FREE AT LAST!

Today is the last day of my 5-Day Isolation. Tomorrow, I’m gonna rush to the BIR Office to reprint my invoices. Otherwise, I will suffer penalties.

At last! Back to the real world. Chaotic as it may, I still missed it twists and turns, the non-stop drama unfolding right in front of my very eyes.

Embracing my son Gio and my daughter Eia are what I missed the most. But to ensure their safety, it would be wise to still postpone our GROUP HUG. 

Hearing my son playing the piano while I was meditating this morning brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know why. I was just thankful and grateful to God for everything. For keeping me alive, for keeping my family safe, for having faithful friends who were interceding for my immediate healing and recovery.

Finally! Freedom will be mine tomorrow. No longer will I be strictly confined within the 4 walls of my old small room. Nevertheless, I choose not to go swimming at Leisure Farms this May 27, not practice yoga this May 28 and not run this May 29. My OLD self would definitely not skip any of these but hey, this is the NEW me. I am NOT quitting. Just taking a break.

Thank you Lord! Thanks to all of you who prayed for me. God bless us all!

Stay safe everyone!

WHAT IS YOUR HEART’S DEEPEST DESIRE?

My favorite lay preacher, in one of his talks, answered one of the most sought-after questions—how do you know if what you’re doing is God’s will?

According to him, God’s will is the person’s deepest desire. This revelation completely jolted me out of my seat!

With all due respect for this remarkable person whom I greatly admire, I refused to believe his theory then. I still beg to disagree now.

God endowed us with the phenomenal gift of free will. We are always given the choice to do what is right or wrong. What if your deepest desire is that of a narcissist? Surely, that would never be God’s will.

Fr. Gerry, in one of his teachings intended for the parents of the Jr. Lectors, boldly stressed that parents should raise their children not giving them the choice of right or wrong. The bad should automatically be eliminated from the choices offered to the child. So the child will grow up choosing between what is GOOD and what is BETTER. So in essence, the child who becomes an adult will not dare, in his lifetime, choose evil. This is because he grew up totally disregarding what is wrong.

If children were raised according to Fr. Gerry’s ideal scenario, then I would agree that God’s will is your deepest desire because your desire could only be good, better or best. Since doing bad is totally out of the picture.

How about you? What is your heart’s deepest desire? Can you feel it in your bones that it is indeed God’s will? Good for you!

From Cloud 9 to Hell

Friends asked me yesterday if I was feeling better. I couldn’t say yes because yesterday was worse.

My fever was still on and off but eventually subsided late afternoon. At sundown, I began my agonizing trips to the toilet which lasted until 9PM.

The fiery lump in my throat refused to leave even with the joint forces of Difflam losenges and Bactidol throat spray. 

Just last week, I was in Cloud 9 after my sharing in the Handmaids International Conference. My Sisters were proclaiming that I was empowered by the Holy Spirit when I delivered my talk. 

Now, I am in hell. Well, sort-of.

My life has been like this: A series of happiness and sadness. I used to hold back on my happiness thinking that the more I become happier, the sadder I will be afterwards. 

Have you experienced this in your life? Restraining yourself to be fully happy because at the back of your head, you expect something tragic to follow in similar dosage?

Yes, this absurd theory could be true. But don’t let it prevent you from being truly happy. Keep on living your precious life to the fullest. Tragedies will come and go but by God’s grace, you will face them all head-on. Don’t ever underestimate yourself. You will rise from every fall. 

On Being Sick (My 2nd Day in Isolation)

Dr. Willie Ong, if I recall right—pointed out that sickness is a result of something lacking in your body or something in excess in your body. Could it really be this simple?

Other doctors quickly accuse stress as the perennial culprit to all diseases. Well, I somehow agree. On a case-to-case basis at least.

Mostly believe that “Laughter is the Best Medicine”. I totally disagree on this. On the ground that I lost very dear friends at a young age who thought they were invincible because they always laugh at their hearts content. 

