The RubeTube

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