As in our first Challenge, we’re looking for one male and one female to win one year of free makeovers. All you have to do if you’d like to join is to send us a letter telling us your name and contact info, weight, height and measurements (in inches around the neck, chest, waist, hips, thigh, upper arm). Tell us in 200-250 words why you should be chosen for a year of free makeovers.

If you are chosen, you will win one year of membership in a fitness center, receive workout clothes and shoes to make you look and feel fitter on your way to a better body, be pampered and styled at our sponsoring Salon and Day Spa, etc! We will guide you through a proper eating program, help you through your workouts and teach you tips and tricks to get you through your Makeover year and beyond!

So make your letter as effective as possible, and our judges will decide whose words are the most deserving. Send your entries to annaprice@skydsl.com.ph or at wellbeing@mb.com.ph with a full-length recent photo of yourself. Please try and complete all requirements because only those with all details will be included in our finals. Best of luck to all!

Next issue we’ll see how Christian and Emy progressed, but first here are excerpts from their letters, just to illustrate how important it is to stop for a moment no matter how hectic or full your lives are, and learn to take care of yourselves, for your sakes and for a better future.

"DISCIPLINE is what it takes to reach my goal - to be physically fit after a year of fitness training at GOLD’s gym. I was at my biggest and heaviest body when I started the training. Insecurity is already a common occurrence in my life at that point, specially when I saw myself in the mirror, gasping for breath when going up stairs and fitting a garment when shopping. There was already the desire to change, but WHEN to start it and the DRIVE to do it is lacking, specially the diet regimen that I’ve tried before is quite difficult to sustain.

Being one of the makeover challenger was one of the greatest thing that happen to me last year. Many thanks to George and Anna Price, who gave me the opportunity to be ME today. The entire process was totally different from the lifestyle I used to be. I have to change my perspective and make a lot of sacrifices, but it was really worth it. Having a full time work and religiously going to the gym and yoga is a difficult task. Difficult as it is, and tiring at that, my ultimate goal is what makes me focus to continue.

The entire process opened my eyes to be more cautious of what kind of food I put into my mouth. I now put extra time in reading the nutritional label of the foods that I bought. If pork fat in the adobo was once my favorite, I turned to lean meat, more vegetables, take into moderation my sugar intake and not giving up the discipline that I developed. The achievement that I gained has to remain, not only for me to look & feel good and be fit but also to give importance to those who help this happen. Gold’s Gym and my instructor who makes me sweat profusely but gives a good result, PJ Tanchanco of Chimara, who gives an insight what the right food to eat, David’s Salon for giving us beauty treats, Chili’s at Greenbelt for providing us delicious food in one of our get together, Post Cereal, Adidas for the gorgeous gym outfit and couple George and Anna for their generosity."

"31lbs and tens of inches off my body are one of the best things that have ever happened to me! Aside from the freebies from Adidas, Post Cereals, David’s Salon, Chili’s Greenbelt and Chimara Greenbelt, the makeover challenge has been very rewarding and has opened doors of opportunities for me. Moreover, the surprised gesture that I get from my friends who have been so used to seeing me being overly obese is simply priceless! Looking back, one of the major reasons why I wanted to go through this challenge was to lose weight and look good in order to share my talent in singing. Well, guess what, last year I was given the chance to perform at Hard Rock Café in Glorietta as one of the 10 contestants for 94.7 Mellow Touch and Star World’s American Idol Go-See singing contest. Though I didn’t win, the experience was well worth it. Moreover, last October I was seen on Destiny Cable TV as one of the weekly contestants for Voice Quest 2005. I feel very blessed that I am finally being able to do what I enjoy best, SINGING!

Getting to where I am at today entailed a lot of hard work, determination, sweaty shirts and tears! Though I admit I could have lost more weight, I still feel very good about myself and happy with what I accomplished. Like what they say, "slowly but surely". Based on my heaviest weight, I have lost 53 lbs to date (since I was already on a moderate exercise and diet plan even before the challenge started). It was more of a personal effort to lose the weight and stay focused since I only got to see the trainer at Gold’s 3 times throughout the whole year. What really worked for me was increasing physical activity and consciously taking note of what I ate. I want to emphasize on the word "CONSCIOUS" because I realized that before taking on this challenge, I just ate and ate until I was full without taking into account what I put in my mouth. Therefore, I felt guilty after binging or pigging out just because while I was eating there was no conscious effort to keep track of the food. Also, now I know how to look at nutrition labels whenever I buy food at the grocery. It is very important to watch out for hidden calories, sugar or fat content since a lot of food labels have deceiving tags such as low in fat or calories but extremely high in sugar. Most important of all, I learned that you should never deprive yourself of food that you truly enjoy. For instance, I make it a point to eat what I want once a week in order to stop the craving. Or if I were faced with a chocolate bar or to-die-for cheesecake, I’d have a few bites of it to fulfill my taste buds, unlike before where I would chow down the entire bag of chocolates or half of the cake. So you see, it’s ok to eat as long as it’s taken in moderation. The key word here is MODERATION. Anything in excess is bad, not only in terms of food. Like what Chef Wolfgang Puck says, LIVE LOVE AND EAT!"

To Emy and Christian, we loved working with you both, and I look forward to introducing you to the next set of Challengers to share your experiences and successes! So start sending in those entries right now, deadline for entries is Easter Sunday. In the meantime we’ll look back at our past Challengers development...