Tops
 

Hope this info helps.TOPS is not expensive and it is one of the best support groups around


You can also go to www.tops.org and there is a place where you can put your zip code and it will show you all TOPS near you

Here is some info I posted some time ago.I probably need to post it more often.

What will I find in a TOPS® chapter meeting?
TOPS® meetings, which are held weekly, begin with a confidential weigh-in. Once weights are recorded, a program is presented. It varies from chapter to chapter, but is always aimed in some way to help members achieve their goals. Often, your leader or another member will present these programs. At times, physicians, nutritionists, psychologists or other experts volunteer to speak. Your meeting is a time for you to share your weight loss successes and challenges without feeling uncomfortable. Your fellow members are there to support you. From this fellowship and sharing come suggestions on how to do better. You'll receive recognition when you do so and encouragement when you need it.
How is TOPS® different from other weight loss organizations?
TOPS is nonprofit and noncommercial. We do not sell, promote, or endorse any products. Your doctor provides your eating and exercise plan. Your leader is a volunteer. He or she is a member just like yourself. Your chapter is as unique as the individuals in it. We provide the support, encouragement and educational opportunities you need to make healthy, permanent lifestyle changes. Fellow members are there for you not just during your meeting, but anytime. Cards, calls, and a reassuring hand of friendship are extended to you whenever you need them. We care about your health and our name explains why. We want you to Take Off Pounds Sensibly.
What does it cost to join TOPS ®?
Annual membership is just $20 in the United States, $25 in Canada. This includes a monthly magazine delivered to your home. Local dues are set by each chapter to cover expenses and are normally less than $5 per month.
What do I get for my membership fee?
The most important benefits are the support and encouragement you get from other members, but you'll also receive our monthly magazine delivered to your door. It's filled with inspirational stories, delicious recipes and news from TOPS chapters around the world. There are lots of TOPS sponsored activities you can get involved in too.
Do I have to follow a special diet?
Your personal physician is the one most familiar with your medical history. Therefore all TOPS members receive their food and exercise plans as well as goal weights from their own doctors. TOPS does recommend the standard exchange diet. TOPS publishes a healthy lifestyle guide called "The Choice Is Yours" which includes a full description of how to work this plan. If your doctor approves the exchange diet, you'll find lots of useful information in this low-cost book.
Will I be told how much weight to lose?
That is between you and your personal physician. However you measure success and whatever you have to lose, TOPS is Here For You!
Can you guarantee I'll lose weight?
There are no quick fixes or phony guarantees at TOPS. Losing weight is up to you. But, while you're working on it, we can provide incentives, lively meetings and materials to keep you going. You can join us at motivational rallies, attend different workshops, even go on special retreats.
What about after I lose weight?
Members who reach their goal weight become honored KOPS® members (Keep Off Pounds Sensibly). Staying at goal weight can be a challenging too, so our meetings provide information and support for members at this level too.
How do I join TOPS®?
Simply attend one of the meetings in your area. There are almost 11,000 meetings around the world. Your first visit is free and you are under no obligation to join. Bring a friend if you like. If you decide to join, a TOPS member will help you fill out the simple application form at the meeting.

I'd just like add something about headquarter's web site. It's got a message board, too.

yes and they have a neat chat room to. its very good. LaDean

yes, the chat room is very nice. i haven't used it often but the ladies i met there were very friendly.

Wow cheaper then WW $20 a year humm may have to look into that.
There are a few right near my house. I could use the socialization as I am new to this area and do not know anyone. I may give my self a Birthday present and join.

first meeting is free. you must join if you go again.

calorie bingo game
 

I saw an idea for Calorie Bingo on Bobbie Tops but don't understand how the cards are made up, can somebody explain or furnish me with a copy of one example so I can make up my own for our chapter? Do you chose a food product with calorie count to go under each letter heading "Calorie" Would appreciate anybody's help!

sorry i can't help you there.

Magnolia I can help you. There are different ways you can do it. We have one that I bought that has bingo like boards.On each square it has a healthy food with serving size and calories listed. I think it says bingo at the top. You could make one by make 5 squares across and down. Then we have another one that a member made from copy I got from someone else. This one has a healthy tip in each square such as "keep a food journal" or exercise etc. The hardest part is making sure you don't end up with identical boards. If you want to PM me your address I will send you a sample of both. The one with tips has tops and a scale at top. They are both good. My group enjoy both.

