Today was the first day of a yearlong journey with my sister to lose 40lbs each over the next year in order to feel good about ourselves and attend our very first Twin Festival next August in Ohio. 

Wendy Wortham and Cindy Daniel

How did we gain the weight in the first place?  Well, I had controlled my weight after losing it after my son was born 24 years ago for nearly 20 years but, thyroid cancer and medication caused me to gain 30 lbs within three months of a full thyroidectomy in 2012.  Menopause isn’t anyone’s friend either and as my twin and I continued to gain 10 lbs a year each over the past 4 years, our energy levels went by the wayside with (believe it or not) our self esteem. 

 Last year after going through our many photos over the years, Cindy and I went on a meat and cheese diet and lost 20 lbs but, the minute we added a few things back into our diets- it all came back again.  The truth is when you aren’t 20 years old anymore- losing weight is far more difficult!

Body Shaming & Bullying?  Well, not everyone is supportive of our journey on social media.  Last night in response to a photo my sister had posted on FB, someone had replied “you aren’t wearing a workout outfit!”  My sister was offended for a number of reasons but mainly because at our weight, we aren’t going to be working out in bra tops and bike shorts.  No one at our age is going to be “dressing to impress” other people working out and since we are bopping into the gym at our convenience by fitting working out into our schedules, we don’t plan on spending money to buy clothes “just to fit in.”

Cindy and Wendy At The Rodeo In 2007 At Our Goal Weight

Getting old isn’t for the faint hearted but for women, it’s especially difficult since your arms melt and cellulite seems to appear overnight. 

Learning how to us the equipment isn’t easy- Yesterday while thinking what a good job I was doing on the circuit- Cindy told me I was using it backwards!  Flying off the epileptic machine because I didn’t know there was a pause button gave all the other folks a good laugh too.

Cutting out carbs & candy?  We love gummy bears and who doesn’t love bread and salty snacks?  But over the next year we will be going to work on getting fit and trim by cutting out delicious treats that look far better on a plate than on our bodies! 

Wendy and Cindy In 2004 At Our Lowest Weight Before Maryssa & Makenna Were Born

Cindy stays busy chasing her GrandTwins around and since Maryssa and Makenna were born, excercise and focusing on our own needs took a backseat to taking care of the twins. 

 Now that the girls are 12 years old, we’ve decided it’s as good of time as any to set a goal and intentionally are doing it prior to the holidays because everytime we make a New Year’s resolution- we break it. 

 By taking a daily twin selfie and weekly video diary of our failures and successes in this journey- you are sure to find some laughs with these Texas Twins since we’ve never belonged to a gym or taken an active role in fitness other than a walk around the block or bike ride.

As we “dive into” the pantry to remove tempting treats and schedule our weeklong excercise plans together- I know our chances of success are far better as a team than trying to go it alone.

Being twins, we talk to each other several times a day and see each other nearly every day. 

The Skinniest We’ve Ever Been In 1996 At Cindy’s House

 While it’s true that all the other women we saw today at the gym were fit- they were also far younger than us so we are taking it on the chin that we can be fabulous at 50 instead of frumpy!

Although today was an eye opener of what will be our next year of sharing and cheering each other on- at least we have each other and are committed to “getting it crackin” on our road to health and fitness since it’s a better late than never situation.

Today’s video diary gives you a few clues as to our willpower during the holidays with Cindy giving you a heads up that a little cheating is going to he going on and to keep it limited, we will have one cheat day a week so hopefully we won’t get too far off track-Wendy and Cindy Join The Gym And Our Journey Begins.

I will keep you updated with monthly blogs on how this works out and I’m sure my twin will too on her her Redneck Granny WordPress Blog at Texastwins2004.

#Cindyisms to document our journey?  You bet, we are using our usual good natured personalities to get through this and my sister recently posted “I got more pains than a stained glass window at a church!”  Two days of working out left us both sore and struggling to limp back into the gym.

Some of the ladies and gentlemen working out raise their eyebrows when we walk into the gym?  Okay- you’re skinny and fit that don’t impress me much.  Perhaps you’ve been doing this for awhile and everyone had to start somewhere.  Yesterday while listening to my radio on the way to the gym, the DJ’s were poking fun at someone from Fort Worth who weighed 600 lbs.  I didn’t find this funny- I found it sad.  Obviously the poor girl they were talking about had problems and when did bullying become acceptable?  It isn’t-  everyone had their own struggles and challenges in life and just because you can’t relate to them doesn’t mean you should victimize them.

Why we post more personal things on FB than our other social media- Cindy and I have far fewer connections on FB for specific reasons, we share doctor appointments and photos with a very select group of others we consider to be close friends on FB and while I have 30k followers on Twitter and 6k Linkedin connections, I don’t share family photos or very personal information on other sites intentionally.  My other sites are for blog posts and sales from Texas Twins Treasures.

A lifetime of fighting obesity?  One of the reasons that our weight gain bothers us so much is that we were heavy in our 20’s and often called Humpty and Dumpty so you can imagine how losing the weight and keeping it off so many years is hard for us.  Even as children, fighting our weight has been a lifelong battle.

Laughs, Challenges, & Living- changing our habits and adding physical fitness to our lives while still raising our grandkids and running my businesses keeps us busy but we are going on this journey as a team and let’s face it- we can be pretty funny.  The Little Pawners wish they could go to the gym with us but, they are too young. 

 As I pretend to not miss my nightly yogurt snack and have a few almonds instead- This Time Next Year seems a million miles away but we are going to get there and even with hard work, sweat and tears- rely on each other to reach the goals we’ve set for ourselves…

Wendy M Wortham