Weight-loss milestone celebrated

"It happened one summer in 1976 in St. Louis, Missouri. We were in a garden and my husband took a picture of me leaning over like this and he took the back of me," Ruth Newkirk told her TOPS group. "I said that was it, I've got to join a group."

Newkirk did end up joining a group. In January of 1978 she joined the TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly, group where she lived in Rogers City, Mich.
She went to a doctor to determine her ideal weight.

"I had to lose, I think it was 29 pounds," she said. "So it wasn't too much."

Newkirk ate smaller portions and healthier foods to take off her pounds. She reached her goal weight that year along with her best friend, who was also going through the program.

"My best friend got to be the queen that year and I was runner-up that year, but I did get a nice trophy," Newkirk said.

TOPS Club Inc. has chapters worldwide. Each year, the organization has a State Recognition Day to honor "kings and queens" of weight loss. The best loser of the year has to lose a certain amount and has to be a new TOPS member that year. Newkirk and her best friend were awarded with the queen position and runner-up of their chapter.

Newkirk also moved up from TOPS to a KOPS (Keep Off Pounds Sensibly). A KOPS plaque was awarded to her after maintaining her goal weight for 13 weeks.

"And I have maintained it since, so I think that's something to be very proud of," she further told the group. "I've maintained between three pounds above and seven below."

Since beginning the program, the 75-year old Newkirk has moved back to her hometown of Seymour and has managed to maintain her weight as for 30 years. Friends in the group as well as family came to celebrate her success with gifts and a lunch full of nutritious foods during a recent meeting.

"Mildred (Fenneberg) is the one that has encouraged me the most," Newkirk said of one of her TOPS friends.

"Now we have 35 to look forward to," Fenneberg said of reaching another goal.

"I can get to 30, but I don't know about 35 (years)," Newkirk said jokingly. "Mildred says, ‘Yes, you can do it!"

What is her motivation for maintaining her weight?

"My motivation is coming to TOPS every week," she said. "I really enjoy this group a lot."

According to the TOPS Club Inc. Web site at www.tops.org, the organization is a nonprofit, noncommercial weight-loss support organization based in Milwaukee, with chapters worldwide. According to the Web site, the organization's two-fold objective is to encourage healthy lifestyles through weight management support groups and to sponsor obesity research.

The local TOPS 906 Chapter meets every Friday in the basement of Immanuel Lutheran Church. Weigh-in is at noon, and the meeting begins at 12:30 p.m. For information, call Patty Herkamp at 522-7533 or 498-1750.