28 pounds

two in a row!

yep, that's the spoiler right there.

won again our li'l biggest loser challenge. it's not about the money, really. i've been meaning to lose weight and the contest just put things in perspective.

my office mates from the other branch did gave me a good fight... they were teaming up and boy, did they came close... 2nd and 3rd!

although i've said before that if i kept the pace i was going, i'm gonna be in the clear... however, there were a lot of snags along the way. went to Baguio City where we ate like we mean it. that was three days and two nights. then, sister came by for over a week. had a lot of goodies and sweets.. not to mention the many, many pigging out we did.

the last two days before the weigh-in, had an awful lot of boozing with the little reunion we have from our ISUZU family.. then my uncle invited us over for some dinner cos my cousin whose been a seaman for years just passed his last exam which puts him a stone throw away from being a skipper of the ship. nice, yeah?

third or fourth week of the contest, my left knee/calves started acting out and i couldn't run anymore. imagine how much running had contributed to my weight lost and now it's out of the menu.

it's probably for the best. i learn a lot of "tricks" working around the injury. more tools in my toolbox. oh, the diet... the diet was pretty intense i got a lot of days wherein i'm just so irritable.

i'm happy it's over now. i can sit back and eat what i want... hah!

not!

yeah... the plan is to keep going but not as intense as it was during the contest.

soldering on is part of the grand scheme of things...

anyway, had a lot of things going but i can't keep up with the details.. what, with all the happenings on full throttle... this guy right here is too old to catch up, deym!

FU FUP!

looks like i've reached my maximum bandwidth for my internet connection. yeah, thanks to FUP or Fair Usage Policy, they can arbitrarily slow down your internet connection almost to a halt because you, my friend went bat shit crazy downloading movies, music, etc. and, watched too much YouTube.

nice, yeah?

i've got two words for these companies... FU!!

**

the last two weeks had been a major beating for my lower extremities. switching between cardio machines and really went at it at extended time... wow!

i never imagined getting back into that conditioning. in fact, i have all the excuses in the world not to push myself to the edge cos primarily, i'm like forty years old and it's a rarity for people my age to be fit... save for some few.

and, although i workout regularly, i was drinking and eating a lot at the same time. thus, it's no wonder my conditioning is off most of the time.

i'm just gonna go on push myself a tad bit every time and see how it goes and feel.

i don't brag and say "hey man, do i look trimmer to you now?" i'll just wait for the "compliments" to fall into the right places.... lol

this is the goal. the before and after.

yeah, some people are starting to notice now.

seems most of the participants aren't really in to win this contest. everyone's making an excuse. lets see how this plays out when we weigh in next month, March 20.

some are probably just playing mind games.... we'll soon find out.

**

i miss Baguio City already. i love it there. what's not to love about the city of pines? it's mostly cold. when you're inside the hotel or an establishment, it's a bit warm, but once you're outside, that's when it feels like there's an air conditioning being turned on and set to the max!

traffic in Manila though is unbearable. for a lowly person from the province like me, i could not imagine living there and work. it's too congested. they have all these projects that's about to begin construction.

the worst is yet to come.

and we wonder why Mindanao and the rest of the countryside is too far behind in terms of progress. Manila gets the lion's share of all the revenues collected from all over the country.

anyway, pictures are at wifey's phone... might be able to sneak a few snaps in here but since i'm always very, very well spent everyday, it's quite an ordeal to copy and paste them here..

good night World!

Jackpot

the city of pines... such a nice place.

other than riding on a plane and a few snags, everything was goin' great in that three days and two nights of grand vacation.

but before that, we won some twenty five grand on some contest my wife had me and the rest of the wrecking crew in the house joined in.

it was a kickoff party, raffle draws and an award's night rolled into one.

t'was Sunday and since we have this little contest called Biggest Loser in the office, i decided to hit the gym for some serious cardio.

after the gym, went to the venue famish.

i was feeling tired, hungry, bored, envious, and did i mentioned bored? yeah, it took a while to finish. a lot of awardees and winners were announced wifey included.

some pals i know of were winning... cash, appliances, cellphones, etc.

i was feeling dismayed cos everyone's seems to be winning but us.

to make the long story short, during the final draw, i kept telling myself i hope i didn't win cos i hate going up on stage and getting pictured at... i didn't wanna be seen at all.

to my surprise, i got called!

the irony.

my wife is twenty five G's richer... yeah, i gave it all to her. well, she did all the work.. from buying the tickets, to making sure everyone goes, all the way to filling 'em tickets down.

what did i do? make sure i get my ass into that convention center.

i wanna go on talkin' but shayt, did some freakin' serious workout earlier, thus, i am very well spent.

