I was supposed to blog about this two weeks ago, but lately, my mind has been so…  ugh, what’s that term…  “creatively challenged,” i guess, that I don’t know how to go about it.  Plus, it hasn’t really sinked in yet until I sat down and really thought about it.  I know I posted about it on Twitter and Facebook, but for me to formally talk about it in writing is something I knew I had to do.  So to formally start it off, I can finally say that I have reached what I set out to do January of 2010:  go from 198lbs. to my target weight of 160lbs.  Finally.

The original context of that goal was that it had to be done within the year.  Gave myself until December, actually.  Clearly, only half was met.  Well, come to think of it, looking at the goal itself, I’d say that I failed in both aspects.  But to be fair, I was in a different state of mind last year, compared to the guidelines I set for myself this year (refer to the first post I made for 2011).  Though the setting of the goal is one thing; the entire journey of 198 to 160 is a whole different story altogether.  Truth be told, what I learned and realized during the entire ordeal is what inspired me to set those guidelines I mentioned.

When I first told myself that I really had to lose weight, I honestly thought it’ll be that easy.  I mean, I have gone to the gym before and there seemed to have an effect after two months of thrice a week workouts.  Plus I believed in the notion that if one can easily gain weight, it can be lost just as easy.  But still, I knew that once I started I had to see it all the way through.  I also used to jog before, also every other day except weekends for two hours.  So I decided to challenge myself to go five days a week, skipping only on weekends.  To add to that, I had to reduce the amount of food intake, especially rice.  So I thought, a full breakfast, half a cup of rice for lunch and absolutely light dinner–no rice.  I admit, it was quite daunting when I put it in perspective that time, but I told myself that perhaps I can lose that amount of weight in maybe half the time.

January 4th, 2010, 4:30am.  I weighed myself for the last time to see where I was starting.  I made a vow not to weigh myself until my birthday which was about four months away to see if there’ll be real progress.  Then I started my daily routine.  The first five days went by that fast.  On the second week, I started to feel aches and pains on my legs and knees, but I pressed on.  Before, I used to listen to music on my Ipod whenever I go jogging.  This time, I decided to just skip the music and focus on just meditating while jogging.  That way, I can continue to motivate myself internally while keeping my brain going with all sorts of things.  This was particularly hard because if you know me that well, I’m a true-blue music lover.  The lessened food intake was no joke either.  Fighting the urge to eat is like trying to stay awake when you have important things to do and you’re very sleepy.  I would just have only one of the follwing for dinner:  a banana, a sandwich, two hard-boiled eggs or a bowl of oatmeal.  During weekends, that’s the time that I can eat “normally” so to speak.  Kind of a treat or reward for going through that rigorous routine.

Four months passed by quickly and on my birthday, I saw that I was down to 180lbs.  “Progress,” I said to myself.  I even went as far as calculating where I would be if I lost that amount of weight in that time.  First mistake I made:  assumption.  By July, I was down to 175lbs, and that’s where I made my second mistake:  overconfidence.  I mean, I was so having those two traits that I started to skip my jogging sessions, thinking that the dieting can make up for it.  Of course I would naturally skip sessions whenever it was raining outside at 4:30 in the morning, but there were too much times that when the alarm rang and it’s time to get up, I open my eyes, think, and go back to sleep.  I would make excuses to myself like my knees were hurting, or that I was not up to it, or feeling that I cannot run the full two hours so why bother.  But I was still losing weight.  Surprisingly, the dieting was helping compensate for the reduced jogging sessions.  I remember even posting on Facebook that I was down to 170lbs with more than two months to go.  I started to skip more and more jogging sessions with the same excuses.

December came and I was still at 170lbs.  With the christmas season already in full swing with parties left and right, I knew I couldn’t make the target.  I looked back and realized the things I did, and ultimately came to the conclusion that I failed in what I set out to do.  If i’ll sum up the total amount of days I skipped those jogging sessions, it would add up to around two full months.  That doesn’t even include the half-month christmas break I gave myself, vowing to start again on the first Monday of the new year.  It was around that time that I looked at what I gained, and what I would do differently moving forward.  At the same time, I came to realize and appreciate all that I have done, despite the setbacks.  Those led to the formation of the 2011 guidelines, and ultimately, to me having a new form of thinking and perspective to just about anything in life.  I mean, I’m still me, with the same likes and dislikes, but maybe this experience I guess made me a bit different in some ways.

I never thought that simple exercise and dieting can lead to more than a physical transformation.  Short of a renewal, I guess for me, it opened my eyes to new ways of rationalization and reasoning.  It may be cliche, but exercise really does wonders for the body.  Now that I reached my goal, what’s next, you may ask?  Well, the jogging does not stop.  Nor does the dieting.  For me, it has become a daily requirement of some sort.  I’m not saying that I won’t be skipping jogging sessions any time soon, but I’m thinking that, “i’m already here, so why slip back?”  Last week, I started to include weightlifting into my routine.  My brother has a pair of barbels (50 pounds each) that are gathering dust, so I decided to make them useful again.  I guess the new goal now is to build up or tone the physique, so to speak, but that’s not set in stone.  I’ll see now where can this take me, and if it’s that effective, then go with the flow.  Like I said in explaining my guidelines, better have the elbow room to move in reaching your goal, rather than be confined with a rigid procedure.

