"Tinimbang Sha, Bakit Kulang?"

The last time I told a soul (in Seoul) that I lost weight was when I visited my Tita Cecile at her home in the Gangnam area late last year to join her and Tito Efren for dinner.  I told her I lost two kilos that week, all from gym visits, avoiding Coke and getting rid of the after-lunch café mocha habit.

But that night, she fed me with….Chicken a la king, shrimp sautéed in garlic and Bistek Tagalog, complete with Coke!  Ha-ha-ha! And before I left, she asked me to bring home six more Chicken a la King!  I, of course, thanked her and went home very full and happy!

 I didn’t mind the two kilos found their way back to my tummy that night. I could always go back to the gym the next morning.  But I guess, losing weight is actually easy for the disciplined and for those who know what to do about it.

 But some of us who have the cash to spend and too lazy to move our asses, we are always enticed by certain quick-weight-loss advertisements who may have used some tricks to attract customers.  And for some who are smart to notice the deception, those tricks could always boomerang.

 No wonder that controversy over a weight-loss billboard along EDSA (Manila’s main thoroughfare) ballooned, forcing the endorser to be defensive which all the more attracted public scrutiny and ridicule.  Perhaps, commuters along EDSA could not believe how much ‘size’ she lost in her ‘after’ photo. They could not also believe they were all taken for a fool by the advertiser.

 Maybe, if they only wrote on the billboard how many kilos she weighed before and after, that could have helped (no matter how many Chicken a la king’s she must have enjoyed).  But really I wonder how much she actually weighs? Tinimbang ba sha?

 So, when it comes to weight loss, let’s not fool ourselves. That’s why I only trust the digital, electronic weighing scale in my gym – early morning, before breakfast, no shoes, no cellphone and no keys in my pocket.  But maybe, with the Bistek Tagalog from last night still in my system. Ha-ha-ha!

 And like these active people in the photos, who moved their asses that day to lose weight, let’s move ours, too. And perhaps, the next time you weigh yourself, can always borrow the title of Lino Brocka’s classic film, Tinimbang Ka, Bakit Kulang (Weighed But Found Wanting):

Tinimbang ako, bakit husto? (I was weighed; why exact?) Ha-ha-ha!