What a blessing TOPS has been in my life! Without the incredible support of my wonderful husband, children, friends and TOPS family, my dream of losing over 130 pounds to reach my goal weight would have remained just that, a dream. But some dreams do come true.

Like many of you, I love to eat. So many things that we do in our daily lives revolve around food. After all, it’s not like we can just quit eating and stay away from the temptation of food altogether. Learning to eat to live to get our bodies healthy and learning to balance our activities and food intake makes so much sense, and I think I finally get it!

In February of 2009, I made a pact with my youngest son, who was battling a very serious heroin addiction. As we sat next to each other trying to figure out how to help him overcome his drug problem, it dawned on me that I could not do it for him. He had to want it enough to do it himself. All I could do was to give him my love and support. Then I realized that I was battling a food addiction that only I could fix.

I have been encouraged by many people. My beautiful daughter was inspiring me by working really hard to lose some weight that she had gained during her pregnancy. My middle son wanted to take some weight off. My friends at work and at TOPS UT 0013 Kearns were getting in shape. All of this, together, made my journey to my KOPS goal a shared experience.