CLAREMORE — At age 64, Sue Vannoy has a new lease on life. She has achieved a 100-pound weight loss and feels better than she has in years.
She credits her involvement with TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) for helping her not only lose the weight, but gain a new healthy lifestyle.
“I’ve always been heavy, since I started school,” Vannoy said. “I really started getting large in eighth grade. I was so tired of being tired, not being able to buy clothes from the stores and getting out of breath climbing the high school stairs.”
When she was a sophomore in high school, a friend whose mother was a TOPS leader invited her to a meeting.
“She told me about a ‘club’ she attended that was a support group,” Vannoy said. “I enjoyed the interaction with other teens and people that had the same ‘problem’ as I did.”
With the encouragement she found in the group, Vannoy lost 80 pounds and was even named TOPS’ Oklahoma State “Princess.”
“Then I had some things happen and I ate my way to comfort,” she said. “After I had children, I kept gaining more and more.”
Sue found herself back in the same place she had been in 1964, only many pounds heavier.
“By this time I had been in and out of TOPS twice, Tried Weight Watchers, diet pills, liquid diets and anything I thought would help me lose weight,” she said.
She even underwent surgery to have her stomach stapled.
As a last resort, Vannoy rejoined TOPS about 10 years ago, but said it wasn’t until three years ago that she got serious about finally losing the weight for good.
“I was just miserable,” she remembers. “We had just adopted one of our granddaughters and I couldn’t keep up with how active she was. That was one of the big reasons.”
She hit the 100-pound weight loss mark this past March.
“I had lost 30 pounds before coming back to TOPS the last time, so I have actually lost one whole person. A lot of people don’t recognize me anymore,” she said. “It has been a slow up and down battle. It’s taken me many years, but I’m keeping it off. It feels so good to be able to walk farther, breathe easier, bend over and tie my shoes.”
Vannoy is quick to say her success is not due to a diet, but a complete lifestyle change.
She now eats smaller portions, divides her meals at restaurants, drinks lots of water, and makes sure she is eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer sweets. She also walks at the Claremore Rec Center.
“It’s very hard because everything is centered around food,” she said. “I have to ask myself ‘am I really hungry or am I just wanting this because it’s there?’ I’ve learned that food doesn’t really comfort.”
Now instead of eating, she reads or plays on the computer.
“And most of all, I pray,” she said. “Anybody who tells you that doesn’t work doesn’t know what they’re talking about! A lot of times food just doesn’t interest me like it used to.”
Vannoy’s biggest advice for those wanting to lose weight is to use smaller plates and not deprive yourself if you’re craving something.
“Go ahead and eat a little of it because if you deprive yourself, when you finally cave, you’ll overeat,” she said.
She said the support and accountability she gets from TOPS has been an integral part of her journey.
“You weigh in every week. They don’t make fun of you; they encourage,” she said. “Everybody’s there for the same reason.”
And Sue is not done yet; she still wants to lose another 25 pounds.
Her husband, Robert, has been a member of another local TOPS group for five years.
“I liked to eat, so by joining the group I have accountability at home and the accountability of the group,” he said. “It changes your way of thinking about what you put in your mouth.”
TOPS groups meet in Claremore on Monday nights and Wednesday mornings.
For more information about TOPS, call Sue at (918) 343-1947.
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