One of the most dramatic shifts in my "lifestyle" since I started living in Japan has most definitely been the change in my dietary habits. Now, to be clear, I don't mean I am now on a diet or anything silly like that; what I mean is my dietary habits, or what kinds of foods I eat on a regular basis, have changed.
Before talking about the types of things I eat now, I will first attempt to paint you a picture of my dietary habits of the last few years in America to give you a "frame of reference" to make comparisons.
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| Weird pic, but shows that I'm thinner than you probably remember. |
The initial problem
Where to begin. Well I can say this, I used to consume up to 7-8 sodas every day on average. That is between 2000-2500 calories each day on sodas ALONE. That, coupled with daily fast food, non existent exercise. It was a mess.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how many calories did I actually consume on a daily basis. and my best guess is around 4500 calories a day, on average. Honestly it was really easy to do that, and I never even realized. I actually remember telling someone that "I'm young, might as well eat whatever I want while I can." Even more sad, that person laughed and agreed with me.
I also remember that about a year and a half ago, on weekends I would often go to Little Cesars with friends, buy two $5 Hot-n-Ready pizzas and some garlic bread sticks for a grand total of about $14 and would then use all of that food as most of my weekend meals.Completely unhealthy.
One other thing I would like to mention is that prior to coming to Japan I really disliked green vegetables, and rarely ate fruit even though I technically like a lot of fruits.
The point of the last few paragraphs is to bring to light that when I came to Japan I had the epitome of bad eating habits. Thankfully, due in part to both the Japanese's love of fresh ingredients, and my well known state of having almost no money, I have been forced to adopt a different style of eating.
The Turning Point
And WOW, I did not anticipate the difference that would make. I am going to be extremely transparent here with this next bit of information. I used to be very private about my weight, mainly because I had secretly gained quite a lot of it between 2009-2011. I think I did a somewhat decent job of covering it up, although maybe it was more along the lines of "no one wanted to tell me in the hopes that I would realize and take action." Either way when I went back to Houston after the Spring 2011 semester I weighed about 200 lbs or 90.718 kgs which was a lifetime high for me. During the 3 months in Houston before I went to Japan I lost 8 lbs due to inevitably eating better at home and weighed a total of 192 lbs or 87.089 kgs.
Surprisingly I maintained this weight throughout the first 2 months in Japan mainly due to eating at the school cafeteria multiple times a day and taking advantage of the many snack products that Japan has to offer. It wasn't until I completely ran out of money (I'm talking 0.00 dollars in the checking account) over quarter break that I started to make a real change.
It turned out this was probably one of the luckiest times for me to run out of money for several reasons. Firstly, several people in the dorms I live in moved out, and instead of taking their cooking tools with them, they gave them to me. In a previous blog post I put up a picture showing those cooking tools, basically a frying pan, a bowl, and a pair of chopsticks. Since then I have acquired a pot to add to my collection. Oh, and don't worry about me running out of money because a friend of mine loaned me about 7 dollars to buy a few groceries. This forced me to get a bit creative and I began by teaching myself how to cook a few different things.
At this same time, before my friend loaned me the money, I used working out to keep myself from focusing on being hungry. It was only for about a day that I didn't have anything to eat so it really wasn't a big deal, but it got me started with using exercise to relieve stress. One other thing, I'm sure many of you reading this are wondering "Hey, why didn't you just ask your parents for help you idiot!?" Ha, well a little tidbit of knowledge about me is that I often like to do things my own way, I always have and probably always will. And believe me, when my parents found out they were pretty upset I hadn't informed them. Anyway, my path towards eating better and exercising more had begun.
Since then I have lost about 10 pounds while eating healthier and exercising more. I still have a long way to go before I get back to what I weighed when I came out of high school, but progress is progress. I am also probably stronger now that I have been in years, so to have lost a net total of 10 pounds while adding weight in muscle is a great sign!
Now, I am not just randomly going about this whole "eating better and exercising" thing. I have actually been doing quite a lot of research on the subject and I have come across a massive wealth of information. I'll eventually talk more about a lot of the information I have come across but I am going to focus on just one of the resources I discovered so this post doesn't turn into a novel.
The Inspiration
I had noticed a very popular ad on YouTube videos talking about "Six Pack Shortcuts". Now normally I wouldn't give this a second glance, but after seeing a LOT of ads for it I decided to check out their YouTube channel. I must say I was impressed.
Basically this program focuses on using the after burn method to destroy calories. What that means is that after a very intense workout, combining both intense cardio and weight training, your body burns a LOT of calories rebuilding itself in the 24-48 hours after your workout. What this system does is it uses that, along with a change in eating habits to get someone in shape.
What I found most interesting was the diet part.
- Lower your food portion size to about the size of your first and a half, or 1.5 of your fists in size, and eat 4-5 means a day. What this does is it forces your metabolism to ramp up to compensate for your body constantly having food to digest. Sounds logical doesn't it :P.
- Another key component of the diet is that the food you eat be low in calories, low in sugar, and low in fat, so that each meal is only about 400 calories. That way you don't break the 2000 calorie threshold for the day.
- It goes into a lot of detail about how to buy the groceries, cook the meals ahead of time and blah blah. If you are truly interested in the details check out the link at the bottom of this post.
Anyway, I've used the basic principles of this plan to increase my metabolism, and eat healthier. I mean I will admit that I do not work out anywhere near as much as this program suggests, and I've still shed 10 pounds EASILY in a month. Had I had a workout partner, or a little more time to focus on just this the amount of weight I could have lost would probably be double.
Had I not tried the basic principles of this system, and tried them pretty meekly, and seen the outstanding results, I wouldn't have wasted my time writing all of this out. It's a smart, easy, and effective system to lose weight and get in shape.
WHEW that was a long post! If you're interested in getting this system then click the link. I think it is about $100 for the entire system, and if I had the money I'd definitely buy the entire thing. If you are like me and can't afford it, or are skeptical that it works, feel free to check out their YouTube channel.
Alright I am finally done! I just felt that people might find that entire story interesting, and I hope you did. Please leave comments letting me know what you thought, they only help me improve the things I write about.
Song of the day -
Good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing continued results!
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