From Fat To Fabulous Statewide Weight-Loss Support Group To Crown Tops Queen At Spokane Convention

In her “before picture,” Laural Johnson used to weigh more than 250 pounds and sported short dark hair.

Now, some of her friends don’t recognize her.

Thanks to a weight-loss support group called Take Off Pounds Sensibly, she’s now a svelte size 8.

And a blonde.

Today in the Spokane Opera House, Johnson will be rewarded for the 107 pounds she lost and kept off last year when she is crowned the new state TOPS queen.

“I’d been heavy all my life,” said the Western Washington woman. “I thought if I didn’t do something I’d always be heavy.”

About 2,000 members of the weight-loss support group from around Washington are at the convention, which began Friday, and continues today at the Opera House and Convention Center.

They took some time for fun Friday night with skits, songs and a baggy clothes parade.

During one segment, chapter members dressed in ethnic costumes and marched across the stage. One group wore Scottish plaid skirts and tops and dubbed themselves The McLessFlab Clan.

TOPS members also got to show off their often dramatic weight loss by appearing on stage and holding older, much larger pieces of clothing - similar to before-and-after photos seen in weight-loss ads.

With her long, blonde hair, Johnson could be a beauty pageant winner.

“If you win a beauty pageant, it’s different because you’re born like that,” said Johnson, who joined the group in 1994 because she was turning 30 and wanted to slim down. “But I earned this.”

Group members say the approach works because there’s no tricks. The keys are eating a healthy diet, exercising and receiving lots of encouragement from other members whether the pounds come off or not.

“You lose a quarter-pound and everybody cheers,” said Carolyn Angle, a 55-year-old from Bremerton. “If I slipped they were there.”

At each meeting, members weigh themselves and disclose whether they gained or lost weight.

“Having to face that scale keeps us from eating those desserts,” Angle said.

In the last year, she’s lost 60 pounds by cutting out fried foods and instead eating lots of brown rice and vegetables and doing step aerobics about four times a week.

“My husband loves it,” Angle said. “Every day, he tells me how good I look.”

While TOPS is dominated by women, the group does have some male success stories, such as Gordon Siegal, 45, of Kingston, who lost about 80 pounds.

“Without TOPS, I’d be up to 274 or bigger,” he said.

Although she’s kept her extra pounds off, Johnson remains sensitive about her weight.

“I have a little bit of a complex now. I think my size 8s are bigger than other size 8s,” she said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo