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.

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Finally, we also have several extra threads going on simutaneously such as Monthly Challenges, Weekly Weigh-ins, Recipes, Bios, Photos, Exercise, Info for Getting Started and more. Many of these threads are stickied at the top of the page. Please feel free to check them all out.

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Amy -- We now start new threads on Mondays! So, it was time!

Brenda-- I loved your pictures! Wowsa! How hard was it to get both of you in those pants???

Hubby and I were planning to go to the gym last night, but lately he's been travelling every single week and we haven't had a lot of "quality" time together. So, instead, we took a ton of grapes and strawberries, a little cheese and chocolate, and a bottle of wine, and had a little "picnic" while we watched a movie. If our diet and exercise were the only considerations, they weren't the best choices -- the gym would have been a better option. But you know what? I'm glad we did it. First, our choices really have changed. We went really high on the fruit and low on the fattening stuff (in the past it would have been very different). Second, if I'm smokin but my relationship is in ruins, that's not a good balance.

Good morning, sunshines!

It is literally 81 degrees here in my office--yuck! There's obviously something wrong with the a/c, and I feel absolutely disgusting. Clearing a paper jam out of the printer shouldn't make me sweat! I have my trusty bottle of cold water on my desk, but it's quickly creating a puddle because it's sweating so much. I am very quickly regretting my decision to wear my hair down today--it's like having a blanket on my neck and upper back!

But, enough about that--hopefully they'll get it fixed soon. I successfully avoided both 7-11 and McDonald's for breakfast this morning and instead has a nonfat smoothie at home and cottage cheese with fruit at work. I also packed some snacks and my lunch, so I am heading in the right direction!

G'morning all,

Nancy, I can't keep trigger foods in my house. Butter isn't one of them. I have to throw away butter cuz it goes bad in the frig. I finally got a sealable box so it lasts longer. I had to skip getting any WW ice cream treats in my last grocery store run because of late, I'll eat a whole box of 6 bars in a day.

Battle, I'm a unit eater too. So if I only have one small bag of something, that's all I'll eat. Buying a bunch of small bags doesn't work for me, however. I've been playing with the same couple of pounds after being a WW angel for 3 weeks (prior to my pity party). Someone told me it's not a true plateau until 6-8 weeks pass without a change. In the past, I'd never let it go long enough to test that theory.. hehe. I'd just give up and start eating. I am right there with you on the frustration when you do everything right and the body reneges on the contract.

Bodytoo, I love books too! It was hard when I decided to stop buying so many and just go to the library. Of course, I had to buy Harry Potter. Some books are necessary to purchase

Catherine, YAY for you and getting your groove (singing) back!! I know it was a big decision to focus on your school work. That was hard to do! I'm so glad you were asked.. yes, it's fabulous to be noticed that you do something good and you are wanted! I have a hard time taking compliments as well. Today, instead of downplaying the compliment or try to return one, I smile and say "thank you". Wow, is that hard for me to do!

Outland, Yay for you throwing away the last of the junk food stuff! It's fabulous that your leg swelling has gone down too. After doing 8 straight hours of bathroom remodel, I weighed just for the fun of it because I was sweating so much... I lost 3 lb of water! wow.. I sat down and rehydrated quickly.

Violet, How's that lunch box treating ya? I do the stress food rewards too. What's really hard is the vending machine at work and this one lady who bakes all the time and brings stuff to work. She's thin as a rail. OMGosh, so sorry about the bank crap. I stick to credit unions as well. I'm glad your BF helped. Good news about your shift and your vacation days!! I think it was really strong of you to tell your friend that about your feelings about her cheating. I am thoroughly convinced that people create their own ****. There's one girl at work that is constantly in crisis. My stomach cramps just listening to her.

Wyllenn, sometimes you have to enjoy the time you have with a loved one. I'm happy you two had some QT together!!! I think you made great choices to be high on the fruits. As they say, "... snuggle time.. priceless".

Jilly, yay for avoiding the potholes of MickyD's and the fast food on the way to work. Sorry it's so hot in there. Hope they get it fixed soon!!

I made some roasted veggies yesterday and they weren't very good. The tater slices didn't wanna cook to save their lives and the summer squash was tough. Despite that, I picked out the onion and zuchinni and got a veggie serving in! I have a salad planned for lunch and have some avocado to put in as a treat.

The cpap machine and I did better last night, but only because I was so exhausted I must have passed out after an hour of finally getting comfy. I only woke up to change positions. For some reason, when on my side, air goes in my tummy (but not when sleeping on my back). That air has gotta get out somehow!! Good thing I live alone cuz it escapes out of both ends (sorry WTMI). hehe.

Luv and hugs to all,
Ratkitten

Congrats BBear!!! I find I don't do well with morning exercise, but do better and am more coordinated in the evening.

