The FitFil Fitness Bootcamp by Coach Leigh :)

You wouldn't imagine how terrified I was when I was first asked by Coach Jim if I wanted to help out in this new idea he had a couple of months ago. A fitness bootcamp was all he said -- something new and different, and of course, fun. (When he said "fun," of course I had to say yes! Haha.)

I was scared mainly because despite having been in the Biggest Loser Camp, I'm still not someone you'd consider fit at first glance. Fitness is an industry where image and experience counts.. and I basically had no credentials at all aside from the fact that I was able to lose weight in around 5 months. Aside from that, I wasn't really your typical fitness buff; actually, I'm not even really a fitness buff at all. I'm just a normal person trying to balance real life with being able to take care of my body. Never in my life have I been called "Coach" and I have never dreamed to be called one outside the corporate setting.

Long story short, I ended up working for Coach Jim Saret's FitFil Movement. What is it? Well, it's basically a movement to get more and more Filipinos slimmer, fitter and healthier. Together with me are my other Biggest Loser friends -- Ahia Alan, Eric, Destiny, Winwin, Edden, Hazel, Raffy, JM and Ryan.

The good thing about this camp is that it combines the three things that are most important in getting fit -- quality workouts, good nutrition and of course, MOTIVATION. I know how hard it is to spend lots of time in the gym, only to get minimal results. I also know how it feels to have a goal, to be fired up at first and to get demotivated in the next couple of days because of boredom, loneliness, or just because it feels like all the work isn't paying off the way you want it to. In this camp, the quality workouts will be from Coach Jim (4 minute workouts!), the good nutrition from Nestle Wellness, and the motivation from my BL friends and I. After all, who else better to motivate, than people who have all been through it and are still going through it, right? :)

I spent last week in Cebu for the launch of the Cebu leg of the FitFil bootcamp, and it definitely exceeded everyone's expectations. 200 people registered, and over 200 people showed up during the first day! We grouped them into beginner, intermediate and advance and Destiny and I were given one of the beginner groups.

Team Bangon-on (meaning "to be weighed" or something like that) is a group of varying ages composed of people wanting to lose weight for different reasons. I vividly recall someone saying that he wanted to lose weight because he just had a baby and realized that he wanted to see his baby all grown up. There were also those who wanted to have a better quality of life. They mentioned things that were very true to me a year ago and even up until now. Hearing their reasons made me even more motivated to go through with my own journey, while motivating them as well.

Team Bangon-on

As of last Saturday (our first weigh in), most of them have lost between 1 to 8 lbs. Imagine, that much weight lost after just one week! Unfortunately, I had to leave Cebu and be in Manila for the other things I had to do -- school, and preparation for the Manila camp. One thing I promised them though, was that when we next see each other, we will all be sexier! I definitely want to keep my end of the promise, and I hope they do too! :)

The Manila leg of the FilFil Fitness Bootcamp will be on June 25 - July 27, 2012, MWF 6-8pm at the Bonifacio High Street Grouds. The Cebu leg started last May 15 and will last until June 16, 2012, T-TH-S, 6-8pm at the Ayala Terraces.  Registration is still ongoing for both camps.
For more information, please visit www.coachjimsaret.ph

I miss you.

Warning: Extremely cheesy entry.

I feel like the rug has been pulled out from under me. The two weeks of preparation for my departure should have been enough; in fact, I was half wishing I'd just get it over with, to end the drama and the suspense. I'm sure you were wishing the same thing too to end my endless questioning of what you'd miss most about me.

At the back of my mind, I was thinking that this is good. I'd finally get it all over with -- you and the whole situation. I knew I needed this. In Basha's words, "Kailangan ko to, Poy. At kailangan mo rin." I thought the weeks of prolonging the inevitable would make me immune to how it would really feel once I'm already here and you're there. Unfortunately, it didn't do me any good.

God. How I wish I was still there.

You and Me Could Write A Bad Romance

Tonight I have this sudden urge to talk about love. I don't know why; heck, I don't even know what to say. Anyway, I'll let my fingers do the talking.

I'm 23 years old, and surprising as it may seem, I've only experienced (what I think is) love just recently. Contrary to popular belief, I don't like dating and I don't like having to present myself differently, more often better than I really am, to someone that I've only met just recently. From that alone, you can deduce that fine, I'm not your typical 23 year old female. I don't like playing the game. Period.

