“I AM NOT HAPPY WITH….,” fill in the blank. This is a sentence of a person dissatisfied. Don’t look at them (or yourself) with judging eyes. It is ok to be dissatisfied with things in your life. Why do I say that? Isn’t our goal in life to achieve happiness? Well, it is; but being unhappy is also part of life. When you are dissatisfied you should be EXCITED. Excited?! Why would that be? I say excited because dissatisfaction means that you need to improve a part(s) of your life. Get excited because it is a chance to grow into something more.

When you reach the point of being fed up an important step to take is to assess where your life is and what your end goal should be. By being dissatisfied, it is your body and mind telling that you could do better. It is yet another tool that could be used to find your motivation and to reach your goals.

I am not going to lie, I am dissatisfied right now. With work being busy and my free time becoming less I have chosen to relax and do nothing when I get home. Although I haven’t gained weight, I also haven’t lost weight. It has been a month since I have had a consistent work out regimen. I did get a few days of work out in this weekend but I know I need to do more. This is the point where the successful gets bothered enough to make the changes to get on track again.

If you find yourself going a different direction than where you want to be it is not too late to change that direction. Use your dissatisfaction as a tool and remember that some of the most successful people out there have failed more than once in their lives. Can you make that turn around? Sure, we all have the capacity to.

(Side Note: I got this idea listening to Anthony Robbins today on my CD player on the way to work. In my hours of dissatisfaction, his teachings have helped me in many ways. It is something I go back to and learn from time and again. Even if it is only one thing you pick up from books or people around you, any little advice or lesson helps.)

*****Thanks to Loren, Paul, Aldo, and many others that can’t be named in just one blog who always remind me of my goals…..

Don't Think, Just Do

“JUST DO IT!” Nike got that phrase right. When it comes to getting things done, sometimes you should just go out and “just do it.” There is truth to this statement even though it might sound simple but it is very profound. This mentality is especially effective when it comes to getting a workout in.

At work or school, how often have you thought in a day “I want to work out today”? Then by the time you get out and go home you end up sitting at your couch just to “relax for a second.” (A few minutes or hours go by.) By the time you know it you are relaxing way too much. If you even get a chance to go and attempt to work out at the gym after “relaxing” you still need to go change. You get to your closet and you think about what to wear. Then you decide to bring clothes to change in after your workout (another few more minutes go by). Then you see yourself in the mirror and think “I don’t like how my hair looks right now” or “let me put on my contacts”. (Still, a few more minutes tick away.) You think about walking over to the fridge to get a water bottle for your work out but couldn’t decide whether you want Gatorade instead. Then five or more minutes later you finally put on your shoes. Then at the moment you decide to grab your keys in the living room….your moment of ZEN…..YOUR COUCH (and it is calling you back)….and guess what, you wasted so many minutes preparing and THINKING that you convinced yourself to just skip the gym altogether and catch that movie you’ve wanted to see On-Demand.

 It is true that some people are committed to their pursuit of health but to most others like me, we go through the same processes before a work out. That is why over the years I have been inactive with my work outs. I let work and life get in the way. I thought too much of working out that my work out became just that, a THOUGHT. I failed to adjust and I paid the price by becoming overweight. Sometimes adjusting your lifestyle to fit in being healthy doesn’t need planning. We just need to stop over thinking, go out and do it. Next time you want to work out, just change clothes and go. Who cares if your clothes don’t match, who cares if your hair is not as neat, who cares if you miss your movie (it’s On Demand, watch it later!) It is a work out not a fashion show! In Nike’s words…..”JUST DO IT!”

PS. This was something I learned from Anthony Robbins (yes, the guy from Shallow Hal that was called “Banana Hands”). Check out his body of work, even if you just learn one thing it will be well worth it. It has helped me in my life in positive ways.

What does OCD have to do with Fitness?

1, 2, 3…1,2,3…I have a minor OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). It is undiagnosed professionally and not overwhelming but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out you have it. It permeates my life in certain ways. I have to triple check a door and sometimes even more to make sure it is locked. I count to a certain number until I am satisfied and start over if I am not. Then you get that uncomfortable feeling of anxiety if you don’t do a certain thing right. I am saying this because I know I am not the only one from the people I know who has it. I hope by my admission you can learn that you are not by yourself. Now don’t make it worse than what you are reading, in my daily life it is not too much of a burden and it even helps in some ways. It helps me with my job. It helps me with my work outs. It even helps me with my diet.

How does it help me with my job? Well, since I work with numbers a thousand can easily turn into a million with just a decimal point placed in the wrong area. By having some type of OCD, I end up triple checking a number before I submit it. It doesn’t take me long to do and it actually have allowed me to catch errors before a verifier can catch it. So it actually helps out in what I do. One point for OCD….

