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, inspiration, and hope. We are aware of the distinct problems that come with weighing over 300 lbs.

We want to invite everyone (roosters as well as chicks!) to join us in our journey. We share laughter and tears, heartaches and fears ... joys and celebrations. We also share what works for us and what doesn't.

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!
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Wow, how did it get to be April already? And why haven't I miraculously lost all of the weight I said I would by this time?

We've had absolutely gorgeous weather all this week, and I've still managed not to get outside and do the yard work that is always needed at this time of year. Oh well.

On the diet front, I've gone bonkers. I'm starting a challenge with a friend here in town today. We each have to lose -- and keep off -- 5 pounds this week. We're hoping that having the local support will help us both.

I need to go into town today to buy the chute to go with the grass bagger for the lawn tractor. For some unknown reason, they're sold separately (ok, known reason -- MAKE MORE MONEY), and the salesman didn't mention that. I also need to get some trays for plants so won't be a totally wasted trip.

Hope everyone is doing well. I've been absent a lot this week, but will do better next. Have a great day.

Topsy, Tootsie, Teena, and Dina— I'm just goofin' around with y'all's names....welcome on board, newcomers! (Yes, I know you're not a newcomer, Tootsie. =smile=)

I'm glad I went to my appointment with Mike yesterday, because he taught me some good stuff about how to relieve back pain....

Are you improving Fi? I hope you feel better soon! Also, just wondering if anyone has tried or wanted to try a mass group fitness day? We have events like Mud Musters over here where you pay an entry fee and basically run over a big obstacle course over 2km, 5km and 10km. Now, my partner thinks I have taken leave of my senses, and well maybe I have, but I have never been as fit as I am now, not even as a youngster, and given that I can't drink anymore, I would really like to push my boundaries in a healthier way to see how far I can go. I think finishing or even just participating in one of these events would do wonders for me mentally and is a real work out, plus meeting new, likeminded people can only be a good thing? I know I have a long way to go, but every week I go to the gym, I am surprising myself more, because I have stuck to my plan really well for the most part, I haven't missed a day in the gym, and with the exception of last week, I have lost a fair bit of weight. Just something I am considering, there is a big one in November, and I have told my partner I am entering it, and I would love for him to enter it with me. I don't think he will, but I am trying to motivate him into doing SOMETHING that involves physical exercise. Its hard for him and I know how hard it is because he has tried so hard to lose weight and hasn't been successful; 2 months ago I was in the same place as him, having tried and failed many times to successfully lose weight. I have a tight hold on his diet while he is home, when he cooks for me, he knows to cook meals only from my plan or I will flat out refuse to eat them, and I have removed all white rice and pasta, sugar, lollies, anything bad really, however I have done it slowly and I don't think he has even noticed

Hi Fiona or should we change it to Thiona to go with all the other T's.

Calda, that obstacle course sounds like fun. The last time I ran one was in ROTC in high school. Now the only obstacle course I run is over my cats on the way to the bathroom in the morning. They want to be fed and I want to... see if I lost any weight.

My mood is better. I have been so grouchy. My DD came home from work sick so I am going to use up the rest of the turkey and make a veggie soup with some brown rice in it. It sounds good. My eating this week has been good. Last night I really wanted to snack on something salty and crunchy. ggrrr

I have noticed some things recently. I have had to tighten the bra strap... of course weight leaves that area first. My face doesn't seem as poofy and swollen looking and the skin in my arms feels looser. I plan to get me some surgical tubing this weekend to use for some resistance exercises.

Fiona: sorry you are in so much pain. It just makes everything harder. Glad the dr. gave you some information that will help.

Betsy: You can do win this challenge, You sound very determined. It will make it more fun having your friend there in person providing support and competition. Good luck!!!!

BTW: I ask this yesterday but still wondered...Does anyone use the blog for journaling? What do you think and which do you prefer?

Hi everyone.

Dina, welcome. I hope you find us over here in April.

Teena,, good for you for resisting another temptation at work. As for journaling, feel free to share what you want.

Topsy, , all any of us can do is try. Hang in there.

Betsy, thanks for starting the April thread. I can't believe it's April already either. I'm hoping that you meant your challenge was to lose 5 lbs. a month, not a week, but if you're that ambitious good luck.

