By Leah Blain, Observer contributor
One day when Anne Gosse was in her doctor’s office he looked at her and said, “too heavy.”
That was motivation enough to get her look for some kind of a support group. She joined TOPS, Take Off Pounds Sensibly in the North Shuswap . By the time she joined, she had lost some weight, but she was 164 lbs.
When Anne moved to Salmon Arm she joined the 1767 chapter that meets every Tuesday morning at St. John’s Anglican church. This year she celebrated 40 years of weight loss success with TOPS. Anne says she couldn’t have achieved this goal without them. She went from size 18 to size eight.
“It was the support I got. They encourage you to stick with it.”
Marge Quinton has been at her goal weight for 21 years. She says she usually has her sign with her, ‘No excuse zone.’ In essence, that’s what TOPS is all about, people taking responsibility for their eating choices. Marge gives a couple of examples of popular excuses: “‘It was someone’s birthday’, or ‘Someone bought me a box of chocolates.’ People don’t take responsibility for gaining.”
With TOPS, Marge says it’s not just the weekly meeting where members get support and encouragement, they phone each other throughout the week to encourage each other.
Before the meeting begins the members go in for their weekly weigh-in. When the meeting begins when their names are read out the member says “up” or “down” corresponding to their weight gain or loss. If it’s “down” the group gives a round of applause, if it’s “up” they get a chorus of “next week” or “keep trying” or “you can do it.”
In January, the 31 members whose ages range from 30s to 80s, had 31.2 lbs net loss.
After this, and before the meeting starts officially, they have a few minutes of sharing time. Members talk about anything they like and much of the discussion this morning revolves around grandchildren and vacations. There is a lot of laughter. Anne is usually too shy to share but today she talks about the nice walk she had with her family. She climbed over logs and went under logs with the rest of them.
“I thought, ‘If they can do it I can do it.’ It was fun. I did it,’” she says smiling.
The room is very beautifully decorated in a Scottish theme in honour of another member of Scottish origin who is celebrating seven years at her goal weight. Once a member has reached their goal weight, they’re called a KOPS member (Keep Off Pounds Sensibly) Anne, being the most senior member of KOPS, lights the first candle and then, in turn, lights other candles.
They recite their pledge: “I am an intelligent person. I will control my emotions, not let my emotions control me. Every time I am tempted to use food to satisfy my frustrated desires, build up my injured ego or dull my senses. I will remember - I am an example of Keep Off Pounds Sensibly.”
For more information about this TOPS chapter, contact Carolyn Vrieling at 250-832-8416.