The day Peggy Blair found out that she was Oregon’s TOPS Queen brought mixed emotions.
Blair, a longtime Sweet Home resident, had recently moved to Lebanon, where she met weekly with local Take Off Pounds Sensibly members.
Her journey to losing approximately half her body weight started three years ago, when Blair was told she needed surgery.
But her doctor told Blair she had a bigger problem: her weight.
“I have always been overweight,” Blair said. “When I was a child, my mother took me to the doctor about my weight. He told her that I would lose it when I was ready.
“Nobody knew that I would not be ready until I was in my 70s.”
Blair had been working and was active at Sweet Home Emergency Ministries when, she said, her doctor told her she needed hernia surgery.
“But she told me she couldn’t operate until I’d lost 25 pounds.”
Blair had successfully lost weight before, through TOPS, a club that provides support and wellness education to members, who meet weekly in chapter meetings for weigh-ins and instruction in healthy eating, regular exercise, and wellness information.
Blair had dropped from 325 pounds to 170 while she worked professionally, first in Salem and then at Oregon State University.
“I stopped attending when my weight went from 325 to 170 pounds,” she said. “I gained most of it back.”
Now retired, Blair decided she would rejoin TOPS to get her weight down.
“I set a goal for myself to never again have to lose weight to have a necessary medical procedure,” she said. Also, she didn’t want to have to have medical intervention to get herself to a healthy weight.
She said it took “a year or so” to get the weight off so she could have her operation, but then she decided to keep going.
Dr. Vanessa Papalazaros “was my incentive,” Blair said. “Every now and then, when I was at the Lebanon hospital for blood work, she would come by and give me a pat on my shoulder.
“I give a lot of credit to the doctor. She uses me as an example.”
Blair ended up losing 120.5 pounds and that earned her, this year, the 2024 TOPS Oregon Queen, meaning she lost more weight than any other female TOPS members in the entire state and reached their goal weight.
She said she mainly dieted, but “I did exercise for a while.”
“I used one of those little walking machines that you see on TV now that you can adjust the tension on. It made my legs stronger so I could climb stairs. Walking is good exercise.”
She said she often uses “periodic fasting,” in which she eats twice a day with a six- or seven-hour break, usually some sort of protein.
Blair said she was informed by an area TOPS coordinator that she was the No. 1 loser in the state.
“It was one of those days when it was the best day of my life but also the worst day of my life,” she said, adding that she learned that day she was going to lose her driver’s license because she had not scored high enough on a memory test. That was why she needed more specific public transportation than Sweet Home could offer, which was her main reason for moving to Lebanon.
“Lebanon has a lot more transportation than Sweet Home,” Blair said. “I made an adjustment to use public transportation. I ride with friends now and then, but I don’t want to take advantage of my friends.”
Although she had told friends “I wasn’t going to move from Sweet Home, because 79 is too old to start over again, I turned around and did it and I’m glad that I did.”
Now that she’s got all that weight off, Blair said she has a new challenge.
“As you lose weight, you lose appetite also,” she said of her recent achievement. It’s been hard to maintain weight. I’ve had to work at gaining weight, which is a real strange feeling for me.”
She said weekly TOPS meetings provide “very good support.”
“We weigh in and then we tell whether we have lost weight. We are a welcoming, caring group pf friends. If someone has gained weight, we encourage them.”
And, she said, the encouragement goes beyond that: “Some have family members who have medical problems that take a lot of their time and concern and their worry.
“We’re there also to help support them emotionally through their hard times.”
She has this advice for people struggling with their weight: “Don’t become a hermit. Be with people. The TOPS group is a very good support group.”
Also, she said, she set a long-term goal to lose weight, which she credits for her success, and which she recommends to others.
“I look at the mirror and think, “You don’t look bad for a formerly fat old woman,” Blair said, chuckling. “I went to the (Department of Motor Vehicles) and asked for a new picture. I was afraid if I was pulled over, they wouldn’t recognize me.
“I’m about half the person I used to be. A friend told me, ‘No you’re the same person. You’re just half the size.’”