Fi, I hope the things Mike taught you are helping with the pain and that you are feeling somewhat better.

Caldawg, the obstacle course sounds like quite a challenge. Good luck. I hope you're able to get your partner on board with you.

Sam, hope you're ok. You've been very quiet lately. Miss you girl.

I've been doing very well this week with eating and since cutting out the carbs I've lost the 8 lbs. I gained last weekend, so I'm once again at my signature weight. So far I'm finding this pretty easy, although I kind of hate saying that.

Our landlord was here the other day while the city did a safety inspection, checking the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, checking for leaks and not sure what else. I came home after the inspection was over and DH and the landlord were just hanging out. Usually we plant vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and sometimes zucchini) in pots outside because we can't dig up the ground here. There is a flower bed alongside the house in the yard and the landlord said he would dig up the plants that are there and we can use that. He said he just put them there to keep the weeds down. I'm so excited because everything grows better in the ground. He also said he can run a hose from the basement out the dryer vent on that side of the house because the upstairs tenants don't have a washer or dryer. There is no exterior hose connection. For a landlord he's a pretty awesome guy. It helps that DH's brother has been married to the landlord's sister for over 40 years. So now I can't wait to plant, but here in the northeast that means I have to until about the middle of May. We are actually supposed to have snow this weekend. So much for Spring.

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow. I will check in again over the weekend.

Thanks for the well wishes, folks! I'm still kind of awkward between getting in the right position on the futon and using my iPad at the same time. Which is why I'm writing such short postings. But I am feeling much better. I even did my 600 leg raises tonight!

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't been around it's been a rough week over here. I haven't done any exercises this week. There just has not been any time.

My grandma is in the hospital now. After they let her out the first time when she had shortness of breath they wanted her to get an electrocardiograph done. They found fluid on her heart so her doctor told my mom she needed to go to the ER. She has congestive heart failure. They have been giving her diuretic to help get the fluid out. They said it wasn't so bad around her heart that they would need to use a needle to drain it. As of last night the doctor wanted to review the test results from the other hospital she was at and then find the next POA. When I visited her last night she said she felt fine, except her neck was bothering her again. She's had neck pain for almost 3 weeks. Her nurse ended up giving her tramodol (sp) since the tylenol didn't touch the pain. She said she hopes she gets sleep tonight. I told her that the medicine would help her feel better and she would get s good night's sleep. She didn't want mom or I to stay so I went home after awhile and told her if she needed anything to call me at anytime day or night that I keep my phone by my bed. She wants to go home tomorrow and said she was telling the doctor she is leaving. My mom does not have good bedside manner and snapped at her about staying. I had to break it up because it was just upsetting my grandma and that's when we left. I ended up having to put my mom in her place about treating her like that. Who wants to stay in a hospital? I know where she is coming from but if the doctor wants her to stay longer there are better ways to get her to stay then getting frustrated and speaking to her like a child. My mom acts like a child a lot...always has so now that I'm older I either avoid her or have to put her in her place when she acts like this.

On the diet front I have not eaten very well. I've done fine during the day but my dinners have not been the best. With that and no exercise this week I'm sure I've gained weight but at this point I don't even care. I plan to get back to exercising at the beginning of the week.

Not sure what is going on with DH now. I woke up to him running to the bathroom about an hour ago trying not to vomit all over the place. He didn't make it all the way so I helped him and cleaned up the mess and sanitized everything. We had pizza for dinner because I got home late from the hospital and he thinks it was probably too late for him to eat it without getting heartburn. When he gets it it's usually pretty bad and the only thing that helps is baking soda and water. He drank that and after awhile was when he got sick. We aren't sure if it's that or a stomach virus. I'm hoping he didn't get a virus. Just don't want him feeling bad. Also if he has a virus I wouldn't want to bring it to my grandma when I visit her in the hospital so I may have to call my mom later and let her know what's going on.

