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!

the lowdown

well, whadyaknow.. i'm still kicking!

i dunno for how much longer though. my BP has gone haywire. my heart, lets just say it's been downhill for roughly three weeks now. it's definitely something to watch out for.

been to the doc a few days ago. pop a few pills. it's better but still, i'm not out of the woods yet.

monday, gonna get my ECG result and go to a specialist. a cardiologist, to be exact.

yesterday, i felt better after the visit to the doc, went to smash the weights! shoulder pressed ninety pounds for three. rest. then squeeze out six more reps with a help this time.

after a few minutes of doing presses and pulls in the gym, i felt dizzy and gassed. took off.

today, i tried do some light cardio. just walk a bit faster and inclined a tad. boy,  i felt dizzy and gassed again!

that's a stark contrast to what i can pound before doing HIIT on the treadmill at eight kilometers per hour. really, something awry is goin' on with me.

tsk.. tsk..

all that strength and power, gone in a snap!

at least three pals wanna hang out tonight. i'd love to, but i can't.

gotta heal up if i still can. i get a little anxious just thinking of the what if's.

between then and now, only the good Lord above knows.

gotta stay positive. i don't live for myself alone now. there are people whom i love and depends on me.

it's just how things in the world works.

chillin' time.

24

cardio suffered a minor setback. just pushed it a little too much on the treadmill doing sprints and, it happened. calves gave in.. muscle cramped. it's been four days and the sting of the pain is still there. oh well.

will just have to work around it. there's still other cardio equipment that i can use that won't aggravate the area. shit happens.

**

went out again to party-party last friday night. my pal was in cruise mode and just let it all hang loose. i, on the other was pretty uptight.. dunno why.

as usual we got smashed. him had too much though. he practically forgot what went down on the latter part of the night whilst i remembered everything.

he dunno how he broke a chip of his front teeth. i remembered him dancing and gyrating like he's auditioning to some dancing show.. haha!

lesson learned: keep it together and never lose a grip of yourself.

***

why is it important to have ETA? so that you don't let people left hanging. in the corporate world, it's important to make projections, assessments and planning. a customer said to me once, "i just want to know exactly when cos i don't want it to be open-ended."

imagine if all people would make an open-ended projection, we'd be stuck in limbo for a long, long time.. "we'll just inform you." how about "i'll just text."

so now i appreciate when Jack Bauer said something along the lines of "what's your ETA?"

something to ponder about today, huh?

ya better run!

the internet had gone berserk again.. going on and off for days. sucks!

anyway, bought Neil a new guitar. plays really nice... and expensive! when sister had a vacation a few months ago, she bought him one. after a few months, he's gotten really good at it.. pretty much beat me on some tunes! his guitar tho, well, it's quite worn out now. but still playable.

this new one, it's more than twice expensive but plays twice better too! i kinda enjoy playing guitar again. Neil would most likely surpass me, my li'l bro, Alan (who plays flawless guitar!) and my buddy, Earl. he's just fourteen and he's playing cool tunes now. he's got some good licks and plucking too! to think he's just playing for almost three months now.. he'd probably beat John Mayer when he's fully grown up.

***

work volume had gone up considerably these days. it's a good thing i've set-up a some sorta system so that no matter how huge of a sale we make, it's all go on my end.

*****

been able to run a tad longer now. then, on HIIT, i'm scaling back to the speed i used to kill before. hope to keep it up... it's not all roses to tell you frankly.. but, it's getting better.

better post this before the effing connection goes off again!

filler 827

it must've been the weather or, my body is telling me to slow down.


see, i've been really putting a lot of effort with the cardio and diet thing. gotta do whatcha gotta do or else... you'd end up nowhere.


strength training is just as fierce. been doin' a lot of chins and pull-ups (neutral grip). i'm tryin' to be smart on this though.. cautious about how the body's responding..





keyword: calculated risk. 


my body is really warm right now... telltale signs of overtraining. had an hour of massage earlier.


anyway, the body is sore.. really sore. time to heal up.


ZZzzzzzzz....

i, me, my

another milestone achieved today.

weighted dips: bodyweight plus forty pounds of dumbbell for five reps.

for a guy whose had shoulder problem and cannot do even my own bodyweight, that's a lot!



to think i'm supposed to be "weaker" these days.

i'm not really getting weaker.. probably getting stronger, yeah.

lighter, in fact.

i'm still eating a lot but what i'm doing is finish all my carbs early afternoon and it'll be protein all the way through the night. or, if it's not possible, really lessen the carbs.

what's more, i cycle at night. some days steady state, on other days, HIIT.

thank God for laptop, torrent and movies, otherwise it'll be one helluva boring thirty minutes of pedaling to nowhere land.

so that means i can pretty much eat a lot since i'm doing more work.

but that's not the case.

repeat after me: less is more..

i don't really get all this into my head, ya know losing weight yadi-yada, but people come up to me and say i look leaner. to be honest, i don't wanna think i'm there yet cos then i'd start to relax.

so, even when my pants and shirts are getting loser, my belt had an added two holes cos my slacks are dropping like i'm hot haha, i don't bother with how i'm losing some flabs... after all, i'm still a work in progress.

i was gonna cycle yet again tonight but my knees are bummed, my hamstrings are shot, my CNS is still recovering from my legs workout yesterday, my arms aren't at par with my brain so what am i gonna do with all these chicken shit barrier on my way?

rest.

yeah, there's still lotsa days do all that.

i'll try to make it up tomorrow.

off to la la land..

effort.

hey there!

been swamped with work these days, deym!

that's why.

well, we all feel bad about Japan and i'm guessing everyone said their piece.

so, i wouldn't add more drama to a tragic, double whammy of a misfortune the Japs has suffered.. i can only wish them well.

i hope they'll be able to cope-up with the situation with all the damage, death and the impending nuke catastrophe that's about to blow over. hopefully we don't have to suffer the same.

man, i can't even begin to imagine the sufferings those guys are going through right now.

God,, help them.

on the lighter side, i've managed to solder on with my goal.. although i'm getting a little impatient.

it's not like there's no improvement whatsoever anymore - it's just exhausting.

each week, cardio had been bumped up. knees are wearing thin.. legs are sore for days.. it's not really that hard, just takes a lot of focus and determination.

probably lost lotsa fat but pretty sure, muscles too!

you can't expect to retain them unless you're "juicing" or taking lotsa supplements such as BCAA's and whatnot.

i would be selfish if i spend all my moolah over those things when there's a boatload of responsibilities to be taken cared of - first.

anyway, i realize how stupid of me before to do all that jogging or biking as it yield me no result.. why? effort. i didn't have that.

today, i've smartened up.

if you ever want to have result, you gotta put on the work. if you're doing a so-so job, expect a so-so result.

guess it applies generally to anything... of course, in my case, it's something of interest, otherwise, i'd probably just get it done just to get by or maybe to earn me a living: like my job!

hah!

going back to the workout plan, i'm planning to do cardio twice a day.. that should speed up the process a bit more.. i got a stationary bike at home. set-up the lappy up front, load some movie/s, pedal to the metal for 20 loooooonnnnggggg minutes and we're burnin' baby!

commencing in a few minutes....