Journey to a New Life.

As Nikki continues to push forth beyond her 40 lb mark. Here I am, STUCK, at the 35 lb mark. Our goal was to have 40 lbs gone by our 21st Birthday and as Nikki is ahead of that mark - I was determined to work as hard as possible this past week to get it down to at least 2 lbs too(40). This morning I crossed my fingers and stepped on the scale. I was disappointed to see that I was still stuck at that mark. As it is disappointing to me, it just shows me that I am going to have to buckle down even harder to get rid of this weight.

If you guys have any tricks to the trade, PLEASE let me know! I am following my system and strictly watching my food intake but I AM STILL STUCK!

Thank you for all your support!
PS. Got the hair done - you like? hahaha!

-Sammy

As Sam and I hit the 30 pound mark with a little less than a month to reach our 40 goal, We've been getting the compliments of people finally noticing. Funny thing is, for myself, I can't tell at all. When I look in the mirror I still see myself at my starting weight. When am I going to notice?

This past weekend we made a trip to Wilkes Barre, of course, to watch the WB Pens but to also see our friends. One who is on her own journey of weight loss herself. I was so shocked to see her, she looked amazing! 70 pounds gone for her. We got to talk before making our way to the game and it was like she took the words out of my mouth. She told us that no matter what, even though she has dropped the dress sizes and has proof in the numbers on the scale, she still sees herself as over weight.

I'm in that stage where some days I feel good about myself and others I just feel flat out ugly. I know it's a self confidence thing and I'm sure it will take time.

I'm mainly on this journey for health reason and looking good is just a bonus that comes with it but when I'm going to able see what everyone is seeing?

For right now I'm still just "that fat girl" ...


thanks for reading my rant



Nicole

It has been 8 weeks and yes you guessed it, I've reached goal number 1!!! As of today I'm officially down 23.2 pounds! Even with a few bumps along the way, I managed to stay on track with the support of all of you! This is only the first goal and I hope to score many more!! Next up 40 pounds by my 21st birthday( November 15th).

LOVE YOU ALL!!

-Nicole

It has been 5 weeks since Sam and I started our journey and I'm proud to announce that this weeks weigh-in has me down 5 more pounds!! For a grand total of 16.6 pounds! I said in my first couple posts that I wanted to be down 20 pounds by September 18th and I believe I'm right on track!

I couldn't have done with without all your support you guys and gals have shown us! I really do appreciate it! I'm so lucky to have the people in my life that really do care!


I LOVE YOU ALL!!

-Nicole

Sorry for long period without a post. It has been hectic, with work meetings and such. Last week wasn't such a good week for me. I got off track thanks to my brother going back to college. My mother insisted on going out to dinner on my brother last day with us, so we did. Olive Garden was his pick. Needless to say, I went over board which screwed me up for that entire week. When I weighed in on Monday, I wasn't happy. I gained a pound and I was pissed. In the end though it gave me more motivation to work hard this week and I hope to see MUCH better results come this Monday. I'm a month away from my 20 pound goal mark and I hope I can reach that.


Lately my mother has been, I don't know, forgetting that Sam and I are trying to get into a healthier lifestyle. She bought a whole bunch of crap from the grocery store and I mentioned something to her. Well that set her off and she has been pissed at me ever since. Take for instance tonight she wants to go out to dinner because she claims there is nothing in the house to eat. I said to her I wasn't aware we were going out and I didn't save enough points(weight watchers) and told her, my Dad and Sam just to go and I would figure something out for myself. She didn't like that idea and gave me the whole "All I try to do is something nice" speech.
Oh well, hopefully she'll get over it.
talk to everyone later

-Nicole

So I wasn't expecting much when I got on the scale this morning because this past week was nuts but to much surprise I lost 3 more pounds when adds up to a grand total of 11 pounds! GONE! I'm excited, now I'm going to go eat a rice cake haa :)

Thanks so much everyone!!

-Nicole

okay this is a different kind of post but I wanted everyone's opinions. Alright here it goes... there is this guy and I consider us to be friends, I wouldn't say good friends but we talk and what not. But I've noticed myself liking him ore and more each time we talk to one another.. and here is my dilemma, should we just stay friend or should I tell him how I feel?

meh, men.



oh yes this came in the mail yesterday, I died. thanks everyone! :) -Nicole

Finally got the new bike today and I love it. It doesn't hurt your ass and actually has resistance to it. It also have a aux to plug your ipod into so you can listen to music without headphones. The bike has about 12 presets which are awesome....If you can't tell I really do love the bike. It makes exercising a whole lot easier and actually enjoyable. :)
I guess you could say..



LOL Salad for dinner ...

talk to everyone later!

-Nicole

Sam and I have talked a lot over these past 2 weeks about what might happen in our near future and it almost always narrowed down to changing. The concern of us ditching our friends has been brought up. I will tell you now, NO IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! EVER!

