3-Day Preparation for a 4-day Boracay Stay

It was flattering to be told that I must’ve photoshopped my picture of me in bikini, or, I must’ve undergone some “preparations” to achieve this so-called Boracay-worthy body.

For the record, it was my first time wearing bikinis on the beach, and I loved it. Hurrah, guts, hurrah.

The more contact there is between me and the sun-sand-sea, the more I become one with nature. An invigorating experience that lends me the calmness of the sea and the might of the sun. Hurrah, nakedness!

In Boracay, many people — lean or fat, sexy or not — are stripped down to their bikinis, and so, no worries about exposing flesh. Boracay guests travel light, no excess baggage: no inhibitions, no fears, no reservations. Life is short to wear shorts.

But how did I prepare for this in three days? I know people do major preparations for Boracay like shopping for the sexiest bikinis to having Brazilian wax and doing 100 sit ups a day.

As for me, let’s see.

Gym? No. My budget could not afford a single session in a gym or yoga class or pilates or kickboxing.

Jogging? Neither. It hurts my muscles and I get exhausted easily.

Uh, liposuction? Of course. This is the easiest way to a sexy body. But, no.

Here’s what I did, or, what I’ve been doing in weeks when I arrived from Singapore, but trust me, you’d rather read a Health magazine than look at my tips since I’m not an expert in body building or dieting:

1. Drink lots of water. I do 8 glasses per day. I know it’s good for skin rejuvenation, so thank heavens I’m always thirsty.

2. Eat pineapples. My father buys me small pineapples sometimes and I eat all of it. I imagine the phytochemicals or something flush the toxins from my body including unnecessary fats. But I think I was just imagining.

3. Cut rice intake from 4 cups of rice a meal to 2 to 3 cups. I love rice, but my youngest brother has been noticing my bulging tummy and I was offended by the way he teases me. That rascal. So I thought of controlling my rice-all-you-can kind of eating habit and urged myself that in this way, I am actually helping the Philippine government to achieve rice self-sufficiency by 2013 so that we stop being the top rice importer of the world, aka,  the world’s no. 1 nation of rice freaks.

4. Do the household chores. I don’t do weights but I carry some stuff around the house when I clean it. Lately, I’m doing my own laundry, and this is my work out. For the rest of the day, though, I just sit on the sofa, read.

5. Sit and stand properly. Good posture has been my problem for years, so now I work on it, and I think it shapes my body fine.

6. Read. Well, this doesn’t make you fit, but it can make you sexy. If you are a wide reader, you are confident with your thoughts and comfortable with the world you live in, and you can wear a bikini. Makes sense, right?

Well, I warned you. I’m no expert on this.