I started with eating healthy last month. No softdrinks, ate more veggies, drank more water. No noticeable changes.

Then I read about the Master Cleanse and how toxins make our bodies cope by producing fat.

At 209 lbs, I have a BMI of 34.25. BMI is between 30-34.99 (Obese Class 1)

"Individuals with a BMI of 30-34.99 are in a physically unhealthy condition, which puts them at risk for serious ilnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, gall bladder disease, and some cancers. This holds especially true if you have a larger than recommended Waist Size. These persons would benefit greatly by modifying their lifestyle. Ideally, see your doctor and consider reducing your weight by 5-10 percent. Such a weight reduction will result in considerable health improvements."

So my ultimate goal is to be around 150 lbs to be within the 18.5 and 24.9 BMI, which is the ideal range.

That's around 60 lbs to lose.

EASY

I started today with the master cleanse. I feel good and I don't find the concoction horrible. I kinda like it, which is weird LOL

I am looking forward to my 10th day on it and to living healthier.

CHEERS!

I'm excited and at the same time, anxious, in starting this entry and continuing a weekly review. But I guess, I really have to so that I do not lose my focus. A short flashback.

I was in college, 2001, weighed around 120 lbs and some people would tell me I'm fat and needed to lose weight. I'm only 5'6".. maybe a few cms shorter. And well, as the pressure went on .. it got stuck to my head. I AM OVERWEIGHT. and I needed to lose the inches and the pounds.

When I look back now.. I regret ever listening to those people. I was fine. Perfectly fine.

I weighed in today.. and I'm 205 lbs.

I feel unhappy because I let other people dictate how I should see myself. So starting today.. I will stop thinking that of myself (thanks honey). I am beautiful because I say so.

However, having this extra weight is a health-risk as we have a family history of diabetes, hypertension, cancer etc.

I want to lose weight. I want to be healthier. I want to be fit.

So here goes my plan.

1. Drink 2.9 liters (100 oz) of water daily. I realized that I forget to drink enough water. This will not only flush out the toxins from my body but would also help maintain clear skin.
2. Avoid soda. No Mt. Dew. No Sprite. No Coke. No Pepsi. NOTHING. Not even the diet ones unless there's no water.
3. Enrol at a gym within the week, 10 minutes away from here. I get lazy cause I choose these far places and end up not wanting to leave the house.. make excuses etc. I do not need anything complicated. I just need to move my butt for at least 2 hours a day, 3 times a week
4. Eat in moderation.
5. Avoid greasy food.
6. Eat fruits and veggies daily.
7. Avoid the sweet stuff but can eat an ice cream, chocolate bar or cake once a week!
8. No coffee. Just tea.

This is not hard to do at all. And my body will thank me for it Wish me luck!

-- alpha

I've read somewhere that the best lovers are those who can love from a distance. Yet, people tell me it won't last. Some are hopeful. A few believe.

If I had a choice, I wouldn't choose to be in this for the same reasons that normal people have.. And maybe ones you also had : Challenges with communication, lack of physical closeness, trust issues etc.

How can you enjoy being in a relationship if you can't even go to the movies with him. Or go to lunch with him. Or hold his hand. Or even look into each other's eyes?

Then, I met you. Amazing, wonderful you. And those ifs and buts became immaterial. Trivial.

Keeping a relationship needs a great deal of effort. May it be inside one house or half a world away. God knows that through the struggle these past months, I've never once thought about leaving or giving up. 

I am loving you like it's my first time to ever love someone. I am happy with you and I will not let that happiness go.

I have learned to appreciate the little things that most would take for granted. Every single word in an e-mail or a text message. Every picture, every single moment online and every chance we get to say I love you. Those are cherished long after the day is gone. And they keep me here, waiting for us to be finally together. 

I've learned a lot about love with you. I am kinder. Happier. More forgiving. More human.

I can look the world in the eye and honestly say that I have found the one. You, who makes me feel like I've come home.

And we, "overcoming the impossible", shall give the rest of them hope ... to live and fight for one true love that comes once in a liftetime. No matter the package it comes in.

Knowing he exists for me and I, for him, and feeling the intensity even before the first glance is astounding. Magical.

Between us is where communication is at its easiest.. where acceptance is at its most natural. Between us is where insecurities become gaps for one to heal.. where fears become moments to protect the other.

They shared some of their darkest secrets with each other within the first few days. The revelations came so easily. She felt more herself with him than anyone else.

Match Made in Heaven

You and your partner are a Match made in Heaven! You are so compatible that you are either happily married or happily attached. There are communication and romance compatibility in which you and your partner enjoy great communication and are very loving towards each other. You guys belong together and cherish this as not every couple is as compatible as you!

Long Distance Relationship Results

Congratulations! Your relationship probably has what it takes to survive the Long-Distance Test.

According to Greek myth, King Odysseus of Ithaca left his wife, queen Penelope, to sail to Troy and fight the Trojans for ten years. When the war was over, the gods became angry with him and kept him from reaching Ithaca for another ten years. Seven of those he spent "trapped" on the island realm of a beautiful sea-nymph named Calypso. He cried for Penelope every morning, but when the sun went down, he couldn't resist Calypso's bed. When Odysseus finally reached home, he found that his wife had remained faithful to him, despite the rapacious advances of every gold-digging bachelor on Ithaca. The story does not relate whether Penelope ever learned of her husband's infidelity. If she did, they must have worked through the issue together, because they lived happily ever after.

Let's hope the gods and goddesses don't conspire to keep you and your partner apart for twenty years, one of you living on a beautiful island fending off the daily temptations of a seductive deity. As any couple will tell you, several months apart is enough of a challenge!

