I knew it would come to this. And I wasn't prepared for it. I am getting more and more impatient on why -- and I must admit now -- I am not losing significant amount of weight despite my efforts to stay fit. It leaves me wondering what am I doing wrong.

I won't deny, however, that it is partly my fault too. I don't run that much anymore.

Well, I still do. But not almost everyday like when I first started. I'm afraid that I'm slowly falling into the trap of my New Year's Resolution Syndrome, which I never would want to happen. Maybe that's why I'm blogging it, hoping somewhere around the world I'll get a holler and boost my confidence and will to do this.

Hays.

Moving on. I finally found the result of the ProFriends Run.

You can view the rest of the result here.

I need to beat my 10K record in my next run on March 3, which will be sponsored by the American Chamber Foundation Philippines. They are giving away medals for the first 100 finishers for every distance category. Judging by how I fared in the ProFriends run, I have a lot of preparation and training to do to land in the Scholarun 2013's first 100.

And for those who are interested, my weight is down to 138.25 lbs from 142.2 some three weeks ago. Task  completed.

My first 10K run wasn't that bad. My official time is 1 hour, 26 minutes. WOOT!

Aside from the fact that this is my first time to do a 10K run, it's also my first time to join a running event organized by Takbo.ph. Our route is similar to our Cafe France run. But since I was doing a 10K run, we had to do the 5K route twice.

The first loop went well. But my second was disastrous. Members of the events organizers were already hiding from the sunlight. So many left their posts, leaving the Pasay City traffic enforcers to do the job alone. Well, if you check how bad the traffic flow is in Buendia and in Libertad, you would know they're not the best there is.

As a result, I was nearly hit twice -- by a taxi and a private SUV -- during my second loop. Pasay traffic enforcers allowed some of the cars to pass and cross the event's route. And since they were caught in "heavy traffic," the drivers were not very cooperative in waiting patiently until no participants were in sight.

It was good thing that I'm not the kind of runner who wears headphones and plays loud music. So my attention was fully concentrated on the run and on my safety. Otherwise it would have been my fatal end.

I believe this is a big lapse in the security. Just last year, triathlon athlete Sandra Araullo Gonzales and husband Peter was hit by a car in a running event in Cebu. Both of them suffered multiple injuries and were brought to a hospital. This should serve as a lesson to all organizers, but apparently not for this event.

Overall, the run was still a success. I finished it without losing or breaking my limb.

And, most of all, I am happy because my friend Shiela won first place in the female 10K category. What's even more amusing is that she won without even trying at all. For her, it was her "normal" pace. Well, not for me. Haha. Her official time is 1 hour 5 minutes. Very good!!!

For now, task completed.

Welcome to my birthplace, the beautiful city of Legazpi.

It's nearly 10 years since I last visited my family here -- and, of course, the ever majestic Mayon Volcano. I almost forgot how it stood proudly in the center of Albay. But, as Councilor Celoy Chan points out, there are many other activities we can do here. 

Inside the Japanese-built tunnel in Lignon Hill. Super cold and scary inside, especially when with your granny who scared us to death when she narrative harrowing tales during the World War II. Yikes.

My family. I heart.

A well-deserved trip for Tikgirl. Task completed.

After our morning jog last Saturday, Mike kept on giving me "tips" on how to make me lose weight faster. Well, I am normally appreciative of these "tips." But there is such a thing as boiling point, you see.

Anyways, just like what I kept on telling my mom, who happens to ask me everyday, I told Mike I wasn't trying to lose weight. I just wanted to be fit -- and losing weight is not the end goal but just a result of what I wanted to do.

But who would believe that? Sometimes, I don't believe it myself.

Why?

The next thing I asked Mike is if he thinks I'm losing weight. And he said no -- at least he doesn't see any improvement. I don't see it to.

I'm sad and confused on what my priorities should be. Now that more and more people are aware that I'm "into" (if you could say that) healthy lifestyle, they expect me to lose weight. And fast. They all want to see improvements in an instant.

Are they expecting me to be 'Belofied' after just almost a month of running? I hope not. But the pressure is mounting and I don't know when it's going to burst. If it does, I'm not sure if I can handle it.

Anyway, here's some good news to all the people asking if I lost weight already.

Today I went to Cy's new place in Makati. I used their digital bathroom scale and I found out that I'm now only 140.2 lbs. If the weighing scale I used the last time is accurate, then that means that I have already lost nearly 5 lbs. NOT BAD for my first month.

Wish me luck for the coming months. Task completed.

It was such a lazy Sunday and I wasn't in the mood to cook or prepare food. But I was hungry and I knew I needed to grab something to eat before it's too late. (I have gastritis, you see.)

So the lazy poke in me decided to eat my beef-flavored Nissin cup noodles, which I have been storing in my cupboard for more than two months now. It was given by a friend but I didn't eat it until now. I was hoping I could keep my promise of keeping away from "instant" food -- from canned goods to cup noodles -- which I proudly did for nearly half a year.

I had to learn the hard way that
eating instant noodles is evil.

Well, you probably know by now that I broke that promise, gave into temptation and, now, I am very sorry that I ever did.

I am not feeling well.

I felt dizzy and nauseous minutes after emptying my cup noodles. I am very sure of course that my Nissin was not yet expired when I ate it. It was only when I ate chocolate that I felt better -- don't know if that could be explained scientifically or merely a psychological effect as I call it.

I am feeling better now -- but not yet that well. Enough though to Google what have caused this headache. I found an old CNN report about a study of the Australian Consumers' Association about instant noodles, which states that cup noodles have "as much fat in a single serving of two-minute noodles as there is in a cup of French-fried potato chips or a quarter of a medium-sized pizza."

The same report states that these cup noodles contain "nearly 75 percent of the recommended upper limit of salt for adults and 100 percent of that for young children" while its sodium levels are somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 mg per serving.

No wonder I was dizzy.

What is equally appalling is that they didn't bother putting all these evilness in the cup noodles' packaging. I may have probably known that instant noodles is bad for my health for years but there are things people forget and they needed to be reminded the hard way.

Such research reported by CNN that warns people of the health hazards brought about by instant food is not the first of its kind. Google tells you there are more. But I wonder how many people are informed about it.

"In the case of instant noodles, we're not just talking about fat, we're also talking about bad fat," pediatrician Tim Trodd told CNN.com. "These noodles use cheap vegetable oil that breaks down as trans fatty acids."

"What you're looking at is essentially a meal with no protein, a lot of fat, carbohydrates, chemicals and salt," Trodd added.

How many mothers know about this? Surely this is something that is not frequently reported or campaigned by the dominant media since most of their advertisers are into this business.

Sad.

Task completed.