The last 4 weeks have been an interesting time for me. I am now on day 23 of my diet. With Saturday as a nominal cheat day, the rest of the time, not including things like enkais or whatnot, I am carefully watching what I eat.
The beginning of the story is some 4 weeks ago, at the welcome party for our new ALT Julie. I had had a pretty wild day until then; our final orientation committee meeting, followed by dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. Julie's welcome party, an enkai held by Jon's school by the younger teachers with Ms. H, a JTE who used to be at Genkai hosting, and wrapping up the night with karaoke.
An off the cuff comment at Julie's party by Mr. K, one of my JTEs, spear-headed the change in my eating habits. He mentioned that I was fatter than when I first arrived in Japan. We laughed at this, but secretly I wondered if it was true. The following day, I borrowed Jon's bathroom scale, and to my surprise and somewhat relief, it seemed that my weight had not changed. In fact, it was exactly the same.
Yet his comment bothered me. Considering that fat weighs less than muscles, it was certainly possible that I had traded muscles mass for fat mass. I was indeed fatter than I when I arrived.
However, this was strange also. I bike to and from school everyday. So I imagine that in the end, I had lost some muscle, gained some fat, but was overall maintaining my weight.
So the answer seemed clear:
If I was able to maintain my weight with a lifestyle that included large dinners, plenty of snacking, and sparse exercise, then it seemed equally possible that by cutting back on my caloric intake and eliminating my snacking, I could lose weight with little impact to the amount I exercise.
4 weeks later, I am glad to announce I was right.
But lets look at what I might have had for a typical day before my diet. For breakfast I would have an onigiri and bread, and drink that down with coffee. Then for lunch I might have a katsudon (ricebowl with breaded pork cutlet), with a side of karaage (fried chicken). Upon returning home, I might snack on a bag of chips before I had dinner of jalapeno chicken tenders with a bowl of rice. After that would probably be a dessert of some kind, say a bowl of ice-cream.
Lets break down the calories here.
Breakfast
onigiri 250
bread 350
coffee 250
Lunch
katsudon 750
karaage 350
Snack
chips 350
Dinner
chicken 500
rice 250
dessert 300
TOTAL 3350
HOLY. FUCK. There is no way I needed that many calories. When you add the sodium, saturated fat, carbs, sugar etc. in all that, I was definitely on the road to something bad. Also, this doesn't take into account days I might hit up McDonald's, or ate candy or something at work.
OK, lets look at my average day now. For breakfast I have a banana at home, then an onigiri at school, with some grape konyaku (a sort of jelly made from the root of a plant, mixed with grapes). For lunch, I'll have that same katsudon. For dinner, I'll have 2 pieces of chicken tenders, with a vegetable juice. As a small hold over for when I feel peckish, a pack of 6 Premium Plus crackers.
Breakfast
banana 100
onigiri 250
konyaku 70
Lunch
tonkatsu 750
Dinner
chicken 500
veg juice 70
saltines 70
TOTAL 1810
Now that's a fuck load better. I am also now very conscious of the aforementioned factors such as fat, carbs, sugar, sodium etc.
So how does all that relate to me? What are the results after 23 day over 4 weeks? What is the happy news?
Before I started this diet, I was 99.6 kg (about 220 lbs). My pants size was a 38. Having gone to the gym today with Jon, I weighed myself and clocked in at 93 kg (205 lbs.).
FUCK YEAH!
While my shirts are still all fitting as they used to, I most notice my weight-loss in my pants size. Where as before I would cinch my belt below my gut, I can now belt it at my waist proper. My belts are now at their shortest hole, and in some cases (like my old 15 year old belt) now loose. Don't get me wrong. I still have a gut. But sucking it in now yields a much better result!
Spurred by my recent weight-loss, I headed to the GAP yesterday, intent on buying a new belt, and determined to get into a pair of 36 waist pants. Picking a pair out, I got into the change room and slipped them on. To my shock, they more that fit. They were loose on the waist! OK, as people in Japan have no ass they were still somewhat snugger than I was used to, but DAMN!
In trepidation, I asked the clerk to bring me a size smaller, a 34. A month ago, I doubt I would even be able to get a size 34 passed my hips.
Not only was I able to get them passed the hips, but I was able to button them up.
Yes, gentle readers. 34. For me, this is a size I have not seen in over 10 years. Needless to say I was blown away. Very fucking happy news indeed.
