Twins' journey to better health inspires others

This blog post is written by Kelly and Jennifer McCarthy, winners of the CardioVascular Institute at BIDMC/American Heart Association 2014 Lifestyle Change Awards.

It has been suggested that you can’t know where you are going until you know where you have been. We have been through quite the journey so far, 28-year-old identical twin females who have made a complete 180 when it comes to our health.  

We frequently get asked, “Why did you start getting in shape and losing weight?” It all started the summer of 2009; we were a year out of college and had no direction as to what we wanted to do with our lives. We turned to food and to an unhealthy lifestyle for comfort. Eating heavy meals at restaurants and late at night, as well as living a sedentary lifestyle, was normal for us. People say “a picture can say a thousand words,” and one night we saw a picture of us posted on Facebook, and it all just clicked. This picture was nothing special, just a fun night with friends, but for some reason we were beyond shocked by seeing ourselves. We asked ourselves, “Who is that? That’s can’t be us!?” We finally saw ourselves as the world did (severely overweight) and not as we believed we looked (a few pounds overweight). We decided right then and there, looking at that picture, we NEEDED to do something.

We decided that we needed help getting healthy but didn’t know where to start. The next day, like a sign from the universe, we heard a radio ad for a new women’s-only, small group personal training gym that incorporated cardio and strength training three times a week. The commitment seemed scary to us, but not as scary as what our future would be if we didn’t change.  

Another question we get asked is, “What did you eat to lose weight?” As boring and simple as it seems, we started making healthier choices. We switched from white to whole grains, 2% milk to skim, red meat to lean poultry, cut out fried food, sweet treats and tried to eat more vegetables and fruit. We also cut out fast food completely and cut back on alcohol. We didn’t follow any crazy diet or avoid certain food groups; we just started making better decisions, and when we saw results, it motivated us to keep making better choices.

As we slowly started to lose weight with exercise and healthy eating, another big change we made was what we did in our recreational time. Our trainer at the gym was a runner who challenged us to sign up for a 5k. We were never runners or enjoyed running growing up, so this scared us, but we knew having a goal would be motivating. In that year, not only did we complete a 5k, but we did several of them, and a 10k, as well as a sprint triathlon. After crushing our initial goal, we were hooked to this fitness lifestyle. We have never felt more confident and energized since taking control of our health. We have continued our running adventures, completing 10ks, half marathons, marathons, obstacle races and exploring different avenues of fitness like Zumba, Barre, boxing and boot camp classes.

We have each lost 90 pounds so far and feel the healthiest we ever have! Fitness and living a healthy lifestyle is now a part of who we are. We found a new love for cooking and finding new healthy foods and recipes and enjoy sharing it with others. Our biggest goal is to help and inspire other people to get healthy by sharing our story and motivating them through our community and Twins Take on Life, our blog. Through this journey, we have always had each other through every pound lost and every step of the way. Some people we know feel as though they do not have the same support and think they are in the weight loss battle alone. Our goal is to provide a community so others have a place to get advice, motivation and inspiration and feel comforted in knowing we have been there and we are still on the journey with them. We are now in the process of trying to finish what we started and want to lose 100 pounds and be the healthiest versions of ourselves. We plan on running more races together and finding new challenges to overcome.

Our advice to people trying to get healthy is to start small. Make small attainable goals and don’t get overwhelmed with the big picture. Start by making small food and lifestyle changes and work your way up - if you try to go too strict too fast, it will make you resentful and want to give up. We also say that Rome wasn’t built in a day, so remember that it is a process. There will be setbacks, and seeing changes will take time, but once you start seeing the changes, it will all be worth it.