Weigh-in support group (TOPS)

"Cubit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had failed for 15 months to find a local support group for low carb.
However, I have discovered a group with zillions of chapters that meet
once
a week. It is non-profit and only costs $20 to join.

http://www.tops.org/

They do not mind a person doing low carb.

This is a very old organization. Half of my local group is composed of
women who are 70 years old, or older. The group is very much in need of
new
blood. 24 members locally. They are all women except for the one man
that
is the leader of the group. He begged me to stay.

They have several recitations that have a religious tone to them. The
theme
seemed to be confessing their emotional eating.... (Not something I
believe
in.)

I think the Peter Principle could be twisted to apply to the members.

They have a subgroup called "KOPS" at the meeting, who are members who are
at their goal weight. Of 5 KOPS members, four were visibly quite
overweight, and the fifth looked anorexic. I guess the four set high goal
weights.

Despite the failings, I think the group has potential. They claim over
300,000 members, so there may be more to the organization than I'm seeing
in
the local group.

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

I'm not really familiar with them, but I do know that TOPS (Take Off Pounds
Sensibly) has been around for many years.

[censored] Stephens

Cubit said:

I had failed for 15 months to find a local support group for low

carb.

Quoted message said:

However, I have discovered a group with zillions of chapters that

meet once

Quoted message said:

a week. It is non-profit and only costs $20 to join.

http://www.tops.org/

They do not mind a person doing low carb.

This is a very old organization.

As far as I know they are a spin-off from Overeaters Anonymous
so they are a 12-step group. 12-step groups are some of the
best support groups around. I've read that OA has a better
5-year retention rate than any other system including WW.
This makes sense given that they preach you need to come
weekly for the rest of your life.

Quoted message said:

Half of my local group is composed of
women who are 70 years old, or older. The group is very much in need

of new

Quoted message said:

blood. 24 members locally. They are all women except for the one

man that

Quoted message said:

is the leader of the group. He begged me to stay.

Chuckle. They didn't one of the women take charge?

Quoted message said:

They have several recitations that have a religious tone to them.

Consistant with a 12-step program. They don't require any
particular religion but anyone in a non-Christian religion
who is not in complete comfort with their own faith is
likely to find the fact that they are majority Christians
a source of discomfort. Christians tend to think that
anyone religious or spiritual must also be Christian. Part
of being in the majority and therefore not exposed to
variety I suspect.

The 12th step goes something like "Having undergone a
spiritual reawakening as a result of our efforts, we go out
into the world to help others who are suffering from our
affliction." 12 steps groups pray at most of their
mettings.

Quoted message said:

The theme
seemed to be confessing their emotional eating.... (Not something I

believe

Quoted message said:

in.)

Don't only see it on the surface. These folks have a
chance to spend year after year working through any
emotional issue they have with the help of the group.
Being at OA/TOPS their emotional issues tend to come
out through emotional eating.

Quoted message said:

I think the Peter Principle could be twisted to apply to the members.

That's one way of looking at it. In AA the ones who
are able to do the 13th step are really the ones who
weren't addicted in the first place. So you need to
still have issues to think it worth going. But is
that a bad thing? Fumbling through is still working
your issues.

Quoted message said:

They have a subgroup called "KOPS" at the meeting, who are members

who are

Quoted message said:

at their goal weight. Of 5 KOPS members, four were visibly quite
overweight, and the fifth looked anorexic. I guess the four set high

goal

Quoted message said:

weights.

Chuckle.

Quoted message said:

Despite the failings, I think the group has potential. They claim

over

Quoted message said:

300,000 members, so there may be more to the organization than I'm

seeing in

Quoted message said:

the local group.

Yup.

Quoted message said:

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

The most successfull dieters in the national registry (the folks
that don't ask questions that low carbers can answer) don't skip
meals. So I suggest that as long as it was a light meal it
actually helped ther long term adherence. On the other hand if
they did the common 12-step thing of having cake and ice cream
I agree.

"Cubit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

=========================
There's a TOPS group in the town where we go for dinner once a week. You're
correct in they go out to EAT after their meetings. We often see them (we
recognize members of the group) in the places we go. You wouldn't believe
how much food they consume from the all-you-can-eat bar at Shoney's etc.
And all of them are obese. I don't think they're a group really serious
about losing weight.
--
Wysong
Age 60. Height 5'6"
Starting date: 1/8/05
171/ 164 / 140 lb
Starting date LC 7/01 at 207lbs
Stopped losing on LC 11/01 at 165lbs
==========================================
NOW WALKING 1.5 to 3 MILES DAY.
==========================================

"Cubit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This is a very old organization. Half of my local group is composed of
women who are 70 years old, or older. The group is very much in need of
new
blood. 24 members locally. They are all women except for the one man
that
is the leader of the group. He begged me to stay.

