Before and After

I try to keep my few readers happy so, upon request, I have posted a shot of myself before and after the weightloss. The after shots are today and todays weight is officially -50KG!!!!!(cheers from the cheap seats) I am now under 100KG which is a milestone. I'm not going to go on here trying to say i am now skinny or anything, I need to lose another 20 kg for that I think.

What is kind of funny to me is that I can see a difference, but the difference is not that dramatic to me. It just doesn't seem like 50Kg when I look at it. Aside from the belly, I guess it really shows in the face and neck though. Sorry the face is blocked out...i'm shy:( I'm just not ready to expose myself to the world yet.)

Three pics to pereuse:

1. Summer 2006 At 150Kg (about a 64inch waist)

2. Spring 2007 At about 115 or so. (about a 45 inch waist)

3. Current 5 minutes ago at 99.5KG (wearing 38inch for the first time in more than 11 years) Cameraphone shot, sorry about the low quality....maybe i'll post another one at 90Kg later this year I hope.

Top 10 reasons NOT to lose 100lbs. in Korea

For those who still need a excuse reason:

10. Now that you comfortably fit in an economy class seat, so you no longer have a legitimate reason to beg for an upgrade.

9. You no longer have an excuse to park rear-end first since you can squeeze out of your car just like everyone else.

8. Due to the combination of being lighter and eating less (particularly at night), you get drunk faster (No, wait…is that bad?).

7. Thanks to gravity, the loose skin only has one direction to go. If you are over 40 you may notice to your dismay that you have developed a ‘turkey waddle’ and not just on your chin.

6. Being told you look ‘belly good’ gets old unless you get a thousand spot every time someone says it.

5. You have to buy new clothes every 2 months (fine for a company exec or CEO but not so good on a teacher’s salary) and you have to throw out tailored clothes that you had made 6 months ago. Of course you could wait another year and maybe you can use the fabric to double the size of your wardrobe.

4. You will be cornered in the elevator by every person you have ever seen (but who have never spoken to you before) to talk about your weight loss.These people to whom you have never spoken will illustrate, pantomime and use their best Pidgin English to explain to you just how grotesquely fat you used to be. Imagine Pictionary with a 17 floor time limit.

3. No one will be paying you for telling them your secret to losing so much weight.

2. That nice comfortable groove your rotund ass made in your office chair is no longer ergonomic.

1. The cheapest clothes are in a size that you realize you will never reach until 6 months after death.

Obviously, the reasons for losing...ahem...outweigh the reasons for keeping your fat ass fat.
108lbs and counting...50kg is right around the corner~~!!!

Top 20 reasons to lose 100 lbs. in Korea.

As a bit of a celebratory shot...having reached the 100 lb. mark:
Though I'm still fat by most anyone's definition, some things have gotten better. Not all of them are specifically related to Korea...just to losing large quantities of weight. So, without further adieu: TOP TWENTY REASONS TO LOSE WEIGHT IN KOREA.

20. Summer seems just a little less stifling (a little mind you!)

19. Your mother-in-law actually TELLS you to eat more

18. The thought of joining your colleagues for a climb up the local ‘mountain’ no longer strikes fear into your heart.

17. Your wife’s need to keep the house at a constant 30 C no longer makes you fear winter

16. You get to buy new clothes at the market.

15. You can actually walk down the aisles between the students

14. You actually have a LAP again

13. You can hold both your children on you LAP at the same time

12. You can sit (almost) comfortably in a school desk.

11. You can carry your children Korean style (riding on your back with hands locked under their behind)

10. The scale at the local sauna can actually tell you how much you weigh now.

9. You no longer have to call home for a care package of underwear once a year. You can finally buy a pair of underwear at E-mart

8. You hear the word “DoongDoong” (fat) a LOT less in public places.

7. You can get in your friends car without asking him to pull away from the curb so you can open the door without grounding it to the sidewalk.

6. Shock value. You have lost more than the average female college student weighs. 흑!

5. You now ‘fit’ in your Korean car. Your belly no longer touches the steering wheel and someone can actually sit in the seat behind you.

4. You no longer displace large quantities of water when getting in the public bath. This results in the secondary benefit of not having to endure the looks of the attendant and other patrons when this happens.

3. Kids now pet your arms instead of patting your stomach. Buy a bottle of Veet and you will become pretty much invisible.

2. You don’t set off the ‘over limit’ alarm in a half-full Elevator anymore: thus avoiding perhaps the single most embarrassing moment in your life.

1. Your wife tells you your ‘gochu’ looks bigger (According to Oprah’s Dr. Oz, men gain 1 inch per 35 pounds (15.8KG) -- that means almost 3 more inches!!

If anyone has any more to add, please feel free in the comments.

