Why?

Driven by tides of swirling emotion.. Expressing myself through words and imagination..

Hoping to inspire with yearning desire.. Like it or not, x marks the spot..

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

A Hundred Pounds Lighter

Ever since I was a child, I have always been a chubby cheese cake. As a kid, I would recall people calling me names and comical descriptions such as pugad baboy, biik, tabachoy and tabachingching. But being chubby as a toddler of course also has its loopholes. I would always be the star of each occasion/family reunion I would attend to. Being a chubby kid was cute. They would always refer me to as the Nino Mulach of the family. I would always be a kiddy Santa during family reunions every holiday season.

But as I grew older, my weight didn’t change. Painful pasts would haunt me till this day, especially during my high school years. Bullies would always have me as their subject of ridicule and would constantly joke about my size. I have never fully recovered since then.

All throughout college, I became even bigger up until I landed a job last 2005. When I started to work in a call center, I’ve thought that because of the grave yard shift I would start loosing weight, but the opposite happened. I grew even bigger. To fight off the lack of sleep, I would constantly have food at my station. Pasta, pastries, chips and cookies were always at my side. My heaviest was at 270lbs.

For me, 2007 was a life changing year. That was the time that I had experienced a lot of different kinds of feelings. Last quarter of ’07, I fell in love w/ someone but got my heart broken. I thought after that, I would never find reasons why I should live. I got scared, I got emotional, heck, I almost had a nervous breakdown. But something struck me. Probably what hit me was the bus of maturity. I got hit so bad that it made me realize that I should change all those ill feelings that I’ve felt into something positive, into something that would change the way that I live. I’ve realized that life is short and that I should make the most out of it instead of wallowing myself in pity.

Coincidently, but I’d rather think of it as divine intervention, a fitness club opened just beside SM Mall of Asia, near where my office is. With out hesitation, I enrolled myself to the gym together w/ my friend AirWind. Right after my Mom and Dad’s wedding anniversary celebration party held last Oct. 14, 2007, the very next day, Oct. 15, 2007, I totally changed my way of eating (but of course, at my mom and dad’s party I gorged at the buffet). From 1 whole 18inch yellow cab pizza to no pizza at all. From 1 dozen krispy crème donuts to no donuts at all. No pasta, no pastries, no junk foods, in other words good bye to what I was used to eating.

I started boiling, steaming and broiling vegetables. I would always have grilled/broiled/boiled tuna/chicken breast and/or fried tofu. I would sometimes even follow the “ibon diet” which I read from some blog (I think that was from chuvaness’ blog). I became conscious and started to count calories I would take. I would always go to the gym everyday attending group exercises. I did dancing, martial arts, yoga and a whole lot of things just so I would loose weight. Eight months later, I was a hundred pounds lighter.

Yesterday, after our yoga class, a fitness consultant approached me and AirWind. He asked how we were doing and gave us advises on how we could maintain our weight. Then after all that talk, here comes the weighing scale. The fitness consultant weighed AirWind first then I was next. Although I have a weighing scale at home, I was still nervous at that time coz I was thinking that what if my weighing scale was broken. I took off my shoes, took off my socks, stepped on the weighing scale and to my surprise, my weight is the same as how I weighed at home. I weighed only 169lbs. which is ideal for my 5’9.5” height. I was so happy! Although I kind of knew how much I would weigh after, but having to be weighed by a fitness consultant somehow made my whole weight loss mission confirmed to be successful. I was so happy that I treated AirWind to lunch at El Pollo Loco.

Now, I get to buy clothes straight from the mall rather than having my brothers and sisters send me extra large clothes from the U.S. ‘Coz when I was still big, it was close to being impossible to buying clothes that would fit me here in the Philippines. Now, from a size 44 waist line to a size 33. From a triple XL shirt/polo, to medium size. For the very first time in my life, I was able to buy clothes that I want and clothes that I know would fit me. I am no longer afraid to go inside a store or to go to any place for that matter worrying about people who’d stare at me and might say that “That man is huge!”. From asking a larger size from a sales lady to asking for a much smaller size really feels overwhelming. Having to be seen by my relatives and friends and seeing them react in a way that as if they saw a celebrity felt so amazing that if being complemented could make me float; I’d probably be in outer space.

