Journey to a New Life.

You can ask anyone I know, or who knows me, and they will all agree I have a large passion for hockey, the Pens being my team. I'd be lying if I said that hockey hasn't been one of many motivating factors along my journey.

Some people may not agree with using your favorite hockey team as a method of motivation but it's has helped me immensely. Not the, "Oh hey if I do this, maybe they will notice me more", more like the hard work, determination, preparation, grit, ethic, emotion, adversity, triumph, get knocked down and get right back up again, the highs and lows, tears of sadness and tears of joy of the game.

Hockey for me, is the game and beyond. I've been lucky enough to meet several of the gentlemen on the team and I have nothing but respect for them. Being a fan and following them season in and season out, it's hard not to feel apart of the family. Granted they may never know how much they have an impact on a single person but that doesn't matter. It may sound strange but every single one of them are my heroes alongside my parents, Sam, my brother Bob and my close friends. I learn from them. Seeing their struggles and how they overcome them. You may be thinking, "This is stupid. Why am I reading this? Those hockey players don't care." But that's were you are wrong. Those hockey players do care. I've seen it with my own eyes.

Yes weight loss is on a totally different spectrum than hockey but as far as what goes into both, there is no difference.

Preparation. I look at it this way. The boys get up go to practice and work on what needs done to win a game being later that day or next. To me, doing my exercise and watching what I eat is my practice. Practicing to live a better lifestyle and be healthier. It takes time to learn a new system in hockey, weight loss is a lot like that system. You have to learn it in order to maintain or become better at it and before you know it, it becomes second nature.


Hard Work. You can't just show up for practice and except to become an all-star. Same goes for exercising. I can't just stand there and flail my arms around and expect for loss weight or gain muscle. I've got to work hard to accomplish that. Billy Blanks Jr. (the guy who is on our workout DVD) always reminds you during DVD, "You get back, what you put in." I pretty much live by that day to day.

Adversity. This season for the Pens is surely the definition of fighting through adversity. I face adversity everyday and it's name is, nope not the Flyers, FOOD. There are so many times where I just want to sit down and pig out but I fight the urge, while more like give the urge the middle finger. :)

I could go on and on.

Now I know you must all be saying, but Nicole there ARE differences between weight loss and hockey. Yeah you're right, hockey is 8 months out of the year, weight loss is year round.