RECENTLY, I wrote about people’s obsession with losing weight. That entry garnered a lot of feedback on my social-media accounts but the many messages I got can be summed up in two points: One is that I am discouraging people from their fitness goals, and second is that I’m bitter since I will never have a hot body as some of the celebrities I mentioned.
Both aren’t true, and I vehemently deny both accusations. That piece was never meant to discourage people from living healthy and exercising. I simply said that people can never look exactly like this celebrity or that through exercise, and that we should embrace our uniqueness—no matter what body mass index you have. As for me being bitter for not having a hot body, no, I’m not. Tanggap na tanggap ko na sa sarili ko that I will never be a Victoria’s Secret model. That said, an overweight gay like me can still dream, right?!?!
We should really accept what we are, extra pounds and all. If you weigh more than you should, well, you can attempt to hide it, but in my experience this rarely works. For example, I have a big midsection. I mean, I look like a normal person chest up but below, it seems I’m 13 months pregnant.
I read in some beauty magazine that if I have a big gut, I should stand a certain way that one arm dangles in front of my body, blocking the view. So for a time I made it a point to always have one arm dangling down, even when I am carrying a lot of files. I looked like I had some kind of nerve disorder. People would ask me, “What’s wrong with your arm, Jet?” Finally, it became blatantly obvious that I was just covering my gut. Frankly, my arm was too small to cover it anyway unless I put on a baseball mitt or one of those foam hands that I see on University Athletic Association of the Philippines games. Another popular trick I read to mitigate the fact that you are overweight is to wear black or vertical stripes. These tricks create the optical illusion that you are thin—but the illusion that people will think you’re as waifish as the Olsen twins is only in your mind. My point is, you can’t really hide your weight problem, which means sooner or later, you have to work out to burn them fats and watch what you eat to help you reach the weight you desire.
Which is what I have been trying to do. One person who inadvertently taught me this is Drew Arellano. Long before people became obsessed with getting ripped, Drew was already conscious about his body. He was already working out and was always in some fitness regimen. But he was doing all these for himself, to make him feel good and feel happy. Not because he wanted to have the body of Dwayne Johnson or Jean Claude van Damme. He was always espousing to his friends and I that healthy living is the way to go.
Little by little, the people around him started to follow his lead. Of course, there’s Iya Villania, who is modest but has such a smokin’ body thanks to regular exercise. Then there’s Drew’s Click buddy JC de Vera (who actually was already into sports when they met but became more serious with some help from Drew), then came Bianca Gonzalez and then Mariel Rodriguez. I’m not saying that it was solely because of Drew that they started to become more fit but Drew was definitely a big influence on them.
And on me. I may be a few years late but I try to work-out (at least three times a week with cardio activities) and lessen my calorie intake (the best I can). And I still remember Drew’s charming voice telling me not to force anything and just find a fitness regimen that would fit me.
It’s been a number of years now since I started to exercise regularly. The tummy is still there but smaller now. I don’t care if I don’t get a six pack. I am exercising because of myself and not because I want to look like Giselle Bundchen.
Besides, in my mind, I’m even hotter than her!