I’ve never felt better physically.  Granted, there are some aches and pains that come with the daily jogging sessions–plus the occasional sluggishness–but feeling lighter and more mobile, and with a new way of looking at things, I could say that what I had endured over the last 13 months was all worth it.  Since I resumed my jogging sessions last month, I haven’t skipped one yet, thankfully.  Now that I can track and accumulate my runs and the distances I’ve covered thanks to my Sportband (which was my brother’s christmas gift to me), there are even less reasons to skip jogging when it’s not raining.

Which reminds me, I still have to join my first fun run.  Hope I can do that soon.

And so just like that, 2010 is part of history.  And of course with every start of a new year, comes the much ballyhooed new year’s resolutions.  Admit it or not, while some of you swear to have kept–in one way or another–the resolutions you have made january of the previous year, most of you faltered (read:  failed) to uphold at least one item–whatever it was–on your list.  Now while I was pondering on what to do this 2011 last night and early this morning, i stopped and thought:  “instead of resolutions, why not make some sort of ‘list of guidelines’ to live by this year?”  So I chipped away at the idea, pondering on the difference between making the traditional resolutions against what I came up with.

Then I finally hit something.  With resolutions, you’re tied down to specifics.  “i’ll be more of this,” or “i won’t do that,” or “i’ll make it a point to do this.”  See?  Specifics.  With the guidelines principle, it’s more of having some elbow room to move around, without really missing the big picture of what you want to achieve.  Or do.  Or change in yourself.  Whatever.  And I guess that with the guidelines, it’s geared more towards your attitude because it’s attitude that’s what makes you want to do this, or that.  In short, it’s not a change by yourself, it’s a change within yourself.  Granted, some of the “guidelines” I came up with for myself may look like specifics too, but really, it’s how you want to gradually make the change to be that different of a person this year.  To cut the long explanation short–and to not sound like someone from a bad spin-off of a Pirates of the Carribean movie (“they’re more of guidelines, really than the code” — that line keeps running through my head)–making the list of guidelines for yourself is exactly that:  to each his or her own.

Okay, enough with the self-science.  The list below is what I conceptualized for myself as guidelines for 2011.  I decided to limit it to 13.  Yes, like the number of round fruits that ought to have been served in the dining table on new year’s eve.  That number may be bad luck to some, but i thought, “why not face the reputation of 13 head on?”  This is the only time i’ve written them down because most of them were still in the formulation stage.  Should you like the concept, you’re free to create your own and derive some of the items from my list (read:  copy).  Or maybe, this can apply to everyone else.  Hey, this would work for me.  For any of you, i don’t really know.  Maybe.

1.  Be positive and stay positive.

2.  Repeat number one.

3.  Say what you feel, as long as you know it’s the truth, or at least has some semblance of it.  Be it about a person, situation, or anything that tickles your fancy, strikes a chord, or messes you up.  Don’t hold back.  Being tactless is something people who can’t handle the truth came up with as an excuse.

4.  Dream big and aim high.

5.  Do anything and everything within reason to make number four a reality and hit it.  Anything falling short of them or settling for “the good that came out of it” is not an option.

6.  In every undertaking for number five, remember these words:  “discipline and focus.”

7.  Flirt, date, get laid.

8.  Fall in love.

9.  Do not do the latter part of number seven to just to get to number 8.  You know better than that.

10.  Screen your opportunities carefully.  While most others say grab every single one, remember that opportunities are generic in nature.  Some may help you, while others may look like to help you, but are really to doom you.

11.  Pray.  Whatever religion you’re in, even if you’re an agnostic, it doesn’t hurt to ask help from the forces of good; and thank them once in a while.

12.  Pamper yourself.  However, whenever, whatever.

13.  When all else fails, go back to number one.

Looking back at it, it’s like the list can apply to almost everyone.  Again, as i’ve mentioned, to each his or her own.  Of course, numbers seven through 9 are applicable only to single individuals like me, but that can always be changed by those who aren’t.  What do you think?

Remember that this list of guidelines aren’t here to change my life or your life this 2011, it’s here to help live life at least in the way I think it should be.  Hey, whatever works, right?  Whether it be traditional resolutions or a set of guidelines for the year, what’s important is that we make each new year something better for all of us.  And remember, it’s not just about starting the year right, it’s how you complete the entire year that matters.  Hope everyone had a safe and joyous welcome to the new year.  Here’s to 2011, a new year and a start of a new decade.  May it bring prosperity, good health, hot lovin’, and happiness to everyone.

Happy new year!  😀