TOPS Member Celebrates Milestone

Wellsburg resident Brenda Long has worked all of her adult life being independent, until she had the misfortune of needing a knee replacement, several surgeries on her foot and ankle, and having a major stroke.
After these problems arose, she had to quit working and spent a lot of time learniung to walk again.
“Needless to say, I became depressed and inactive and the weight just piled on,” Long said.
At one of her doctor visits, Long was shocked by the numbers on the scale and knew she had to do something to change that. She was her doctor if he knew of any place she could go to get diet advice, as her attempt at losing weight was not working.
Her doctor suggested a program that he had heard about from a couple of his other patients – TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly).
“I got up the courage to go to a meeting at the Wellsburg #0453 Chapter. Everyone was so nice and welcoming and encouraged me to give it a try,” Long said.
She joined TOPS and, with everyone’s help and guideance and the accouontability of the group, along with calorie counting diet and mild exercise, she began to lose weight. “As my family, friends and TOPS group encourage me, I kept up the routine, increasing my exercise as I got healthier,” Long continued. “Now I exercise daily, and my doctor has reduced my medications and is very happy with my progress.”
To anyone wanting advice about how to get healthier, Long suggests finding a TOPS group and checking it out.
“With my groups encouragement and information and my determination, I am living a happier, healthier – physically and mentally – life now and there’s no looking back!”
The TOPS Chapter #0453 meet every Thursday at Christ Episcopal Church, located at 1014 Main St., Wellsburg. Weigh-in begins at 5:30 p.m. with the meeting following at 6 p.m.