A lot of people struggle to lose weight. In Virginia, 1 in 3 adults are considered obese, with the obesity rate among adults at 35.2 percent according to the United Health Foundation. Obesity can increase the risk, cause or worsen an array of medical conditions including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer But one local woman is proving that weight loss can be achieved by committing to a healthy lifestyle. That’s how Esther Hicks of Forest lost 111.75 pounds. In fact, she was just recognized as a Virginia Queen, joining Taking Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS) royalty after losing the most weight out of any female TOPS member in the state of Virginia in 2023.
Hicks began her weight loss journey in 1999.
“So I realized if I wanted to live, I always said I was going to live to the age of my grandmother which was 84, I was going to have to get control of my weight,” Hicks said.
Like so many, she would stop and start a weight loss program, but could never manage to keep off the pounds. She told 10 News it was hard to consistently eat healthy.
“My main thing, I was a sweets eater,” Hicks said.
But after a serious talk with her doctor and facing heart and overall, health issues as a diabetic, she knew she had to make a change.
“I came to realize that there was no food that was worth my health,” Hicks said.
That’s when she joined TOPS. Hicks started attending organization meetings after learning about it from a friend who had successfully lost weight with help from the program.
TOPS is a nonprofit that offers members a weekly support group and teaches them how to eat healthily. TOPS is a non–commercial weight loss, education, and support organization.
It’s not a diet and it doesn’t sell its members meals or shakes to lose weight. The organization refers to its plan as a” lifestyle change for a lifetime.” TOPS was founded in 1948 and is credited with helping tens of thousands of people across the United States and Canada lose weight.
According to a fall 2023 survey of TOPS members, with more than 15,600 responses, 53% of respondents indicated that finding a program that would hold them accountable for weight loss/healthy lifestyle goals was one of the primary reasons for first joining TOPS. The median length of membership with TOPS is 10 years, while one in four survey respondents had been a member for 20 years or more.
10 News went to one of Hicks’s meetings at Sandusky Baptist Church in Lynchburg. Judy Pruett is the TOPS coordinator there.
“Here they can come at least once a week, some of our people are not married, their children are away. We become their family. We encourage each other,” Pruett said.
Members weight goals are set by their doctors and they report their progress every week. “Weighing in every week and being accountable to those scales is what keeps us on track,” Pruett said.
Last year Hicks met her doctor’s given weight goal that she worked years to attain.
“I was determined. I never gave up,” Hicks said.
While Hicks admitted at one point she thought about having bariatric surgery to help her achieve her goal, she ultimately decided against it. She said she knew many people who did the surgery and ended up gaining the weight back because they didn’t successfully change their eating habits. She also didn’t take weight loss drugs. She just changed her eating habits and started working out weekly.
“The way I eat now. It’s a lifestyle. It’s not a diet. I don’t call it a diet. It’s a lifestyle of eating fruits, and vegetables and getting enough of your protein and everything like that. I don’t deny myself anything. If I want something, I’ll have a taste of it but I don’t go overboard.”
While her goal used to be to live to age 84, the same age as her grandmother, she said she feels now she will live beyond that.
TOPS has groups all across Southwest Virginia. To find a local chapter or learn more about the organization, visit their website. Packages start at $49 a year. Those interested can attend the first meeting for free.