In a 40-degree celsius room, Bikram Yoga students in Alabang, Muntinlupa City sweat it out doing the locust pose, which involves lying face-down on the mat with both their arms straight under their upper body and their legs straight and lifted high up in the air.
One man stood out from all the practitioners as his legs lifted higher than his peers. For a regular practitioner, this seems ordinary. What’s beyond ordinary is that this man is over 350 lbs. and he is ahead of his peers in terms of back strength.
He is Eboy Bautista, a dedicated yoga practitioner in Bikram Yoga Alabang and former Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition contestant. Bautista is one of the heaviest contestants in Biggest Loser history, weighing at 481 lbs. He lost an astounding 97 lbs. during his stay at the Biggest Loser camp.
Today, two years after the show, Bautista is on a journey to achieve and maintain a weight below 300 lbs. through a healthy lifestyle. “Although I have been overweight since my childhood, I was very active. Only when I started working did I slow down,” said Bautista. “After my experience in the competition, I wanted to prove that despite being overweight, one can still pursue a healthy lifestyle through exercise and the right diet. Weight loss comes afterwards.”
Bikram Yoga Alabang is supporting Bautista’s goal and many others like him as one of the advocates for the Pilipinas Go4Health movement of the Department of Health. Pilipinas Go4Health aims to inform and encourage Filipinos from all walks of life to make a personal commitment to physical activity, proper nutrition, and the prevention or cessation of smoking and alcohol consumption.
“We believe that it is possible to change the world, one person at a time,” said Bikram Yoga Alabang studio director Ginger Diaz. “Through the studio and practicing Bikram Yoga, I found fulfillment in helping people of different ages accept and get comfortable with their bodies.”
Diaz advised Bautista to attend at least three yoga classes a week. After yoga practice, Bautista does CrossFit, a principal strength and conditioning program. He also follows a strict Paleo diet, which includes meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. His only rest day is Sunday, which he spends with his family.
Bautista shared that his regimen is not only for losing weight but to get the full benefits of each type of exercise. “Whatever sport you do, it has to be more than one because they complement each other,” he said. While he feels some strain and soreness after CrossFit, he gets muscle relaxation through the stretching postures of Bikram Yoga.
By doing CrossFit, he is able to develop strength, particularly back strength, which allows him to achieve challenging yoga postures such as the cobra pose, where one should lift one’s upper body just by using back muscles while lying face-down.
“I like the way they (BYA instructors) would acknowledge when I would do a posture really well (for my size),” Bautista wrote in his blog. “I am glad that after every practice, I would get feedback from them… giving me tips and suggestions on how to ‘downscale’ on my postures. I like the challenge and how it encourages me to try to get the proper form.”
As with any healthy lifestyle regimen, one cannot just rely on workouts. A good diet is a must. “With my regimen, if I eat wildly, it would just maintain my weight and not lose. I’ve learned 70 to 80 percent of your weight loss purely depends on your nutrition,” Bautista wrote in his blog.
Paleo is the form of diet that Bautista learned from the CrossFit community. It is a natural diet that does not constrain intake but forbids consuming grains, processed salt, processed sugar, and processed food. “When you fix your diet, you will eventually fix your body,” he said.
“After the Biggest Loser Pinoy Edition, all of us who joined the show wanted to pay it forward. The show jump-started our weight loss journey, so it’s just a matter of continuing it and sharing it to others. I blogged about it because I wanted to tell people that what I’m doing is not easy. That’s how I inspire others to a healthy lifestyle,” concluded Bautista.
Bikram Yoga Alabang (BYA) is a certified, state-of-the-art Bikram yoga studio located in southern Metro Manila. Bikram yoga is a type of yoga performed inside a heated room, typically at 40 degrees Celsius. Its signature series of 26 postures(asanas) and two breathing exercises (pranayamas). As part of its commitment to fitness and health, BYA supports athletes like the BYA XTRM Triathlon Team by helping them train for sporting events. BYA XTRM team members recently competed at the prestigious triathlon event, IronMan 70.3 Philippines.
