Members enjoy annual Walkathon

We had our annual Walkathon last Monday with 10 attending our weigh in and eight enjoying the walk in the park and fun fellowship. Doris was our best weight loss of one pound.

This week we had 13 weigh in. We had a new member, Lynda, join our chapter today. We were excited to get to meet Lynda and have here become part of our chapter. She was in a TOPS chapter in Washington state. She will be an asset for our chapter. I had the biggest weight loss this week with a 1.9 pound loss. We started the Ladder contest this week. We have six member clothes pins on the first rung. Our chapter challenge for this coming week will be to exercise 30 minutes a day for three days.

I read the state coordinators email of the changes that are happening with TOPS CLUB INC. My program today for the chapter was from the Nov/Dec TOPS magazine about Diabetes: Living Your Life. Having diabetes may mean changes at work. It may also mean changes in your social life, but these changes won’t keep you from doing well at work or enjoying your free time. Your family and friends may have questions about diabetes. They may not understand why you need to make changes in your life. Urge them to learn about diabetes from you. Spend time with friends who support you in taking good care of yourself. With the holidays coming, we need to be aware of different food and drink we will need to be prepared for. At parties, focus on enjoying music, dancing or talking to friends. Bring a snack or dish that works well for you, other guest might welcome the low-calorie version of their favorite food. Work lunch meetings, shift changes or business travel may affect diabetes care. Make managing your diabetes a priority. If you find it hard to manage your daily work tasks, talk with you healthcare provider and your employer. You may need to make changes to your medicines if you travel across time zones. You may need to check your blood sugar more often. Tell your healthcare provider if you are feeling helpless or hopeless. Also tell them if you have trouble sleeping or eating. These are symptoms of depression. This is a serious but treatable problem.

We closed our meeting with the TOPS Pledge.

EVERYONE is invited to visit. The FIRST VISIT is FREE. It cost $49 a year to join TOPS Club INC. We meet at First Christian Church, 706 N Wheeler, Sallisaw, Monday at 10:30am-12pm. We begin weighing at 10:30am and the meeting starts at 11am and ends at 12. For more info, please call Billie at 918/413-1383. We look forward to meeting you.