And yet, just recently (like, a little more than a year ago), I experienced my first taste of what you can call love. (I don't even wanna call it that, but since it fit the definition, well yeah, let's call it that.) It was great at first, like we couldn't get enough of each other. Little pet names, all day YM conversations, all day text messages, calls at the end of the night and at the start of each day, breakfasts, lunches, and dinners everywhere... name it, we did it. And so I was not able to keep myself from falling. Hard. My inexperienced heart was able to experience something that it has never felt before. Never before have I felt that special, that needed, that much like a girl.

A lot of things happened in between; a lot of drama, lots of tears, lots of conversations under the stars. (Yes, we were that mushy.) But like all great stories, things had to have a climax, a falling action, and an ending. The previous paragraph was the climax of it all. We are now at the denouement of the story, close to the end.

I've long accepted that whatever we had was already ending. I guess what hurts the most and what brings me to tears now, is not how he has hurt me, but how I am now just a story for him to tell his friends and his future (dare I say it,) lovers. I am now a "what used to be," a relic from his past, and yet here I am, still wanting him to be part of my present.

Yes, I am better off without him. I am better off without all that emotional turmoil, all that drama in my life. My mind is set with that fact, but my heart.. well. yeah. It's not that easy. I loved him, really. I loved him to the point that I stopped existing for myself, I forgot who I was, my friends, and even my family, just so I could cater to all his wishes. Heck, I loved him to the point of self mutilation.

And yet my heart remains resilient, even if I don't want it to be.

Not Like the Movies

Today I had one my cheesiest days ever. It involved good company, perfect weather, and a very poetic location. All of a sudden, I found myself barefoot on a little patch of grass in Luneta, facing direction where the wind was coming from, feeling the wind on my face. I look to my left and there he was too, doing the same thing.

I bought bubbles, he bought a kite. We were trying (to no avail) to fly that Dora the Explorer kite, which we eventually left to the kids there to play with. It felt like a movie, really; like it was too good to be true, which of course, it was.

If only everyday was like that -- sunny, windy, playful and happy. But no, tomorrow I return to the grey and cold world of the employed; back to the excel sheets that I've been slaving for, to the phone calls that have to be made, to the reports that have to be submitted.

In the same way, I go back to the world where you and I are just.. that. Mere acquaintances that talk a lot. When we parted ways tonight, the world that we have created for ourselves today also ended, to be replaced by the old, very detached us. Sometimes I wonder which is real, because we play our parts very well, both when we're together and when we're not.

Journals and Journal Entries (part 1)

Journals. I've had them since 5th grade, and I have no plans of stopping.

This afternoon I unearthed one of my journals inside camp. In the spirit of honesty, I'm gonna admit and say that I had two journals there -- one with all the workouts and the wholesome stuff, and one with the things I couldn't say out loud.

This was one of my entries in the wholesome journal. I'm glad to know it was still me writing, as it was already my 47th day inside camp when I wrote this.

July 27, 2011, Wednesday
BL Day 47


Very, very lazy day today. Been raining hard since yesterday. Went for a rainy afternoon powerwalk with Ryan. Yun lang workout ko. Haha. Had Coach Ching in the evening. 


Temptation today too. Ate 2 small bowls of lugaw and 2 small bowls of champorado so that I could be with Francis for the last chance workout. No regrets, the food was very, very yummy! And this week, I promised myself I'd enjoy everything. Go with the flow. Back to the old Leigh. This might be my last week here so might as well enjoy, right? 


Weird. I'm probably the only person here that doesn't want to bring this til the end. I'm cringing at how much pressure I'd have to endure just to get to that level. I don't think I'm cut out for it. I do have moments wherein I think I want to bring this til the end. I think I now can, especially that my body's cooperating with me in terms of weight loss. The thing is, do I want it? See, that's why my mentality now is just to enjoy every second, minute and hour that I am here.


Quoting from Rent --


There's only us, there's only this
Forget regret, or life is yours to miss
No other hope, no other way
No day but today. 

Funny that I already had a feeling that this would be my last week inside camp. :) After this week was a whirlwind of activities, of things to talk about, of bonding and bashing moments, of crazy imma-beat-the-shit out of that person anger, of kilig moments and stories, and definitely of tons and tons of laughter (care of Joy, Destiny, Win and I, of course.)

Let's see. I might post some other entries soon. :)