Sounds like your job will keep you moving as well!

Luv,
Ratkity

Thanks Heather. It wasnt too hard to get into but man, it was hard to stand up my sis couldnt wait to take a pic if we both toppled over haha

just saying hello.. i am still hanging around here just barely .. trying to get a grip on myself lol. doing good today.. but its early yet!

Hi All,

Well it’s official. I gained 7 lbs during my two week break. I wish I could lose it as quickly as I gain it I’m not down about the gain because let’s face it, it was more than expected. What I am is angry at myself because I’ve lost count of how many times I have gained and lost that same 7 lbs this year. It’s time to stop it now. Time to lose and keep on losing. In an attempt to kick start my weight loss again I’ve decided to increase my exercise. Only by another half an hour, but that’s a start. Today I’ve done an hour and 15 minutes so far, plus 2 and a half hours of cleaning which I won’t count, so I still have 15 minutes of exercise left to do. I’ll probably get it done before tea

Ratkity - yep that bike’s as cool as it looks and twice as mean lol. When I bought it I pictured myself doing at least half an hour a day on it. I struggle to do 15 minutes!! So for the time being I’ll leave it at that

Great news that you had a better night’s sleep with the CPAP machine. How long have you had it?

Xena - no, luckily neither Sharon or I were effected by the floods, we both live on high ground. The flooding has been terrible though, especially as this is supposed to be summer. Today I am pleased to say it’s another sunny day. Wow, that’s 3 in a row. I got all my bedding washed today, and tomorrow if it stays dry, dare I hope for 4 days in a row then I will get all my laundry done too.

Sorry to hear that things are stressful for you at work. Sorry too that you ate off plan. I hope this week will be a better week for you

Nancy - I LOVE butter. I bought some on the weekend and had way too many slices of toast with butter, my all time fave treat. Knowing I was going to be a good girl again from today meant I had to do what you did, I threw the remaining butter away. It’s just way too much temptation.

Battleax - I am sorry that you saw a gain. It is soooooo frustrating isn’t it to see a gain when you really don’t deserve one. At least there is one good thing about it, you are confident that you didn’t do anything wrong, you didn’t binge, you didn’t give up the exercise, so you KNOW that 1.5 isn’t a fat gain.

Great move putting the scales out of your reach, now don’t go sneaking out to the car go get those scales back in at least until TOM has been and gone!!

SJ - that’s great that you have some lovely hiking trails near you and that you and the family often enjoy taking great walks on them. Do you have good weather a lot more than we do too? No point having such gorgeous places to walk if you haven’t got the weather. Wales is pretty but the weather is UGLY

Catherine - OK I hear you on why your feet curl over the end of your pedals regardless of having those stirrup pedals. I wouldn’t fancy riding my bike with skis on lol!! Do you think there is any way you’ll be able to work out on a bike again without getting tendonitis?

You’re right about the Hobson seat and how people can look at you silly when you try to explain how they are like a seat for each butt cheek. They do look like silly seats, but who cares what they look like as long as they bring the heavenly comfort that they do.

John - don’t want to be a nag bag, but how come you didn’t eat until so late on Saturday? I don’t know about your body and metabolism, but I know my metabolism won’t work well if I don’t eat at least 3 times a day. Weren’t you starving by the time you got to finally eat?

Good on you for throwing out the last of the naughty food. I LOVE marshmallows, and in the scheme of things they aren’t as fattening as other candy. My problem is that if I work out that I am allowed say 5 marshmallows, I’ll still want to eat the whole bag full. So it’s best not to have that temptation in the house.

You do live in a gorgeous place, I’m extremely green with envy I promised myself that one day as my ultimate reward for losing all the weight I need to etc, I want to go to the States and tour around the place visiting all the places that people like yourself have talked about. Hubby is going to have to learn to drive so we can hire an RV to tour in

Glad to hear that your leg isn’t as swollen now. Do you mind me asking what caused the swelling in the first place? When you said about how your skin doesn’t feel as tight as a drum now it reminded me of how my legs felt after a flight to Australia. I have never had such swollen legs before or since, and they did indeed feel like they would burst. It was horrendous. I guess I should have walked around some more than I did on the plane.

Amy - yes it does make all the difference when the weather stays nice enough to go walking. I don’t have a treadmill at home, but I do have the WATP DVD, so that’s my winter walking, or in this case, most of my summer walking too

Thanks for the compliments on my avatar pic. I love changing it as my weight comes off

LOL I don’t know about me being slim, I’m a long way from that yet, but yes that torture device otherwise known as my spin bike will definitely help me shift those lbs. Well that’s the plan anyway.

