DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Sensible advice for keeping off pounds

Ruth's mother was huge. I was in the fourth grade, and the word "obese" wasn't in my vocabulary yet, but that's what she was. She was bigger than Mrs. Bomartino, our old neighbor. And Mrs. Bomartino had a big, fat, cuddly lap you could suffocate in. Ruth's mom was bigger than that.
Every so often, she would attend a TOPS meeting -- Take Off Pounds Sensibly. Ruth and I tagged along, remaining in the parking lot to play in her parked car.
"I'm one of the Beatles," I'd say.
"Me, too," Ruth would holler. "Oh no! Girls!!!"
Then we'd scream and dive into the car to escape our imaginery fans. In the mean time, Ruth's mom weighed in and, as we often saw through the elementary school windows, laughed with her friends.
Thirty-five years later, TOPS is still helping people lose weight. The group was started over a kitchen table in Milwaukee in 1948 by Esther Manz and three other homemakers. It doesn't require special diets or costly dues ($20 gets you in, $3 a month keeps you active); it provides support and suggestions for weight loss.
Gerri Brown, 67, and Barb Allison, 69, were both members of TOPS before they moved on to KOPS -- Keep Pounds Off Sensibly -- where the two Canfield residents have remained for more than a decade. It's a significant achievement. To stay in KOPS, you can't go more than three pounds over or seven pounds under your goal weight (set by your doctor). If you deviate, you have just two weeks to get back into shape to maintain KOPS status.
Neither woman is a shadow of Ruth's mom. At worst, each was about 30 pounds overweight, but being petite, 30 pounds was enough.
Gerri's weight started to climb when she quit smoking, then one of her four children was hit by a train. "[My son] was in a coma for four months," Gerri said. "I didn't start smoking, but I did start eating." People brought food to console her and, donut by donut, Gerri put on weight, even as her son slowly made gains.
"My clothing got tighter and tighter, then one day I looked in the mirror and I looked so ugly," Gerri said. "I think I saw an ad in the paper for TOPS." In just one year, she was on the KOPS rolls.
Barb's weight gain came child by child. "I came home at 162 pounds after one birth," she said. Barb is 5 feet 1 inch tall. After her fourth child, she crash dieted and dropped 38 pounds, kept it off for a while, then put it back on.
"I never changed clothes sizes, but then [laughs] stretchy clothes were in," Barb said. "I belonged to every diet group I could afford. TOPS was only 50 cents a week, so I started going to TOPS." It took her four years to gain KOPS status.
Now, Barb weighs 118 pounds, down from 153 pounds when she started. Gerri, who is 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighs 144 pounds, having started at 174.
With the holidays upon us, Barb and Gerri have these sensible, TOPS and KOPS inspired, tips to share:
* Weigh and measure everything you eat, including salad dressing -- 2 tablespoons mixed well is plenty.
* Substitute. Use anything diet you can. Try fat free cheeses in casseroles (spices hide the taste anyway); skim milk or Fat Free Carnation condensed milk, Better Than Eggs, and applesauce (in place of half the oil) in baking.
* Use PAM. Instead of fried potatoes, spray potatoes with PAM and oven fry.
* Don't bake sweets; go to the bakery and buy one piece for yourself. If you enjoy baking, give the products away quickly!
* Put turkey drippings in the freezer and when you're ready to use it scrape off the fat before making gravy.
* Don't cook with butter or salt. Let guests add them.
* Serve veggie trays as hor d'oeuvres.
* Bring fruit to your hostess instead of baked goods or candy.
* Drink a full glass of ice water before your meal.
murphy@vindy.com