N.S. woman sheds 100 kg, without joining a gym: 'You need to push'
CTVNews.ca Staff with a report from CTV Atlantic’s Natasha Pace
Published Tuesday, March 19, 2019 9:15AM EDT
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A Nova Scotia woman lost nearly 100 kilograms, or 220 pounds, after feeling “tired of being tired” and missing out on parts of her life because of her weight.
At her heaviest, Nicole Hicks weighed 460 pounds but she lost nearly half of that in 16 months -- all without setting foot in a gym.
"I did it all home [with] just with good food and moving your body -- that's it,” she told CTV Atlantic. Her weight loss journey has inspired thousands who now follow her ups and downs on Instagram.
Hicks was motivated because she couldn’t do the things that most people take for granted.
"Everything was hard. I couldn't go to the grocery [store] with my husband,” Hicks said. “I couldn't go to the movies because I was scared I wasn't going to be able to fit in the seats. Going for drives, it hurt."
But her critical turning point came on Christmas Eve 2014.
"I actually wanted to take my life,” she said. Hicks’ home had a locked gun cabinet and she knew exactly where the key was usually kept.
"It's always in that place and … it wasn't there that day,” she recalls. “So it was like, ‘you know what, Nicole? You're supposed to be here. You know, you have a purpose.’”
That’s when Hicks pledged to turn her life around, starting with a healthy and physical exercise. Starting was hard, she says, recalling her intial session on the treadmill in her bedroom.
“[But] the first day I went in there, I got on and I only lasted three minutes,” she said, remembering that she burst into tears afterwards.
Hicks recalled feeling sore and thinking, “’I'm exhausted and I don't think I can do this.’”
But four years later, Hicks is now a certified fitness trainer who can handle pretty much every workout routine imaginable.
She uses her own experience to help others reach their fitness goals, but she’s always sure to tell her clients that the “journey isn't easy.”
Hicks said a lot of people start out thinking, "everything should be perfect and you're not going to have any bad days.” But she said bumps on the road are normal.
"The days that you feel like you can't go anymore -- the days that you feel the world is against you -- those are the days that you need to push even harder,” Hicks said.
"My advice is to keep going, to keep pushing because this life that I'm living now it's so amazing.”
