19 lbs. and 4 inches

Yup, that's how much I lost so far. Today was the final weigh-in for the Biggest Loser Competition. I'm still 6 lbs. short of my personal goal, but I'm very very happy with what I've achieved so far. Considering 2 overseas trips in countries known for good food, this was indeed a true test of willpower. Thanks so much for all your support! By the way, sharing with you a picture taken by a colleague of mine during our Macau conference.

Hiking in Singapore?

Yup, you read that right. We went hiking in Singapore. TS, E and I set out Saturday morning (Sept. 27, Day 2 of our Singapore trip) to the MacRitchie Reservoir Park specifically to set foot on the HSBC Treetop Walk.

When we got to the entrance of the park, the trail to the Treetop Walk was described to be "moderate to difficult" and would take about 3-4 hours. Uh-oh... What have I gotten myself into...

So without exaggeration, the trail was indeed "moderate to difficult" and it was a test of determination for me, there was no turning back...

But when I got to the Treetop Walk, everything was worth it, I knew that it wouldn't be easy to have another opportunity to experience that.

By the way, it took us 3.5 hours to finish the trail, not bad! I must have burned more than 400 calories and this gave me an excuse to eat more liberally during the trip:-)

Random Things About Last Week

1. Went out with my good friends at work AC and MV. We ate at Pho Hoa, a Vietnamese Restaurant, and I loved their Shrimp and Pomelo Salad! I have another favorite salad place!

2. My friend DP who is based in Hongkong came to Manila on official business and spared some time to have lunch with me. We tried Secret Recipe at Shangrila Mall. I tried their Pan-grilled Dory, which was okay, but I found the sauce a bit salty. Ask that the sauce be served separately if you do decide to order this. They have "healthy" cakes, but we didn't get to try them. Maybe next time.

3. E and I watched West Side Story Friday night. Joanna Ampil played Maria that night. Before the show, we went to Teriyaki Boy for dinner. How I missed their Tempura Tuna Sashimi, and ordered that for myself. Oh no, that must have been at least 300 calories!!!

4. I was happy to know that I still lost some pounds, considering that I was only able to go to the gym once the week before, and that week included birthday celebrations for E and my niece Baby S. Not a good week for losing weight, but I made up by going thrice last week and spending at least 60 minutes on cardio workouts each time. I hope this week will be much better.

My One and Only Free Saturday

My classes for the new term start on September 13 and I will be handling two classes. My Saturdays will be packed with a class at 9AM-12NN and another one at 1:30PM-4:30PM. For the next few months, my Saturdays will already be filled, so I wanted to spend my only free Saturday well.

What better way, than to spend the day with good friends and family? My college barkada planned another Salcedo Market day yesterday so I can join them as the market is only open Saturdays, 7AM-2PM. So after a good workout at home, I left to meet the girls at JV's condo. Turns out only JV and I will be able to do the marketing. The irony of it all? We were both on a diet. So, the smell of all the good food in the market was sheer torture to us. We vowed we would return when we've already achieved our goals. For ourselves, we bought mushroom dumplings, fresh lumpiang ubod to complement the green salad we planned to eat for lunch. For the rest, we bought the usual Ineng's barbecue, lasagna, lechon paksiw, guinataang kuhol, paella negro, spicy squid, siomai, hakaw and chicken relleno.

LB with son P, and SC joined us for lunch. It was a relaxing lunch, filled with updates about our lives. Of course we talked about the girls who were not present (haha! I'm kidding of course).

Sorry, no pictures! We were too busy eating and talking:)

In the evening, I, together with E, went to my parents' house for dinner. My Mom prepared this delicious salad of tofu, mushrooms and bell pepper especially for me! How sweet noh?:)

Life Lessons from Dieting and Exercising

A lot of my friends were surprised when they learned that I was on a diet, "Seryoso ka ba?", they would say. Because they all know how I love food, and the more sinful, the better. Chips, chocolates, cakes, ice cream, crispy pata, sisig, steak (you get the drift), I love! But the past few days, I counted calories -- and even targetted a lower calorie intake than what was recommended. I also paid attention to what I ate, no sweets, nothing fried and no sugar (oh did I mention that my favorite coffee was anything with caramel or mint?). As much as possible I only had oatmeal for breakfast and salads for lunch and dinner. There would be exceptions like lunch meetings, but I would definitely eat within my allowed calorie intake. The biggest challenges were: a lunch treat of an officemate at North Park, my regular lunch out with my good friends at Pancake House, and a birthday celebration of a lunch mate where there was a Turtle Pie and a Mango Cream Cake. How did I cope? I ate steamed broccoli, two pieces siomai and one piece squid at North Park but only had banana for dinner, had the Fiesta Taco Salad at Pancake House, and had one bite each of the cakes and brought the rest home to E.

When they learned that I go biking and go to the gym, they said "Ikaw? e pumunta lang sa kabilang building kailangan mag-car pa!" It's true, I'm really lazy. But I do bike and even gamely biked some hilly streets (which was hell, by the way). And I go to the gym as often as I can and time myself, making sure I spend at least 45 minutes for a cardio workout. This morning, I made it 60 minutes.

I didn't really know that I had it in me, the will power, the discipline, the determination... but I know now!

Ambush!

(Photos stolen from Doc FC's Multiply site)

E and I woke up to a text message from AC, "Are you home? Let's go biking!". Before we could answer his text, he and wife DocFC were already outside our house! After a quick breakfast, we headed to the Filinvest Alabang area to try it out. We were joined by E's officemate BSA. For the beginner like me, the hills of Alabang were really challenging. The only thing that got me going was the thought that at least I will be able to burn calories from the ride. It was also a good place to see new things --- posh subdivisions with the fitting Palms Country Club. Maybe next time the Bike Club could try this out!

The ride ended with a delicious lunch at Leslie's, the popular bulalo place. And again, I ended up counting calories and mostly eating the vegetables of the bulalo except the potatoes and corn, but succumbing to a small piece of beef. Also had some of the pinaputok na pla-pla but totally eliminated rice. Buti na lang they didn't order sisig or worse, crispy pata!

Meet My New Best Friend

Took this photo using my cellphone while I was on the stationary bike in the gym. Talk about multi-tasking:-)

FitFlops are Here!

I first read about FitFlops from one of my most favorite websites: the Bath and Body Works website (www.bbw.com) and got very curious. My college barkada had a few exchanges about it on email, one of my barkada even got one and the more I got curious.

Saw it at Recreational Outdoor Exchange (R.O.X., at Bonifacio High Street) and decided to at least try it. I'm desperate after all...

Oh Goody!

Just paid my nutritionist a visit and she said that a Goolai salad pack would not be over 200 calories even with the fruit vinaigrette dressing. That means that I can even eat 3 or 4 packs a day and I wouldn't go over my allowed daily calorie intake. Of course I'll only have two, and can even have a piece of bread to go with it. This isn't so bad after all!

* Goolai salad packs are available in selected Rustan's supermarkets.