Bagiuo City story will have to wait.... *yawn*

Biggest Lozer 2

WOW!

it's been a helluva tiring week! yep, bump up the cardio and really lessen the food intake... results are obvious, i guess.

i'm just waiting for other people to notice. i don't go around and brag about how i've lost weight.

my fellow competitors are showing signs of giving up. they probably thought there was no way of beating me... i doubt it very much.

we still have over a month more to go... plenty of time to turn things around.

i wish i could swim again though. that would really put me in the forefront, hands down.

unlike college days wherein i swim for twenty to thirty laps but then eat loads of junks afterwards like burgers and all that oily food being sold outside CCSC (the swimming place), now i can just eat boiled chicken breast and be content with it.

if i continue in this course and keep doing the things i do now, i believe i can top that lost weight i had before.

me and wifey are going to Baguio this tuesday for a three day vacation. nice, yeah?

i'm still scared shitless riding a plane and, we're gonna be travelling and riding on a bus  for hours going to our destination. heard about that news early today about a bus falling off a 120 meter ravine? many died.

that's even more scary!

anyway, if it's your time, it's your time. only the good Lord above knows when it's your time to go.

the cardio section of the gym is now my favorite hangout. i sweat like a bucket every time i'm there.

time to kill the talk and embrace the sacks.... nighty!

check your pride

love this....



***

how's the weather in your part of the world?

it's been chillin' like a villain these days around here...

it's taking a toll in some members of the family.. me included.

work is, uhm, complicated... to borrow the word from what site was that?? hah!

yep. i've been getting a lot of heat lately. too much backlogs on practically everything. can you blame me?

when we began we sold around twenty units per month.. now, we're up to sixty. that's excluding the other branches. Tacloban was giving good numbers but we know what happened, they got wipeout.

and, i'm still doing these things all by myself!

i have no complains really... just as long as they don't rush me to produce everything all at once. my boss isn't too understanding.

one more shit from him and i'm goin' to a grand vacation.

we'll see what happens next.

i know about that "no one is indispensable" thing, so don't lecture me about it.

it's gonna be hard losing a job at this juncture. i mean, whose gonna hire a forty year old man other than call centers, eh?

but it doesn't matter. sometimes, you just have to go out there and throw yourself into the sea. i mean, i've been busting my ass for this company for almost fifteen years... two years before that, i was also working for them but with a different brand.

i'd like to try some freedom from them and do my own thing. i don't know if i still have anything left in the tank that can turn things around.

i can't be thankful enough to them. i've learned and grow a lot and at the same, it allowed me to put food on the table for my family.

anyway, i don't look forward to that day, but it's best to be prepared.

***

so, Biggest Loser is back in the office. i've ballooned a lot since the last time we did it. although i gain a lot of muscles, fat is all over the place as well.

i can't be thankful enough for my office mates who reboot this contest. it just puts me into that page again where i'm really focus and that determination to win, though the feeling is tiring.... but it's AWESOME!

especially if you start buckling your belt and there's that hole that inches forward as days go by.. until you're in the last punctured part of your belt.. WOW. it's good!

best part is, i can run again. been doin' a little sprint and walk (HIIT) cardio in the treadmill and boy, does it just fry your fats out.

wifey is also into running, her latest passion. i'm just waiting for the right time so i can run with her early in the morning. don't expect me to beat her anytime soon. she's been joining fun runs since last year and is a top three to five finisher.

i have this new gym gear called FatGripz. i got the extreme variant where the diameter really mimics or perhaps even thicker than fat bars. U.S.A. has a lot of 'em fat bars. here however, i haven't seen one yet. perhaps a rarity.

so far it's been good. my forearms are fried long before i could get into the top weight. it definitely offers variety and to a certain extent, challenge. you should try it sometimes to know exactly what i mean.

it's nice to yack s'more, however, bed is calling.

chi-chao!

well, well, well..

looks like i... smoked everyone out!!

ha!

who'd have thought, huh?

all indication points to me winning the first price.. actually, i can feel it in my guts churning out since i got serious - i'm gonna win this.

it's been a month and seven days.

239.5 pounds was my before weight and yesterday i was 222 point something.. pounds!

that's a whopping 17 pounds lost!!

earlier, i weighed in again and i was 218!

dayum!

tomorrow, i'd probably lose s'more..

so yeah, i finally figured it out.

proper nutrition (in my case, steamed fillet chicken breast and sweet potato) and loads and loads of cardio.. the kind that could kill ya.. haha!

and it's worth mentioning your mindset - you should be at the right page when you're doing this kinda thing.

focus and a boatload of determination.. no whining, moaning.. the works..

still have a long a way to go and if they wanna go for another round, count me in!

in the meantime, it's time to celebrate and eat all i can!!!

yeah, the ones i mentioned above, of course.. still got 30-40 pounds to go!

cheers!