As I said in my last post we got the brakes done last weekend. I ended up wanting to look for someone to do the AC for us if we could find a deal we could afford. I happened to find a shop on Facebook and the guy gave me a deal. He let me use the part that we bought and only charged us $170. That was a steal!! He actually was supposed to charge more but he misunderstood what I said needed to be done so he honored the price. DH took it in yesterday and got it all done. It works great but after DH picked me up from work we started feeling the car shake uncontrollably with grinding noise. We thought it may be the oil was needing to be changed soon so we added oil but it kept going so we had to drive 30 mph or less in a 55 zone to bring it back to the shop. Come to find out they didn't screw the lug nuts to the tire on all the way and the dang thing could have fallen off!!! They tried to say they never took the tire off but there is no way that those nuts could have come loose in 5 days after we changed the brakes and happen on the day that they changed the AC. I understand why they didn't want to admit fault but I was so scared driving that back to them that I was starting to have a panic attack. I had to drive 20 minutes from my job. I was so scared that my hands shook all the way home after they fixed it. They didn't want to admit fault probably so if something happened I wouldn't be able to blame them and make them fix it. I am a. understanding person and would have been ok with it being a mistake and them apologizing but the fact that they tried to lie about it made me kind of pissed. They still were super nice and DH said it looked like the mechanic was having a really bad day so we would probably still refer people to them. But having a bad day isn't an excuse when someone's life could be in danger with the quality of your work so part of me doesn't want to tell anyone to go there. I'd be devistated if one of my friends or clients got hurt because they did a bad job. You live and learn right? I'm just glad nothing bad happened and I have my AC.

Starting to get sleepy again. DH's stomach is feeling a bit better but I still need to watch him. Will try and check in tomorrow but I will be back to normal on Monday.

Be well friends.

Hi Sam, I am sorry to hear about your grandma. I understand how difficult and stressful it is have someone you love going through this. I went through a similar experience with mom. You are in my thoughts.

Betsy: I have to grow veggies in pots too. Usually I limit it to tomatoes lately because it is hard for me to care for them. Maybe this summer I can do more. We tend to have one last hard freeze about the 1st of June. So that is when I plant things.

Nothing new going on here today. Maybe some shopping.

I

Gloomy day out there, but maybe it will give me the umph needed to get the bookkeeping done and start on cleaning out the pantry. Definitely not a good day to go out and try to do yard work.

Fi -- Glad you continue to have your sense of humor AND that you had a good visit with Mike. Both things definitely are part of what get us through each day.

Calda -- WOW! Your challenge sounds.....well, like a great challenge! No way at my age I can do that, but I am trying to get back to my regular exercise routine (where I do ALL of the exercises) as well as incorporate yoga again. You are so dedicated to this and the changes you've made at home are a benefit to DH even if he doesn't realize it. He will get moving when he is ready. Keep up the great work.

Sam -- So sorry about your grandma being in the hospital and the congestive heart failure diagnosis. Hopefully she can get out of the hospital and not have to spend the weekend there -- just depends on what they think needs to be done in terms of treatment. Hope that DH is feeling better as well. While I wouldn't wish food poisoning on anyone, I imagine that is better than a virus although I'm not sure "better" is a word that can be used with either. Also glad that you didn't have an accident from the loose lug nuts. Can't imagine why they needed to remove the tire to work on the A/C to begin with!

Cindy -- Way to go on the weight loss this week. That is wonderful! Yes, our contest is supposed to be 5 pounds per month, not week (although wouldn't that be wonderful). Your landlord does sound like a good guy, but then I always found that when you're great tenants they're a lot more willing to work with you. I saw where you're part of the country is to get a spring snow storm this weekend -- ugh! Sounds like a good weekend for soup and movies.

Teena -- I started doing the blog, but then I got some really weird people sending me messages and making comments so I made the entire thing private. I just do the tomatoes in containers on the deck mainly because our growing season is so short that I need the heat from the house to warm them at night. I put in raised beds last summer and am eager to see if my yield increases this summer.

Time for breakfast, then a shower and pedicure, bookkeeping since it's the beginning of the month, etc. Nothing exciting, but definitely need to get some things done around here. Hope everyone has a great day.

Sam— I've been thinking often about your grandma, Sam. Your love for her really comes through in your posting, and that's what she needs right now...

Betsy— Your typo really had me going for a while: "Wow, Betsy's gonna lose 5 pounds in one week!" =laugh=

Cindy— Great news about your plans for a garden! I hope things are beginning to be springlike in your neck of the woods. The DC area is exploding with color—pink, white, and yellow especially. Our "for Cynthia" hit an amazing peak around this past Thursday.