My goal weight is actually at 160lbs. But I take it slowly now. I don’t go to the gym everyday anymore but would always make it a point that I’d be at the gym 3 to 4 times a week. I’m still on a diet but would occasionally treat myself to a slice of pizza and a donut. Now that I feel that I’ve somehow accomplished the once thought mission impossible, I’m sharing this to all of you. Everything is possible; the impossible only takes long to be accomplished. A hundred pounds lighter doesn’t mean that I get to wear cool and trendy clothes, it doesn’t mean that I would look great and would score more w/ people in bars and clubs, but for me, a hundred pounds lighter means a deeper understanding of what life is and how it really works. It just proves to show that everything in life, with faith in God, patience and will power, what once was at a very far distance would soon be in front of you.


Before & After

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Scary Story..Urban Legend..

I heard this story last night from the radio while driving my way home from Mall of Asia. I just want to share this to ya'all.

It goes a little something like this...

A young girl went to a home coming party. After the party, she and her friends had separated as each one of them has their own cars. The girl went on to her car alone, opened it, got in and started the engine. Consequently, on the other side of the parking lot, there was another guy riding his car as well. As the girl started to drive, the other guy started following her, but the girl didn't pay any attention to it as she thought that the guy is on the same route as she is. But as the young girl made a turn to the street that she lives in, she noticed that the guy is still following her and every so often would blink of his lights. The girl tried to turn and drive around the streets to see if the guy is really following her. Indeed, the guy would still be at her back and would still blink his lights every now and then. The girl started to panic, so she stepped on the gas and rushed her way home. The guy that was following her did the same thing and would still constantly blink his lights at times. As the girls arrives her house, got off the car and as she enters the front door of her house started to shout "Dad! Dad! Call the police! A man is following me!". Her father hurried down the stairs and called the police. When the police arrived, the guy that was following her surprisingly didn't escape, instead, she approached the girl, the police and the father. After all of that confrontation w/ the police, the girl asked, why were you following me, the man answered, "at the parking lot, before you rode your car, i saw another man sneaked behind your car. I was following you because i wanted to warn you, but all of a sudden you drove so fast. I was blinking my lights everytime i would see him from behind w/ his knife as if he was trying to stab you so that he would stop.". The police checked the back of the car and found the knife that was left behind. The girl and the father had chills rolling up their spines as they thanked the man who followed her.

Kinda scary to listen to over the radio when you're driving alone. After listening to that story, I would check the back of my car to see if someone was there. Ha-ha!

Going to Bed?

Last night was my first time going to Bed in Malate. Bed is, as far as I know, a place were P.L.U's (people like us) go to meet and greet, and of course, there's always something else (if you know what I mean).

I'm really not a party person, but I’ve heard a lot of exciting things about that place from my friend which enticed my "queeriosity". So, I said, what the hey, let me go try it. So me and 2 of my friends (John and Ers) went there.

John is very well experienced in these kind of things. He knows which bar to hang out, what to do and when to "DO" it. Ers also hangs out in malate, but mostly hangs out at straight bars. I think it was also his first to hang out at Bed. So, we arrived at the place at around 11:00PM, paid an entrance fee which includes free drinks and a couple of chiseled men on the ledge dancing for hours w/ their shirts off for your viewing pleasure.

The place was all that I had expected. There were a lot of cute/sexy guys and a couple of foreigners and gals too. I thought I’d like the place, but actually, to my surprise, I really didn't. No, no, no! Don't get me wrong guys. It's not about the place why I didn't like it. Maybe, it's just me. Coz, probably, I really never liked hanging out in bars. Other than that, I don't drink. Well, I used to drink, but I quit (that's another story which will be posted later on). I love dancing to the beat of the music, but there was something last night that just didn't make me in the mood of dancing and partying. I guess my idea of a party/gimmick is a cozy place w/ good food, drinks and a nice conversation w/ friends were you could actually hear each other. Coz, last night, because of the loud sound system which is of course necessary for that kind of place, you can hardly hear each other not unless you shout straight to the person’s ear in order for you to be heard.

We left the place at around 2:00AM. Walked around the streets of Malate for a while then took myself a cab to Mall Of Asia where my car is parked, went straight home to my room and lay down at my BED, thought and contemplated on how things went on in Malate and had myself a good nights sleep.

Will I ever go back to Bed? Maybe. After all, last night was just my first going there. Hopefully, next time, the party animal inside me would be unleashed. Ha-ha!