Nathan Bullen
College can be challenging for those students who wish to live a healthy lifestyle.
There are plenty of quick, convenient ways to avoid eating right, from late-night study sessions complete with Pokey Sticks from Gumby’s, to time-saving junk food feasts between classes.
And it isn’t just students diets.
Between rushing back and forth between classes and extracurricular activities, it can often be difficult to find the time to exercise.
This lack of exercise combined with detrimental eating habits not only leaves students feeling gross, it packs on the pounds.
For students who have struggled with weight all their life, students who recently gained weight and want to lose it, or students who want to learn more about how to take better care of themselves,Taking Off Pounds Sensibly provides the resources required.
According to Michelle Buretta, TOPS coordinator, whether students want to lose five pounds or 50 pounds, TOPS is a great way to be structured and stay on task.
“None of the information is top secret for people 20 pounds overweight or more,” Michelle Buretta, TOPS coordinator, said. “There’s some perception that TOPS is for heavy people, and that’s not the case at all.”
John Maynard, a graduate student in physiology, started coming to TOPS during the Spring 2007 semester. He found out about the group from friend Allen Cherrill, a senior in history and non-profit studies.
“I’m just trying to get healthy and lose some weight before going out into the real world,” Maynard said. “I don’t want to hold on to the Freshman 15 forever.”
“Or the Freshman 50,” added Cherrill.
Cherrill started coming to TOPS when he learned about the group from a flyer.
“I was tired of walking around campus and being out of breath,” Cherrill said. “I wanted to figure out a way to drop the extra weight.”
Stephanie Zimmer, a sophomore in statistics, discovered TOPS through a doctor at the Student Health Center. She said she likes the relaxed atmosphere of the group and the accountability of weekly meetings.
“It’s a good system of checks and balances,” said Cherrill. “You come in every week and get on the scale and do weigh-ins to make sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to.”
Results can vary for those involved, however. Since coming to the meetings, Zimmer said she has lost some weight, Maynard said he has lost 15 pounds, and Cherrill said while he hasn’t lost any weight, he hasn’t put any on.
“We set goals at the beginning of the semester,” said Buretta. “Last week we did mid-point assessments, and we do taping, measurements, and then we’ll do goal setting. We set exercise goals and folks are encouraged to go together.”
According to Buretta, meetings are strategically structured to provide a system of accountability. Every week, when group members first come in for the meeting, Buretta privately records their individual weight to track their progress. In a classroom in the student health center, the group gathers around a long table with Buretta and, if there is a speaker that week, the guest instructor at the head.
The meetings open with group discussion.
“Sharing is optional,” Buretta encouraged, as group members settled in and began to relate their struggles from the week and ask questions.
Cherrill confessed that the NCAA tournament has not exactly helped him stay on track. Another group member asked about stretching, and Buretta warned the group to be “careful about lifting weights. If it doesn’t feel right, it might not be right.” Buretta then asked if warmer weather has been an incentive, and Zimmer said her schedule only allows her a few days a week to workout.
“In a group setting you can only ask ‘why do I do something?’ so much,” Buretta said. “That’s such a personal journey and sometimes best addressed in an individual counseling setting because you may have different issues than the person next to you, different needs as such.”
After group discussion, there is what Buretta called the “educational component.”
Ashley Bryan, a senior in biology with a nutritional concentration, has taught a session entitled “Dining Out While Losing Weight: Secrets to Eating Out.” With handouts and nutritional information in front of them, group members compared the calorie content of different menu items of various fast food restaurants around campus and discussed the best way to control portions.
Bryan said she hopes to lead TOPS as a graduate student next year.
“The people who come here are phenomenal, and they face a lot of challenging issues that I think a lot of people don’t take the time to understand,” Bryan said. “I just want to be able to help people, I want them to feel comfortable. I want them to feel like they can make changes in their life and show them that is possible.”
TOPS is a national organization that, according to TOPS.org, was started in 1948 in Wisconsin. Buretta started the on-campus group in January 2005.
According to Buretta, it is a program similar to Weight Watchers, but is a non-profit organization.
“We were approached by an area captain to open a chapter,” she said. “Ours is different because it’s just for students… A lot of TOPS chapters are started by people who just want to get together.”
Buretta said dues are $24 for a year, and members can go to meetings anywhere in the world.
While the group began in 2005, Buretta said it didn’t “take off” until Spring 2006. There are two meetings a week – Mondays at noon and Wednesdays at 6 pm. While there were only one or two people attending meetings in the beginning, Buretta said there are now a steady six to seven people at each meeting.
Since the group started, Buretta said she has observed two different types of people who come to the meetings — those who really put the effort into making a change, and those who struggle and maybe don’t do so well, but still come for the educational aspect.
“So there are folks who are doing it and losing weight and there are folks who come for the information and the social support,” Buretta said.
Bryan said what she wants group members to get out of TOPS is a change of lifestyle.
“I want to help them feel happier and more confident in who they are through how they look,” she said. “If you don’t look good, you don’t have the confidence. And that’s why they’re here and they want to make changes, and I hope I could help them with that.”
For Buretta, TOPS is about providing the means for healthy transformation. She said she wants to empower the group with knowledge, and motivate them to make a change.
“Even if they’re losing weight slowly – even if they’re not losing any weight right now – I want just to make them understand that change is positive and it’s going to require some work, but the benefits are all what you put into it,” Buretta said.