Hi all,

I'm a new coleader for a TOPS group in Southern California. I am looking for ways to motivate the members in my group to lose weight more consistently. We do the normal stuff - monthly rewards, roll call, contests, and so on.

Does your group do anything special to motivate your members?

Thanks.

Christy

Hi creaky... Have you tried forming teams for games?? we just did one on the TopsDietersloop1 on yahoo.. It really was fun... Its a great way to get to know each other better.. I graduated from coleader to leader this year so I am trying to find ways to motivate also.. getting them involved with the club helps too. Just in the past year I have seen the girls step up to the bat when we delegated little jobs, like making folders, running a contest, making copies of different papers we need... Wealso started doing a Biggest Loser to help also. We had some very high gain weeks... so the next week everyone had to pay the biggest loser a dollar.... I think they want to do it all the time, lol Tops Hugs, Barb

We also have the $1 and $2 buckets. Each week, you can "bet" on yourself. If you think you can lose 1+ pound the next week, then you sign up and put $1 in the 1 bucket. If you think you can lose 2+ pounds the next week, then you sign up and put $2 in the 2 bucket. The next week, whoever signed up for each and accomplished that loss gets to split the pot. If you don't lose enough, you get nothing back, but if you do, then you at LEAST get back what you put in (usually more than what you put in, since obviously not everyone who signs up meets that goal each week). I've seen people win $20+ from this because no one lost enough one week, so all the money rode to the next week. These are both optional and don't motivate me, but a lot of the ladies play every single week.

Do you also have a prize for the biggest loser each month? We give all of our gainer's fees to the biggest loser of the month. The biggest loser for March got over $15.

In an effort to stop people from yo-yo dieting, we added a new award to our bilaws last year. Anyone who loses 10 pounds and doesn't gain any of it back for at least 6 weeks gets a prize (charm or whatever).

I also agree that team contests are quite motivational because your points are affecting others, not just yourself! We've seen quite a bit of success with our team contests, especially when we incorporate additional points to teammates who contact other TOPS members during the week, not just during the meeting. Some people really need support more often than just once a week, so that personal outreach really helps keep a lot of people on track.

We had a realy great program last week. 6 of our members acted out an Iron Chef competition (2 chefs, a host, and 3 judges). The 2 "chefs" had to prepare an appetizer, entree, and dessert each with the "secret ingredient." The secret ingredient this time was oats, since they are a healthy whole grain. So we all got 6 new recipes that use steel-cut oats! We may be making this a monthly thing--someone suggested we try tofu next time. It's a really fun way of sharing recipes with healthy ingredients that you may not have heard of or thought about before.

I think fun programs are really important. When I sit and listen to someone read a program, I get bored and lose interest. However, my group is VERY active--I think almost everyone has participated in giving a program at least once, including me. We've done skits, played games, made healthy recipes--we even did one program on how to dress and accessorize better if you're overweight. Things like that really apply to our day-to-day lives, so they're more interesting (IMO, of course).

Oh, we also have a woman who sends out an inspiration email once a week. Whatever she's been struggling with, she discusses and finds solutions and motivational information and shares it with the group. It's become so popular (she calls it FOCUS) that even members of other chapters receive it even from thousands of miles away!

Oh, and each week, the top loser for the week in our chapter gets to name a Forbidden Food and a Challenge. The Forbidden Fodd is something that all members have to avoid all week (or find healthy alternative--like last week, the forbidden food was pasta, but whole-wheat or only a single serving size were okay). The Challenge is often exercise-related...sometimes, it's to try a new exercise, sometimes it's to exercise a certain number of days, etc...or sometimes it's to drink more water or connect with other group members during the week outside of the meeting--things like that. Then, at each meeting, we pass around a piggy bank, and whoever did NOT stay away from the forbidden food or did NOT meet the challenge has to put a quarter in the pig (one quarter each for the food and challenge, so 2 quarters if you missed both).

On Saturday (or Sunday?) mornings, we also have a group of members who get together to walk. In winter, they often walk in malls, but now that it's nicer, they're moving back outside. They always announce the place and time to meet for anyone who would like to join them.

Wow, I guess my chapter does quite a bit That's why I love 'em!

Wow, Jilly, your chapter does do a lot.

I love the $1 and $2 pots! We have only 6 members, so we don't do as much as other groups might. We make necklaces by adding beads for each goal met (a loss, drinking daily water requirements, exercising 3x a week, etc.), and occasionally we do other stuff, but we don't do a lot with competition.

One of our members is in a different country for a few months, so last night we took a group photo (and individual "before/during" pictures) and emailed it to her, along with a photo of our scale. ha ha.

We often share weekly tips, what worked and what didn't.

Oh yeah, hehe, we do that, too! After roll call, we go around the room, and anyone who lost can share what they did that they found helpful. Also, anyone who didn't lose can ask questions or explain something that may have happened or as or announce something new they might try for the next week.

We usually have, I'd say, about 15-20 people at each meeting. There are lots of people on our roster who only come once every few weeks or hardly ever.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I'll talk them over with the board and see what we will do.

Christy K.