Lui Vidal: Running Changed Me
I have been overweight most of my life. Being fit was never in my vocabulary since I was a kid. I spend most of my time playing games and of course, eating (my favorite past time).
When I entered college, things got worse. I developed a habit of stress eating (unli-rice pa more) because of the academic pressure and high expectations (getting high grades in every subject and to finish college on time). I really didn’t care about my health or how my body looks back then, and suddenly our of nowhere, my weight ballooned to almost 220 lbs.
Turning Point of My Life
After finishing college, I started to look for a job in the IT industry. And after several weeks of applying and attending interviews, I was able to land a job in a well-known IT company. One of the requirements during pre-employment is to have a medical exam, and during the medical exam, one of the nurses in the hospital checked my blood pressure. The nurse told me that my blood pressure is slightly higher than usual; 130/90.
I was shocked because I was only 19 years that time. I told my parents about the results and my father advised me to start exercising, but during that time, I was not motivated. I’d rather have a 9-10-hour sleep than to sacrifice my time and myself waking up early in the morning to exercise.
My Motivation
My parents didn’t give up on me especially my father. One day, he told me to try jogging with him on a Sunday morning, I agreed and accompanied him. Our training ground during that time was the small running track inside the Q.C. memorial circle. I tried jogging with him but I was only able to complete 2 loops (appox. 2KM). I was very exhausted, but I was challenged to see how other runners are able to do a lot of loops.
Jogging schedule turned from once a week to twice and then thrice a week. My dad also made sure that on every training day, I was able to increase my mileage. I also slowly slowly changed my food intake especially on rice, now I only eat 1 cup of rice every meal.
We also started joining fun runs in the last quarter of 2013. We started joining 5K distance categories and eventually increased to 10K by the end of 2013. Honestly, I was already beginning to love running not because of losing weight but because of the benefits it gave me. I was always challenged and motivated to push myself to my limit in every training and races. Losing weight was just a bonus! Currently, I weigh 172 lbs.
Through running, I was also able to meet new friends too, especially when I have been invited by a college friend to join Ayala Triads. Free training were provided every Tuesday in Ayala Triangle.
Since then, 4 years has passed and I still try my best to be fit and life an active lifestyle. The journey was tough but I chose not to give up. If you want to get fit, you got to do what you got to do because nothing comes easily. –END
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