Whole Wheat when I post not Weight Watchers,, Sorry bout that toots. I was not even thinking when I posted,,

Off from school Today, of Every Thursday... supposed to be 67 degrees here today,, (yeah right!) we will see, **** that is a Heat Wave......................

Take Care All.... Jill```` Where are you at ????