Keeping the weight off harder than losing it
Meredith Kerr
Journal Staff
Adèle Dechaine grew up watching her mother struggle with her weight and credits that experience as a motivating factor for her involvement in the Mallaig chapter of Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), a weight loss support group with chapters in communities throughout the Lakeland.
“It took my Mom a long time to get to her goal. She started the chapter, but she didn’t get to goal until . . . well I graduated and she had gotten to goal, so a little bit ahead of when I joined,” said Dechaine, who joined TOPS in July 1999 after getting married.
“When I originally joined, I only had 15 pounds to lose to goal, but then I got pregnant with my first child and it became 68 pounds to goal,” said Dechaine.
She met her goal in Sept. 2000, roughly six months after her daughter, now 19, was born, and successfully got back to her goal weight of 150 pounds another three times following subsequent pregnancies. She continues to maintain at her goal weight today.
“It’s harder to keep the weight off than it was to initially lose it,” said Dechaine. “Statistics show for every time you put on weight your body remembers that and wants to keep in that state of mind, so every time I got pregnant and gained the 60 plus pounds it was that much harder to take it back off again because muscle retention and everything.”
Dechaine says the main things she did to lose the weight were change the way she was eating and going walking every day.
“It’s a lifestyle change. It’s not a quick fix, it’s not going to happen overnight. You didn’t gain the weight overnight so don’t expect to lose it overnight,” said Dechaine. She noted the accountability offered by the weekly weigh-in was a factor for her.
“You go in to a private room with the weight recorder and the assistant. They’re the only other people who know your weight and they track it on a card. It’s up to you whether or not you share that with anyone. Nobody knows the actual number, it’s up to you whether you share if you gained or you lost or you’re just glad you’re here. The accountability is personal, it’s not necessarily something you share with everyone,” said Dechaine.
She said most of the people who choose to attend the meetings will share how things went that week because, “when you leave you feel like you’ve come home with some tools and maybe that extra kick in the pants you need to get going, or if you’ve had a good week you can help someone else with what you’ve done.”
Dechaine said the group gives people the tools they need to make the changes. “Nobody can do it for you, but you can have a whole room full of people that are there to support you and ask questions and be there for you,” she said.
Asked if keeping the weight off has changed how she feels about herself, Dechaine said it was never really about the number on the scale for her.
“It was about being able to keep up with my kids and not be winded, and to tie your shoes easily and go shopping and not have the stigma of only being able to shop at certain places. And being from a small town of course everybody knows you, being able to carry a conversation with someone and not feel like everybody is staring."
Mallaig TOPS meets on Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Mallaig Seniors Hall.
St. Paul TOPS meets on Tuesday evenings from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Town of St. Paul Municipal Library.
