Take Off Pounds Sensibly

From LoveToKnow Diet

Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) is an international, non-profit weight loss support group.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly

TOPS Diet Plan

Take Off Pounds Sensibly doesn't promote one specific diet plan. Instead, its purpose is to encourage members to seek the advice of their physicians to obtain a diet tailored specifically to their physical needs. TOPS discourages fad diets, weight loss pills and fast weight loss plans and instead encourages a balanced diet that includes a regular exercise regimen.

TOPS founder Esther Manz created the support group back in 1948 to help overweight and obese people to lose weight. Since that time, as other eating-related disorders have been identified, the program has expanded to include all eating and weight problems including bulimia and anorexia.

Club Meetings and Membership

While TOPS doesn't have any one diet they promote, club meetings do emphasize nutrition and provide exercise education focused on supplementing members' efforts in their quest to manage their weight.

TOPS membership and member fees differ from any other weight management program. They have about 200,000 members in the U.S. plus chapters in Canada and numerous other countries. The two main differences are that membership includes women, men, and children and it costs only $24 a year in the United States and $30 in Canada.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly Program

Members of Take Pounds Off Sensibly meet weekly in local chapters. However, the TOPS program requires new members to consult with their personal doctors to set their goal weight before reporting to their chapter's Weight Recorder for a private weigh-in. Each week a program follows the private weigh-in. Leaders who oversee the program are among volunteers elected from the group. These programs vary but they are all designed as positive reinforcement to motivate members to stick to their diet and exercise plans.

Features of the TOPS Program

  • Offers competition and recognition as a means of additional support - Friendly contests are offered on a chapter, local, regional and international level. Every member can take part in these motivating competitions and be recognized for their efforts. When members lose weight, they receive awards along with a personal feeling of accomplishment and improved health.
  • Members receive: TOPS’ healthy lifestyle guide, The Choice is Mine, which is filled with meal planning, motivational tips and practical advice.
  • Opens the opportunity for members to attend TOPS retreats, rallies, and recognition days
  • Members also receive TOPS News the membership magazine

Keep Off Pounds Sensibly

TOPS not only encourages people to lose excess weight, or to eat enough to reach their ideal weight, but they also offer support to help people maintain their weight once they reach their goal. Keeps Pounds Off Sensibly (KOPS) is an incentive club that helps members stay active. These members are given extra recognition which in turn encourages the other members still trying to lose.

TOPS Resources

TOPS offers a host of tools to help members in their journey to ideal weight. These include:

Meeting Options

If you've decided you'd like to join the ranks of TOPS members but aren't sure if there is a chapter meeting near you, the TOPS website offers plenty of help in locating meetings. And for those who cannot find a meeting convenient for them, online membership is also an option. Online members are allowed to attend retreats and join competitions even though they do not meet with a local chapter.

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Comments

Wow Margaret,

Thanks for sharing your inspiring story. I'm sure it will give others the gentle nudge they need and the hope that change is possible.

Donna

-- Contributed by: Donna Sundblad
January 5, 2009, I joined TOPS with my son's

encouragement. At the age of nearly 60 I had been on several dozen diets, which some worked for a while and others flopped from the beginning. My health was suffering, diabetes 2, COPD, high blood pressure, High cholesterol, sleep disorders, using 3 liters of oxygen every night. Taking pills by the handful. My nerves were pretty much gone. I suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I weighed over 200 pounds and began to become deeply depressed. I got custody of my eight year old grandson, he needed me badly and so with that divine intervention and my son's desire for me to live and see his grandchildren come into the world, I set out to change my lifestyle. I joined the Heart Center, Started working out slowly at first and then swimming, also slowly at first, increasing this each week, attending TOPS. making friends and feeling like a different person Now it is July 2009 and I am making progress and loving it. I have lost going on 45 pounds since I joined and actually lost about 10 pounds the month before I joined. I am not depressed anymore, my self confidence is more than it has been since I was a teen. I have gone from seven insulin shots a day to about one ( not even near what I was taking a portion of a shot in December.) I no longer need my oxygen and I swim with my friends and my grandson. I can actually wear a bathing suit and not hide under a towel. Yes, TOPS works and I am proud to be a member. My grandson is not ashamed to claim me as his Nanny and my husband, likes the change. Besides it feels good to feel my bones again. I was beginning to think I had none and that fat had totally taken place of my entire self, Including my brain. Folks give it a try. I can't ever accomplish anything. TOPS can if you want it to!! Thank you TOPS of Fairfield Bay, Arkansas. You have helped me change my life, feel like living and being happy.

-- Contributed by: Margaret Steen

Hello Marie,

I used to live in Port Charlotte, so I know right where you are. If you use the TOPS find a chapter tool, it helps locate a chapter within a 10 mile radius. Otherwise, you may check into starting your own chapter. Let me know how it goes.

Donna

-- Contributed by: Donna Sundblad
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