OK, so the pants I ended up buying are not comfortable. I can button them up, yes, but they restrict my movement and are basically too tight. But I spent my $78 on them anyway. Why? The way I see it, I will put them on at the end of every week and see how they fit. Once I am able to wear them comfortably, I know that I will have reached something approaching a proper weight. I am eagerly looking forward to the day I can wear them to work.
OK, so what's in store for me? Certainly, I will continue my diet. I will admit the 2nd week was the worst, and I was hungry and irritable all week. However, part of my plan includes getting used to less food and pay better attention to what I eat. It would be a Sisyphean task to lose my current goal of 15 kg (33 lbs) only to gain it all back with poor diet and over-eating. But at the same time, I will experience a rapidly diminishing effect from cutting back on calories as my body gets used to this lower caloric intake.
So more exercise is in the books. Once I get below 90 kg, I want to begin to work out more regularly. Goal wise I'm looking to have lost 10 kg. by the end of October, and 15 by the time I get back to Canada for the holidays.
This warrants a new label: Lifestyle.
9/28/2008
9/17/2008
My new other blog.
Just a note for anyone who cares. I've started a new blog, for the occasional burst of creative writing I do. Check it out here.
9/09/2008
Laying down the law...
Yesterday was an interesting day for me, as I had one of my rare opportunities to express my anger at a class of students. And I do mean rare. I can literally count the number of times I've done it in my 2+ years here on one hand. Of those, it's a sad fact that 2 of them have been with this one class.
The class is on the lower end of the academic scale. Japan (or perhaps it's just this school, though I highly doubt it) generally places students into classes where the students have about equal academic ability. Lower homeroom numbers correspond to an overall high achievement in academics. The class in question is on the higher end of that homeroom number scale, and is not surprisingly full of jocks.
(N.B. I am not equating lower academics with high sports ability. Clearly, our world is full of people who are both physically fit and mentally astute. However, for the purposes of this class, while the students may be good at sports, they are poor at academics. So yeah. Jocks.)
I digress. The incident in question happened just after lunch. The funny thing about language classes is that if you don't understand what's going on, and you continue to not understand as the class progresses, there is a tendency to simply shut down. As students in Japan are less than pro-active about anything, really, students tend to shut down a lot. For most of this year, this class has bucked that trend, and during my non-grammar parts at least, they are...lively. A mixed blessing to be sure.
This class was shaping up like any other. I had spend a fair amount of time the day before prepping the class activity (effectively a vocabulary version of Who Want's to be a Millionaire), complete with PowerPoint presentation (with animations!), ABCD answer signs for each group (10), and the borrowing of the projector. While the content was academically based, the presentation was fun.
In a previous class, the activity went off without a hitch. Of course, that time it was with my most well-behaved students, but that's neither here nor there. In general terms, the rowdier my class the better, as long as students are doing the activity.
So when I set everything up, I immediately saw that things would be a lot harder. Where as in the previous class the students had made neat, clearly defined groups, during my jock class I saw clumps of 8-12 students. While they were technically in groups, they had decided to stick near their friends. Repeated requests for them to make who was in what group met with limited success, so in the end I simply decided to run with it.
The rules were explained, and the students (surprisingly) understood the basic concept almost from the get go. We launched into the game, but before we could even finish the first round, the game had started to fall apart. Students sat in their groups chatting and paying little attention. Answer signs were twirled around, making it impossible to see what answer each group was giving. Total Bedlam.
It's a funny thing. When you first come to Japan to teach as an ALT, you want to be all buddy-buddy with the students, and establish a sort of informal, not-teacher/student relationship with them. But as you enter your second year, this model starts to fail, and more and more I think you are required to take on a more teacher-like role. So as time goes by, the amount of bullshit you are willing to take from your students begins to diminish. I have, I think, a high tolerance for bullshit. But I have seen it diminish steadily over the last few years. The question is not one of students acting as drones, but of paying at least a modicum of respect to the teacher. It is not, I think, too much to ask that the students put in at least some level of effort, considering the effort that went into making the lesson.
Of course, this class would have none of that. So, I quietly went over to my JTE, Mr I, and told him that this would not work. He nodded to me in agreement, and suddenly turned to the students.