For so many years that I didn’t get sick, I have come to embrace the “Superwoman” tag on me by people who thought I could tackle anything that life throws at me. Well, not anymore. I DO GET SICK!

When people ask my dear mother her secret to a long life without any maintenance, she would readily answer “enough food, enough sleep, enough exercise, enough rest, enough stress, and enough money to last you a lifetime.”

Sound so simple but impossible (for me) to follow!

EAT. DRINK. REST.

 My 65th birthday is just around the corner and for the first time in my life, I have come to realize that indeed, I am not getting any younger.

My whole body is in pain. My fever is on and off. There’s a huge fiery lump in my throat. I cannot tell if I feel cold or I feel hot. A civil war is actively brewing inside my stomach.

Our family doctor did not prescribe me anything except paracetamol for my fever. Instead, she advised me to eat a lot (except vegetables), drink lots of water, and coop myself inside my room for 5 days.

But, if I still have fever by tomorrow afternoon, then I should return to her clinic because according to her, that is BAD.

She asked me what I did for the past week. Well, I attended the Handmaids of the Lord International Conference in Pampanga from May 12-14 where there were a total of 2,450 people inside the Laus Event Center. I already noticed the harshness of my voice when I spoke on stage for 15 minutes. She told me that could be the start of the virus trying to enter my body. We were back in Las Piñas Sunday and the following day, I did a Speed Interval Workout with my yoga coach. Instead of resting my tired body, we ran intensively for 40 minutes. My doctor told me that was the opportunity the virus was waiting for.

By Tuesday, I could already feel the pain in my body but simply brushed it off.  I just rested until Thursday then hopped on the Ab Booster Plus and lifted weights. That’s when all hell broke loose. By 7pm yesterday, I was running a high fever after relieving myself in the toilet every 30 minutes. 

So here I am. Alone in my room. My son Gio wants to order anything that I want to eat but NO, I am not craving for anything.

Now that’s a first!

(Thank you for dropping by. Please chat with me via Messenger or email me at ndelr62@gmail.com. Stay safe everyone!)

Thank You Omar!

In my effort to ditch the last 5 lbs. of my stubborn weight, I joined BetterMe for 1 month. It was a glorious journey with Omar, my favorite among the Coaches there.

For those who are not familiar with BetterMe, the program consists of a customized meal plan and strategic workouts to reach your goal. They were drawn based from a series of questions that you honestly answered before you joined. It also offers different Challenges for a fee but the Intermittent Fasting Challenge is free. When you enter the IF Challenge, you will be guided on a day-to-day basis which I found really amazing. I love the Message Platform where you can ask questions and Coaches answer. One Coach particularly stood out among the rest. Omar.

Omar would patiently read my rantings and answer them in a meticulously detailed fashion. He would also ask specific questions and lavish me with advices not only with concerns on fitness but on life’s drama as well. He is a dedicated coach, a caring teacher, a supportive friend, and an inspiring therapist-in-one!

In a nutshell, here are the lessons I learned from him:

1. Do not compare yourself with others. The only person you should compare yourself with is yourself:   He told me this when I was frustrated that some people could lose 10 lbs in less than 3 months of IF while I only lost 2-3 lbs after 5 months of 16:8 IF.

2. Track your daily calorie intake using a food scale. You could be under-eating. Chronic under-eating can lead to metabolic adaptation. Your metabolism slows down and as a result, you struggle to lose any weight:   Interesting point! Omar told me to use the calorie tracker of BetterMe which I didn’t know existed. And when I did, I was surprised that it included our very own native Filipino dishes like sisig, pinakbet, tokwa’t baboy, etc. It even includes my favorite pulutan Chicharon Bulaklak!

3. Your mom has her unique metabolism, body stats, activity level, etc. It is also not realistc to compare yourself with her:   I couldn’t help it. I am so envious of my 88 yr-old mother who only weighs 110 lbs. without any effort while I struggle from dawn to dusk just to maintain my 120-lb. chunk of weight.

