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

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so impressed! From 44 to 33, imagine? What a dramatic change.

A friend of mine always said that being healthy is not about getting a big biceps or a 'hardcore' chest, what matters is you're healthy inside.

Just continue doing what you're doing. It's all about discipline, really. And you look great!

brine4u said...

k: thanks alot for the comment.. i will surely keep this up.. take care.. :)

Mar C. said...

wow! amazing.. keep it up, anyway...napadaan lang.

caphantomfire said...

Wow bri! It is really a big achievement. Keep it up. Every time I see you at work I am always amaze on the overall change in your appearance. You look great. =)

Noriel2Goni said...

Hi Bri, I know youre so happy right now that you achieved one of your goals. Just continue to reach something that makes you happy.

I hope this achievement can't change you the way you were before.

Just take care of yourself and God Bless, Friend.

Airwind said...

"Bullies would always have me as their subject of ridicule and would constantly joke about my size." Aray!!! hahaha .... its really hard reading this post mind you ... my eyes are actually popping out of its socking going thru the entry .. joke!! lam ko naman bri na you can do it ... and always here whether u weight 500 or 0 lbs. :)

Airwind said...

oppp mispelled "i mwan socket" not "socking" ..... hahahha .. **bitting my tounge**

sadako said...

hey bro. thanks for visiting my site. Sorry for the delay of my visit. So many unfinished business that I attended to. Anyhow, friend ka pala ni kapatid airwind.

Buti ka pa you lost 100 lbs.. ako im gaining 100 lbs hehe

Bienthoughts [a.ride.to.life] said...

that's was fantastic dude!
I admire you're will power!
Keep it up!

Bienthoughts