Please let me know what you think and how I could change it, I have to send it off soon as it must arrive by the 30th.
Dear fellow TOPS, I am honored to share my story with you, I am no public speaker, so if I draw a blank or faint forgive me, I am doing my best.
My TOPS story started one morning, late last June when my friend Glenda and I were enjoying coffee. She mentioned how a friend of hers had shed 50 lbs. after joining TOPS, then she casually asked if I might like to go with her. I jumped at the chance but for reasons other than weight loss. I thought it would be more of a chance to get out of the house and meet a few new people and go out for coffee as I had recently moved to Moose Jaw.
We attended our first meeting in July. I stepped on the scales that night and got the shock of my life when Verna said “253”.
I don’t even really know if anything else was said. My mind was racing “There must be a mistake” I thought to myself, “Why aren’t these other women rioting, this scale is out 50lbs!”
I left the weight room in a daze. I looked around the meeting room and realized these women accepted the numbers on the scale, some of them were even happy! It slowly sunk in I really was 253 lbs.
In my family diabetes has exacted a hash toll. My grandfather, uncle and aunt had all lost a leg or foot to the disease and I was sure I was next. I know this sounds crazy but I was convinced I would instantly become diabetic and have my feet amputated. If not heart disease or some other form of dire illness was laying in wait and I had been notified just in the nick of time.
I was literally afraid for my life, but knew I could do something about this. I must do something about this. I realized then that it was all up to me. Only I had the power to change my life and the “shape of things to come.” I had not spent my entire life overweight and I was determined to regain my health.
I would be there to see my youngest child Brittany graduate from High School, I would be there for my children’s weddings, I would hold my grandchildren and god willing, I would dance at their weddings too.
I immediately started on the Canadian Diabetic Diet and chose Joyce Vedral’s Bottoms Up program as my work out. I lost 5 lbs that first week and consistently lost each and every week thereafter. I never set out to do this, it was just the natural consequence of eating properly and exercising regularly.
I have to tell you that when I say workout I really mean that in the most generous sense of the word. When I first started I could barely climb a flight of stairs, so my early workouts revolved around following the Bottoms Up program as much as I could, many of the exercises I could barely perform 3 of let alone 3 sets of 15. My cats would curl up on the couch and watch me through half closed eyes as I sweated and cursed my way trough the exercises. At first I thought “man, I am never going to do this!” but our bodies are miraculous things, within 3 months I could do the whole program, still cursing and sweating, but I could do it.
I added a bit of running to my routine and the weight kept coming off. This January I was Miss Recognition and my friend Glenda was Runner Up. The most touching moment for me was when Isabelle gave me her KOPS rose in the hopes I would soon make KOPS status. I cried like a baby. The support I received from the club was wonderful, our leader Chris would say “How many weeks is that now?” and Sharon would pipe up with something ridiculous like “I think it’s 108” and so on and so forth. Every week someone would say something positive, Lou would give me a hug and I would find myself sustained for another week. Plus trusty Verna was always there with the kindest words of all, lower numbers! At about this time I joined an online TOPS group and got even more support and encouragement from the best bunch of ladies I never met. So if there is anyone here from the 3fatchicks TOPS forum a big dose of Summer’s awesome vibes to you! (I promised I’d do that.)
If I could share any tip with you it would be to look inside yourself for who you truly are and work like a demon to release that person. Journal your thoughts, seek strong positive support and deny yourself nothing in moderation. Find an exercise routine that works for you and DO it! When it gets old, change it. I now run 5 days a week, do Pilate’s, lift weights and have joined a Kick Boxing class.
I am now very close to goal, at the end of my journey I will have lost 100 lbs. And I could not have done it without the support and encouragement of my husband Broo, who has never been critical of me heavy or not, and my children Brian and Brittany, my good friend Glenda, the wonderful ladies at my weekly TOPS meetings and my online friends. My life has completely changed because of my involvement with TOPS. I have gone from a size 26 to an eight, I am no longer a displaced Albertan, or an unemployed aircraft maintainer. I am a Saskatchewanite and a travel agent trainee, I have a good life, a strong body and a wealth of dear friends, Thank you TOPS!
