TOPS Challenge

Cut & Burn

Making small changes produces big results!

Dear TOPS Friends:

TOPS “Cut and Burn” Challenge continues for all TOPS field staff through IRD 2012. All Field Staff who meet the challenge will receive a “Cut and Burn” ribbon to attach to their name badge and wear proudly throughout IRD as proof of the successful changes they made. I hope you are sharing this simple, effective call to action. There is a section in The Choice Is Mine (Revised Edition) on making and sustaining small changes that ties is very well with this initiative.

Many of us have been in TOPS for several years and have achieved considerable success for a while. Then, for a variety of reasons, some of us began slipping back into old habits. Sometimes, we undermine our best efforts by overwhelming ourselves with too many changes or by selecting changes that are too large. Looking back with the clarity of hindsight, we realize that a small, sustainable loss each year would have been an amazing achievement. Defining, making, and continuing such changes are,
together, our new challenge. How to define the success of our efforts is detailed later in this message.

It is never too late!  Join us by beginning to “Cut and Burn”, today. Spend a week journaling everything you eat and all the exercise you do. Do not make changes in your routine during this week just because you are journaling. Then, review your lists and select 100 calories to cut from your daily food plan. Also, decide how you will increase your activity to burn 100 calories more each day. These two small changes could result in a 20-pound loss if continued for one year.  If each of us just lost half that amount, we would reach the million pound loss goal this year.  Let's do it!

I care,

Barbara Cady
President, TOPS Club, Inc.