For the past year and a half, I’ve had an ongoing battle with staying slim. As I hit my stride in my personal and professional life, I often treated myself to more sweets, such as boba milk tea, cheesecake, muffins, and donuts, all of which contain plenty of sugar. After all, Noy Sauce is a sweet guy 😉

Rather than hitting the trails as I did in the past, I lift weights at the gym. Exercising at the gym is much more convenient than running outside these days, since I get off work later in the afternoon than in the past. I generally stayed away from running in the treadmill, since the monotony of running in place caused me to easily get bored and lose focus. Seeing nature while running in the trails provide needed stimuli that’s a nice change from sitting in front of a computer screen all day.

It also does not help that as we hit our 30s and beyond, our metabolism isn’t what it used to be during our 20s. Eating Chipotle burritos stuffed with cheese and sour cream, and drinking high-sugar juices were no problem in the past. Eating similar meals such as fish tacos stuffed with cheese, and ice cream served on a cone will now cause me to feel bloated these days.

My initial motivation to exercise was to atone for the sins of overeating and to continue looking young. Now, exercise is not enough to atone for the sins of overeating and there are now some wrinkles showing around my eyes LOL. I could eat less, but I’d be hungry before going to bed, which does not help in getting a good night’s rest. I could admit that I’m getting older, but that’s sure as hell not fun to think about aging.

Noy Sauce’s exercise regimen looks something like this:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Weights (freeweights), abs, pull ups	30 min run on treadmill, abs, lateral and tricep pull-down	Weights (chest), abs, pull ups	30 min run on treadmill, abs, lateral and tricep pull-down	Weights (legs), abs, pull ups	Rest	Run on trail for 5 miles, clean house

Even after following this exercise regimen the past year, I still had difficulty staying slim. Counting calories in my diet was not a sustainable option, since doing so cannot reliably be measured since I (sadly) don’t prepare my own food. What can I say? I’m my mother’s favorite son who enjoys meals prepped by her.

A piece of salmon fillet the size of your fist is the recommended serving size by the nutritionist?! Might as well starve, right?

The effectiveness of my workouts often depended on my state of mind and energy level after leaving work. The workouts over the past two months became more enjoyable after getting AirPods, which allowed me to listen to podcasts while exercising. (Whoever invented Bluetooth headphones is a genius! Those wired headphones were a pain). Still, those efforts of losing belly fat had seemingly plateaued.

Until a month ago.

My mom was craving calamansi, a popular citrus fruit from the Philippines, so she bought some from the store. Like almost all citrus fruits, calamansi is very sour. Growing up, I made sure the sourness of what I ate was balanced out with something sweet because I didn’t like the after-taste of the sourness by itself. The sweeter, the better. Sour Patch candy. Sour belt candy. Sour berries with whipped cream.

My mom served freshly squeezed calamansi juice mixed with hot water and honey in the morning. After three days of drinking freshly squeezed calamansi juice while continuing to exercise, I noticed that my belly fat got smaller even after eating sweets for dessert later that day.

Calamansi is known for containing Vitamin C, reducing cholesterol, and lastly, helping lose weight.

The breakthrough in effectively losing belly fat provided a renewed resolve in exercise. Seeing a smaller belly, along with more defined arms and legs, gave me more confidence to think bigger in staying fit and becoming stronger. I’ve increased the intensity of running in the treadmill and lifting heavier weights in each rep. To challenge myself even more, I eliminated honey and embraced the raw sourness of the calamansi juice.

Embracing the sourness of the calamansi juice is like developing a strong prayer life in our faith. Praying sometimes feels inconvenient, especially when you are tired and feel like you could be doing something else more productive. Yet, a strong prayer life is a foundation towards helping us atone for our own sins and confidently moving forward. The sourness in life adds a dimension to our life experiences that make the great times worth the price and that much sweeter (pun intended). It takes us outside of our comfort zones, making us less complacent and more ready for future trials in life. We learn the nuances of the problems we are trying to solve, deepening our masteries of them and solving a part of us.

Learning is not linear, which we would like to think. This experience reminded me that life’s breakthroughs happen after spending some time working on a problem. There are days you feel like you’re not making any progress. There are days you feel like you’re taking a couple of steps backwards, making you question your sanity and whether this is worth it. With enough persistence and discipline, you’ll find or stumble upon an effective solution that helps you embrace the sourness and gets you to where you need to be.

Without sourness, we don’t have that added dimension of refreshing drinks, such as sweetened calamansi juice, orange juice, lemonade, and limeade. It’d just be drinking liquid sugar, which is boring and makes us thirstier and fatter. Without challenges, we won’t develop the appreciation and understanding of hard work. We’d fall into a false sense of security in complacency, not fully experiencing the rewards of hard work, that we easily give up when facing real adversity.

Embrace the sourness when you can. It’s worth it!