I had previously dismissed Mr. I, who is a super-nice guy outside of class, as a bit of a walk-over in class. I am happy to say that this is most definitely not the case. He unleashed the beast and opened up on the class with both barrels, and in an instant the class went from rowdy to dead silent. He harangued them for disrespecting me, disrespecting the class, and in a dubious voice asked them if they were really high school students. During this time, I made a show of both shaking my head in disgust and packing away my laptop and the projector. Most of the students were graceful enough to have hang-dog expressions, and after Mr. I had snapped at them to bundle up the answer signs and return them, most of them would hand them not to me but to Mr I. As they meekly returned their desks to their original positions, Mr. I caught my eye again, and I left the class without a word. As I left, and walked past the open window, I made sure to shake my head sadly, conveying the thought, I hope, of 'What a fucking waste.'
Next week, thanks to the ALT monthly meeting, I will not be able to go their class. Mr. I was pleased about this. My absence the following week would only serve to hammer in that I may not ever go back to their class. Gone would be the games and the candy. Gone would be the wacky, idiotic ALT. Of course, this isn't true at all. After all, I'm not paid to not go to class. However, it was a good chance to lay down the law and hopefully do a little attitude adjustment in the kids.
The class is on the lower end of the academic scale. Japan (or perhaps it's just this school, though I highly doubt it) generally places students into classes where the students have about equal academic ability. Lower homeroom numbers correspond to an overall high achievement in academics. The class in question is on the higher end of that homeroom number scale, and is not surprisingly full of jocks.
(N.B. I am not equating lower academics with high sports ability. Clearly, our world is full of people who are both physically fit and mentally astute. However, for the purposes of this class, while the students may be good at sports, they are poor at academics. So yeah. Jocks.)
I digress. The incident in question happened just after lunch. The funny thing about language classes is that if you don't understand what's going on, and you continue to not understand as the class progresses, there is a tendency to simply shut down. As students in Japan are less than pro-active about anything, really, students tend to shut down a lot. For most of this year, this class has bucked that trend, and during my non-grammar parts at least, they are...lively. A mixed blessing to be sure.
This class was shaping up like any other. I had spend a fair amount of time the day before prepping the class activity (effectively a vocabulary version of Who Want's to be a Millionaire), complete with PowerPoint presentation (with animations!), ABCD answer signs for each group (10), and the borrowing of the projector. While the content was academically based, the presentation was fun.
In a previous class, the activity went off without a hitch. Of course, that time it was with my most well-behaved students, but that's neither here nor there. In general terms, the rowdier my class the better, as long as students are doing the activity.
So when I set everything up, I immediately saw that things would be a lot harder. Where as in the previous class the students had made neat, clearly defined groups, during my jock class I saw clumps of 8-12 students. While they were technically in groups, they had decided to stick near their friends. Repeated requests for them to make who was in what group met with limited success, so in the end I simply decided to run with it.
The rules were explained, and the students (surprisingly) understood the basic concept almost from the get go. We launched into the game, but before we could even finish the first round, the game had started to fall apart. Students sat in their groups chatting and paying little attention. Answer signs were twirled around, making it impossible to see what answer each group was giving. Total Bedlam.
It's a funny thing. When you first come to Japan to teach as an ALT, you want to be all buddy-buddy with the students, and establish a sort of informal, not-teacher/student relationship with them. But as you enter your second year, this model starts to fail, and more and more I think you are required to take on a more teacher-like role. So as time goes by, the amount of bullshit you are willing to take from your students begins to diminish. I have, I think, a high tolerance for bullshit. But I have seen it diminish steadily over the last few years. The question is not one of students acting as drones, but of paying at least a modicum of respect to the teacher. It is not, I think, too much to ask that the students put in at least some level of effort, considering the effort that went into making the lesson.
Of course, this class would have none of that. So, I quietly went over to my JTE, Mr I, and told him that this would not work. He nodded to me in agreement, and suddenly turned to the students.
I had previously dismissed Mr. I, who is a super-nice guy outside of class, as a bit of a walk-over in class. I am happy to say that this is most definitely not the case. He unleashed the beast and opened up on the class with both barrels, and in an instant the class went from rowdy to dead silent. He harangued them for disrespecting me, disrespecting the class, and in a dubious voice asked them if they were really high school students. During this time, I made a show of both shaking my head in disgust and packing away my laptop and the projector. Most of the students were graceful enough to have hang-dog expressions, and after Mr. I had snapped at them to bundle up the answer signs and return them, most of them would hand them not to me but to Mr I. As they meekly returned their desks to their original positions, Mr. I caught my eye again, and I left the class without a word. As I left, and walked past the open window, I made sure to shake my head sadly, conveying the thought, I hope, of 'What a fucking waste.'