Another subject was the, "Oh you look like that now? okay we'll be friends" I'm not quite sure how Sam feels but I know how I do. I'm actually looking forward to that so I can determine who have been my friends the entire time and who has not. I always take the saying "Don't judge a book by it cover" literally because I would always hope people would get to know me before they judged by my looks.

Along this adventure, I know for certain the only thing that will change will be the way I feel about myself. I'll be happier and I know that for a fact.

Thanks for all support, this adventure would be so much harder without it..

-Nicole



oh and if you think otherwise, I'll just have to send Brooks Orpik to bust through your door and beat you up! ;)

Sad news broke yesterday, that the Pens' long time PA announcer John Barbero passed away. Going to a Pens game will never be the same. Rest in peace John, you will be greatly missed... check out my recent piece for Pens Universe about Mr. Barbero.
Winter Classic stuff was also announced today. Wooo, hockey is near!

Sam reminded me yesterday that I did not weigh in till Tuesday last week, so I weighed myself again today... oh yeah down another 3 lbs. Much better! for a grand total of 6.7 for the first week.

In this second week everything seems to be getting easier.

Walk tonight, as well as the bike!

-Nicole

After the first week of our adventure, I'm down 3.7 lbs...meh. I was hoping at least 5 but oh well it will be motivation to work harder this week. Still a success!

Geno thinks so too :)






Week 2 starts today and I'm hoping to add a little more "activity time" as the weight loss people like to call it or aka exercise. We have a stationary bike but it's really old and the seat hurts my ass, so I can only ride it for like 20 minutes. The rents have been thinking about buying a new bike since my Mom had her knee replaced this past June. Something to the likes of this
But when that will happen, who knows.

Walking is also a very good alternative. oh yes and Zumba haa

I actually have to work this week so I'll be getting ready to go soon...

Talk to you all later! Look for Sam's post as well

-Nicole

Yesterday was awesome fun. :) Today we are off to grandma's for her birthday!


oh yeah 1 more day till weigh in, I'm excited and nervous. I'm hoping at least 5 pounds, I'm praying actually haaa oh well Talk to everyone later


-Nicole

So Zumba didn't go as planned. We definitely need to brush up on the moves for that.

Today's high for the Pittsburgh area is 95, so more than likely the entire family will be pool side for the majority of the day.

2 days to our first weigh in...AHHHHH! I hope at least 5 pounds but we will see.

one last thing before I go to clean up the house,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!


Stay Cool!

-Nicole

Tonight, Sam and I, possibly my brother, will be starting Zumba! If you've never heard of Zumba it's pretty much a program that fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will "blow you away."


We are going to start out with 20 minute workout just to try it out. I've heard nothing but good reviews on it, so hopefully it will be a success. I'm sure I will fill you all in on the experience later on tonight.


If Zumba fails we always have this to try out ..



haaa!


Talk to you all later!

-Nicole

Hi everyone I’m Nicole. A little about myself first, well, I’m 20 years of age and an avid sports fan. Hockey is a passion and the Pens are a drug. I’m a writer for the website PensUniverse.com. During my day job I work with autistic children and sometimes juveniles. It’s a job that I love.

My main reason for this change of life is too feel better about myself. Growing up, always bigger than your friends, was tough. Once I hit middle school, the harassment was at times unbearable. But instead of working on losing weight then, I went home and ate food. Why? Because food was a comfort to me. I figured once I got into high school things would settle down as far as the harassment went, but I was terribly wrong. I managed to maintain a decent weight my freshmen year, but my sophomore year was terrible. It got so bad, that I ended going on anti-depressants and had to see a therapist every other week. I think I was the happiest person to graduate high school because I hated it so much.

At one point last summer, I tried to convince myself I was happy the way I was and “screw you if you don’t like because of the way I look”. Though I still keep that mantra, I was kidding myself about being happy. The truth was I wasn’t happy and I’m still not. That’s why I’m putting my foot down and grabbing hold of the steering wheel, I want my health and life to go in the right direction and what better time then to start now?

July 26th will be a week since Sam and I have started our adventure, it’s also our first weigh in. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous.

Now since I’m such a hockey fan, you’ll probably find I’ll be comparing and referring to certain hockey related sayings and or doings and here is the first one.

"Some people dream of success, while others wake up and work hard at it."

My name is Nicole and my twin sister is Sam. If you don't already know us, we are both 20 soon to be 21, and live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are VERY avid Pens and Steeler fans. Oh and don't forget about Pitt football and basketball either.

The meaning of this blog is to keep us motivated and other who maybe be doing the same. Speaking from personal experience, being over weight sucks and it's time to change. Why now you ask? Well because I know we both aren't happy with ourselves and losing weight will help us feel better about ourselves, and improve our overall health. I'm only going to post a little now, but be sure check back because we WILL be posting often. Thank you!