How long until you get your snazzy new pink laptop?? I’ve seen one in my shopping catalogue and there’s just something very special about a pink laptop compared to the black ones Mine’s a boring black one

So sorry to hear about those ridiculous bank fees you had to pay. They really stick the knife in as soon as you go even a tiny bit overdrawn don’t they, and those stupid high charges they make you pay, it’s just wrong. I’m so glad your BF was able to help you out, and I’m glad you are going to close your accounts with that particular bank. My hubby had a bank account that charged extortionate fees for going overdrawn. As soon as we got married I soon made him close that account and we stick with my bank and bank account which is much more people friendly!

Sorry too to hear about your dilemma with your friend. I think you’ll find a way to be there for her but at the same time make it clear that you don’t want to hear about her ‘guy on the side’. If she doesn’t love her husband and he is that awful to her, why doesn’t she just leave him?? I guess it’s not that simple or she would. Anyway I am sure you’ll work something out

Glad you got the shifts you want with your work, and that after a bit of a problem your vacation time has been approved. I hope you’ll have a lovely time with your sister and her family when they come visiting.

Heather - that sounds like a really lovely romantic picnic you had with your hubby while you watched a movie. Will he be home for a while now, or will he be travelling again soon?

Jill - sorry you are feeling so hot, I hope they sorted out the AC in work sooner rather than later.

that’s great that you didn’t go to 7-11 of McDonald’s for your breakfast and that you opted for having a smoothie for breakfast, and have cottage cheese (yuck) and fruit to eat in work. You are on the right track now, and those lbs are going to start shifting again!

Bbybear - wow, now that is what I call determination!! Getting up THAT early to make sure you got your exercise in Well done. You felt proud of yourself and very rightly so!! I hope you can keep it up

Brenda - Those photos of you are amazing, you have lost SOOOOOO much weight and it really shows. I remember one of the photos, I think it was a birthday photo on your blog and you’d think that that was a different person. You look so totally different. Gotta say I love the pic of you and your man in your ‘big’ pants. I’d love to do something like that with my hubby, but as he’s got to lose some weight too I’d have to be a size 0 for us both to fit in my ‘big’ pants

Patti - hang in there my friend. Every day is a new day, even if you don’t do as well on one day as you would like, at least you are trying!!! And tomorrow is another day for a fresh start

Ok well I have finally caught up, and I am rested enough now to go work out on my Gazelle So take care all, have a great Monday and bye for now,

Hugs,

Ammi

Ammi you are so inspiring i have to keep on looking on the bright side! i am gonna try really hard this week and am planning to restart my treadmill on the first.. in the meanwhile my house is keeping pretty busy cleaning so its not like i am sitting down doing nothing lol... plus i am gonna do some Wii later on just to get moving again...

Battle-I had a survival training course instructor that once said in front of the whole class, that I would outlast all of them. All I had to do was hide until the rest of them starved to death, and then I could eat them. I’m sure he meant it as a compliment, but I guess in a way I did prepare for Y2K, I just had my disaster supplies stored on my thighs.

Heather-We think about the big changes the most, but it is the hundred smaller ones. Yesterday at the mall, I had to go pretty bad. I had waited too long trying to finish a chapter, and when you take water pills, sometimes it can really sneak up on you. When I went into the bathroom, the only stall was a small one. I still prefer using the handicap stall not so much for the extra space, but for the grab bar. I can still have trouble with my back getting up off a very short toilet. Anyway, I just used the small one, without a second thought. It used to take acrobatics to get the door shut on those before. I practically had to get up on the toilet so the door would go around me to shut. Yesterday, I didn’t even think about how easy it is to shut the door now until I was washing my hands and caught a glimpse in the mirror of a woman having trouble getting it shut behind me. Sometimes when I see someone like that in public I want to talk to them, tell them I understand where they are, and offer them hope, but I never do. I wouldn’t have liked someone doing that to me, so I don’t do it to other people.

John-That tight as a drum skin thing is kind of scary isn’t it. Just wait until you start looking like a Sharpei. That’s what my husband calls me at times. We have lots of underground walkways here that I can hit during the winter, and there is always the mall. No one walks much outside here when it gets to 40 below zero. That’s where C and F intersect, so US or Canada, that’s cold.