suicide trend

it's kinda creepy how a number of people had been killing themselves lately.. alarming, to say the least!

the past few weeks, there'd been like a LOT. one killed himself in front of his girlfriend, another took a dive a from the bridge (but lived anyway), a guy stabs his live-in partner before he went to try to kill himself.. both of which he failed miserably to do it all the way.. to top it all, a former defense secretary and armed forces chief of staff shoot himself right on his heart.. cos he can't take the "heat" anymore?!?

and there's plenty of the same i've read or heard that i've lost count of.

some says this folks are pussies.. cos they can't stand the pressure.. i'd say they're quite brave, but in a wrong way!

they're brave enough to shoot their brains out or slit their throats or jump off the bridge.. they could of use that trait and turn it into something positive.

well, some just couldn't handle too much and we're never really at their shoes, to begin with.

i had a HUGE problem last year and you know what i did? i binge on alcohol to sorta get by.

in a way, i kinda made it worst.. cos instead of manning-up and face the problem squarely, i went and took comfort of knowing i could forget my problems and feel "high" temporarily..

but i never thought of killing myself then.. even now when my spouse is caught in a gambling frenzy.. yep, that's what she got herself into.

she just loves to play cards..



worst, she's now ten times more of a party girl and outgoing when we're supposed to be more responsible now with the addition of our "instant" little girl, Angel.

i would understand if she'd go out, have fun, stay out late and enjoy a little "me" time once, twice a week.. but man, she's out there more than that.

so, that's why i'm tired of her.

i'm tired of arguing and fighting... it's a waste of time.

but i'm not gonna kill myself over that... or for her, fact of the matter .

i have more reason to live now... more than ever.

***

next week, is the final leg of our little contest.

i don't supposed i'd win it handily.. but i definitely put up a good fight. i'm pretty confident to be in the top three... we'll see..

last week i over-trained. often, on a daily basis.. after doing weights i'd go cardio for over an hour, mostly.



there was one time i felt like i was gonna have a fever.. ya know, i'm on a calorie deficit diet and doing more work, the body can only take so much.. either it super-compensates or do the nasty - get sick!

my legs (calves, hamstrings, quads, etc) are pretty burned out. at times i lost my bearings while walking around.. the treadmill had become my best bud instead of my usual poison.

i haven't drink much.. guess it's possible for me to be sober for weeks.. i don't crave on alcohol anymore.. whilst before, i usually have a stock-pile of that cheap vodka or brandy.. which is really convenient, now my "war room" don't have traces of them empty bottles. hah!

yesterday, i had a funny experience at this massage joint.



i knew they just opened weeks ago and as my hunch would have it, most masseuse/masseur aren't "seasoned" enough to handle guys like me.

so, to make this long ordeal short, went in and requested a "hard" massage which is a standard for me.

the moment this lady laid her hands on me, i knew she isn't in-the-know.

her fingers kept slipping away and she put too much oil.. OK, i got no problem with that.. at the back of my mind, what i really needed at that moment was to have a place to crash coz after yet another bone-smashing-muscle-whacking workout, i could use some forty winks.

anyway, she whispered "that's the hardest i can do, sir, sorry.." so i go, "it's OK."

when it was my back's turn, that's when she had the hardest time i can tell... her sweat is now in the mix of the oil she rubbed my back with.. i can feel her sweat dripping off my back!

then she goes again "this is the first time i've massaged a back as hard as yours!"

even though i'm disappointed that she's inexperienced, i was happy anyhow as i was able to re-charge my batteries just lying there.. "guess you'd ask for a masseur next time around, right sir?" she whispered. "no, i'll request for you again." i jokingly replied.

then came a light bulb flashing up my brains... if i'll tell you, i'll have to kill you!

anyway, long post for the weekend.. tomorrow and the days to come, it's time to grind again.

out.

burn baby.. burn!

it's ON.

well, that contest i told you about.

having less than the usual carbs i had, it's dizzying to say the least.. it's harder to think straight.

this is the walking the talk part. fun and game is over.

focus.

yeah, yeah.

i can't wait to tell you how much sacrifice, sweat, blood and guts i put up with to win this contest, yadi yada!!

but yeah, it's quite a journey, tell you that.



the tasteless crappy food i have to shove into my mouth, crazy.

win or lose, i'd still feel like a winner when this is over in a week or two time.

even then, i'm still gonna press on 'til it's summer time.. i wanna come down to where i can or until such time i plateau.

as Gordon Ramsay would often say after every Kitchen Nightmare's ending, "DON'T STOP!"

you bet i won't.

wait...

i know i said i'll post about that little contest we have in the office, but it's been really busy as of late.. wish i had more time.. and energy!

anyhoo, i'm right on track and i'll update more about it in the days to come... be seein' yah!