Calda— Way to go for gearing up to take on that fitness challenge!

I still can't sit upright for very long, but my back is much much better, and the cannabinoid medication seems to be working. I can tell, because when it wears off, I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck! Boy have I been in bucketloads of pain, for a long time....

Fiona: I am sorry you are in so much pain. Pain is so controlling. I am glad to hear the medication is helping.

Betsy: I have thought about the raised garden bed. They seem a lot easier to maintain. My land lord doesn't care what I do as long as he doesn't have to put any money into it.

Yesterday didn't quite turn out as planned.

DD and I decided to go do our shopping together. We love having breakfast out so we did that first. I treated myself to steak and eggs and a piece of whole wheat toast. I asked them to leave the hashbrowns off.

We drove into Washington because the store I wanted to go to has an electric cart I can use to browse the store. It seemed that others like this store for the same reason because the carts were in use. So DD and I thought we will go to the Walmart there and get our groceries and then come back. No luck there either. It seemed that everyone was out doing their shopping. So we ended up coming back to shop at our regular store.

This is where I got my yarn in the first place. It is a good thing that my friend is not in a hurry for her scarf.

By the time I walked in an out of the various places, my knee was very painful. When we got to the last store my DD went in and got the cart and brought it to me.

Dinner was leftover chicken soup, deviled eggs and sliced bell peppers. I had more grains then I wanted yesterday. But I don't think it will hurt much.


Today's plan, try to rest the knee, clean the bathroom and get out side to enjoy this beautiful weather.

Hi everyone.

Sam, sorry to hear your grandma is in the hospital again. It's hard to eat right and exercise when you're spending so much time at the hospital, but being with her is more important right now. Glad you got your A/C done. I'm sure you need it already this time of year in SC.

Teena, I like your profile picture. I hope everything is going well.

Betsy, I find that my tomatoes grow better in the ground. We can do cherry tomatoes in pots with good success so we will probably do that this year. We have grown everything I mentioned previously in pots but they definitely prefer the ground. We don't start anything from seed because we really have no place inside to keep them. We just buy plants that have been started already and put those in the ground. Our growing season is short here too so we usually get tomato plants that already have some small tomatoes on them. Good luck with your weight loss challenge.

Fi, glad that your back is starting to feel better and I'm also happy to hear that you were able to get the cannabis to help with the pain. Your mention of the "For Cynthia" made me smile.

The ground is covered in white this morning after an overnight snowfall. Did I mention it was 70 on Friday? The weather here is so crazy. We are supposed to get a couple more inches tomorrow, but for now the sun is shining and what's here now will most likely melt before then.

Nothing too exciting going on here. I continue to lose a little weight each day and I'm loving that. I know it won't last but for now I'm enjoying it. I need to run to the store this morning for some more salad fixings and get a pork roast going in the crockpot for dinner. Then I think I'm going to work on piecing together some squares for a granny square afghan I'm making.

I hope you all have a great day.

Fi: Glad to see that you're feeling better.
Sam: Sorry to see that your grandmother is sick and that your car is messed up. I hope that she gets better soon, and that the car problems are resolved soon.
Betsy:Good job for trying a challenge.
Calda: That sounds interesting. I'm nervous in groups, though.
Teena: Congrats on the non-scale victories. I don't use a blog to journal weight loss, but I do use a calorie tracking app to keep track and a journal to keep track if my feelings. Some find a public blog as a great motivator.
Cindy: Your landlord does seem nice. We can't plant until mid-late April here. My roses are starting to get leaves and buds already. It's been an oddly tame winter here.

I decided that I need help. I get hungry when I plan meals. I don't know how to cope, other than ignoring it. Trying Nutrisystem. Very little planning. Just eat what they say to eat. I've lost nearly 6 pounds in 3 days. That's because I'm not eating much. Less than 1K calories in a day. They say to add plenty of veggies and some fruit. I haven't, because we don't get a lot of veggies. I plan on getting some veggies today. I worry about really far into the future. What will I do, once off plan? I hope to get used to the portion sizes. I'm not hungry. Drinking a lot of water.