Work outs….Let’s just say that if I think I am not getting the same amount of work on one side of my arms/legs, I make sure I try to make it as even as possible. And repetitions don’t bother me…..as a matter of fact the counts help out in my work outs. OCD can fit into work outs too.

Diet….Once I get into a pattern, I can eat the same thing without complain. For example, when I was in the prime shape of my life I was eating Oatmeal and Egg Whites every morning with the exception of Sundays. My pre lunch snack was a Slim Fast. My lunch would be a choice of Chicken Kitchen, Wendy’s Chili, 3 Tacos, Pollo Tropical, or Subway. My dinner consisted of a protein shake. This did not bother me at all and I did it for almost a year or so. Today I am back to the oatmeal routine, and not only does it keep me healthy it saves me money from the McD's and Dunkin Donuts breakfasts I used to have.

In reality, as much as OCD is seen as a hindrance to your well being (and if unchecked it could be), it doesn’t have to be that way. We all have faults that we have to deal with and it is in how we choose to deal with them that we can actually use them to improve ourselves. Sometimes there are positives in our little annoyances and I choose to empower myself with it rather than be consumed by it.  I thought about releasing this subject many times over and I feel that it would actually help me in my quest for improvement by allowing others to see more of who I am……

”Don’t let your faults get the best of you but turn it around and make the best of what you have!”

(Disclaimer: if you actually have something that requires medical attention please do not be afraid to seek it, nobody should ever judge you if you are doing something to help yourself)

Challenges WILL Happen......

Nom Nom Nom….that is the sound that Cookie Monster makes in Sesame Street as he eats cookies. That has also been the chant my cruise group has taken up for our upcoming cruise. It may be a joke but there is a ring of truth to it.

Following my realization from the last blog about knowing my limits and listening to my body, I have decided to take a 2 week break from heavy work outs. However, it doesn’t help that one of those weeks includes my cruise. This will set me back for sure because as strong as I want to be; the last thing you really want to think about on vacation is which salad bar you should go to. Unless you are an uber-work out fanatic, a regular Joe would succumb to the temptation. The only thing I can do is to be as careful as I can be in my indulgence and be active whenever possible.

As much as you want to be healthy there will be times when your progress will be challenged. This cruise with its “all-you-can-eat buffet” and drinks galore is one of many speed bumps to the advancement of my goal. I will probably say this could be a VERY BIG speed bump.

I am admitting that even though I have progressed in the last two months with my goals, this week will most likely be a set back. (A minor one if I do it correctly.) But set backs are OK. Set backs happen; it is how you get back on track that matters. By writing this blog today I have made myself that much more conscious of where I am trying to get to. If you know a speed bump is coming make sure you set yourself up to get back on that horse after the bump.

My plan for getting back into my saddle:

I have 2 weeks left with my current bootcamp. I spoke to the owner (Miami Fit Body Bootcamp) who was very understanding and allowed me to hold off on those two weeks and restart them when the cruise is over. I know I will need help to jump start my progress again and that is one of the tools in my disposal to do it.

Another tool in my arsenal is the support group I have built over the last few weeks. Starting with my family who constantly reminds me to stay healthy, I really am grateful that they love me so much to make sure I am healthy. Another group are my friends that are trying to accomplish the same as I am in regard to our health goals. Also, the camp-mates that I have who share the same work and pain I go through to get going.

Third, the before and after pictures plus the measurements I have taken of myself. By reminding me of what I have done and the things I still need to do, I can find a foothold on my long and hard climb to the top.

FIND A WAY AND NOT EXCUSES. If you feel like you have lost your will, look back at where you came from and where you have been to find your focus again. Utilize tools in your possession and you can be on your way again if you find yourself in a rut. There will be challenges but we don’t get stronger by giving up, we get stronger by resisting! So NOM NOM NOM and eat away at those excuses!

Know Your Limits

PAIN.....that is what I felt as I dropped my feet from slipping off a wall crawl from bootcamp. I tried to get up to walk over to my water and my vision got blurry and almost fell to the floor. Luckily, I am feeling fine now so I might have just tweeked my lower back just a little bit. I am taking precautions and icing my back and stretching it out just to be safe.

This week I did two sessions of camp on Monday, followed by an extra half hour of work pre-camp on Tuesday and Wednesday. Today, I really just wanted to go home after work because I have fantasy football drafts to participate in so I needed to take care of my dogs. Well, earlier in the week I saw my doctor and he weighed me in. Turns out that I am close to my goal of weighing 205 lbs. after starting camp at around 228-230 lbs. This revelation made me hungry to see more results. I have put in great camp work all week long and should have listened to my body and rested tonight. Instead, I just went straight to bootcamp because I wanted to reach that goal faster. That is when the close call happened. I am just glad that it is not worse than what it could have been because I have pulled a back muscle before and it took me weeks to recover.

