That One Friend

Have you ever had an experience where everyone is way excited and the photographer would say "Okay, now, everyone, I want you to do a candid pose for me and I don't want anyone looking at the camera. Appear as if you don't know I'm taking a picture of you. Ok, one, two, three, smiiiiiiiiile!" Everything seemed to be perfect until you see the outcome of the photo:

There's always that one friend who always doesn't get the memo. 

That one friend would be smiling while everybody else is trying so hard to project a crestfallen face.

Or that one friend who wears a blouse of a different color when you planned the day before that you will be wearing white.

My friend, Bambi, seems to be this "one friend". She would often get "what?! I just said candid!" and "You didn't follow the plan again..." and most of the time "Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!" Hahaha.

But she makes the taking of photos more fun and exciting. This "one friend" adds spice to the picture because she's different.

Imagine if all of you decided to follow the memo. Do you think there's something you can laugh about? :)

That Time of the Month

Once a month, a girl turns into a monster.

It's not easy being a girl. If boys thinks we're complicated, they have no idea what we think about ourselves. Even us girls admit that we are sometimes hard to spell out.

...especially when "the visitor" comes.

This "visitor" loves to inflict so many emotions in a girl's heart. One moment you are happy, one moment you feel that your heart is being held on ice-cold hands. One moment you feel like dieting then eventually you find yourself looking for that pack of potato chips.

Today, the visitor decided to make me feel sad without apparent reason. Google told me that this is normal and that my hormones are just undergoing some stabilizing that usually confuses the brain. Great. Also, this morning, instead of giving 101% attention to my English teacher, I caught myself whispering to my friend "I want some leche flan. And some spaghetti. And some pizza and carbonara with mango shake..."

But honestly, I think these effects are better compared to other reactions one might give when the visitor is present. For example:

Girl 1: He texted me! He said good night to me! *giddiness level 100*
Girl 2 : (who has a crush on the guy who texted her friend) Ohh, really?! That is so sweeeet!!!! (Secret translation: Nooo way. He texted me, too. This is so heartbreaking)

Some situations that she can just easily shrug off during the normal days become more important to her during that particular time of the month.

Every time I tell my friends "I am sooo sad. I don't even know the reason why." They will then simply reply to me "Yeah, your hormones are confused" or "Tsk, PMS". :)

Girls usually don't go through an easy phase during their period. They become more emotional, more irritable and their extreme love for food goes up. Now, what can make girls more confusing? :)

Confidence Booster #2: Exercise

Yes, people. Exercise does not only burn calories, it ignites self confidence, too. :)

When I was a freshmen in college, I lost a lot of weight because of my braces. I didn't do any dieting or exercise. It was a surprise weight loss even for me. I was happy. I fitted in my old clothes without having to worry about a belly bulge. I ate a lot and didn't gain much of a weight

until the inevitable happened

I guess our body has a natural (and very treacherous) way of dealing with eating habits. During my sophomore year, I started to gain a lot of weight. It started when we went to Cebu and ate loads of food. When I noticed I don't fit in my old uniform anymore, I shrugged it off thinking "Oh, maybe the body will decide to burn the calories itself. I'm not going to worry." But the body didn't and my sophomore year stress made me eat more junk foods. I didn't really mind people calling me "chubby" because I know it was the truth. The word never really hurt my confidence. What made me feel bad about myself is that I know I'm eating a lot of junk and I'm not stupid not to know that these junk would definitely add calories to my body. I felt "heavy" inside. I would spend a lot of time in the mirror looking at my very obvious belly bulge and then tell myself "I have to lose this. I have to. I will start exercise tomorrow." But like any other girl who promised herself an exercise, it was always postponed.

until the motivation came

There came a point when I said to myself, "Well, I need to be serious with losing weight!" I set a goal for myself. During that time, we were preparing for a Young Adult Dance. My Tita had this really beautiful dress with a slim waist and a medium armhole. I wanted to wear this to the dance, I told myself. When I tried it, ahhhh, the belly bulge grabbed the spotlight and my arms were screaming "Dang, I can't breathe!" So, I decided to finally get into serious business with trimming down.

All I did was to perform some dance exercises. For 15 minutes a day, I did some high intensity dance work-outs. I loved them. I then discovered one thing from it. When I do exercises, when I sweat, when I push myself, I feel a lot lighter (and not just physically). I felt like I was the master of myself and it comforted me that I was able to shed off some bad calories. Plus, working out gives me a natural glow. I can't even explain why. But, to cut the story short, I got my confidence again. I know I'm on my way to being lean and healthy. As a result, I got to fit into the dress. Ha!

Currently, I am active in doing various exercise depending on the time available. If I feel like it, I do Zumba, or follow some exercise videos in Youtube, but my favorite of all is Les Mill's Body Combat. It's like kickboxing. :)

There was a time when I shared the exercise to one of my classmates, Bryan. When one of our friends saw that he plans to exercise, she said "Maniwang ka man na Bry?" (trans: Will you lose weight from that?) and to that he answered "Weng, exercise is not just to lose weight. It's about feeling good about yourself!" and I agree with him!

The saying that goes "You're beautiful no matter what" is true. Nothing is wrong with being chubby or being overweight. But don't let that saying justify you for not improving yourself. Exercise and feel good. So what if you don't immediately lose weight from it? What's important is you'll feel good about yourself and that shows you're committed to become a better you. :)