4. Weight loss is not a true indicator of progress. If you gain muscle mass at the same time you are losing body fat, your weight may not change and might even go up. Waist circumference is the most affected by changes in body fat:   Now this really made my day! I have miraculously lost 3 inches off my waist so I should be jumping in jubilation! 

5. You’re in your 60’s. Your body’s ability to recover is much lower and hence you can easily over-train and chronic over-training can lead to elevated cortisol levels that can interfere with your body’s ability to lose weight, especially if combined with a stressful life or lack of sleep:   Ouch! Hard to accept but true . . . What a revelation! Now I know.

6. With the intense training program that you have, better follow a non-intermittent fasting regimen to maximize your performance:   I love this advice!  One Coach from BetterMe suggested that I could level up my fasting from 16:8 to 20:4 without even knowing how I spend my day. Unlike Omar. He asked for my daily activities, both exercise and non-exercise. And he came to the logical conclusion that I should stop Intermittent Fasting based from my intensive training program. I promised Omar I will end it on Easter Sunday, signifying a new life for me.

7. Feel free to eat sweets and food that you love as long they are within the 20% of your food choices. The 80% should be healthy options. Of course, the 100% should be within your calorie target:   I am happy that Omar and I share the same Food Philosophy. 80% of our food intake should be healthy and 20% should be what we love, whether it’s healthy or unhealthy. The problem is, in reality the proportion is oftentimes reversed—we indulge in food that we crave for 80% of the time!

8. If you cannot control yourself when you crave for unhealthy food, keep them out of reach:   Easier said than done. We are actually 8 in our household so you can just imagine how much food we store but I will try my very best to follow this. Self-discipline is the key.

9. To prepare for an upcoming event, practice 6-7 days of calorie-saving before the event:   This will probably be the only advice I won’t be following. Instead of saving calorie for 6-7 days, I will just fast the day before and fast again the day after the event. This is easier for me than restricting my calorie intake for 6-7 days. I will only have to suffer for 2 days heheheh . . .

10. Take a break from dieting for 4-6 weeks:   Yehey! This is the BEST advice ever! According to Omar, 5-6 months of calorie restriction is too long already. So beginnng today, I am on a Diet Break. He told me to maintain 1,900 calories a day but I think that is too much. I will try 1,500 to 1,600 calories first.

Thank you so much Omar. You’re the best! Thank you for correcting my misconceptions and giving me hope to carry on. I really enjoyed our chats, talking about fitness, wellness, lifelong friendship, spiritual journey, personal and family goals, etc. 

Praying for your health and safety. Wishing you success in everything you desire to do. May you experience true joy and happiness in this lifetime.

God bless you and your family Omar!

(Thanks for dropping by. You may email me at ndelr62@gmail.com for comments or chat with me via Messenger. Stay safe everyone!)

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 6 MONTHS OF INTERMITTENT FASTING & 3 MONTHS GENTLE YOGA?

 You all know that I started 16:8 Intermittent Fasting last October, 2022 but nobody knew that I delved into Gentle Yoga since January this year. Yup! I certainly did! With Gio, my unico hijo and the one and only Ate Ella (my 77-year old Wind Beneath my Wings)

Coach Emy calls it Gentle Yoga but we are probably using different dictionaries because in my book, it should be called HARSH! I swear I could almost feel my bones cracking with each challenging pose and silently wished that if God plans to end the world soon, that particular moment when I was struggling to cope would be the perfect time hahahah...

Today, Easter Sunday, is my Resurrection Day. Today is the start of my new life without Intermittent Fasting. However, I am not saying Goodbye to IF forever for I might do it again someday—if and when my favorite son calls my legs “logs” and starts counting my chin again. 

So are you excited to know what happened after 6 months of Intermittent Fasting and 3 months of “Gentle” Yoga?

Brace yourself folks! 

I actually lost 3 inches off my waist and 4 inches off my hips!

How I lost these inches without losing significant weight will be answered in my next post. For now I am quite satisfied, happy and ecstatic with these overwhelming results!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

(Thanks for dropping by my blog. For comments, email me at ndelr62@gmail.com or chat with me via Messenger. Stay safe everyone!)