Monday, 28 October

Good grief. I’ve been in Siargao for a month and I’m almost done with Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred and I still haven’t lost any weight! I really have to put some serious effort into dieting. I’ve instructed the maid to only make green juices for me. Today, I’m having liquid lettuce and mango. Sigh… Spam and fried rice it’s not.

Of course I have to eat when dining out and I did have a girlie lunch scheduled at Isla Cabana today. (I made sure to do my last session of Level 2 before heading out.) Typically, I over-ordered and ate more than I should. I also tried their lychee mojito, which wasn’t really a mojito but was strong, the way I like my drinks.

When I got back, I walked the dog to the 4 km. marker (2 km.+) and swam 30 laps. Skipped dinner.

Tuesday, 29 October

It’s been raining the whole day. Plus it’s the second day of my period and I feel terrible, which is a good excuse to delay starting Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred. I didn’t even swim.

Today, I had liquid kangkong (water spinach) and banana. Gross.

In the evening, I hung out and watched movies with friends. We had steak and mashed potatoes, and chocolates.

Wednesday, 30 October

• Walked the dog. I tried to walk the dog again to the 4 km. marker but he refused to budge along the road. We didn’t even make it to Dedon next door. So I walked him along the beach towards Union and came back by the road.
• 30 Day Shred, Level 3. I had every reason to dread this workout. It’s so tough that I couldn’t do all of it. I kept stopping to prevent myself from dying. I tried doing the mountain climbers and then, halfway through, changed pace and followed the easier option. And if you think those Supermans look easy, let me know what you think again after doing all those reps. For most of the ab work, I followed the easier option.
• Swimming: 30 laps

Drank green juice the whole day.

Thursday, 31 October

• Shred, Level 3. Started using the three-kilo dumbbell for the dumbbell cleans. My legs are bruised from the jumping jacks with dumbbells.
• Swimming: 30 laps

I had to eat something before going to the Halloween party at Nine Bar so I had a nice little Thai dinner at home of tom yum goong and chicken with cashew nuts.

I drank a few beers at the party but managed to keep my Evil Personas at bay. Stayed out till about 4 AM.

Friday, 1 November

No Shred today because Nicolas arrived and napped the whole afternoon.

He did finally bring the baklava over from Cebu. I don’t know why but it was yummier the first time I tried it. Now, it’s just too sweet. I’ll still eat it though.

When Nicolas is here on weekends, I thought I’d stick to drinking green juice the whole day and only join him for dinners.

And I would have succeeded at that today had Nicolas not asked if I wanted to go out after dinner. It’s a rare occasion that Nicolas wants to go out so of course I said yes. We went to Kalinaw and joined the other Frenchies, including Vincent Lampert of Dedon who is visiting from Cebu. None of them had eaten dinner yet so they ordered pizzas. When the pizzas were served, Nicolas and I couldn’t resist. I had three slices, plus a dessert. We went to Nine Bar briefly afterwards where I had a Red Horse.

Saturday, 2 November

• Shred, Level 3. Was finally able to do all of the mountain climbers. I still cannot do the jump squats because I can barely squat after doing all the previous legwork. I hate this workout.
• Swimming: 32 laps. After speaking to Vincent last night (- he swims 1 km. to 1.5 km. in Cebu at least five times a week), I’ve decided to increase my laps by two so that I at least cover one kilometer when I swim.

On Fridays, our Canadian friends who have an organic farm in Burgos, in the northern part of Siargao, sell their produce at the airport. Yesterday, they butchered a lamb and I was able to reserve a few parts for Nicolas and myself. Last night, we had lamb chops for dinner. So, this morning, I attempted to recreate the plov that I had in Uzbekistan many years ago with the leftover lamb. I steamed broccoli and carrots in the leftover drippings and sauteed the rice and lamb in it too. It was awesome. I had it for breakfast and dinner.

And, with that, the diet is out the window. For the weekend, at least.

I did only have green juice for lunch…

It was a friend’s last night on the island so I went out on my own after dinner to meet up with him and a bunch of other people. We karaoked on the boulevard. Rather, they karaoked and I heckled. Then a few of us went to Tattoo, the jungle disco, afterwards and pranced around for a bit.

Sunday, 3 November

While I only had five beers last night and was home before midnight, I feel horrible today. I’m exhausted. I haven’t slept much since Thursday and have the ugliest dark circles under my eyes. And I think I got up at around 4 AM and threw up a lot of acid in my stomach. I ate a big bag of Chippy (corn chips) at the karaoke place last night and I don’t think it agreed with me. I also found a lot of Reese’s wrappers in the room this morning. I wonder if it was me or Nicolas who ate the chocolate. I suspect it was me.

But even if my stomach isn’t too happy today and I don’t have much of an appetite, I am still eating. For breakfast, I had two fried eggs, sardines and fried rice and, for lunch, I ordered a croque monsieur from Kalinaw, which the Frenchies brought over at 2:30 for their golf game with Nicolas. As I write this, I am contemplating asking the maid for some crepes. And, in a few hours, Nicolas and I will be going to Kalinaw again for dinner.

I don’t think I’ll be working out today…

Last night, I got the number of the habal driver who brought me home. I laughed a bit when he said his name was Rayary. The locals have some pretty weird names here but that’s the first time I encountered a Rayary. This morning, I sent him a message to confirm his number. It turns out his name is Bernard. Geezoos.

My regular habal driver, Tata, with me, Candice Lumayno and Gina Gamboa. Taken last week in front of Kawayan Resort.