Family Fun, Events, Road Trips, Rest Areas & Our Weightloss Journey? Why We Do Everything Together…

Twins fascinate people who aren’t twins for some reason but when you have two sets of twins in your immediate family and eight sets of twins in your entire family, you are effectively, a twin family.  

Children of twins spend far more time with their parents twin because our activities often blend both families.

A little over a year ago, my twin sister and I went on a weight loss journey together.  At the time, we never expected our entire family to join us but we spend a lot of time together and are pretty competitive.

Cindy and I were sick and tired of “looking fat” at events.  When I started Texas Twins Events, Cindy was my photographer and we worked as a team for the first few years.  

I needed a photographer because I couldn’t Officiate and Coordinate Events while taking photos too.  I reached out to Cindy and “pitched my idea” of spending more time together traveling to events and helping families. 

My concept worked perfectly until many clients realized how funny my sister was.  It soon became apparent that Cindy didn’t belong behind the camera because she needed to be in front of it entertaining our clients and guests with her quick whit and flair for Redneck Comedy.

For the past 7 years we’ve been here, there and everywhere at weddings, birthday parties, corporate events, Baptisms, baby showers, rent parties, Prison Weddings, estate liquidations and more.  We literally do everything together and enjoy each other’s company.

Losing weight was something we had discussed and tried unsuccessfully to accomplish in our fifties.  From 45 years old to 51 years old, we continued to gain weight year after year due to menopause and thyroid disease.  

Yes, we both hated gaining the weight we had lost in our teens and successfully kept off for years but finding a solution to the issue was similar to gaining the weight in that we would have to make drastic changes to the fast food drive thru windows that were often part of our Road Trips & Rest Area Journeys to “change the wedding and events industry one family at a time from Fort Worth, Texas!”

When we weren’t working at events, appraisal Appointments, client meetings, fundraisers or other activities for Texas Twins Events, Texas Twins Treasures or The Pawning Planners, our spare time was spent at the gym, riding bikes, long walks with the grandtwins and other physical activities.  

This helped my twin and I lose half the weight we wanted to lose but more surprisingly, our grandtwins began to lose weight with us too as did our husbands, both of Cindy’s daughters and both of my nieces.  Our weight loss journey was (like everything else in our lives) a family affair.

We have one “skinny” person in our entire family and that’s my daughter in law, Stephanie Hafele.  When my niece Leigh Ann was in California, Robert and Stephanie came on board to help with photography for Texas Twins Events.  

It’s hard for my daughter in law to understand obesity because she’s blessed with a high metabolism.  My son fights his weight year after year and limits himself to two meals a day to keep from getting too heavy.  Robert loves celebrating at restaurants with my family and I and for most of my life, any celebration from a birthday party to anniversary party was a family event at a restaurant.  

Our celebrations were centered around food because that’s what my family had done when I was young.  Going to a restaurant was a big deal back then because my family was far from rich. Celebrations often centered around restaurants.

Although it’s usually Leigh Ann behind the camera with me the past few years, when I moved Cindy from photography, it was my son and daughter in law who accompanied us to Event after Event for a number of years.  Stephanie Hafele can eat anything without gaining any weight.

For families with a history of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other factors, it wasn’t unusual for my nieces who struggled with their weight to compare themselves to my daughter in law.  

While Stephanie “could wear anything,” Leigh Ann and her sister Stephaney couldn’t and like anyone with a weight problem, they both hated photos they felt made them look fat.  Cindy and I shared similar problems regarding photos in our 50’s.

My niece Leigh Ann recently had gastric bypass surgery and has lost 50 lbs while her sister, Stephaney has lost 40 lbs.  they have both had successes and setback throughout their weight loss journey as have our grandtwins, Maryssa and Makenna.  

For most of her life, Maryssa has felt like the “fat twin.”  Cindy feels the same way.  Believe it or not, most twins don’t weight the same.  One is heavier while the other is lighter.  

For the “heavy” twin, it’s a cross to bear because everyone compares twins from their own family to complete strangers.  I was the heavy one between Cindy and I until our late 40’s and yes, I hated it.

Maryssa successfully lost twenty some odd pounds and Makenna lost fourteen last year.  The grandtwins were far from obese but loved going to the gym with us which may sound surprising but the gym was fun for them.  The results speak for themselves.

Both of our grandtwins feel better about themselves and don’t know why they gained weight in fifth and sixth grade but no longer allow my sister or I to post any fat photos from when they were younger and heavier.  No one likes fat photos in my family and although they exist- we rarely post them.

A few months ago, I broke protocol and posted a few “fat photos” for our before and after results from our weight loss journey as a family.  Yes. They were shocking in that we didn’t know we looked as heavy as we actually did.  

Who would? We hated looking at our own photos.  Here they are of Cindy and I fat in our before photos and fit in the after photos.

When your family spends as much time as we do together, getting fit after getting fat can have a few hilarious moments with more than a few sad ones.  

The gym was eye opening for Cindy and I.  Building up our stamina took longer than we expected and the one thing we both loved was having the twins join us and watching how much fun they were having on the equipment.

I worried about Leigh Ann’s decision to undergo gastric bypass because I knew it was life changing and requires a serious commitment but, Leigh Ann is committed to making this surgery work for her.  

After going over a long list of “possible complications,” my niece convinced her mother and I that her choice would work and finally for the first time in her life, her weight would no longer be an issue for her.

Going from Fat To Fit wasn’t easy for anyone in my family but, it was a journey we handled while continuing to help over a hundred families last year between the gym and food prep it kept things interesting at Cindy’s House aka DanielDivaDiggs, my home aka WorthamWorld, and my sons home aka HafeleHouse.

Alex Blais who was home on leave last month and is a Naval Officer, is also on a strict diet at Camp Lenore and working on his weight loss journey.  Alex has a gift for goofy faces and loved being home for the holidays with our family.  

The Military requires “weigh ins” so Alex has to stay on top of his weight which isn’t easy when he’s so far from his wife Leigh Ann and daughter, Madyson.

The funniest part of our family photos is that the twins are used to two year old tantrums with Maddy.  We post the good, the bad, the funny and occadionally, even the fat photos because our journey had the highs and lows that many of our followers can and do understand.

Cindy and I no longer hide behind others in photos at events and our grandtwins, nieces, husbands and my son don’t either.

We tried out for Family Feud a few years ago and may try out again because we live the show and because losing weight brought my families confidence back!

My daughter in law may never understand the hurdles a family with weight issues face and that’s okay.  I no longer resent her ability to eat anything because I’m aware that midlife weight gain is a problem for far more people than not.

Moving forward and maintaining our weight loss with busy schedules of Texas Twins Events, Texas Twins Treasures and The Pawning Planners will take a bit of planning because I spend so much time driving to events, client appointments and yes, Prison Weddings but by preparing and planning healthy snacks and meals, Cindy and I hope to never be overweight again.  

We finally won our battle of the bulge and went from fat to fit in our fifties.  We hope to never face the problem again….we did it, we lost the weight and like anything else in my life, I did it with the helpabd support of my family.

Wendy M Wortham Texas Twins Events, Texas Twins Treasures, Texas Twins TV, The Pawning Planners