This was the story I shared at the TOPS Fall Workshop. A few people have asked if I could share it here on my FB page. Hi everyone! My name is Angela Cummings and I am a member of the Putney group 0170! Yay!! My weight loss journey began in June 2013, when I decided it was just time to quit making excuses and do something. I finally felt that my life really depended on it...literally. Several months before, my mother in law, our TOPS queen this year, Jane Garrett, sent me an email that was titled No More Excuses! Inside it read There is a TOPS chapter close to you. Here is the name of the leader and her phone number. Just give her a call and talk to her. If I can do it...anyone can. I was so nervous about joining a group...especially the weighing in part! What do I weigh...I havent weighed in a couple of years? Will the scales even go up high enough to weigh me? After much thought and prayer, a plan seemed to just kinda fall together in my mind. I had a new found motivation and determination. It was amazing to me how simple it really needed to be. I knew I needed to quit using my knee pain as an excuse for not exercising and just make ANY effort that I could to move around more and that plain and simple, it comes down to taking in less calories than your body burns. My next grocery trip, I sought out things that were low calorie/low fat or fat free. I came home with snack size baggies and separated out portions for my snack items like pretzels and such. My next step was that I finally sat down one day and called the TOPS group leader, Theresa Henderson. She was really easy to talk to and I began to feel more comfortable about the whole thing...not to mention the fact that she told me they had recently gotten new scales that weighed up to 500 lbs! Even then I found myself wondering...hmmm...this is going to be really bad if THOSE scales will not even weigh me. My first visit to a TOPS meeting was July 1st, 2013 and I joined on that day. I couldnt wait to get to the meetings each week to see how I did. I did not have scales at home that would weigh me so my results were always a surprise. It was kinda nice that way, because your weight can fluctuate up and down so much that getting on the scales every day can discourage you and sometimes just plain drive you crazy! My weight steadily dropped and by the end of December I had lost 74.5 lbs. I struggled a little, up and down, after the first of the year, but by June I had reached a huge goal for me which was losing 100 lbs! I attended SRD with my head held high as I was recognized as 1st place winner in my division for the 74.5 lbs. I had lost before the end of the year. SRD was lots of fun and anybody who has never made it to one should definitely try to go next year! On July 28th, my life got turned upside down. I lost my husband to a massive heart attack. He was only 49 years old. We had just celebrated our 29th anniversary on July 6th and my birthday 5 days before he passed away. He was so proud of me for my weight loss accomplishments. He was my #1 cheerleader and met me at the car after every single TOPS meeting to see how I had done. I never knew that someone could feel so lost and lonely. Everything in my life has changed, but the thought of giving up on my weight loss journey has never crossed my mind. I will continue and I will meet my goal, because I know that he is still cheering me on from above. I want to thank all of my TOPS family who have shown so much love and support through all of this. I got so many cards and messages....it all meant so much. Lets all make a special effort to slow down in life a little bit and take the time to encourage anyone who is in need of a little uplifting. To every one of you here that are struggling in one way or another....dont give up...keep telling yourself...I CAN DO THIS!!
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 19:06:23 +0000
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