Why Water is a Must!

Since I have been on my journey to becoming healthier, I've been following twitter accounts that give me tips on how I can lose weight faster but in a healthier way. One of the tweets I constantly see is about water. Now, there was another person in the past who would always tell me to drink water but I resisted.

You see, I did not grow up drinking water. We were more of a soda kind of family. Water was something I had a glass of for the whole day. Eventually though, I got older and started experiencing things I never had such as gout and this person would insist I drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.

Now, I drink around 15 glasses of water a day. You should too because ...

1. Your body needs water for countless reasons, and one such reason is to make life easier on your muscles. When you are exercising, you are putting a heavy toll on most - if not all - of your muscles. Sufficient water is necessary for the proper lubrication of your joints, and it drinking to your needs will drastically minimize the amount of soreness you'll feel later.

2. Studies have shown that staying hydrated with sufficient water while exercising can result in the ability to complete more reps and remain energized. This means the simple act of drinking enough water can directly increase the number of calories you'll burn, because you'll have more energy during your routine than you would have had if you were insufficiently hydrated.

3. Consuming water prior to a meal will allow you to fill up your stomach without the evil of extraneous calories. This will minimize your chances of binging on food, because it will make you less hungry than you would have been.

4. The American Chemical Society suggests drinking 16 ounces (two cups) of water prior to every meal. Drinking this recommended amount while cutting down on the size of your meal portions makes you increases your chances of shedding pounds and keeping them off in the long run.

5. Too many people these days substitute high-calorie beverages like soda, juice or alcohol for water during their meals. The situation gets even worse when you factor in the typical drink size at most fast food joints and restaurants. Think of all the sugary, high-calorie drinks you consume in a given week, and imagine all the calories you could save by switching to water - if even for just one substitution per day. It's true that you can cut down on calories by switching to low-calorie diet sodas and juices in lieu of their regular counterparts, but diet drinks tend to increase your desire to eat. Water with every meal is the perfect choice when you're looking to cut down on calories.

6. Whether you are vigorously exercising or burning a few calories just sitting down and chewing gum at work, your body needs sufficient hydration in order to efficiently use those calories for fat-burning. So, whether you're burning 100 or 1,000 calories, you still need to drink plenty of water for them to be burned as efficiently as possible.

7. More research is necessary for accurately determining the water needs for every person, but the Institute of Medicine recommends that women drink 15 cups (2.7 liters) of water per day, while men should drink 18 cups (3.7 liters). These recommended amounts for body efficiency are total water amounts, and they account for water you consume in coffee, fruit and vegetables also.

8. If you're looking to shed weight in a hurry, one way of doing so is to consume plenty of water while cutting down on your sodium intake. The decision to eliminate dietary salt (the pretzels and turkey you eat in the breakroom, the canned foods you prepare on the stove, or the chips or nuts you snack on between meals) while increasing your water intake will allow you to drop water weight quickly.

9. Whether you are burning hundreds of calories at the gym or handfuls of calories walking from place to place, the act of burning calories releases toxins inside your body. Drinking a sufficient amount of water allows your body to flush out those toxins, rather than letting them hang around all throughout your dehydrated day.

10. Based on water's chemical compound (h2o), correlation between water intake and your body's oxygen level should be rather obvious. When you don't drink a sufficient amount of water, your blood volume decreases. This means your muscles are failing to get necessary oxygen, and you will become exhausted more quickly as a result.

Source: http://healthydiet.io/more-water-less-fat/muscle-maintence/

munimuni # 79

It's been 2 weeks since the last one. I actually reread it and found that I still meant every single word I wrote. Things have happened since then. Some made me laugh while some made me cry. All of it has taught me lessons that I know will make me a better person..

I've been spending a lot of time with my best friend Allan. We've been looking for a job and it has been nothing but challenging. Seriously. Sometimes, to save on money, we'd just eat Sky Flakes and have water. He brings a bottle so that we won't have to buy. You see, we both have limited funds and we need to save money any way we can. This includes Sky Flakes to tide us over and walking instead of riding even at the possibility of heatstroke.

