Twin Rocks Friends Center
| MEN'S RETREAT in ROCKAWAY BEACH, OREGON 2009 Twin Rocks Friends Center | ||||
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 WASHINGTON STATE MEN @ RETREATL to R: Bill Grimes WA1140, Kelso, Gregg Miller and Chuck Harper WA 1026, Parkland, Gary Wellington WA 928, Summit, AC Tom Neitzel WA 1076, Lacey, Dave Hoffmann WA883, Olympia, Bill Freeman WA 111,Tacoma, Loren Langland WA 1476, Shoreline. In this group there are three WA State Kings and one Runner Up King.The three WA State Kings are Gary Wellington, Bill Freeman and Loren Langland. Runner-Up King is Tom Neitzel. |
 Back Row L to R: Ed LaLonde, Keith Benson, Lance Blades, Chuck Harper, Richard Prague, Don Sandee, Sr., Dallas Debatin, David Ruff, Mike Ellingen, Charles Hamner. 3rd Row: Ray Foster, Vernon Gomes, Bill Freeman, Jerry Broaddus, Charlie Stewart, Bill Grimes, Gregg Miller, Richard Olson, Barb Cady. 2nd Row: Donald Sturrock, Dave Hoffmann, Chuck Presser, Larry Magee, Gary Wellington, Loren Langland. 1st Row: Bob Hall, Tom Nash, Gene Stalnaker, Jim Parker, Tom Neitzel, Andrew Anderson, Ivan Linde, Sr. |
 TOPS President Barb Cady and Area Captain Tom Neitzel  Area Captain, Tom Neitzel, Donald Sturrock, Tops President Barb Cady and Area Captain, Jim Parker |
OCTOBER 11-16, 2009-Men's Retreat Rockaway Beach, Oregon Thirty one men from all over the United States and Canada attended this year's men's retreat in Oregon. Tops President, Barb Cady, was the retreat director. An official weigh-in was held on the first morning of retreat. Breakfast was at 8AM. They followed the exchange system for 1500 calories. Meals were served buffet style with measuring cups and spoons serving as utensils. Everyone felt satisfied and realized they could eat 1500 calories a day without feeling deprived. An official ending weigh-in was held at the end of retreat. Most men had significant losses. After breakfast, free time was available for exercise, walks, or just to mingle. Sessions started at 9:30AM. Sessions included discussions about the exchange system, exercise, motivation, stress reduction and various other health topics. Area Captain, Tom Neitzel says, “Being able to disconnect from the world for nearly a week and concentrate on my weight and my eating was priceless.” |
 Area Captain, Tom Neitzel and Dave Hoffmann and Donald Sturrock @ the beach. Twin Rocks in the background. |
UPDATE since the October '09 Retreat | ||
 Area Captain-TOM NEITZEL Over 40 pounds lighter and wearing 2 sizes smaller!! | March 3, 2010: Tom isn't the only one who has lost weight. Donald Sturrock (pictured above with Tom and Dave) has lost quite a bit also. He's 138 pounds lighter from his highest weight. Losing weight is not an easy task for this guy who works in a kitchen for Sanctuary Missionaries in Toranto, Canada. His mom, as well as the others in his family, are very, very proud of him. They have noticed a positive change in Donald noting his renewed confidence, higher self-esteem and energy. They are appreciative of the support he gets from Tops. | |
APRIL UPDATE from Tom Neitzel | ||
This is a personal note/update written to the men who attended the retreat in Rockaway, Oregon from Tom Neitzel who was so inspired at this workshop, he's lost almost 50 pounds since. He doesn't mind my sharing it with you.-Deb It’s been almost 6 months since our Retreat in Oregon. I want to say hello, wish you all well and thank each of you for your friendship and support. You may not realize it, but being together with you all managed to relight the weight loss fire in me. Thank you again. One of the first things we did at Retreat was to try to express why we were at Retreat and what we expected to leave with. I didn’t have anything very specific. I was at Retreat because it was less than 3 hours from home, Gary had been after me to go for quite some time, and as an Area Captain for more than one year, I could go to one at a low cost. I just said that I was looking to find “IT” again. “IT” being the desire and motivation to take and keep off weight. I had done it in 1996 (113 pounds to goal), kept it off for 6 years, then crept back up – I was playing too many unhealthy games to stay in leeway. I figured it would be easy to get back to goal. That was 7 years ago. I finally stopped gaining two years ago, but just yo-yoed after. With your help, I did find IT!!! I’ve lost every week since returning to chapter last October. As of my weigh-in last night (Thursday), I’m back under my Century Club weight – I’m down 49.75 pounds since the Retreat weigh-in. Only 12.75 left to goal. I’ll be there for our SRD in June and IRD in July. I had shared a goal with Barb of being back on stage as a Century Club alum at IRD waving at her. I’m there. I have my plane tickets and hotel room. I wouldn’t had I not spent the time with you in October. The rate of my loss has slowed to about 1.25 to 1.75 pounds per week – slow and steady (for me anyway). What is working for me is Portion Control and the Exchange System. Some of you may have noticed an article from me in the latest TOPS News (p. 22). It really reemphasizes that. My wife was reading the new issue and said I was in it. My answer was, “Really?”. The words were familiar, but I had not submitted anything. Where had it come from? I spent a career in Information Technology Management. One of the things I did was to teach new employees about email use. I always told people that once they pressed the send button, they had no control over that message. My phrase was, “Never put anything in an email that you wouldn’t want posted on the lunch room wall.” Well, I finally found that TOPS News article source. It was an email that I sent Barb last December. That lunch room wall was one whole lot bigger than I had ever imagined. I’m very happy to see that it got used, and happy to let you all know that I do follow my own rules for any electronic communication. You can’t imagine the size of the grin on my face when I finally found that email. I would hope that many of you that were first timers like me took away something that helped. Remember that not gaining weight is a success and a step toward a loss. I have long known that motivation is very complex and personal (I’d be a rich man if I knew how to teach people to turn it on and off). Retreat clicked for me. To those of you that are KOPS and repeat Retreat participants – Thank You once more. I look forward to seeing some of you in Halifax. I have conflicting activities in September so I won’t be able to come to Nebraska, but hopefully I’ll be a participant again in 2012. Tom Neitzel | ||
JUNE 2010 UPDATE from Tom Neitzel | |||
 Tom Neitzel BEFORE Tops! |
 BEFORE in October 2009 at Men's Retreat |
 Tom Neitzel Today (6-26, 2010) |
PICTURES TELL THE STORY Tom says, At Rockaway I was wearing 2XL shirts and 2XL sweatpants with a tight 46 inch waist. At Disneyworld in January my shirt was XL, pants were 44. |