"[2] TOPS originally formed in 1948 as a response to the need to assist overweight and obese people to lose weight by setting up a support group system.

Club meetings emphasize nutrition, exercise, motivation, behavior modification and wellness education focused on supplementing a member's effort to manage his or her weight.

In either case, the meeting begins with a report of total losses or gains, in pounds, for the week, as tabulated from the just-completed weight recording.

[4] The most successful male and female members reaching their goal weights in the current year (KOPS) from each state and province are recognized as Kings and Queens at regional events each spring.

They are then invited to attend International Recognition Days, a two-day convention that is held each summer in a different U.S. or Canadian city.

The winners are chosen according to which Kings and Queens lost the most total weight to reach the weight-loss goal set by their health care professionals.

TOPS Club, Inc. has been actively involved in the clinical study of obesity and metabolic research since 1966 and has contributed almost $9 million to the Medical College of Wisconsin in support of these efforts.

It also supports the efforts of the TOPS Genome Registry at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, under the direction of Michael Olivier, Ph.D.

Findings have been published in over 200 of the most reputable scientific papers including The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Nature Genetics.

TOPS partnered in the "Bias, Discrimination and Obesity" study co-authored by Dr. Rebecca Puhl, Ph.D. and Dr. Kelly Brownell, Ph.D. of Yale University.