They have several recitations that have a religious tone to them. The
theme
seemed to be confessing their emotional eating.... (Not something I
believe
in.)

I think the Peter Principle could be twisted to apply to the members.

They have a subgroup called "KOPS" at the meeting, who are members who are
at their goal weight. Of 5 KOPS members, four were visibly quite
overweight, and the fifth looked anorexic. I guess the four set high goal
weights.

Despite the failings, I think the group has potential. They claim over
300,000 members, so there may be more to the organization than I'm seeing
in
the local group.

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

This is exactly how it was when I went to meetings over 20 years ago, right
down to the self-defeating "going out to dinner" after the meeting. It was
always our cheat night. And I remember the whole weigh in process a lot of
the ladies did...strip off all jewelry and go take a pee. We would have
ladies exclaim that they were losing fat because there was bubbles in their
urine...that was the fat leaving their body, they would excitedly claim (and
no one disputed them). The [censored] at the poor gal manning the scale that
evening, because after all, she had to be doing something wrong because the
"weighee" had been so good all week. The roll call, and when someone
reported a gain, a snide chorus of, "See ya lighter!" ensued.

Then our one KOPS member, who reached her goal by eating only three tins of
tuna a day, but filled out her food sheets to reflect differently.

But, that was just the group I was in. I just live in a weird area.
Obviously the group as an organization is doing well, it has stood the test
of time overall.

Lisa

In article <[email hidden]>, Cubit

Quoted message said:

I had failed for 15 months to find a local support group for low carb.
However, I have discovered a group with zillions of chapters that meet once
a week. It is non-profit and only costs $20 to join.

http://www.tops.org/

They do not mind a person doing low carb.

This is a very old organization. Half of my local group is composed of
women who are 70 years old, or older. The group is very much in need of new
blood. 24 members locally. They are all women except for the one man that
is the leader of the group. He begged me to stay.

They have several recitations that have a religious tone to them. The theme
seemed to be confessing their emotional eating.... (Not something I believe
in.)

I think the Peter Principle could be twisted to apply to the members.

They have a subgroup called "KOPS" at the meeting, who are members who are
at their goal weight. Of 5 KOPS members, four were visibly quite
overweight, and the fifth looked anorexic. I guess the four set high goal
weights.

Despite the failings, I think the group has potential. They claim over
300,000 members, so there may be more to the organization than I'm seeing in
the local group.

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

I can't tell you how much I disliked TOPS and their twelve step touch
feely program. I was a member in the late 1970's and left after one
meeting. I renamed it FLOPS! maybe I am just too much of a loner
although WW meetings worked for me for a long time. I've done it with
great help from ASD on the Net. It's been my favorite group because we
are not held to a tight agenda.

Quoted message said:

--
Diva
*****
The Best Man For The Job Is A Woman

In article <[email hidden]>, Ignoramus30876

Quoted message said:

I would be greatly surprised if such a social setting would be in any
way helpful to you personally, given what I know about
you. Personally, I am getting all encouragement and advice from these
newsgroups that I need.

Yikes, tovarich..what do you know?

--
Diva
*****
The Best Man For The Job Is A Woman

No they're not. They were around before OA. It's a good group, and
inexpensive. You follow your own diet. However, as in any weight loss,
your success or failure is determined by yourself.

--
Cheri

Doug Freyburger wrote in message

Quoted message said:

As far as I know they are a spin-off from Overeaters Anonymous
so they are a 12-step group. 12-step groups are some of the
best support groups around. I've read that OA has a better
5-year retention rate than any other system including WW.
This makes sense given that they preach you need to come
weekly for the rest of your life.

Cubit's experience made me laugh. Like I mentioned, I was in a TOPS group
overseas (Germany)- one of the only weekly events for a military wife to go
to. I met some KOPS and some gals on the rebound and some losers-mostly it
was social for us. I'd say we all had a few sizes in the closet. Te
organization did have a place in our community. some of those gals were
desperate to lose weight and far from home. We all had a common interest.

We never dined together but I did attend the annual convention in Bavaria
(for us) and drove down with a former Top loser of the year who now drove
with 2 serious bags of snacks next to her. It was memorable- I toured
[censored]'s salt mine- I can't remember a thing about the actual
convention....only the Oreos that sat next to my fellow TOPSEE
I got my own motivation since I had a new baby and took the weigh-ins
seriously. It was a 1500 cal diet I was familiar with and lost 30 pounds. I
had a nice charm bracelet that was getting a lot of charms on it. I threw
it out a few years ago when I didn't care about my weight. That event was
nothing compared to now- keeping off 55 pounds

the only way a dinner meeting would work would be if you were learning to
eat out and keep to your plan. Not rationalize bad eating, or justify bad
behavior. The only way I can be an inspiration now is to keep the pounds off
for good. For that I won't need to utter a word.

