Sunday, 15 December

Another sleepless night. Had to force myself to get up in the morning. It was too hot to jog so I took the bike out. Two kilometers in, I got a flat tire. I went to the nearest house and asked if I could park my bike in their yard until someone could come and get it. I tried jogging back but, even with The Prodigy on full blast, it wasn’t happening. I walked.

• Biking, 2 km.
• Walking, 2+ km.

Nicolas was in the room the whole afternoon so I couldn’t do the Jillian Michaels workout. I really didn’t want to anyway.

• Swimming, 32 laps, possibly more because I couldn’t concentrate and kept losing track of my count and starting over.

Had a bit of chutney with my fish cakes but, apart from that, was still on track with Paleo. It’s a struggle though, knowing that Joanna Ongpin’s espresso chip cookies are sitting in the fridge. Nicolas had two. Gaah!

Joanna Ongpin-Duarte’s espresso chip cookies, available at the Rafik Shawarma/Pizza di Gracia booth at the Saturday Salcedo Market and the Balesin Club gift shop.

Monday, 16 December

Still no sleep. It’s really difficult to be motivated when all you want to do is sleep. The thought of moving right now isn’t the most appealing.

I think I’m too scared to do Jillian Michaels’ “6 Week Six-Pack”. I watched the rest of the video and she goes through the first part without any rest and then does everythingagain in DOUBLE TIME! If I was already huffing and puffing at the warm-up, then I’m sure to be dead at the end of this workout. Maybe I should do parts of the Shred workout again so that I can get back to that level of fitness first…

I’ve been told that my bike needs a new tire. I think I need a new bike.

Can you tell that I’m procrastinating?

Noo nee noo nee noo nee noo…

I ended up wrapping Christmas gifts for the staff.

I only had breakfast today. Mr. Delicious applewood smoked bacon and fried eggs. Yummy.

• Swimming, 32 laps

Tuesday, 17 December (Cheat Day)

Big lunch and some bubbly and cheroot cigars with friends, then a pizza dinner. Oh, and I finally had some of those cookies.

• Swimming, 32 laps

Wednesday, 18 December

Groggy. Was kept awake the whole night by a farting dog. I don’t know what he ate but it was nasty.

Asked for a green juice then tried to go back to sleep, but the leftover pizza from Kalinaw was calling me. I reheated the last four slices and had them for lunch. So much for Paleo. ARGH.

I’ve lost my will to exercise. It’s too hot outside and Jillian Michaels scares me.

• Swimming, 32 laps

Had another green juice for dinner.

Thursday, 19 December

Rainy morning. Chicken-vegetable soup. One cookie.

• Swimming, 32 laps

Dinner: More chicken-vegetable soup plus the leftover mustard-tarragon chicken and green salad from last Tuesday. Plus one more cookie.

Friday , 20 December

I woke up starving and with a craving for Spam and fried eggs so that’s what I had. I had some green juice with it so my breakfast wasn’t entirely unhealthy.

For lunch, I had meatballs soup. With a bit of rice. And then I had some dark chocolate. And a cookie. And another cookie. Doh!

Tonight, for the first time in my 14 years in Siargao, I am having dinner at Lalay’s, the local barbecue joint at the boulevard. I only had their food once before, some years back when Nine Bar had a party there for their staff, but that was when they relocated to the side of the road.

• Swimming, 32 laps. I’ve begun timing myself and I average about 39 minutes in the pool.

Saturday, 21 December

I can’t decide if I am hungover or just lacking sleep or both. I got home from the jungle disco at about 3:30 AM and was awake and playing with the dog four hours later.

I had a mango when I finally got up and what was left of the meatball soup. No cookies yet. (There are only two left.)

Lalay’s was nice. Aussie guy, Brent, was there and we had a good laugh. I had the pork barbecue and the chicken barbecue and, although I didn’t have rice, I did order a plate of fries. My total food bill came out to P200. Not bad.

I did drink a lot though. We started with gin tonics at Lalay’s (except that I wasn’t drinking the tonic), then we had piñacoladas at Pontus and Frida’s, then shitloads of very strong rum cokes at Tattoo. There were a lot of cigarettes too. In my recollection, I was calm but, by other accounts, not so. It’s a good thing Andrew was there and made sure I got home okay.

The staff is having their Christmas party tonight. I wonder if I am expected to attend. I don’t think I can remain upright for very long.

There will be no exercise today.

7:30 PM – So I ate a massive dinner with the staff and the workers. It’s a good thing they get shy around me so I left the table as soon as I finished so that they could eat comfortably and speak more freely among themselves.

I’m tempted to have a cookie. Part of me is saying, “No exercise, no cookie.” And the other part is saying, “You’re going to have to eat it all before you leave on Monday anyway so you might as well have it now.”

I’ll have a cookie.

Oh, joy! There were still three in the box! Well, two now…

Sunday, 22 December

Watched a TV series till 4 AM and was awake 3.5 hours later.

Lunch at Maya Villas. Alon has a short menu out now, but I didn’t know this and ordered the hummus, baba ganoush and shawarmas in advance. Must visit again and try out his burgers.

We started with white wine, then Pale Pilsens – and then this is where my memory gets foggy, but I have pictures on my camera that I do not recall taking. We ended up at the Christmas party at Palaka Dive Center where I jumped around and danced with the girls while they karaoked. I vaguely remember eating lechon. And, judging from my throat this morning, I’m guessing cigarettes were involved.

Watched “South Park” reruns with Liam while I waited for the habal driver to pick me up.

I had a cookie when I got home.

Monday, 23 December

Didn’t get to sleep till around 3 AM again and then, because I’m leaving for Cebu in the afternoon, I kept waking up every hour. Finally gave up trying to sleep at 8 AM to play with the dog. He knows that I am leaving. He ignored me the whole week but, this morning, he is unusually needy and overly affectionate. We’ll both be very sad when I leave.

I think I’ll have more of the bacon before I start getting ready to leave. And I might as well finish the last cookie.

I think I’m back on track with my weight, but tomorrow is Christmas Eve and Nicolas will be with me for nine days in Manila and I’m already planning where we are going to eat…