If anyone cares (weightloss update)

I havn't commented on the progress I have made in a while and just in case any of my readers out there care to know: I just broke the next plane on my chart and I am down to 105K (231 lbs) That means a total loss of 45K (almost 100 lbs!!) If there are any of you out there who have ever lost a significant amount of weight you know that the compliments from others can really go to your head. Multiply that times about 700 students, parents of privates, and the people you see on the street and you will have an idea of the number of comments that I have had in the past few months. I have to keep telling myself that I am still obese (morbidly so) in order not to get too complacent about the next 25 kilos which I think are the most important. Just to keep myself honest and humble, I had a body fat analysis yesterday and found that I am sadly still around 33%BMI. But considering that, though I didn't have the test done when I began, I was likely around 45-50% last November, I will consider that good too. The kilos have been coming off slowly the past couple of months and it is harder to keep them off so the scales are yo-yoing from day to day depending on the amount of intake vs. the amount of movement. Basically, I need to get off my ass and execise. I'm still waiting for my wife to let me buy that recumbent bike (see wishlist) I've been wanting :)

Here are some stats:
Weight:
Nov. 150K
Now 105K

Waist:
Nov. 60 in +
Now 40 in

Shirt:
Nov. XXXXL (No neck to speak of)
Now XL (17 1/2)

For any of you out there trying to lose weight, keep it up. Try to avoid eating at night. I personally make it a habit to abstain after 6pm. Avoid alcohol and large quantities of meat (hard to do in Korea :) and try walking or taking a subway from time to time (and avoid the elevators and escalators while you're at it.) And good luck to you.

I'm halfway there !!!

I finally made it above the 35KG mark. That means I'm half way to my goal. It has been a rough ride and a lot of ups and downs and I'm a little bit annoyed that it took 3 weeks longer than I had hoped to get there. I now sit at 114.2 as of this morning.
I know it will come off more slowly as I get closer to the 100KG mark (and painfully slow between 100 and the goal of 80KG) so I know I'm going to have to start some kind of exercise soon or it will just keep coming back. As I mentioned in my sidebar, I really want to get a recumbent trike to tool around in but the finances just aren't there right now.

Why Koreans are becoming fatter

I know the title is going to get me into some trouble, but if it gets you to read this...well good on ya.
As those who know me or have been reading, I have lost a lot of weight in the past 4 months; 28 kilos (bout 62 pounds) all told. Of course, a lot of people ask me how I have been doing it and my first thought is to tell them I have been on the "Ghandi" diet; which is about how it feels at times. My wife will tell you that it is because i take two large spoons of chung-gook-jang (청국장) in the morning before eat and at night before I go to bed. But I think that the real reason is that I STOPPED EATING AT NIGHT!! I made myself a hard and fast rule, when the sun is down, nothing goes in the mouth, period. Now, you would think that is pretty easy but give it a try sometime and see.
Now, I come to the revalation: why Koreans are getting fatter. Now before the haters start in on me, do a little research and you will find that it is a hard and fast FACT that there are more fat children in school these days. Now, I am not touting the Korea Times as a bastion of factual reporting or anything, but for easy reference to the problem look here and here for starters. And as if to prove my point...here.
It seems like an easy thing to do but if you are pretty much immersed into Korean culture like I am then you will see that it is a near impossible task. The culture almost demands that you consume food at night. Before I came to Korea, I learned about post-work drinking culture and I expected that while doing business and socializing here that I would be prepared. But as most people who live here for any time know, Koreans DO NOT drink without eating. There is the ubiquitous (If you like that word, you HAVE in Korea a long time) Anju or side dishes that must be consumed when embibing alcohol.
But it's not just the drinking culture...Kids are at school all day and when they come home, mother feels the motherly need to feed her seed late at night before they stagger off to sleep weary from a long day of school and hagwons. Even socializing with family and friends means eating. So, if you meet at night...you eat.
One of the most difficult things for me is when i visit my wife's family. When we visit and the kids go to bed, it is time to eat and embibe. It is difficult to say no. Everyone is urging me to "just eat a little", "have one", "c'mon, it's just this once." and I just have to say "no" because I know that if I start, I can't easily stop.
So, those of you, Korean or not, whose waists are ever expanding. Give it a try and you will see that it is not as easy as it seems but if you are successful in kicking the latenight eating habit, you may lose a few kilos too.

Update on Weightloss and Light Blogging

Christmas was woefully uneventful and I managed to avoid any overfeeding and only gained about a kilo on that weekend but quickly lost it and more. Currently sitting at 129KG (that's 284 pounds!!)It seems to be coming off at about a half to 3/4 KG per day and all I am really doing is reducing the intake and not eating after dark. My wife insists that I eat two big spoons of 천국장 (Kind of soybean beads) in the morning and evening and she insists that that is why it is working. Who knows maybe she is right I just know I'm gonna go with what is working.
I am done with school and grading for now so I will be out of the office and therefore blogging will be difficult. I really don't know how the married major bloggers like Nomad and Marmot (though I'm not sure if Robert has kids) manage to keep posting regularly. I can't even get to the computer at home these days because either my 4-year-old daughter wants to watch "The Little Mermaid" or "Beauty and the Beast" for the umpteenth time or my wife needs to do some kind of financial housekeeping. So the only time I could practically blog from home is about 2 am. I like blogging and I love my readers (the few that are out there) but not that much thanks. Not to mention that my year old son wakes at about 7am every morning and I spend most of the day chasing him around. So, i'll sees ya when I sees ya.

Losing Weight

I started at the beginning of November at 150KG! That is a whopping 330.6lbs. I have made some tremendous progress and I am actually surprised that I havn't put anything on here about it. I've been losing quickly and now I am at 133.8 (295lbs)I expected the initial 10KG would come off quickly just by reducing my intake. I would lose a lot quicker if I had the time to do some cardio workout but I just don't have the time to go to the swimming pool and with my back injury and my feet problems (chronic ankle pain likely caused by bone fragments and repeated injury and aggrevated by morbid obesity) I figure after I get down to about 120KG I should be able to do some walking. I have started to take the subway to private lessons once a week for some exercise. My goal is to get down to 85KG by the end of 2007. More later on the motivations for losing weight.