The RubeTube

Our Biggest Loser contest is over and I'm not the biggest loser. Aside from the 500-peso ante, all I lost were a couple of pounds, and around 3 percentage points off of my body fat index. That was far from being competitive. But at least I achieved a few of my goals:

• Lose a couple of pounds. Doesn't matter how many as long as my weight doesn't creep back up.
  
• Look noticeably thinner. My friends and officemates will attest to this; too bad "audience impact" doesn't count.
• Be conscious of my diet. Never would've thought it'd happen, but I am actually making an effort to understand those "Nutrition Facts".
  
• Get into the exercise habit. Gold's Gym really helped out here. In fact, I feel awful whenever I miss out on my regular M-W-F gym days.

I am winner!

Labels: :), Biggest Loser, exercise, health

Two weeks after getting into the gym habit, I decided to take some measurements again. After all, I was feeling a bit lighter and healthier, and had some extra spring to my step, so I figured that meant that I'd lost a few pounds.

I measured my weight with the same machine used in our "Biggest Loser" contest, and I was elated to find my weight at a "mere" 196 pounds, even with my shoes on! You may think that this isn't such a big deal, but for me it was huge (or the opposite, actually, har har). For the longest time, I've always weighed in it over 200 pounds, and it's always been bothering me that I was that much overweight. Of course, 196 pounds is still overweight, but that 200-pound barrier was this hump that I've always wanted to get over... or under, rather. This is a great achievement for me, and it sure does a lot for me mentally as well. It gave me a huge psychological boost and it indicated that I was finally doing things right.

I've already accomplished what I wanted to achieve in our contest: to get into the habit of exercising and to start living a healthier lifestyle. Of course, actually winning the contest would be a very nice reward, so I'm definitely not slacking off!

And guess what? I've also lost an inch off my waistline! As a "consequence", I now have to tighten my belt by one notch.

To tell you the truth though, finding out I'd lost weight wasn't very surprising. I've somehow managed to maintain my weight in the 200 to 210-pound range with my regular eating habits; my weight was already very "stable". So if you just add a dash of exercise and combine that with lessened food intake, I was sure to lose some weight. All this simply proves the age old formula for weight-loss: Higher energy consumption + lower energy intake = lost pounds.

Labels: :D, Biggest Loser, exercise, health

A couple of months ago, some of our managers engaged in a "Biggest Loser"-like contest. The goal? To lose the most weight after a fixed period of time. (To make things fair, they measured the percentage loss instead of just the raw difference.) The pot was huge; each manager put in a hefty 2,000 bucks, winner takes all.

Not to be outdone, us subordinates got into our own little contest: two months, 16 contestants, 500 bucks each, winner takes all, runner-up loses nothing (as a consolation). Do the math; that's a huge potential pay-off! And instead of measuring the percentage change in weight, we used the percentage change in body fat index as our metric; after all, muscle weighs more than fat which would put the already-fit people at a disadvantage.

(If you're wondering how we measure body fat index, we use those 5-peso machines at Mercury Drug which measures your height, weight, body fat index, and even blood pressure! Those machines are pretty inaccurate in my opinion, but they're the easiest way.)

It's been almost three weeks since our initial weigh-in and I've only recently started getting into it. My regimen is simple, almost too simple: 30-45 minutes of exercise in the morning for three times a week (mostly consisting of light jogging/walking), a "stricter" diet (only by my standards) of more fruit and fiber and less fried and fatty foods, lesser food intake (especially at night). I'm not in the company's limited-slots fitness program which entitles us to a month's access to Gold's Gym, but I'll try to get in next month.

And as an extra measure, because I'm absolutely crazy, I take the stairs up and down everyday at our office building. Unfortunately (or fortunately), HP is at the 7th floor (and also at the 14th, but thankfully I'm not located there). I have a technique to psych myself up for the stair-climbing task. I have to take 6 flights of stairs to get to the 7th. 6 flights is just 2 sets of 3 flights. One can easily climb 3 flights of stairs, right? So when I get to the 4th floor (which is pretty easy), I just say to myself, "One more time!" and convince myself that I just have to climb 3 more flights, which is again pretty easy, right?

It takes less than 2 minutes to get to the 7th floor. I try to maintain a constant, healthy pace; no cheat by slowing down! And I do all that with a 7-pound laptop on my back! After two weeks of climbing stairs, I've gotten really used to it and can do up to 3 sets up and down a day (not continuously, of course!) without getting my body wasted. But the question is: does it help? Or am I just working out my thighs?

(By the way, I started with a whopping 30.3% body fat... and 15-20% is normal for guys. Ick.)

Labels: Biggest Loser, contests, health, HP, work