I have had an uneasy truce with the bulge in the last decade or so.
I know that it only takes one mishap to be back to my old obese self despite having overhauled my lifestyle. I may not be sedentary anymore, having traded driving with walking everywhere, but the love for food has never gone away.
It wasn’t so difficult to keep off the weight back then because I could rely on the track oval at the Cebu City Sports Center. That all changed when the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the government imposed a lockdown.
Still, I managed to haul my ass out of the house and roam the city on foot as a form of exercise. With my Apor pass in hand, of course. And so I was able to stave off any weight gain.
Then the unthinkable happened. I tested positive for Covid, not once but twice. The first time I hardly had any symptoms save for the loss of smell and taste. The second time was more severe because I was bedridden for at least two days.
After I regained my health, I took up walking again only to experience shortness of breath. For someone who jogged a minimum of 5K every day since 2012 that came out quite as a shock. So I panicked, and thought of the worst-case scenario. I’d be relying on oxygen to survive for the rest of my life.
Somehow I got my wits together and went to see my doctor, who told me there was nothing wrong with me physically. And I understood what was unspoken.
While I convalesced after my second bout with Covid, I let down my guard and started to eat. I chose the foods that I had stayed away from to achieve my leaner form. Fastfood, you name it. Humba, well hello gorgeous. Soda, almost on a daily basis. Better off fat than dead, I tried to convince myself.
Fortunately muscle memory slapped me out of my self-pity. I missed being up and about. I missed that feeling after a heavy workout. And just like that I knew I would be able to shed off the extra pounds just like I knew I would win the war against the bulge, having fought two similar wars and emerging victorious.
So I walked again. I still suffered a shortness of breath during uphill climbs but I ignored it. I had a goal and I was going to achieve it. In a month’s time, I had lost around 15 pounds. My breathing problem also disappeared. Then I realized it was the extra weight that I was carrying around that caused it.
Before you know it, I was jogging again. And I was able to keep up with my running group at the track oval. I was so happy my pre-pandemic routine had returned. I thought that was the end of it.
But boy was I wrong. The City Government shut down the track oval to the public again, saying it was to renovate the facility in time for the Palaro in 2024. Our group decided to run at the Cebu Business Park, thinking it would only be for a short time. I joined them for the first five months, but had to stop when I felt something in my knees.
When the track oval was reopened only to be closed again, the disruptions had already taken their toll on my not-so-young body.
Last February, while training for the SM2SM Run, I almost collapsed in pain, which only got worse in the succeeding days. I could barely take a step without letting out a groan. Finally, I decided to see a specialist and was diagnosed with lumbar spasm. I underwent physical therapy for almost a month. The pain is now gone, and the weight is back. But quite frankly, the grilled pork belly in the carenderia near the office is beginning to look inviting.