I left Siargao last November 18 and returned yesterday. I only resumed working out again today. Well, there was that one day in Bagan, in between sunning myself by the hotel pool, that I swam 20 laps. And then Nicolas and I biked to and from lunch, which wasn’t really very far, so I’m not sure if that counts.

In less than a month, I managed to do so much damage to myself – purely from overeating – that I felt like shit and looked it. I was hardly even drinking or smoking.

I missed working out so much that I seriously had fantasies of doing push-ups, walking lunges and box jumps. But I was either too busy or too tired – or both – to do anything. On one flight, I tried to do air squats by the lavatories but it was a small plane and I got curious looks. In Bangkok, I was looking forward to using the gym at our hotel because, from the photos I had seen, I knew that it had the Technogym personal Kinesis machine and I so wanted to do Kinesis again. But even with 24-hour access to the gym, the spirit was eager but the flesh needed to sleep.

Today, I finally found the will power to get off my ass and start again. Even if I got up late and the sun was glaring, I did the following this morning:

• Jogging, 2 km., time: 16:29 minutes
• Biking, 10+ km.

I felt totally elated afterwards.

In the afternoon, I watched a few new Jillian Michaels’ workout videos and tried doing Level 1 of “6 Week Six-Pack” and nearly gave up at the warm-up. I got as far as the burpees and a few of those squat twists before I gave up. Will try again tomorrow.

I went to the pool instead.

• Swimming, 32 laps (1 km. + 24 m.)

I’m also making an earnest effort at returning to Paleo and intermittent fasting. I only started yesterday but I’m already feeling better. Let’s see if I can maintain the regimen in the ten days that I am here.

I can’t tell you how much I am dreading Christmas in Manila and the usual excesses that come with it.