Scott Swanson
Kathy Paddock-Rice says she’s always struggled with her weight.
“I was the heavy girl in my crowd,” she said. “All the other girls were skinny.”
That’s why, in sixth grade, she joined other members of her family in T.O.P.S.
Take Off Pounds Sensibly, which is what its better-known acronym stands for, has a long history in Sweet Home, and that has been illustrated this year with the celebration of one local club’s 50th anniversary – a milestone that is rapidly approaching for another.
Paddock-Rice is a member of local Club 0270, which celebrated its birthday just before last Thanksgiving. Area Coordinator Jeannette Lambert was present for the celebration.
T.O.P.S. used to be very popular in Sweet Home, Paddock-Rice said.
“There used to be a lot of T.O.P.S. groups, she said. “Now there are two.”
T.O.P.S. is a Milwaukee, Wisc.-based organization that was formed in 1948 to provide group support for people who were interested in losing weight. It is a flexible organization in that it does not endorse or promote particular diets or weight-loss plans and welcomes people who are involved in a variety of such.
Each club, which can number as few as four members, meets weekly for weight recording (weigh-in) and a main session, which usually involves education or special recognition after individual members report their progress.
Most of the members of Club 0270 have been involved for years, and all but one are 50-plus, some much older. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want younger members.
“Young people can join,” member Vi Hembree said. “That’s important.”
Member Claudia Butler said they follow carbohydrate plans that diabetics use and encourage exercise. And they view high-calorie fare with some prejudice.
“We’re trying to eat right portions,” Paddock-Rice said. “It’s not so much what we eat. It’s how much.”
Mention of portion sizes prompted input all around from the group.
“A large burger at Carl’s Jr. is enough for three people,” Leader Linda Fincher commented.
Paddock-Rice said when she joined, as a young teen, her first weigh-in “was a heart-breaker.”
Her weight was intensified by the fact that she wore a 55-pound brace because of scoliosis, she said.
Other family members were already involved, she said. In fact, her mother, Thelma Paddock, founded the current group.
“At one time it was Grandma, my mother, myself and both my younger sisters in the club,” she said.
“My mom always said that if it wasn’t for T.O.P.S. and the scale, she would have been one of those people whom they would have had to cut the wall out to get her out.”
Member Vi Hembry said she joined the current group in the mid-1990s.
“I think I was 220-something and I started because I’d been involved in T.O.P.S. before and I’d reached my goal. Then I started gaining weight again. I decided I needed to be accountable.”
Currently, the group has eight members, which is small. Most average around 20, and some number more than 100 people.
In addition to monitoring their weight and encouraging each other, the club attends events together on the road.
Paddock-Rice joked that she’s the one who gets to carry the bags because she’s one of the youngest.
Fincher, who joined in 2011, said she was a Gleaners member and was convinced by Hembree to try T.O.P.S.
“She invited me. I was ready. Now I’ve got to be able to keep up with my girlfriends.”
For more information on TOPS locally, contact Claudia Butler at (541) 228-8939 or Kathy Paddock-Rice at (541) 401-1657.