Pink Pills and Diets

I was born 6 pounds but 26 years later now weigh 63 kilos.



Like majority of women in the world who are more happy loosing weight than gaining money (no pun intended), I am one of those who look at the mirror and see the flabby thighs and the muffin top oozing out of my hips.

A Kid's Dilemma
Since I was young, I had this hate and love relationship with food.

When I was five and forced to do those little beauty pageants parents love entering their kids into, I was asked just one question during the final round, "What is your favorite food?" . I looked around and saw the audience smiling, thought it was best to answer what I know and answered with confidence "anything as long as it is edible". Then the audience burst into laughter and I cried on stage thinking I got it all wrong.

3 years later at school, I saw a fat kid with a double chin. Upon going home, I barely touched my food and told my mom the food on the table would make me loose my neck. It was then and there that I promised to strain my neck every morning and check it daily on the mirror just in case the food I ate made it disappear...phew!

Teenage Angst
During adolescence, the fat disappeared and some curves began to show. But still, my legs were not shapely like everybody else's and I had a waistline of 27cm. At that time, the only ideal waistline was a 23 or a 24. Bigger than that, you're a walking flabby girl.

Now 26 years later, after countless diets of varied types, I have outlined which have worked for me and which didn't. Some were easy to stick to, some were a little bit more daunting.

1. The Oatmeal Diet
date tested: Feb 2005 in preparation for a College Ball
reason: needed to fit into that dress
plan: 1 week of nothing but oatmeal and brown bread with tuna.
result: lost 2 cm off my waist
sustainability: only good for instant and short term weight loss
and might lead to vitamin or nutrient deficiency if continued

2. The Muffin Top Diet
date tested: September 2010
reason: get rid of the muffin top and save on medication for allergies
plan: not to eat anything that can be a potential allergen for 1 week
result: 1 cm off my waist, 2kg off the scales
sustainability: unless you can thrive on water then do this
didn't help much with my chronic hives either (now I developed new allergies on new food I wasn't allergic to before)

3. The Water Therapy Diet
date tested: January 2008
reason: loose weight and pass my urinalysis exam
plan: not to eat anything with MSG or preservatives, drink up on the coconut water and plain water
result: white urine, a passed urinalysis exam, and some dark circles underneath my eyes, 2kg in one week, 2cm off the waist
sustainability: just good for medical check-ups...hehe

4. The Vegan Diet
date tested: May 2005
reason: detox, cleansing, loose weight
plan: no meat, dairy or seafood for 1 month , big heavy breakfast, fiber packed lunch, no dinner
result: frequent bathroom trips, lesser pimple breakouts, pinkish glow on the cheeks, 4cm off the waist, 5kg in one month
sustainability: high budget (imagine oil has to be olive oil and not plain vegetable oil) , everything has to be organic, can lead
to late night sneaking on the fridge for something to eat

5. The Pink Pill Diet / Hokkaido Diet
date tested: December 2010 to present
reason: loose out the weight I gained after going to Dubai
plan: 2 tablets before breakfast daily
result: less puffier face in 1 week, lost some fat in the abdomen and leg areas, still under observation
sustainability: depends on the result after finishing one bottle
fears: side-effects?

6. The Badminton Work-out
date tested: August 2010
reason: loose weight
plan: 2-3h badminton every night
result: 2kg in 3 days with controlled diet and lots of water
sustainability: due to muscle strain and my face drying out at the Dubai humidity, I kept at it for only a week
note: felt good afterwards but you wake up to pain on your arms or legs if you do not have a proper work-out.

7. The French Diet
date tested: July 2007
reason: loose weight but still eat what I want
plan: eat smaller portions, smell and savor the food before swallowing it
result: 3kg in 2 weeks
sustainability: good but can be destroyed once you go out with friends or family
note: without exercise, I lost weight and did not feel guilty even though I nibbled on my favorites every now and then

That may not be much of a diet list but I do hope I have altered your perceptions on things. There are quick fixes, like what I am doing right now. But you can also choose those which your lifestyle would complement. In the end, it would come back to why you want to loose weight. Me, it makes me feel good. I am not hoping to be like those Victoria Secret Models or those ramping it up on the runway, I just want to feel healthy and good about myself.

If I achieve my ideal weight and stick to it, I feel light and I feel less sickly.
It's not just about fearing I'd loose my neck. It's now more of me wanting to live longer and take control.

