What is a typical day like for you? I start my day early, with quiet time alone with the Lord. I usually wake up at 4 or 5 am, and by 6 am, the kids and I get ready for work and school. After my 8-5 job, I usually go out for a short ride from 5 to 7 pm. I either ride from Bacong to Valencia or Calabnugan to Ata-Ata in Sibulan. I do this as regularly as I can from Monday to Friday, but I don’t usually ride on Tuesdays because I attend a Bible Study at 7 pm.
Fridays are my rest days to prepare for my long ride on Saturdays, when I take long routes with biking buddies Elijah Dagaerag, Karl James Villarmea, or Cobbie Palm.
On Sundays, I take long rides with the Tinalay Group, except for the first Sunday of the month which is when my family and I attend Communion Sunday worship.
If there are times when I do not get to go out for any of my rides, I just do some workouts at home — I use the Quick Fit seven-minute workout app on my mobile device. Sometimes, I also jog a few rounds at the Perdices Oval or around the City.
How long have you been into this? What has been an obvious result? I started biking in 2012. This is my third year. Biking has really been very instrumental in my weight loss achievement. I also quit smoking and drinking, as well as over-eating (taking more food than I need).
How much have you lost so far? By God’s grace and with Christ’s strength, I have lost about 15 kilos. I used to weigh 80 kilos but recently, my weight plays around 65-70 kilos which is the ideal weight range for my height.
To what do you attribute to your physical changes? I attribute all that I have achieved and all that I am now to God alone. It is so true what he says in his Word that nothing is impossible with him.
Now that I have lost weight, my wife Jan Ellen told me that she actually thought I would never get this slim. I am even slimmer now than when I was still a college student.
Along the way, God led me to people who have been his instruments to bring me to all this, and he used unexpected situations, too.
In 2011, my wife was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer. The only treatment for this kind of cancer is surgery, and even then, healing is not guaranteed. I actually bargained with the Lord then that if he would miraculously heal Ellen, of it, I will quit smoking. Yes, I was a habitual smoker then.
And God did heal Ellen, not that he obliged to my plea but because, I believe now, that that was part of his will for us. I stayed true to my promise with the Lord, and quit smoking.
That was the only abrupt change in my physical fitness, and I know it is by God’s grace alone that I did not experience withdrawal symptoms or struggles related to my quitting the vice. Glory to God!
What compelled you to change your lifestyle? I was already overweight when I got married, and grew even bigger afterwards.
The following year that Ellen got healed of salivary gland cancer, God dealt with my drinking vice. He used biking as his instrument.
At first, I wanted to bike to lose a few kilos, but when I started biking and I got to see God’s amazing creations, and spent quiet times up in the mountain ranges of Negros, I increasingly felt God’s presence during my rides until I finally looked forward to biking not mostly because I wanted to get fit but because these rides were opportunities for me to experience and talk to God.
I can honestly say that the weight loss I have achieved is just the bonus from the deepening relationship I share with the Lord. My bike rides were avenues for me to spend time with God.
We just realized one day that I already fit my brother-in-law’s pair of pants, and I didn’t even know it, and he was way slimmer than me!
So what pushed me to change my life? It was more of God changing me from the inside out.
Specifically, what did you have to do to lose weight? What would you eat? What did you have to give up? I bought a bike. I didn’t have enough money for it but my brother-in-law, Jeffrey, gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t know how to pay for it then but by faith, I bought it. And still, by God’s grace, I was able to pay it off in the months that followed. It wasn’t the most fantastic bike but it was a good start. I just slowly upgraded the parts.
I also researched on what kind of bike to have and what specifications will fit my height and weight. I made adjustments as I lost weight.
The first thing I gave up when I started biking was RICE. It was nothing abrupt at all. I slowly withdrew rice from my meals. I started with dinners without rice and after a few months, when I have adjusted to it, I also didn’t have rice for lunch. Now, I rarely have rice, only on certain occasions.
However, a friend told me that I needed a replacement for it as my source of carbohydrates, and he advised me to eat beans, avocado, or camote instead.
I do still eat little amounts of meat, but I mostly have fish, chicken, fruits and vegetables, and egg. A typical day’s diet would be:
Breakfast: Egg, camote
Lunch: Gulay, fish or chicken and a little meat
Dinner: Fruits or gulay, sometimes with fish (on some occasions, I skip dinner altogether).
How has it been since the physical change? How has it helped you in your job? In your family? In your personal life? Now that I have shed some kilos, I do not sweat as quickly or as profusely as before. I also don’t get tired right away especially at work.
I can play more with my wife and kids without panting because I don’t feel lalzy anymore… My body doesn’t feel heavy anymore. And I can also run more rounds in the oval because I am now down to my ideal weight.
What would you advise to youngsters or to young professionals like you? I am now 36 years old. I quit smoking when I was 32, started biking when I was 33.
My advice to youngsters and young professionals who, like me before, also want to lose weight, is to seek God’s help and guidance, and to really believe there is nothing impossible with God.
You can do it, we all can do it — if we just ask God first and seek his will.
Once you have received his blessing, decide on what workout you will follow. Research about it, plan for it, and then stick to it. Discipline yourself. And most of all, PRAY.
On hindsight now, what did it cost you that you made the decision into this lifestyle change? Materially, it cost me just the money to buy the bike and upgrade it.
Everything else, I did with faith and trust in the Lord that he will guide me through it.
It also took a lot of spiritual maturity and discipline for me to view this not just as a mere weight loss achievement but more importantly, as a testimony of God’s transforming power in my life.
Fridays used to be MorLen time — something my wife and I coined for the time we spend together. We used to hangout in the usual goto places around the City even after Bible studies.
But when the Lord changed me, all of that changed, too. We do still date but we bring the kids along now.
Who were the key people who inspired you to do this? I cannot say it often enough how the Lord really is the key to all that I have achieved so far. He is still changing me in many ways, and I thank him for the opportunity to know him more, serve him more, and to be bolder in sharing his Word.
My wife also is a key person that the Lord used to prod me into this. It took cancer to hit my wife for me to even think about quitting smoking, but as the Lord has promised in his Word, all things have worked together for our good.
I am so thankful that my wife never stopped praying for a transformation to happen in my life — not so much a transformation for my physical health but my heart as well.
Our children, Nicole and Codi, have also been very supportive. After my Saturday or Sunday ride, they sometimes help me wash my bike. My son joins me in my seven-minute workouts, too.
My family, in-laws, workmates, and friends who prayed for me, they continue to encourage me to keep doing what I am doing. Soli Deo gloria!