Next week, thanks to the ALT monthly meeting, I will not be able to go their class. Mr. I was pleased about this. My absence the following week would only serve to hammer in that I may not ever go back to their class. Gone would be the games and the candy. Gone would be the wacky, idiotic ALT. Of course, this isn't true at all. After all, I'm not paid to not go to class. However, it was a good chance to lay down the law and hopefully do a little attitude adjustment in the kids.
9/03/2008
Lazy days of Indian Summer.
It's an odd feeling to be in my 3rd year in Japan. I've been teaching at Genkai for 2 years, and through the magic of the Japanese school year, I'm actually on my 3rd set of students. I suppose there's a certain sense that I'm nesting again, not really going forward, circling for a landing as it where.
I notice this a lot now in the lessons I'm "planning". Gone are the halcyon days where everything was planned head to toe by me, including rules, directions, execution, etc. Instead, I find that these days most of my activities come from outside sources, either the internet or from other ALTs/Teachers.
I think there's a degree of job-familiarity that's involved here. Whereas 2 years ago I didn't know what I was doing, having done this job for a while, I have a good grasp of what works and what doesn't. Of course you still get the occasional flop, but for the most part my lessons are competent.
But that in a sense is leading to boredom. It's harder and harder to come off a class on a high, and as my teaching starts to focus more and more on actual English instruction (versus the staple cultural exposition that our ilk are known for), I find that it's harder and harder to innovate.
Oh still act the jack-ass in class. After all, ALTs should be equal parts teachers and actors. But maybe it's just the heat that does it to me, but I definitely feel lazier.
But NOT when it comes to my diet, so it seems. In another effort to lose weight, I'm while not strictly, but to a degree controlling my evening caloric intake, and watching my meals during lunch and dinner. Dinner is down to about 500 calories, with lunch at about 700. Breakfast is as normal. This, plus a little (and I really do mean a little) more exercise. So far, day 6 today, so we'll see how we do. On a small note, I went from 99.6 kilos to 98 over the course of these few days. That translates into about 3.5 pounds. Not bad for not doing anything other than eating less.
Anyway, not much else to reports, save for my new helmet. Yes, the colour is intentional. I hope to decorate one of the larger surfaces with a big yellow Zeon mark, and a Zeonic Corporation logo somewhere. I love being a geek.
I notice this a lot now in the lessons I'm "planning". Gone are the halcyon days where everything was planned head to toe by me, including rules, directions, execution, etc. Instead, I find that these days most of my activities come from outside sources, either the internet or from other ALTs/Teachers.
I think there's a degree of job-familiarity that's involved here. Whereas 2 years ago I didn't know what I was doing, having done this job for a while, I have a good grasp of what works and what doesn't. Of course you still get the occasional flop, but for the most part my lessons are competent.
But that in a sense is leading to boredom. It's harder and harder to come off a class on a high, and as my teaching starts to focus more and more on actual English instruction (versus the staple cultural exposition that our ilk are known for), I find that it's harder and harder to innovate.
Oh still act the jack-ass in class. After all, ALTs should be equal parts teachers and actors. But maybe it's just the heat that does it to me, but I definitely feel lazier.
But NOT when it comes to my diet, so it seems. In another effort to lose weight, I'm while not strictly, but to a degree controlling my evening caloric intake, and watching my meals during lunch and dinner. Dinner is down to about 500 calories, with lunch at about 700. Breakfast is as normal. This, plus a little (and I really do mean a little) more exercise. So far, day 6 today, so we'll see how we do. On a small note, I went from 99.6 kilos to 98 over the course of these few days. That translates into about 3.5 pounds. Not bad for not doing anything other than eating less.
Anyway, not much else to reports, save for my new helmet. Yes, the colour is intentional. I hope to decorate one of the larger surfaces with a big yellow Zeon mark, and a Zeonic Corporation logo somewhere. I love being a geek.
I may actually have to buy this...
...because Japan definitely has not cured the gun nut in me.
http://gizmodo.com/5044386/its-gun-oclock-so-youd-best-rise-and-shine
http://gizmodo.com/5044386/its-gun-oclock-so-youd-best-rise-and-shine
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