My Work Appears In Women's Health!

Being an advocate of fitness and health, I was really giddy when my friend Kate contacted me and asked me if I could do makeup for Women's Health feature on women who have won the battle against weight loss. This monthly section in Women's Health magazine features a girl who was once on the heavy side but with hard work and dedication, lost the excess weight. The girl to be featured in that month is carefully selected among various stories sent by readers. I've done makeup for them since the September 2012 issue up to this month and I would like to share them all to you:

For September, I had the chance to work with not one but five women, shot at CSA Makati.

The October issue features a petite girl named Lorie, who found her love for boxing. This shoot was shot after the storm with no name, and it looked like Mother Nature meant for that day to happen as the day was just sunny and paved way for the shoot to be done on Natural light.

This is a behind-the-scenes shot

For November, I met a girl named Paz, who was once double her weight. She even brought the gown that she wore when she was still overweight. Her weight loss program started only last January. She's absolutely the sweetest, travelling all the way from Iloilo to Manila for this shoot. She shares her love for running and willingness to try more fitness workouts when she visits Manila, like crossfit, pole dance, trx, and yoga.

December is something close to my heart. It features someone that I've known for two years and who pushed me towards awesomeness. She's our momma cat herself, Christina Dy, founder of Polecats Manila. It's hard to believe that she was once 20 pounds overweight, looking at her photos. But it's such an inspiration that if she started doing pole at her 30s, gained flexibility, strength, founded a dance school, that with no fitness background at all.

From the four months and many more that I've shot with these girls, I've learned and picked up a few things that I would like to share with everyone

• There are no shortcut diets. Sure, trend diets work to a certain extent, but after a while, they're bound to come back to their regular routine.
• Find an exercise regimen that you would learn to love. The exercise depends on each person. For Alona and Paz, it was running. With Michelle, it was boxing. CD of course, was pole. With that, you will learn to love other stuff. 
• Don't be discouraged if you sucked on your first day. We all did. Soon, our body gets stronger.
• Enjoy and be patient. Although the initial goal is to lose weight, having that as your sole and main focus may end up getting you frustrated and stressed out. Just enjoy every minute of it. That hot body you wanted may come sooner than you think.
• Once you reach your ideal weight, make it a lifestyle change. This time, it's not about losing weight anymore, it's being healthy and happy.
• You don't need to be rich to get healthy or start a fitness routine.

Shoots like these are so close to my heart. Not only did they reinforce my love for fitness, but I really get inspired by their own stories that nothing is impossible. I really look forward to doing more shoots like these!