Now, can we eat a slice of cake? (wink)

Of Being Greedy

"Be fearful when others are greedy, Be greedy when others are fearful"
-Warren Buffet

This has been the first time I had invested in the stock market. After attending a 3 hour seminar on how to do it and how to analyze stocks, I realized it would be ok to try the riskier part out. With me being out of work for the next 2-3 weeks, I think it would be time well spent.

After logging on to citiseconline and after procrastinating for 3 days just observing stock trends, my fiancee and I decided to invest in a stock called PCOR, better known as Petron Corporation. It is the largest oil company in the Philippines with what we see as great potential for stock returns and a very high risk of stocks plummeting down to nothingness. But then again, as to what I have written earlier, we have observed for 3 days. Read the news and focused only on PCOR. We knew San Miguel was buying into it and this would increase its value. There were still some fluctuations though. Financial analysts warned of investing in it as its lowest value was at 7 pesos per share. Current trading is at 14.7. Almost double the original price. Which means if it would go down, you'd have nothing left but a negative peso on your portfolio. So we kept our fingers crossed, bought 1400 shares and watched as the ticker screen changed from yellow to green to red then green again. We bought it at 14.7 last Friday, December 18. The market closed for the weekend with a 7% increase on our PCOR stocks. Not bad for a first time investor right?

Come Monday, we had already made a thousand bucks. Come Tuesday that 14.7 was trading at 16. My fiancee and I decided if it would reach 16.26 then its time we collect our earnings and move on. We placed it up for sale at that amount and just about an hour or so of trading, voila, the stock was no longer in our hands and we had 2000 pesos to show for profit. We kept looking at the ticker screen though. The stocks still were going up. Then we thought to ourselves what if we did not sell it yet? Have we been too afraid too soon? Was it a wrong move?

Every now and then greed creeps in just when we think it does not exist within us. Like me and my fiancee, we were not content with the 2000 bucks we made, instead we were busy pondering if we could have made more money if we held on to our stocks more. I was reading the book "The Intelligent Investor" awhile ago. The great Benjamin Graham, the author of the book, said you need to always have a margin of safety when trading in stocks. When you say margin of safety, you should now when to stop and when to buy or sell. He buys from the pessimists for example and sells to the optimists. Thus making profit. He doesn't care if the stocks go up more, unlike us, he sets a target price, gets his earnings and walks away.

My sister went to the casino once with my cousin. They won on their first try at the tables. My sister wanted to leave but my cousin wanted to stay, and so they played on. Everytime they won, they played more, and then it was too late. They were loosing and had nothing left on their pockets. They had to call a friend to come pick them up for them to go home.

The lesson? Greed can be good sometimes, especially for the professionals who are trading in stocks. If you know how to predict its movements, then you know if your stock or go up or down. But if you, like us, are just taking your chances on a little bit of research, it would be wise to know when to stop.

It would be wise to know how to handle the greed for money.

taking the plunge

Every now and then we take some risks and try on something new. Every once in a while, though it looked easy at first, we realize we have a long way to go. So we gather up our bags, wipe away the tears, and try to lift our heads up high despite what other people would say.

I always had high aspirations of myself. Always, I dreamt of becoming much more than I could be and someday perhaps earn passive income and spend more time with my family. It has always been the search for a much better life that has motivated not only me but most filipinos to search for better opportunities. I was never one to be easily swayed by anything negative too, but there really comes a time when sometimes you stop, pause and think on what you're doing now.

I went back to the philippines to try something new. I saw an opportunity I thought would be unique and would be innovative. I came back and realized everybody was already doing it. I've met the successful ones and along the way, I've met those who have been burned bad they could hardly stand up on their feet. I became stuck then. I did not know if I should or should not do what I planned. Fear crept in and like its twin, doubt began to enter my thoughts.

We all take chances. I took mine. In taking the plunge, I came back up grasping for air but still hanging on to my life vest. I realized, I took a chance without first learning how to swim. Like someone who was too excited to try the waters, I plunged headfirst and am just thankful I did not drown.

I know I still have alot to learn. Perhaps, this was a wake up call for me to always PLAN PLAN PLAN. Nothing beats planning. Sometimes even the lines of heaven get too busy to hear your calls when everything else is going down.

I'm still keeping my head up though. I know this will pass. Perhaps now, I am stuck in a rut, like a swimmer who took the plunge and is now hanging on to that lifevest to live, its hard to let go. But probably I just need more time to train, or perhaps, something much better would come. By that time, I'd take the plunge again.
Probably I'd come back gasping for air or probably this time around, I'd learn to swim my way through.