Hapi nyu yir, and all that! I'm listed as a Traineo Regular, but I haven't had a chance to properly introduce myself -- so here I am!

In brief, I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio but have no recollection of it because I've grown up all my life in the Marikina valley on the outskirts of Manila, Philippines. Or at least until I was 26, when I came back to the U.S. for grad school where I grew disenchanted after a few years and joined the mongol hordes of Corporate America. (Cue Monty Python pirate skit on hostile corporate takeovers!)

I had always been painfully skinny, with childhood asthma and little to no skills in any sport whatsoever. I weighed between 100 to 115 pounds through college at 5'10" and I have memories of collapsing with aching/burning lungs and horrible side stitches in PhyEd class throughout high school.

This changed when I came to the U.S. -- I packed on the pounds and topped off at around 155lbs in 1999. I learned how to in-line skate, and surpassed everyone I had initially started out with -- taking to the streets of Philly on tri-weekly City Skates. I even bought a bike and started doing weekly or bi-weekly trips from University City to Chestnut Hill in Philly, with a trip or two to Valley Forge (which nearly killed me, or so it felt).

However, by 2000 my body fat was 29% and my cholesterol was 220 to 230. Around 2003 I was also diagnosed with high blood pressure during exercise, and pre-hypertension during my rest state. My skating and biking went from regular to erratic to non-existent after moving to the suburbs of South Jersey.

I've been a regular gym-goer (mainly weight-lifting) since 2001, a runner since mid-2006, and have just gone coffee-free. I'm trying to move into vegetarianism slowly, because all the weight-lifting in the world hasn't been helping my cholesterol and BP problems for the past three years.

I'm currently hovering at 180lbs and 15% body fat, working on losing the final few around my waist and fixing my hidden health problems.

I'm also interested in the science or black-art (depending on your point of view) of motivation. I've started reading Mind Hacks by O'Reilly books in an attempt to learn how to better help myself and others.

Vegetarianism? No more lechon for you.

Ha! The day before I started my official switch, I bought a bag of chicharon and ate it all myself.

There goes everything, with the possible exception of pinakbet. At least I'll have my desserts: suman, halaya, and so on.

Hi Rincewind,
Best of luck with your goals!

I spent 3 days in Manila in September and found the city very interesting.
Being a life-long vegetarian, I found very little healthy food to eat. Loved the halo-halo though!

Thanks! There are plenty of places to buy fresh veggies in Manila, and most of the fresh food is top notch. Unfortunately, you're right about eating out -- not many places serve vegetarian dishes. You'd have to do a lot of cooking yourself.

Philippine food also seems to be very flavor-intense and high in sodium, which I never noticed until I came to the U.S. and compared the food. I had another shock when I switched to Japanese cuisine, which has even less salt and more subtle flavors.

I miss halo-halo. You can buy halo-halo mix in a bottle (just add shaved ice) but it's nowhere near as good as fresh ingredients.