It’s the second day of the year and I decided to get my baseline measurements (see below). After ballooning to my biggest size and heaviest weight, I’ve decided that I need to go back to square one. I need to re-learn everything… The discipline, the perseverance, and the determination to stay fit and healthy.

Knowing how to cook and loving all sorts of food made gaining weight so quick. Add that to having your butt stuck to the chair reading and reviewing thousands of pages in preparation for the Philippine Bar Exam, I’m not surprised I ballooned to size 38-39 and am not at a whopping 240lbs.

The most difficult thing about trying to re-lose weight is that I have to concede to the fact that I have to start from square one. I can’t just go out and do a 10K. Nor can I do interval training and do 400s, 800s or 1200s. My muscles need to re-aquatinted with the movement, the motion and the speed.

Aside from that I also need to re-learn how to eat properly. I’m not talking about utensils or chewing with my mouth closed but rather eating the right kind of  food. We all know what types of food we should avoid yet we still continue to eat them… Fatty, oily, sweet… UNHEALTHY.

In the coming days, weeks, and months, I will be writing about my journey back onto the road to healthy living. Hopefully, it will be a one-way trip. I don’t want to ever come back to this state.

Measurement Date & Time : January 02, 2012 – 05:30 PM

NOTES:

1. Measurements were made using a tape measure and around the areas at their widest.
2. The waist measurement is the circumference taken from the navel all-around.
3. The hip measurement is the circumference around the hip joints.

I’ve decided to join the “LOSE BIG” program of Fitness First. The weigh in will start tomorrow at 6:00pm. It is a rigorous 13-week program. I will be joining other people who have the same goal of “losing big”. We will then be grouped into two teams, the BLUE and RED teams. It will probably be in the same format as the popular TVshow, “The Biggest Loser“.

There will be winners for each Fitness First branch. The winners from each branch will then battle it out with the other winners from the other branches nationwide. The over-all winner *might* win a trip to Boracay this summer and receive a cash prize, though nothing has been announced yet. I’m looking forward to find out what the mechanics will be.

In preparation for the event, I’ve decided to take my measurements. This was something that I used to do…

____________________________________________

Related links:

“My Trainers Are Gone”
“I’m where I left off…”
“The Biggest Loser”
“40 Days and 40 Nights”

____________________________________________

Measurement Date & Time : January 16, 2011 – 01:30 AM

NOTES:

1. Measurements were made using a tape measure and around the areas at their widest.
2. The waist measurement is the circumference taken from the navel all-around.
3. The hip measurement is the circumference around the hip joints.

I’m not so sure how they took my measurements at the Palms Country Club because my waist is smaller than my hips in those measurements. Either way, those are my measurements above.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been keeping track of my workout at the gym and also of ALL the food that I eat. It helps me get an idea if I need to step things up or not.

We are now in 2011 and I’m sure a good number of us have started making New Year’s Resolutions. On the top of almost everyone’s list is that they will hit the gym more, lose weight, start on a new diet. More often than not, a lot of people like myself will make these commitments, stick to them for a few weeks or even a month or two and then eventually… go back to their old habits.

I figure that the best way to avoid this situation is to not make resolutions, commitments or promises we all know we can’t keep. We have to be reasonable to ourselves, and set goals that are SMART. (I’m sure we’ve heard of SMART goals before). Our goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

I’m no expert on these things but I figure that it would make sense to target what it is exactly I want to achieve. Instead of saying “I want to lose weight” I should say something like, “I want to lose 50 lbs.”

It’s not enough that I have a definite goal, it also makes sense to cut it up in segments. Saying something like, “I’ll start with 5lbs this week.” It will allow me to measure to measure my progress. It could easily say, “I’ll lose 10lbs or 15 lbs” but based on experience, it doesn’t seem that realistic. I should set my goals within reach, they should be both attainable and realistic.

Most important of all, I figure that I should put a time limit on my goal. If it’s too far, I might just lose interest. If it’s near enough, it’s easier to push myself to keep my eye on the target.

GOAL: Lose 50 lbs
PERIOD: March 31, 2011
PRIZE: Trip to Palawan

At the end of my day, I headed straight to ULTRA for my training. My calves still hurt like hell but what the heck. No pain no gain… well, hopefully, it would result in a loss of more pounds.

I did the usual 2km warm-up followed by some running drills. It’s really difficult to start back at square one. I’m building my base but I know that it’s also for the best since I don’t want my body to get shocked. Slow and steady is best and it is more reliable.

When I was doing the running drills, I found myself gasping for air. My body is really not used to doing what I used to do on a regular basis.

The last time I was at ULTRA, I wasn’t sure if I was doing the midfoot or forefoot strike. So today, I tried my best not to land on the area between the ball of my foot and my toes. According to what I’ve been reading, that’s the forefoot. I also consciously tried not to land on my heels. I guess if I did both, I’d end up doing the midfoot strike.

My plan for the day was to do a 5k interval session. This means running at 80% at the straight parts of the track while jogging on the curved portions. Well, since I was starting, I thought that I should run-walk-run instead of run-jog-run. Thinking of the entire workout bored me. It would mean that for every loop around the oval, I’d run twice and walk twice. In order for me to do 5k, I had to do 12.5 laps around the oval and it would translate to 50 run-walk-run segments. The idea of doing 50 just seemed too much and seemed really boring and I didn’t like the idea that it would take so long to finish.

As predicted, I got bored in the middle of the workout and I ended up doing 3.2km or 32 segments of the run-walk routine. Well, not bad if I count the 2km warmup that I did also. Let’s just hope all this work pays off

I’ve been contemplating whether I want to share with the other contestants what I’ve been doing the past few days. I finally decided… NOPE! Hehe

Since this blog has been helping me keep track of what I’ve been doing and writing down my insights, I decided to make it temporarily… CONFIDENTIAL!

I’ll divulge the password after the “Biggest Loser” ends on Dec. 13 or change the settings, but for now… Unless you’re part of my training team or pool of supporters, hehe, you won’t be able to see what I’ve been doing.

I’ll share my rest days though and other stuff I do to indulge