Amy-Something else that I lost when I had to start using a wheelchair is pacing. I used to think or work on speeches while pacing. It was almost a tension reliever, and when I couldn’t do that, it really affected me. I replaced it by rolling my chair 6 inches forward and back. At little league games where the score was close, I’d practically dig a trench with the wheels. The summers here can get quite hot, especially in the southern half of the province. It has been in the low 90’s all week for our Capital Ex, which is basically the state fair. Last year attendance was down because it was close to 100 for the 2 weeks. The biggest difference here over Florida in summer is that there is a lot less humidity, and only large commercial buildings and very new homes have air conditioning. Plus the homes just aren’t designed to allow air movement. 9 months of the year we don’t want the outside air coming in, so the windows are like submarine air locks with two doors or windows with a big space between. It would actually be impossible for us to add window air units to our condo. They do sell a lot of these portable air units where instead of the whole unit sitting in the window, only a flexible exhaust pipe goes out. Even with that, it would be a major hassle to try to work it out with our windows. It rained last night, so things are pretty cool right now. I do my housework in the morning before it gets too hot, and then head to the mall for the heat of the day.
When it comes to your friend, I follow the “love the sinner, hate the sin” course. Be her friend because she obviously needs one, but do not aide her indiscretions in any way. Call one of the women’s shelters, and get a schedule for outpatient/group therapy. At those places it is usually always free, and it sounds like she needs to get some help with self esteem issues to find a better way of dealing with life. She doesn’t have to be a resident at the shelter to attend. Go with her to show her that someone does care about her. Most service 2-3 the number of women that they can actually shelter. She needs to find other things to fill the void in her life besides men who abuse her or take advantage of her.

Jill-One small step at a time works not only when you are just starting out, but also when you are picking yourself up again. I’ve had to do that so many times, that I’m surprised I have any skin left on my knees. Staying out of 7-11 and McDonald’s is a huge victory.

Bbybear-I’ve heard people say they can go without an hours sleep everyday for the rest of their life if it means they can actually have a life. That’s when the sun comes up around here in the summer, so I should be able to do the same thing, but I just don’t start good in the morning usually.

Ammi-I guess 7 is not your lucky number. It is amazing how quick I can gain weight too. I watch ounces come off slowly, but if I put my mind to it, I could gain 100 pounds by the end of summer. Wow that’s scary even thinking about it. I think that I can use the bike again. I’ve got some rigid bottom cheerleader shoes that I’m going to use. I just have two obstacles, fear of pain, and himself has practically started using it as a desk. The seat is covered with paperwork. I’m going to dump it all in a box, and put it in his desk chair.

Brenda-My husband made me keep a pair of my biggest pants. They are up on the closet shelf. I should get them down and put them on just for the heck of it.

I’m half way through 3 loads of laundry, and then I have about 3000 words to type, then it is off to the leather couches and air conditioning of my mall.

Hi everyone,

Just a quick drive-by to say hello. I'm doing well today. The scale is still locked in the car. I had a nice walk this morning, and am eating some wonderful food that I bought yesterday. Hopefully the rest of the day will go as well for me and for all of you. Happy Monday!

Ammi -- I'm sorry the scale went up again. I know what you mean about getting serious about those pounds. It is difficult when you're happier where you are to get serious about losing again, but at least you're still over 100 pounds down from where you were!

Hubby is already gone again! Really, it's almost every week these days... Though, this week he'll be back on Wednesday!

Enjoy your lovely weather while it lasts!!

Heather – I am glad you had such a nice outing with your hubby. There definitely has to be a balance there. It really sucks that he is gone so much of the time!

Jill – It sounds like you started the week of on the right foot! I hope they fixed the a/c. That used to happen to us in our old building and it was downright miserable.

Bbybear – You got up at 4:18 am? Ugh! I couldn’t imagine getting up that early. Now that is some dedication!

Ratkitten – I can have the same problem with ice cream things – even worse is when it is just a tub. It doesn’t matter if it is the Edy’s Slow churned low cal stuff, I will end up eating 4 servings of it, which kind of defeats the purpose. Now if I could do this only once in a blue moon, that would be ok.

Brenda – I loved the pics! You have come such a long way! I am glad you managed not to topple over and hurt yourselves.

Patti – Is there anything we can do to help you get back in the groove?

Ammi – 7 pounds is a bummer but it could have been worse. Your bike looks really sexy with all the orange, by the way.

Catherine – That is so great that you are starting to sing again, and what an honor to be invited to that chorus. That is so great that you have the mall nearby to escape to when it is really hot. I really shouldn’t take for granted being able to work all day in a nicely airconditioned building.

Peggy – Glad you have an explanation for why the weekend was so rough. It feels better when you can make sense of things.

Battle – Sounds like you are having a great Monday!

Sorry for everyone I missed. I didn’t go back to the previous thread for replies, but stuck to this new one.

I got all my extra cardboard into my car yesterday afternoon, even though it was raining. However, I totally overslept this morning and didn’t have time to drive it to the recycling place. I need to try and do that tomorrow. For some reason I am having a of a time getting myself up and out of bed in the morning. I wish I could figure out why. The one thing I can think of is that I NEED to take my vitamins. Can you all try and help me with that one? I need to find something that triggers me to do it every day. Since I don’t eat first thing in the morning (I either eat in the car or at work) then evening is better.