Hi all
I have been a member of Tops since Oct 26, 2003
I have found it most helpful and Just found your very interesting board and thought I'd like to say hi.

welcome sparrow!

Hi! :wave:

I found out about TOPS on another thread. There is one less than 10 mins from my house. I am going to check it out next wed 4/10. l'm looking forward to it. I mentioned to a friend at work and she used to belong yrs ago and loved it. But then the location she was going to closed. I emailed the listed coordinator and she responded that the location near me is up and running and has a really great group. I'll let you know.

:thanks:

welcome to the group!

here is a really dumb question.. the tops program is for men an women or ???

just curious ..

:D tops is for both men and women.

thanks,.. i have heard of some places being for jut women or just men.. lol i think i might check it out after the first.. there is one like 5 min walk from here.. that would be cool to walk there an back..hmmm add a smal work out along the way ;)

:D the chapter i used to belong to was about five minutes from where i live. :D unfortunately, that chapter folded. :( i joined another chapter near one of the places i work at. :D

Hi all...I joined TOPS three weeks ago, and have lost 13 pounds so far.
I just watch my fat intake. If I had to count calories, I'd go crazy.
I've been the weekly winner (loser) at our TOPS chapter every week that I've gone. I love the encouragment and the fact that I have to weigh in every week.

hi alll. i jopined tops 2 weeks ago. i have lost over 9lbs with it so far. i was doing great. untill i ate a whole pack of cookies today :(

i love the meetings and really look forward to them. just wanted to say hi to you all.

welcome to tops and nice to meet you. been in tops for 39 years so its my life. just graduated as a KOPS last week. so fun and loved it.. so good luck to you. you are starting out with great losses. and winners. good for you. glad you like tops. LaDean

Hi my name is Mattie and I just found this site on the web. I was a member of TOPS for awhile and I lost 35 pounds. Then I quit and put it all back on over 5 years. I've been thinking of joining again because the support with TOPS is wonderful and it's a lot of fun. I would highly recommend it.

Hi nice to meet you. glad you found the board. alot of nice people and so very helpful here. be sure and join a group. its fun. been a member for 39 years and its my life. have a good week and good luck on finding a group. LaDean

Hi everyone. I joined TOPS last fall. You really must go to a couple of meetings with different groups. The groups are made up of all different ages and genders. Mostly women. We have a young married couple who just joined and both of them are going to have gastric bypass surgery. The girl had hers a couple of weeks age and her husband is going to have his in a few weeks. They joined because they will need support. It is interesting to all the rest of us because we have never known anyone on such a personal level before who has had by pass surgery. It is very interesting to hear all of what they have to go threw before and after the surgery. I also went to Weight Watchers several times. I didn't do well there. I don't seem to do well anywhere. The personal attention you receive from the other members before and during the meetings is something I never received from WW.

Hello Mary
 

Hi and welcome to the Tops thread..... I know what you mean about the support of your "Tops" family, it is truly wonderful and so is this forum. I am a newer member on this thread and I look forward to reading the posts as often as I can. I just took the office of co- leader and will need guidance along the way ...and some of the girls here are very experienced and give wonderful suggestions..... So welcome ... and hope you have a wonderful day... Indiacatz/Barb:cloud9:

Hello Everyone!!

Im pretty new here, but I wanted to come in and say hi to my fellow TOPS friends! I joined TOPS in December 04 and I have had such a great time going to the meetings... and I had a totally amazing time at SRD! Our group is mainly older ladies, but they are all so very supportive, and they tell my friend and I that they are happy we came and brought some youth to the group. :) I really believe that joining TOPS was one of the best things I could have ever done for myself, it keeps me accountable and inspires me to do better. Since I have started, I have almost lost 30 pounds! :D

Tonight is our meeting night, and since aunt flo showed up today Im expecting a big gain...plus, this week I havent been doing so well with my eating either. :o But Im reading my Dr Phil book again, and Im recommiting myself to doing better (like I was when I first started!) so hopefully by the end of summer I can make it to my first big mini-goal! :D

