History

2005

It sucks but I don't have any digital graduation photos. I do have some of the developed ones back at home provided by the on-site photographers though. Barely managed to smile here.

  Me back in 2005 (before graduation) after I cut my infamously long hair, 175 lbs

2006

I'm starting to grow big after a year since graduation. I'm still happy at this point. Notice the smile, it's a basic smile like saying 'cheese'. To be honest, my brother had to instruct me that to look good at the photo.

Me at 180 lbs

2007

Well let us begin in 2007. Why 2007 you ask? Because as much as I love cameras, I really hate being in front of the lens. I am the type of guy who would rather take the photo than have my photo taken. And there's a reason behind it too. No more teeth in that smile.

Yep that's me in 2007, 188 lbs

I hate being photographed because I know that I don't look any good. But in this year my attitude is more like "I don't care, as long as I'm happy" but to be honest, I'm not, I just fooled myself into thinking that I am happy as I devour colossal amount of foods.

2008

This is the year of realization. After attending a mini-reunion with some friends and hearing them say that I look like shit, I began dieting. I picked a healthy approach to diet, which is a low-fat diet. Basically, I am eating only carbs and I am not even counting calories back then. Mostly vegetables, rice, fruits, and some juices. My discipline still sucks.

192 lbs with that diet. Probably due to poor consistency on my part. The start of frown.

One thing you should know about me (if you already hadn't) is that I really love meat products. Fried, grilled, boiled, roasted, or whatever, I'll eat it. So the diet didn't work out.

2010

I jumped two years to this (I know). My weight hovered around 180-190 lbs during the years in between. But on March of 2010, I really hit the bottom. One morning I checked my weight and I'm up at 212 lbs. The naysayers won. I'm a big fan of "photo or it didn't happen" but I really don't have any picture of me at that weight because I can't even barely look myself at the mirror let alone take a photo.

Incidentally, this is also the year that I've had a medical screening and I've found out that I am hypertensive with a really bad lipid profile, like really really bad. I was advised to have maintenance medications for it but I didn't like the idea of it. I'm 26 and they are telling me to have maintenance medications already, so I didn't heed the advice. I can't even ask my parents to fund my medications for me.

By May of 2010, I managed to reduce my weight back to ~185 lbs.

This is also the year that I've decided to get my life back on track. I've asked my parents to let me pursue medicine. In order to show them that I can be dedicated, I did a crash diet and some workouts that I just knew in the back of my head.

Atkins. 20g carbs daily max. (budget mode)

I pushed hard and within one month, I've managed to bring my weight down to 160 lbs. I now found the one diet that I can adhere to strictly.

Me at 160 lbs. Just look at that smile, confidence renewed.

After 3 months (since I barely get out of the house), most people thought I got stricken with dengue. I practically didn't have any professional advice on this or even friends to talk to at this point (I've cut ties with them since 2007). So I can say I got here on my own but it was devastating. I can carry a 50 kg sack of rice before I lost weight but after 3 months, I'm having trouble lifting a 25 kg sack.

After showing dedication, my parents are convinced that I can survive med-school and gave me the green light.