A local woman has made it to the top after losing the most weight and was named the TOPS Queen for 2026.
Seventy-eight-year-old Pat Thoreson has been a member of the not-for-profit weight-loss club, Take Off Pounds Sensibly, since 1984. After losing the most weight in Alberta this year, Thoreson was crowned the TOPS Queen last May.
“I started out with a weight problem when I was growing up, so I’ve spent a lot of years at it,” she says.
Since she joined TOPS, Thoreson has lost 72.25 lbs, though she says most of the loss was over the past couple of years.
Prior to joining TOPS, Thoreson had tried out a number of different groups in an attempt to achieve results, but with little success. She says she would lose a little bit of weight, but then would gain it back.
Living near Winfield, Thoreson would meet with the club in Bluffton. From spring to the fall, Thoreson would drive herself to the club every week. Over the winter, Thoreson’s husband would drive her so she wouldn’t have to drive in the dark.
As much as the group was about losing weight, the social aspect was also appealing. She says the club was extremely supportive, and she formed a bond with the members, which was one of the reasons that kept her motivated to return.
“We take turns doing programs, and we have contests. It’s just a good support club,” she says. “That has been another thing that has gotten me to this point.”
One of the women Thoreson met was Violet Schmidt, who was Queen in 1995, and the two became very close.
“Over the years, she was one of the best supporters that I’ve ever had,” she says.
Unlike other groups, Thoreson found the approach of TOPS refreshing. Each week there was a weigh-in for the members, similar to other organizations, but they focused on making healthy food choices rather than food or calorie restriction.
“It’s a food exchange,” says Thoreson. “It’s not that you can’t eat certain foods; you just think about the amount of calories and that type of thing.”
She says they allow themselves to eat the food, but just remain conscious of how much and how often they ate it.
It’s also cheaper than many other programs. To join TOPS, there is an annual fee of $49 USD. Thoreson says her club, which has since relocated to Hoadley, also charges a $5 fee for each meeting to cover the costs of the coffee and rental space. Other than that, there are no fees for information packages and no meals that have to be purchased.
Thoreson says the biggest weight loss came after she received an award for being part of the club for 40 years.
“I thought, ‘40 years and I haven’t really done a whole bunch,’” she says. “That’s one of the things that kind of shook my memory that this was why I was really here, not just to visit.”
She says she lost weight at a healthy pace and was able to keep it off thanks to the information she had from the group and the exercise regime that she stuck to.
“On Mondays, [my husband and I] would floor curl in the afternoon. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I do chair exercises for one hour in Buck Lake on Tuesdays and Winfield on Thursdays. Then on Thursdays I would walk for three-quarters to an hour at Winfield as well,” says Thoreson.
As a Queen, Thoreson says she would like to advocate the importance of healthy choices to people.
“A person can do it if they just stop and think about what they’re eating and what they should be eating,” she says. “Even though it took me 42 years, I still go there. It’s not like you have to do it all of a sudden.”
Thoreson says she hopes people will hear her message and make time to attend a meeting at a nearby club to see what the organization is all about.
More information about the program can be found at www.tops.org.
