Sarnia’s Cindy Tremain named Ontario TOPS weight-loss queen

Cindy Tremain’s weight-loss story is a study in persistence.

The Sarnia woman joined Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS,) a non-profit support group, in her mid-20s in 1985 and remained active in the decades that followed.

Her sister, who was already a member, encouraged her to join and Tremain set a goal of losing 45.3 kg (100 pounds.)

“I always said I would lose it by 30 and then it was 40, and then it was 50, and then it was 60,” she said. “So, 64 was the lucky number. I reached it at the end of December.”

In June, she was named TOPS’ Ontario Queen for recording the largest weight loss, while reaching her goal. In all, she lost more than 50.3 kg.

“It’s quite an honor,” Tremain said. “I’ve been a TOPS member for 37 years so it has been a long journey.”

She credits the accountability that comes from attending weekly meetings where members weigh in, and her decision a few years ago to walk every day.

“I know if I wasn’t going (to TOPS) I’d be really big,” Tremain said. “I always say I wouldn’t fit through the double doors of the church where we meet” if she didn’t keep attending.

“If I’m away, that’s about the only time I miss” meetings, she said. “I need the accountability, to get weighed every week.”

Support from other members of her TOPS chapter also has been important.

“We’re a weight-loss support group. Sometimes you just need that, getting on the scale every week” and encouragement from other members “to keep you on track,” she said.

While there is a TOPS meal plan members can follow, they aren’t required to be on a particular diet, Tremain said.

“I just watch what I eat. I’m very aware of what I eat, good or bad,” she said.

“I’ve always known you have to move to lose weight,” Tremain said.

She started out, just before the pandemic began, walking from the front of her house to the back. It was 70 steps and she started doing 10 laps at a time.

And then, she began walking outdoors and added a 15-minute walk at lunch on work days.

When her co-worker lunch buddy returned to work after the pandemic, Tremain moved her noon walk to the morning.

“And then, we got a dog, so I had to walk him,” she said. About a year ago, she added a regular walk with her grandson.

“I do between 10,000 and 15,000 steps per day,” Tremain said.

She set a goal of walking every day for a year. “And now I’ve done it for three years.” Tremain said.

“It’s just a habit I’ve gotten into now.”

She also walks two of her small grandchildren, a three-year-old and a one-year-old, to the park and back. “Before, I couldn’t have done that,” Tremain said.

“It’s easy to go off track and you start gaining and gaining,” she said. “You have to remember to get back on. You have bad days; the next day could be a good day.”

“Every day can be a new beginning, a new start.”

Tremain said TOPS has been around for 75 years.

“It started with four ladies around a kitchen table,” she said. “They just wanted to support each other in weight loss, and now it’s all over Canada and the US”

That includes eight chapters in Lambton County, Tremain said.

She has served on her chapter’s executive committee for many years and is currently serving as an “advocate.”

“I enjoy doing it,” Tremain said. “I enjoy talking to people and trying to help.”

She’s also scheduled to speak at a few TOPS rallies as Ontario queen.

Tremain said she expects her story can help encourage others, particularly by showing long-time members that reaching their goal is still possible.

“It doesn’t matter how long the journey is, as long as you stay on the journey,” she said.