Oh... and since the bingo thing was brought up, I just wanted to mention the bingo type game we played with our group... It was called "dieto" and it was just a big bingo looking card with pound numbers in the squares... some had 1 pound, some had 1/4th, some had 2, some had 1/2 and so forth. When you weighed in, you could stamp over your squares of how much you lost. Like if someone lost 2 1/2 pounds, then they could stamp off a 2 and a 1/2 or two 1/4 blocks. There were also 3 turtle squares too. By the time someone won, they would have lost 18 pounds total. :D It was pretty fun. My only suggestion would be to make it a 10 pound loss because after a while, people kind of lost intrest. I had a lot of fun with it... and I won the totebag prize! :D

Anyway... once again, just thought I would come say hi! Im looking forward to getting to know all of you guys! :)

yay, TOPS!
 

It's so fun for me to hear others' experiences in their groups. My group is small; only five people. My friend and I joined at the same time about six months ago, so the group size almost doubled with us there. :p The group is pretty informal about activities and topics or "rap sessions", but I think they would be open to new ideas. I might suggest we try a bingo game!

:D it's been such a long time since i've received anything from this message board. i was surprised to see a message from 3fatchicks in my e-mail box this morning! :D

I was wondering what TOPS was.. I went to their site and found there is a meeting every Thur 5 mins from my house! I'm going to give the lady that runs it a call and see if I can talk my mom into going with my tomorrow!! YAY :)

I hope to see you on here more often :wave: Let us know what you think after the meeting ;)

:D welcome to the group tamlynne! where in pa do you live? i live in ny about 45 minutes from the ny/pa border. :D

Welcome and Hi
 

Welcome Tamlynne - and hello to Ciecie too. I am pretty close to you, Cierce. At least I think so. I'm between Buffalo and Rochester. Is Mayville near Buffalo? :?:

I played hooky from work today and caught up on some TOPs stuff. I took home our chapter's scrap book and added the latest pics from our Fall Rally. It was fun to look back - our chapter is 8 years old now. :hb:

Hope you post often! I find sitting at the computer keeps me away from the kitchen :D

:D mayville is about an hour from buffalo. :D

:high: Not too far away at all, then. I heard this weekend is supossed to be nice. Hopefully we can get outside and do some yard work. I need to rake leaves and mulch my roses. Last year they all died from the cold. This time I planted them deeper and will cover them with leaves and mulch. :yes:

Have a good week and weekend.:bike:

Hi guys
Just joined this group, also joined Tops in Aug, barely made to any meetings (my job and just plain excuses) but I went back last month and they welcomed me with open arms and I promised to continue, I have never been more serious in my life, I am making lots of good changes, But will take all the help and encourgement I can get
Lynda

Welcome Lynda :wave: Glad to have you aboard....I am sure you will reach your goal, You have a wonderful attitude ;)

Welcome
 

I second that! :welcome3: I joined the on-line group about a month ago and it's helped me lots! Looks like you're across the lake from me. I'm just outside Rochester, NY.

If you want to introduce yourself further, go to the biography sticky, copy and paste the questions, and fill in with your information.

I find that posting often keeps me motivated. :cb:

thanks for the welcome guys, thanks for the encourgement Christie, Lynard can you explan exactly where that Biography Sticky is??? I keep getting lost on here, Im sure it is staring me in the face
Lynda
when do all you guys weigh in at Tops, my weigh in is Thur

Hey TOPS gals! I am trying to get a chapter started here in my home town. I love encouraging and helping others, so I think I'd make a great leader, plus I'd be keeping myself accountable! I love the DIETO idea!

Hi all,
I haven't yet joined a TOPS chapter as I'm in a play and my evenings have been eaten up by rehearsals. Therefore, we've had a lot of fast food recently due to my crazy schedule. The wife of a friend goes to the meetings near me, so I may attend with her after the play is over. I belong to a great forum that gave me lots of motivation, but they "improved" it and I can no longer log in due to a funky glitch. I hope to find some support over here!

I was a member of TOPS in 1967 as a teen (lost 60 lbs then), and I was thrilled to see a TOPS chapter here when we moved to CA. I have been a member for two years and was really gung-ho.....for awhile. Now, I feel like eating everything in sight. I need to be here too.... Hi all!