I admit… I’m an addict

Yes… I admit, I’m an addict. I’m addicted to exercise, counting calories, maintaining portions and reading health magazines (oh, and my now favorite sport is running!). I don’t think there can be a better addiction than to healthy living. Some people say how amazed they are at my dedication, my determination and my discipline. I mean, when I put my mind to it, I really see results. Maybe it’s just my pride also.

In the past, I’ve lost 30 lbs in one month, only to gain it all back within a year. I think this cycle has repeated itself for more than 4 times now. The first was when I was in 6th grade. I was really FAAAAAAT! As in really chunky fat! I seemed as if I was slouched even though I was standing straight. Then the summer after 6th grade all the way to about 2nd semester of 7th grade, I had lost a lot of weight. Come first year high school, I started to gain weight again… slowly, until I got FAT again in 2nd year high school. I got thin again in my 3rd year, only to go to the US for the summer and gained around 20 lbs in 2 months. By the time I graduated, I was chubby. So around 1st year college up to the end of my 2nd year in college, I was able to maintain my weight… only to balloon to a size 38 and 215lbs when I got to 1st year law school.

Fat is really sneaky… it crawls up to you and you don’t even notice, until you realize that your clothes won’t fit. I felt like a real blob! Everything was jiggling. Then I told myself that I’m fed up with being FAT… apparently, people were calling me Jollibee behind my back. Haha! Looking back, I now laugh because I was really that fat. The cycle repeated itself since December 2006 to March 2007, I had lost a total of 30+lbs, only to gain half back by November of 2007. Now, I promise not to repeat the cycle.

I’ve decided to be consistent and not to give way to temptation, no matter how tasty they may be or how sweet they are. Now, every time I look at a pastry, I think of how many kms I have to run in order to burn it and I always ask myself, “Is it worth it?” The obvious answer is no. I control myself when I go to buffets. I choose vegetables and fruits over most meats. I stay away from chicken skin (ooooh! yummy!) and chicharon. I’ve said my farewell to sisig and other pulutan. Heck, I never could have thought I’d say goodbye to alcohol. I’ve rid myself of vices. No more smoking (started in 1999) and have quit since August of 2006. I no longer drink beer or at least try my best to stay away from it. One thing is for sure, I never go beyond 3 bottles at a time. Ice cream is a thing of the past, same goes for chocolate chip cookies and oooh, potato chips and other snacks.

Oh, the reason for this post? My family is teasing me that I’ve become obsessed with my health. Hehe… Well, again, better with health than anything else

Will you be my honey?

I’m sure all of us know of fruit magic and all the other fruit shake stands that offer immune boosters and sometimes one’s daily dose of protein in the form of a fruit shake. Well, I’ve stopped using supplements and have decided to do everything the natural way. Who knows what are the side effects of these supplements that people are taking.

As part of my pre- and post-workout regimen and also part of my diet is consuming lots of fruits. Since I easily get full, what I do is I make my own fresh fruit shakes. And instead of using sugar, I use honey. If I don’t have honey, my alternative is raw/brown sugar. [They say that anything white is bad or unhealthy since it's processed. White rice, white bread, white sugar?] Honey, being a natural sweetener is better than using equal and/or processed white table sugar. Here’s an excerpt below…

“Improve Athletic Performance … with Honey?

I have redeemed myself!

I really could not take that I walked a 5km route… pathetic. So I felt the need to redeem myself. As soon as I got home, I slept. When I woke up, I did 1.5km to warm up, did some stretching and drills, then ran my usual 5km route. I left my MP3 player since I didn’t want to be distracted. I made sure that my time should be better than the last and should be lower than 6mins/km. And I DID! My time for 5km was 28:21:28 at a pace of 5.67mins/km or 5 mins 40.2 secs per km. Not bad My previous PR for the same route was 26.95mins/km or 26 mins and 57 secs for 4.5km [yeah, I didn't get to finish the 5k]. It feels so good

Bards! I set a new PR… passion run hehe

What happened?!

I went to UP this morning to do a trial run for the Runnex@25. I thought it wouldn’t start on time so I left the house around 5:45 and got to UP at around 6:20am. I texted Coach Rio that I was already there but he wasn’t replying. Apparently, they had already started the run. Coach had gotten a handful of participants to don a race bib and do the course route for next Sunday’s Runnex@25. He also logged in their times.

Anyway, when they had finished their trial run (which I was not able to join ) Coach told me to do 10k. Two laps of the ICTUS Century route. So without any warm up, I started running. I was ok for the first km. Then the second km seemed a bit harder but I pushed myself. By the time I got to 3.5km it was weird but I was out of breath and I was slowing down. Around 4km mark, I had stopped and decided to do some stretching. Instead of running or jogging, I decided to walk and head to Manang’s in front of the Faculty Center (FC) where Coach also has his registration booth on weekdays. I got myself a Gatorade.

After somewhat feeling refreshed, I ran again, only to do 3/4 round of the academic oval then stopped at a Runnex water station in front of Benitez Hall (College of Education). After supposedly getting refreshed once more, I tried to run… operative word is tried. WHAT WAS HAPPENING?! All this training the past week and then now this .

At that point, I decided it was useless to push myself. I felt beat. What a disaster and such a patethic showing for today. I guess all of us have these training stumps that we get once in a while.

Later, I’ll be running 10km again. This time in my village with its share of inclines and declines. My pride can’t take that I ended up walking the last km of a 5km route. As in the movie, 300, “Spartans!… Prepare for Glory! Ahhh-oooh!”Hehehe! ( <— This is actually my alarm tone )

Oh, I saw the loony runner again while I was running in UP. Hi there loonyrunner

Learning to make Arroz Caldo

I’ve been looking for something to eat before I run during road races or early morning training. I remember when I slept over at a friend’s house before the GK Run For Love last October 27, 2007 that was done at Mall of Asia (MOA). He asked his cook to prepare Arroz Caldo for him. So today, I asked Mom how to prepare Arroz Caldo. What’s nice is that it gives you carbohydrates (rice/grains) and protein (chicken).

This is mom’s recipe

mean and lean healthy burger

Some of my visitors have told me to write about my weight loss success story and to post my regimen. Well, my weight-loss story is available here. As regards my regimen, maybe soon For those who know me well, one reason why I got soo big is because I love to cook, not necessarily eat. I enjoy mimicking the different kinds of food that I get to eat out at resto’s. One advantage of this is that I get to prepare my own food and keep an eye on fattening foods that are high in saturated and trans fats or high in calories. So let this be my first post on preparing food. Take note that I am not a chef. Like running, this started out as a hobby. So try at your own risk… but please do tell me if they taste good! Hehe

A really mean and lean healthy burger.

New Shades

I got new shades. So much for waiting for waiting for my next 100km mark. Haha… I just couldn’t help it. It’s too hot and my old shades got lost or broke (I don’t remember anymore since it’s been a while). I was choosing between Oakleys and this pair of Adidas shades. I figured that since everyone always wears Oakleys, might as well go for Adidas. Besides, it matches my Adidas shoes! Haha! Next up on my wish list would be the runner’s cap/visor or new shorts.