Experts have identified several keys for survival, and your relationship is already healthy in most departments:

• Commitment: A roughly equal level of commitment to the relationship. There is no absolute level that will determine success or failure. The important thing is that it be about the same for both of you. A big mismatch is likely to breed fear, jealousy, anger and, ultimately, a break-up.
  
• Communication: Excellent communication skills, including a willingness to listen and respond to your partner's concerns and vice versa.
  
• Risking Change: A willingness to take healthy risks with the relationship, allowing it to change as circumstances demand. Recognize that you and your partner won't always be exactly the same people as when you met.
  
• Trust: A willingness to build a solid, secure trust between the two of you (if it doesn't already exist.) Trust will allow you stay sane by building independent social lives in your hometown.
  
• Developing Coping Strategies: This might mean getting involved in your community by joining social groups or organizations or by working on causes you believe in. You both need the social support other people can offer. You need to find meaning in your life as a compliment to your relationship, no matter how much your partner means to you. Otherwise, you will soon become lonely, depressed, angry, resentful or all of the above

Maintaining Normal Blood Pressure

Posted by Henry on November 22, 2005 8:48 AM |

Question 1:
If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?

Question 2:
It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates.

Candidate A : Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
Candidate B : He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate C : He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife.

Which of these candidates would be your choice?

Tic, tac, tic, tac

It's 7 minutes past 2 in the afternoon and most of the people I worked with last night could be at the peak of a long and peaceful slumber.

I'm attempting to continue working until 5 but I think I will get out of here earlier. Like around 3pm. I dunno. I think I wanna go to the mall and take a whiff of that cold, consumer-driven air.

I have been driving myself crazy here at work. Nope. Not complaining.

My speakers are blaring out Claire de Lune (uh-oh is this a Twilight soundtrack moment?). Nah. I've loved classical music ever since.

I still breathe music but am not so in touch with it like before... besides the playing of playlists and karaoke singing at least once a month.

I'm thinking now that if I was given a choice, I would have become a professional singer. Or a pianist. Whatever.

Music just makes me feel alive. It prevents me from thinking about dreadful, pathetic, brutal, subversive, absurd and crazy things.

I guess I find silence a bit disturbing at times especially when it confirms I'm alone. It intensifies loneliness.

Crazy. But there's a bit of truth in that craziness.

Oh well.. here's to more of those melodies until another human being's voice drown my thoughts to sleep.

----

Listening to: Debussy

My addiction to the vampire movie was unbelievable. That's not a typo. I'm writing WAS because I am finally over the OMG stage.

Don't misunderstand. I still looooove the movie. And the books are really something. I wish I wrote like that. I'm just beyond the highschool girl fanaticism moments.

Intro the sound of a farthing romance from Edward "you-make-my-knees-weak" Cullen.

My reality does not come with a soundtrack. It does not come with being from Arizona and not having tanned skin. Or from being far too clumsy. Or from being literally swept off my feet by a man who has a penchant for the smell of my blood.

Reality check.

I'm a morena from the tropics who can move quite gracefully. I can't accommodate a gorgeous non-human flying in and out of my windows every night, lest I wanna hear gunshots coming from the direction of my father's outraged voice. And I wear perfume. A lot.

I'm a far cry from the word breathtaking though I always hear that I am beautiful inside. I have attractive intestines, so I'm told. I just don't pay attention to them really.

I get pimples every now and then from not sleeping enough. Yeah that red bump. People who write nonsensical blogs get pimples. Twenty-something yuppies get pimples. Women who are bullied while stuck in traffic get pimples. So why is having a pimple such an issue if it's so common?

Because being common is bad enough, but being common AND ugly is just so sad.

... And voila! It makes being a pale, statuesque bloodsucker my desired look of today? As if the heavens needed more evidence of how completely insane I am. 

-----

Listening to Colorblind by Counting Crows and Linger by Cranberries

Saying that I went through a lot in the past years is an understatement. I know that we all go through challenges in life but I am thinking that I got a big share of mine this early.

Loving someone? The elation, the bliss.. then the denial, the pain and letting go. A vicious cycle. Been through it more than I want to but... I guess I still have not grasped my lesson.

Foolish girl. Life wants you to realize that you could stand on your own.

It's about time I accept that.

My newly-painted nails are now dry. I love this shade of green. And the smell of this new lotion is something.

Papaya and soy milk. There's a first. My hands smell like dessert.

Before I get carried away with the vain topic, let me give you my dose of Twilight.

Joy and I ordered the hardcover set of the Twilight saga over Amazon.com. Thanks Javin. And I can't wait to get them! Too bad the posters were not allowed for delivery outside the continental US. It would have been nice. But I will look for a way to get my hands on even just one.

This is the first time ever, for me to get obsessed with a book (with a movie adaptation) at that. The characters just seemed so real I guess. And even if I am not a damsel in distress like that female antagonist... I could still relate to having my own Edward.

My current wallpaper.

Sigh.

--

Listening to Muse' Hysteria, Time Is Running Out, Supermassive Black Hole and Starlight

So yesterday, Joy, Lois and I went to watch Twilight on the big screen. I am not a big fan of vampires but that of books that have movie adaptations.

The moviehouse was unbelievably crowded and the three of us had to settle for seats that were only four rows away from the big screen.

Anyway, I did not know what to expect from the movie.. heck, I never really expected anything at all. So in the middle of watching it, aside from Rob Pattinson's pretty boy looks, I learned that it was gonna go down in history.

It simply captivated me. Much like Harry Potter meets Titanic emotions washed over me.

Unbelievable. I am into Twilight-mania now and my online messenger speaks of it. I even spent time researching about vampires etc and got my vampire name.

Two weeks will probably cure me of this obsession. But till then, I will bask in this feeling.