Diane

"Cubit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had failed for 15 months to find a local support group for low carb.
However, I have discovered a group with zillions of chapters that meet
once
a week. It is non-profit and only costs $20 to join.

http://www.tops.org/

They do not mind a person doing low carb.

This is a very old organization. Half of my local group is composed of
women who are 70 years old, or older. The group is very much in need of
new
blood. 24 members locally. They are all women except for the one man
that
is the leader of the group. He begged me to stay.

They have several recitations that have a religious tone to them. The
theme
seemed to be confessing their emotional eating.... (Not something I
believe
in.)

I think the Peter Principle could be twisted to apply to the members.

They have a subgroup called "KOPS" at the meeting, who are members who are
at their goal weight. Of 5 KOPS members, four were visibly quite
overweight, and the fifth looked anorexic. I guess the four set high goal
weights.

Despite the failings, I think the group has potential. They claim over
300,000 members, so there may be more to the organization than I'm seeing
in
the local group.

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Cubit said:

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

The TOPS group in my area has always done this. My mother-in-law used to
own the only eatery in town. I got a kick out of the warning shout from
the waitresses "TOPS is here." But their orders were usually one-egg
broccoli and cheese omelets, one slice of homemade raisin toast (a
must!), and one slice of bacon or sausage. A bowl of oatmeal here or
there, but nobody ever went "whole-hog" and got a farmer's breakfast
(pancakes, eggs, meat, toast, homefries) or anything like that.

TOPS is still going strong around here (right, Laurie?), 'cept now they
meet on Thursday nights. They still get together at the diner after, but
I think the chicken caesar salad is the meal of choice.

They seem like a fun bunch of gals. If I had to do it over again, I
wouldn't mind losing with them.

Amy
168/115/...

Igor,

You are probably right.

While I'm a bit calorie restricted, I spend a lot of time thinking about
food related subjects, such as nutrition and dieting, so the group can be
part of that agenda.

I'm curious about the group's politics, given its national scope and 300,000
members. Also, I have wondered if some younger women might pop in from time
to time....

I feel I've mastered this dieting thing. To properly showoff, I need an
audience. I'm far enough below the weight of my friends, that the topic of
weightloss is now impolite. Relatives are starting to worry that I am
losing weight too fast. I'm thinking this can be a new venue for talking
about dieting. My best information is online, but direct human interaction
has a function too.

"Ignoramus30876" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I would be greatly surprised if such a social setting would be in any
way helpful to you personally, given what I know about
you. Personally, I am getting all encouragement and advice from these
newsgroups that I need.

--
223/173.1/180

The group I belong to has a lot of fun too. Some of them go to lunch
every Wednesday after the meeting and continue to have slow, steady
weight losses each week. I've never gone to lunch with them because it's
not at a convenient time for me, but I see nothing wrong with it. :-)

--
Cheri

A Ross wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Cubit said:

After the meeting they all go out to dinner. That aspect seems
self-defeating to me. I skipped the dinner.

The TOPS group in my area has always done this. My mother-in-law used

to

Quoted message said:

own the only eatery in town. I got a kick out of the warning shout from
the waitresses "TOPS is here." But their orders were usually one-egg
broccoli and cheese omelets, one slice of homemade raisin toast (a
must!), and one slice of bacon or sausage. A bowl of oatmeal here or
there, but nobody ever went "whole-hog" and got a farmer's breakfast
(pancakes, eggs, meat, toast, homefries) or anything like that.

TOPS is still going strong around here (right, Laurie?), 'cept now they
meet on Thursday nights. They still get together at the diner after,

but

Quoted message said:

I think the chicken caesar salad is the meal of choice.

They seem like a fun bunch of gals. If I had to do it over again, I
wouldn't mind losing with them.

Amy
168/115/...

Cubit schreef:

Quoted message said:

Igor,

You are probably right.

While I'm a bit calorie restricted, I spend a lot of time thinking about
food related subjects, such as nutrition and dieting, so the group can be
part of that agenda.

I'm curious about the group's politics, given its national scope

Better make that *inter*national scope. Don't forget, it's the *world*
*wide* web!

Quoted message said:

and 300,000
members. Also, I have wondered if some younger women might pop in from time
to time....

Sorry, I'm 49 (and happily married :-).

Quoted message said:

I feel I've mastered this dieting thing. To properly showoff, I need an
audience. I'm far enough below the weight of my friends, that the topic of
weightloss is now impolite.

Congratulations!

Berna (101.5/75.5/~68 kg)
--
( )_( ) Berna M. Bleeker-Slikker
/ . . \ [email hidden]
\ \@/ / http://www.volksliedjes.nl