It has been a humbling experience. It has been a very humbling experience. I am not used to not having work and I am not used to not doing anything at all. It's been nerve wracking to be honest. The constant availabiity of time is not something I am used to. I am the person who always has a full calendar and I find it unnerving to have so much free time at a moment in my life where I really need to be kept extremely busy.

I've seen him twice since the last muni muni. This totals 5 meet ups since we parted ways. It's been both glorious and painful. Glorious because I saw him and I was with him, painful because we're still not together. Right now, he doesn't love me enough to be with me. That hurts but I need to accept it. He needs to find the courage and strength to believe in us again on his own. The only way I can possibly help is to show him with actions that he has reason to believe in us again. How he would know? I honestly don't know how as we barely see each other.

My Mom has been recovering pretty well. She's still in pain but its bearable because she can now walk and go about her own way. Sometimes, we even have small talks again just like we used to. Sometimes though, we avoid each other because she has too much emotional pain and sometimes, I do too.

K and I have become closer since things fell apart. She feels more at ease asking me when I seem to be not in a good mood and I am able to talk to her more freely now as well. I feel closer to her now than I did before.

B and I have a much better relationship as well. I don't need to scream or shout to make myself understood. I don't need to resort to spanking as well. He is in that stage where computer games matter more than books. I let him play to give a sense of balance but I pray that he will still have his love for reading. I hope that the computer games has not eradicated it completely. Sometimes though, I find myself counting from 1 - 10 ... or 100. LOL.

Friday nights and Saturdays are the most challenging to me. Those times used to be filled with activities or times with someone and nowadays, I find myself keeping extra busy or just wishing that the day would pass by quickly. Time just seems to pass by extra slowly when its Friday or Saturday.

I've also decided to finally cut ties with my father. Why? This would be another post that I have yet to write. I may be misconstrued as a worthless daughter or someone na "walang utang na loob" but this is a choice that I am making and I am at peace with this decision.

Things seem to be at a standstill these days. Sometimes, I feel like a feather floating on air just going where the wind blows. It's liberating and scary all at the same time. However, I will just leave everything up to God now and hold on to His will.

I believe better things will happen. Shit had to happen and things had to fall apart to make way for something better ... for me, for the funny man and I, and for my life.

mula sa pinaka the best ...

To Jollibee and Strategic Works, Inc ...

Thank you so much for making this day special indeed! My family loves Jollibee Chickenjoy and we'll definitely be feasting on this. Thank you for giving me another reason to smile. You have no idea how happy you've made me today. I am humbled and touched.

The personalized greeting ROCKED! It made me tear up.

to my Mommy ...

To the one person in this world ... 

• who loves me even when I am at my worst 
• who believes in me when no one else does 
• who loves me even when I hurt her 
• who is there for me no matter what 
• who lifts me up when I am down 
• who helps put me back together whenever I fall apart 
• who lets me be whenever I need to lick my wounds 
• who budges me to stand up when I fall down 
• who accepts me for who I am 

Thank you. I love you so much and I'm sorry that I keep disappointing you. Thank you for still being there and encouraging me to move forward and onward no matter how many times I stumble and fall. 

Thank you for loving me no matter what. 

Kettle Korn: Poppin’ Fun All The Time!

Kettle Korn

If my life were to be a movie, it would be a tragic comedy of errors with hints of magic, mystery, and a lot of tears. It would be a story of a girl who made mistakes but always with the best intentions in heart. It would be a story of a girl who yearns to love and be loved but ends up pushing away the people who love her the most because she thought that she didn't deserve to be loved. It would be a story of a girl who dabbled in magic and dark thoughts because she was looking for her place in the world. It would be the story of a girl who wished for true love and found the man of her dreams but then lost him and is now waiting for him to come back to her. My story would be your story. You would see yourself in it. 

Definitely, Kettle Korn would make it more fun to watch because it would help relieve the stress of the dramatic scenes. Kettle Korn would also add more flavor to the experience of going from one scene to the next. Kettle Korn is the perfect companion for watching movies. 

an unexpected date ...