It is great to try to get back in shape and put in maximum effort because results will follow. However, it is also smart to listen to your body once in a while and understand when you have reached your limit. It is not worth hurting yourself because you wanted to push harder. If you ARE going to push harder, please be smart about it and understand techniques to an excercise.

To be honest, I probably hurt myself because I was forcing my leg to keep up with my mind. If anyone knows me, I have one bad leg that is still not fully recovered. This should have cautioned me to be careful but my carelessness most likely stemmed from the fact that I am almost at my goal weight and just wanted to push that much more. I was blinded by the goal when I should be looking at how I can get there safely.

So word of advise, be careful when you work out. Understand technique when you do an exercise. Do not do more that what you know you can do. Results will happen over time and not over night so it is ok to get a work out in but don't hurt yourself because you want to attain that goal that much faster. BE SAFE AND BE FIT!

How to Turn a Bad Day Into a Good One (Working Out at Least)

DEER CAUGHT IN THE HEADLIGHTS.......that is how I looked today as I got into my car and was driving out of the parking garage. A lady was backing up and did not bother to look back to see if there were any cars. I was in my 1995 Honda Civic Hatchback which my father takes very good care of, but I still had doubts if my brakes would work. To my luck, they did! I came within 0.00567 inches of getting side swiped by this car. My life flashed before my eyes and all I could do is STOP and STARE....

This could have easily been a very bad day to say the least, especially that it happened after work on my way to bootcamp. Perhaps 2 months ago, I would have said "forget it, I'm going home!" (and eat ice cream and/or a few burgers from the dollar menu). However, that was then, this was now. Bootcamp has instilled in me a new attitude. It is bringing me back to a mental state where I was in 2003. I said to myself, "I survived, I am in one piece, I can still make bootcamp." So I did.

I showed up 30 minutes early like I always do to prep and stretch for the 7pm class. This time however, the picture of that black car inches away from creating my bad day was on my mind. AHHH, MOTIVATION! That "ding" in the back of my mind was "dinging" away. What better way to release that moment of stress and accept that what happened than by lifting 35 lbs. of kettle bell in each arm for some extra work before camp. And.....it worked! I am typing away at this story and not even mad that it almost ruined my night.

The point of my story is this.....in life, there will be times when you are knocked down or you are thrown a curveball. The people that get stronger for it are the ones that take those moments in and find a release for themselves in a way that improves their lives. Be it working out, writing, painting the situation, or whatever outlet you may find. There is always a reason for everything that happens, you just won't know what it is until you decide what reason it holds for you. Until next time......

My First Blog....

I am starting this blog just to put my thoughts into a form of media. I feel that our mind has so much to offer that we should share as much as possible. (Although not all thoughts should be shared because even I get scared of what I'm thinking sometimes....)

To get to the point of the primary reason to writing "fit fat fit Filipino" is because I want to chronicle my attempt at getting back to fitness. Back when I was in college and had all the time in the world, I was a pack and a half away from having a six pack. I was working out two times a day. My morning routine would consist of waking up at 5 am, take a fat burner (with ephedrine back when it was legal), and proceed to work out for an hour. I would go to class, come back to my dorm and nap. Then at 4 pm I was back at the gym to grind out another hour of weight lifting. This was clockwork. Then graduation and life happened.....

I started working full time, I married the love of my life (Loren) and between the time I had between work and coming home to family I was exhausted to do anything else. It also didn't help that my lack will power combined with my wife's family's cooking (because her aunts and uncle own restaurants) just kept my weight climbing.

In a span of a couple of years, I went from 165 lbs. to 230 lbs. I am sure some people can relate to this because obesity is a major problem in the United States. When my scale said 230 lbs. that was the breaking point when I said to myself "enough is enough!"

Fast forward 2 1/2 months from that point to today, I have been in bootcamp consistently 4 to 5 times a week. Thanks to the power of social media and sites like Groupon, Livingsocial, Yipit....my wife found trials for bootcamps and I found one I loved. I have lost 5% body fat and 12 lbs. of weight as well as 4" off my waist. Pants that haven't been worn in 2 years are now fitting comfortably around my waist. The only problem with the bootcamp is that it is too pricey for me to continue in the near future. However, it did give me the jumpstart I need to get me going. I have plans now to incorporate some of what I know and some of what I have learned from camp and continue my journey back to living healthy........until the next time.....

P.S. Find your motivation anyway you can, gather your friends to support you, get mad at traffic, release the stress from your workday.....any of these can get you through your workouts, especially when you feel that you can't go on.....