Over the course of the last year, I’ve been gaining some weight to the point where my clothes were a little too tight for comfort. In the past few years, I’ve settled on a pretty good exercise regimen where I was primarily working out to improve my mountain biking rides, which kept me at a steady and healthy weight. Unfortunately, I must finally succumb to the truth that my age has caught up to me and my metabolism has slowed down to the point where I have to do more.

In addition to regular exercise, I had been controlling my intake and learning to enjoy the quality of my meals more than the quantity. But alas, all good things come to an end, and I have undertaken my first diet.

Part of the inspiration came from the latest product campaign in our Southeast Asia market called VIVA Vibrant Pack which was launched during my last Asia trip. The other piece of motivation came from a bet that I entered into with couple of mountain biking buddies (including Elijah). We gave ourselves one month to see who would lose the most weight as a percentage of starting weight. The loser has to buy dinner.

The sad and honest truth is that this is a permanent change in my body’s metabolism, and dieting or a more strict control of my diet will now become part of my daily life. So this diet is just a starting phase into finding a new balance of my diet and exercise to maintain a healthy equilibrium.