I honestly don't know if it was a date but I think it may have been. We met up for some tutorial on stuff that still remains a mystery to me and he treated me to coffee. Afterwards, I was supposed to treat him to dinner as payment for the tutorial but I guess, seeing the look on my face, he realized that I had very limited budget and offered to take me to dinner instead.

This is the part where I get a bit befuddled as to if it was a date or not.

We ate at a restaurant that I have been wanting to visit again for quite some time. It was nothing fancy but it was pretty nice. We ordered our food and talked. It felt like old times. He was sharing problems about work and I lent an ear. It felt natural. However, he wasn't feeling quite well and it showed on his face.

I was worried. I then learned that he wasn't sleeping well nor eating on time. It broke my heart. I couldn't do anything about it and so it broke my heart.

He stayed with me. He could have left me alone soon as he was done tutoring me but instead, he chose to stay with me. I really appreciated the company and the concern. If he had left, I honestly wouldn't have know how to kill time. Him being there made things a lot more bearable and definitely more enjoyable.

He used to read my blog. Nowadays, I don't know if he does. Regardless, I had fun yesterday. I enjoyed the dinner and the small talk, the quiet lull in the car, the way he smiled, the way he ensures that I am on the safe side of the road when we cross, and just the fact that he was there, right in front of me.

It may not have been a date. It may have been a date. Regardless, it was an unexpected surprise.

2nd Manila Improv Festival

11:30 am today marked the press conference for the 2nd Manila Improv Festival. For those who do not know what an improv is, it is defined by Merriam Webster as:

of, relating to, or being improvisation and especially an improvised comedy routine.

In celebration of their 11th year, SPIT (Silly People's Improv Theater) will be hosting the Manila Improv Festival from June 25 - 30, 2013. What makes it more awesome is that they are partnering with PETA Theater Center to make all of this happen.

This year's theme is "Follow Your Feet" which is an improvisational theater concept which also happens to tie in with the art form's return to PETA for it was PETA that first introduces improvisational theater to the country back in the early 70's.

Gabe Mercado, along with SPIT, was there to show us how an Improv is actually done. They told us that anyone can actually do an Improv and this is even used in the corporate world, especially in offices like Google and Apple.

The Manila Improv Festival will have 6 shows featuring the participating improv groups: People's Liberation Improv and 3 Dudes Improv (Hong Kong,) Baijing Improv, Taichung Improv (Taiwan,) Xiamen Improv, Zmack (Shanghai,) Pirates of Tokyo Bay, and SPIT.

Shows will be one a day on June 26, 27, 28 and 30 at 8pm. On June 29, there will be 2 show. Entrance fee is only Php400 and will feature 3 improv groups for each set. All performances will be done at PETA Theater Center - at their "Black Box" performance space known as the PETA-PHINMA Theater.

Workshops are also available during the festival so if you're interested in learning improv or improving your improvisations, now is the best time to sign up.

For more details and updates, you may check SPIT via: 

Facebook 
Twitter 
Website

For tickets and workshop inquiries: 

Meann Espinosa of PETA - 410 0822 local 14 to 15 
0906 211 5003 

Tickets are also available via Ticketworld or the PETA Theater Center. 

Here are some scenes from today's presscon. Thank you also to Aristocrat for sponsoring. Your boneless chicken barbecue always delivers GREAT TASTE.

Tips to shed pounds ....

Source:  (positivemed.com source: positive foodie)

1) Drink lots and lots of water, before meals, between meals, often dehydration masks itself as hunger, you may just be thirsty, not hungry

2) Eat your calories, don’t drink them, except for healthy smoothies. Stay away from sodas, even diet, and most juices, eat your fruit when possible, the extra fiber helps you feel full

3) Use smaller bowls and plates, and a bigger spoon or fork… this is part of tricking your body into thinking you are eating more food, if you see a plate filled with food your brain thinks “Wow I just ate a whole plate of food” it doesn’t take into account the smaller plate

4) Heap your food into a tall pile, same philosophy as above, a tall pile of veggies looks much bigger

5) Put your vegetables on your plate first, it should be about half your meal.

6) If you are eating half a chicken breast and saving half for another meal, like I do, cut it the long way, it looks bigger somehow than cut the other way

7) Spice it up! Spicy food fools your taste buds into being more satisfied with smaller amounts, it’s the taste your hunger is craving, bland foods make you feel like you have not eaten as much. My favorite new treat, I sprinkle my popcorn with a spicy pepper blend, it’s delicious!

8) Avoid fad diets!! Putting your body into starvation mode freaks your body out so that it holds onto every fat cell for dear life, in case you need it later. You are much better off making small, permanent changes you can live with forever, it’s about good health, not being a magic number or size

9) Remember, if you don’t love yourself heavy, you won’t love yourself skinny either, it’s not a magic fix-all for problems, you did not get heavy overnight, you will not lose it overnight either, even if you are like me and gained 50 pounds in 3 months following a hysterectomy, there is no easy fix, unfortunately

10) No matter what you read, or what anyone tells you, there is no magic cure. The ONLY way to lose weight, and keep it off, is to consistently burn more calories than you take in, it’s a life change, not a 2 week change

11) You are an amazing wonderful creature no matter what your numbers are, love yourself enough to want good health for your body, make it a mantra, for example, “Today I will eat food that nourishes my body and makes me feel good, I will do some gentle exercise to stretch my muscles, because I deserve the best I can do for myself”

12) Keep track of inches, sometimes when you think you have hit a plateau in weight loss it is simply your body exchanging fat for muscle, muscle tissue is half the size of fat and burns calories more efficiently, if you are still shrinking, you are not at a plateau.

the flat belly workout

Someone sent this to me in support of my quest to a healthier me as well as getting back my flatboard abs which I had around 10 years ago. Wow! That sounded really ancient. I feel ancient now.

Anyway, I started with stretches then walked for 40 minutes. This walk was an improvement because it used to take me an hour to circle the village and now, its only 40 minutes. When I got home, I pulled up this photo and started doing the exercises.

I did 50 jumping jacks and only had to exert effort at around the 41st jumping jack. The 40 crunches took time. I had to do it in 2 parts. The squats were something I could do since I've always liked squats even when I was younger. I liked the effect of it on my thighs and most especially, my butt. I'm a little vain when it comes to my butt. It was something I was proud of when I was still in my 20's and its something I'd like to regain again.

The leg lifts were a nightmare though. I could only do it in 10's. It was so painful. Extremely painful. When I'm able to do everything in this list with ease, that's when I know that I need to double everything and by the time I'm able to do everything in doubles, I'm pretty sure I'd have lost at least 20lbs by then.

Before I get to that part though, I'm pretty sure it will be days of pain and moaning for me.

Project Pearls

I've seen this group way back 2011. I've always wanted to give my time to them but the 2x that I was supposed to volunteer, life happened and I wasn't able to do it. Now, I realized, I can help them in other ways aside from volunteering in Ulingan.

I plan to volunteer at least one Saturday a month and to print out activity sheets for these kids to use to learn, draw, and be more creative. I also hope that I can be part of their social media group because it is things like this that need promotion and awareness.

Groups like them need help. They need our time, treasure, and our talents. You see, they are not just a once a year or twice a year kind of program. This is a program that runs weekly. They have feeding programs, tutorials right after, birthday programs, health and wellness as well as dental missions.

Project Pearls 
Website
Facebook
Twitter 

Founded in 2008 by mother and daughter, Melissa Villa and Francesca Villa Mateo, initially to help Melissa's deaf and mute childhood friend and daughters who are living in a squatter area. Melissa helps in sending her friend's daughters to school.  Realizing that their extra savings in dollars go a long way in the Philippines, they started sending school supplies to other school children living in different slum communities.  In the summer of 2010, Melissa was introduced to the children of Ulingan by photo journalist, Sidney Snoeck.  Since then, the focus of Project PEARLS' outreach efforts is in Ulingan, a slum and garbage dumpsite community where over 400 families contend all day with the heat, fumes, dust, stench, flies, mosquitoes and vermin. Project PEARLS, under the leadership of Melissa's brother, Juan Villa has a weekly Feeding Program, Scholarship Program and quarterly Medical Mission in Ulingan.  

Our vision is to end child poverty as poverty denies children their rights to health, nutrition and a basic education. Our mission is to help the poorest of the poor children in the Philippines have a better life through our various outreach programs. We are hoping we can give them: Peace, Education, Aspiration, Respect, Love, Smiles. Breaking the cycle of poverty is almost impossible. But poverty doesn’t have to be permanent especially for children.  We need your help and support for investing in the children's health and nutrition, education, social, emotional and spiritual well-being.​ Project PEARLS is also helping underprivileged children in Dagupan, Bulacan, Caloocan, Guimaras, and Masbate. Our special outreach projects include rehabilitating public school libraries, 

For those who want to volunteer or donate, please sign here.  

on the outside looking in ...

Sometimes, I wonder if you are talking to me ... or if I'm just eavesdropping.

self portrait taken today at 3:18 PM 

I was watching Wang Fu's When Five Fell and there was a line that struck a nerve in me. Sometimes, I feel that he is talking to me when he posts something. Sometimes, I believe that he makes those post to communicate with me still ... but lately, I feel like I'm just eavesdropping. I feel like I'm listening in on a conversation that is really not meant for my ears to hear or a letter that my eyes are not meant to read.

It's hard, being on the outside looking in. You can see the festivity and what's happening but you know you are not part of it because you're not allowed to be part of it. Your invitation has been revoked.  You are no longer invited. Not anymore.

junior prom

I am currently watching "Perks of being a Wallflower" on another window on my laptop and it got me thinking about my own prom. It was Junior Prom and I was actually quite scared. See, I just broke up with my 1st boyfriend back then and I wasn't interested in anyone else. Not that there were guys beating down the door to go out with me. If there was, I wouldn't have noticed either.

I wore a red cocktail dress that my Mom bought me from Alixandre. It was really pretty and it was a little sexy. I felt awkward. At that time, I had no idea how to wear a ladylike dress. I was tomboyish and awkward. I was too tall for my age, too witty for the boys my age, and too gangly to even be poised.

There I was, walking across the dance floor to get to y seat when someone dedicates a song to me. It was How Do I Live and I felt humiliated. I don't know why I did but I did. It wasn't a good way to start my prom night.  By the way, I didn't have a date that night and went stag with my 3 best friends.

When all the girls were being asked for a dance, I wasn't. I was just there, sitting in a corner, pretending that I was okay being ignored but deep inside I wasn't. I wanted someone to ask me to dance. I wanted someone to notice me. I wanted to be noticed.

Eventually, a senior asked me to dance and it was actually my crush. To this day, I don't know if he asked me out of pity or because a friend of mine might have told him to ask me to dance. I do not know and I am okay not knowing. The other guy who asked me to dance was also another crush of mine. So yes, that night, I had 2 dances.

Some of you may find this surprising but I wasn't really what people considered a "beauty" then. I was just another gangly awkward tomboy in a sea of pale, flawless beauties that was my Chinese high school. I still don't consider myself a beauty now even when people keep saying a I have a pretty face.

My junior prom wasn't really anything memorable. It was just another dance, another night. To be honest, I a still waiting for my first real dance. If it will happen, I don't know. What my dream first dance is? It will be another entry all by itself.

Nickelodeon Summer Festival 2013

I was invited to attend the Nickelodeon Summer Festival yesterday and since this was a kid's event, I brought along B and K, along with a friend of theirs. Soon as we got to the place, the place, the first thing we all said was, "Wow! It's really hot!" and "Oohh! Picture!" Hahahaha.

The media group had their own entrance which made it easy to enter the venue. For this, I was truly grateful to Stratworks. Soon as we were inside, it was time to let the kiddos have fun and enjoy. 

Kids, tweens, and kids at heart made pizza fiesta with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, caught some jellyfish with Spongebob, and played to learn with Team Umizzomi and the Bubble Guppies. As part of the festivitiy, The Sandugo Guardline wowed guests with their flag exhibition, while the Buganda Drumbeaters added color and music to the sizzling afternoon. 

What made this event extra special is that it was absolutely free. The Nickelodeon Summer Festival was presented by Toy Kingdom and co-sponsored by Air Asia, Chubby, Goody Gulp Milk Drink, Jack and Jill Knots, Mega Blocks, Propan TLC, Selecta Paddle Pop, Skechers Kids, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Official Venue was at Bonifacio Global City. 

Raising B, Raising Me ...

I've been spending time with B lately and we've been having random conversations. It got to a point that I realized that some of the words of wisdom that I impart to him are actually lessons that I also needed to learn.

Just this morning B came up to me and said that K grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard. He was near tears because it hurt. He was also upset because K did not apologize. I pondered for a minute and told B, "Sometimes, there will be people who will hurt us and they won't say sorry. It could be because they did not realize they have hurt us or if they did, they do not care. We need to forgive them still. We need to do this for ourselves, not for them. If they eventually apologize or not, at least, we have already forgiven them and moved on."

Lesson # 1 I realized that this was something that I need to also apply to myself. It wasn't something that I could just tell B and expect him to do. I had to live by this creed. Used to be, I would demand an apology. It really mattered to me to hear the words "Sorry." Now, I've realized that even if a person says he is sorry, but the actions don't show it, it won't matter. Sorry is worthless if not followed through with actions. However, actions that show one is contrite bears more weight than a mere sorry.

Lesson # 2 came in the form of B yelling at a friend of his because the friend wouldn't follow him. I realized that he got it from me and that it was simply wrong. Now, I don't scream at B anymore or yell at him. I explain things and I tell him why its not allowed or get him to realize why its a no. When I feel frustrated, I count to 10 and back if need be.

Lesson # 3 was in the form of simply accepting things as they are. We were discussing something and I asked him if he thought the situation was what it really was. He answered, "Yes." It was so simple, so matter of fact that I realized, if a kid can understand things just like that, why can't I accept situations to be just like that? So from now on, I will stop analyzing and over analyzing things. If things happen, it will. If not, then it won't.

Lesson # 4 If you count the hours by the minutes, you're gonna have a pretty long day. This is whats been happening to me the past 2 weeks. The days have been dragging by because I was counting the minutes. Do something you enjoy doing then you'll see, its the end of another day and tomorrow will be the beginning of something new.

So there ... it seems that while I was raising B, I was also raising me. :) 

working up a sweat

I used to hate sweating. You see, I rarely sweat so when I do, I find it really irritating. Today, I sweated a lot.

No, I did not glow (as some fashionable people would like to call sweating because they still look good when it happens.) I sweated. Trickling water down from my head to my neck to the middle of my boobs kinda sweat. In fact, I perspired so much that I had to change clothes, 2x.

On the way home, instead of riding the tricycle, I decided to walk. This became my major warm up and since it was around 330pm, I worked a lot of sweat and had to actually take a really quick bath to freshen up. Now, I was told to rest before going for a brisk walk and so I did for about an hour then off I went.

I timed myself this time. It takes 55 minutes to walk around the village and this is already brisk walking. Initially, I wasn't perspiring but halfway through, my body just became one pile of sweat. It was falling from my hair to my nape, it was trickling everywhere, and it just felt SO DAMN GOOD.

Until now, 2 hours later, I feel warm and I can feel my blood still pumping. I feel so alive. After the walk, I danced for a couple of minutes then cooled down. For dinner, I had oatmeal with strips of boiled chicken.

This is it. I can feel that I am finally on track to losing all the weight I gained for the last 8 years. I can see my mini dresses again and tight fit jeans. Eeekk.

Cheers to a better me.