the diet dilemma

Prior to coming on this exchange I was told that I would lose weight here in Japan.

One would assume so; the Japanese are known for their diets of rice, soup, fish, and tofu.
Protein here comes in the form of mince meat or wieners.

In comparison to what we would normally eat back in New Zealand, the Japanese people here have brilliant diets.

Sure it lacks fruit because it costs the earth, but their portion sizes are just right.

Looking at a Japanese person’s body shape, one would also assume that their diet is the reason to why they all lack body fat.

The women lack in curves.
The men..
well; other things as well that I am way too classy to mention. ;]

Being here for a good 8 months though? I gotta say that this whole ‘I am going to lose weight in Japan!’ was a huge lie I was telling myself from the start.

If anything, I’ve been gradually gaining weight. 

With winter setting in fast, I cannot believe how awful my self control eating habits are here.

The other exchange girls are all having the same dilemma.

The past girls had the same dilemma too.

the conbini parties that we have on a weekly basis to either 'relieve stress', or 'celebrate' some insignificant event.

I don’t think I know any exchange girl here in Japan that has not realized that their waistlines are just expanding at an alarming rate.

you just totally died from a heart attack by looking at this picture.

Japanese people have such great diets, and most of them look great.
They're also robots and aren't tempted by anything resembling food.
The difference with a Japanese person and a foreign person living in Japan is that we foreigners are suckers when it comes to food.
We LOVE to eat.
So if you accompany the love of food and making it oh-so-accessible?
It's just like giving bringing a crate of beer to an alcoholic intervention party.

It's pretty much giving your sex addict free condoms, and free vaccinations against STD's. Along with the phone numbers of girls that are rather .. easy.

My photos on facebook are a testimony to how much I’ve enjoyed my food here in Japan. Not a single month goes by where I do not take a picture of some certain food item, or taking photos in a food place with friends.

Not a single purikura time goes by where I do not write some sort of food item on it.

“Taiyaki Time!”,

“CHEESEBURGER”,

 “TAKO BALLS”.

“Crepes!”

I bet some of you have gained weight just by looking at my photos.

If you wanna blame anyone for the winter/exam weight gain?

Blame me. I know I do. 

We find an excuse to eat; all the time.

I don’t know what it is, really. We say it’s stress, or ‘to celebrate this certain event’.

Well let me tell you? We’ll even find an excuse to celebrate the fact that its Thursday.
We are way, WAY too liberal with that word. 

Not quite yet Friday, but two more days to freedom,
so HEY, lets go buy melon bread and milk tea at the conbini!

Using your train card (suica or pasmo; depending on if you preferred penguins or pink buses), in these conbini’s and vending machines grants you so much freedom.

But I personally think that my suica is cursed because I’ll just step out of the train, its freezing, and because it hangs outside my school bag, my card has the power to drag me all the way to the vending machine, and force me to pick a hot drink, and then press the buttons to allow it to do so.

I don't actually WANT to buy anything, but my suica card just drags me all the way to some random 売り場(...god, I actually don't know this word in English. It means...stall?)

After 130yen is raped out of my suica, I am left standing with a hot drink in hand and utterly guilt ridden.

My friend and I decided to perhaps try watching our diets a bit better.

Needless to say we both were terrible diet buddies.

On Monday it would be, "OH MY GOD, it's MONDAY, let's have cake because we need the sugar for the energy throughout the week."

On Tuesday it'd be, "oh bloody hell, it's ONLY tuesday- how does splitting a McFlurry sound?"

Come Wednesday and Thursday it would be just awkward because we both knew that neither of us was being good and not indulging in some long, big, thick...(thats what she said) bread like thing that the Japanese have managed to create, package into some cute plastic bag and sell for 120yen if not less.

Friday and the weekend usually comes the 'celebration'.

We would make excuses to 'celebrate' the fact we 'made it through the week'.

To really illustrate to you how we celebrate little insignificant things here in Japan, exchange student style, we had a pre Harry Potter viewing celebration party.
This party lasted for the whole week.
Harry Potter came out yesterday but we've been pigging out since Monday.
And it's only logical that one needs to have an after party too?
Who has a pre party and no after party, right? :)
Needless to say the after party was today...which is also going to drag on come next week Monday. . . (dont judge me!)

We're also celebrating Potato Fish Day.
(STOP JUDGING ME! Shame on you. You don't have a soul.)

introducing my new boyfriend.

There's a fish in the school's aquarium that literally looks like a potato with eyes.
Out of boredom and procrastination, I even made a group on Facebook in it's dedication.
Can someone please, tell me to study? 
It's in two weeks. My test. And what am I doing instead?
Eating too much, gaining weight, and looking at fishes in the school's aquarium.
If you looked in a dictionary, I would totally be a synonym for the noun 'pig', and the adjectives 'lazy', and 'stupid'.

Mind you; this isn't a blog to complain about how terrible Japan is for making me gain weight.

It's a blog about how amusing it is that all exchange students that come here end up loving the simplest things- such as conbini's.

Back in New Zealand I was unimpressed if not disgusted to go to a dairy and buy food there to eat.

There wasn't ever a time where I would walk past a dairy and go "damn, I wanna get *insert disgusting calorie-filled food item here*"

My host family, as lovely as they are, also feed me quite a bit.

I don't really think I have a choice in the matter really.
If I say I don't want dinner, the reply, just like an automated voicemail system would then come out of my host dad's mouth going, "why ever not? I made *insert really tempting Japanese dish into here* just for you."
Then I will reluctantly say, "I'm quite full from the huge feast I had with my friends at lunch."
Then he would reply, "well what time was that? You need dinner, don't you? Besides it's getting cold now, you should eat..."

BUT.
The colder it is, one's metabolic rate would then slow down.
I think that's the theory, right?
So you store all your stupid fat instead of burning it off like one does in summer just by standing outside in the heat.

Therefore. I have been storing my food.
I should just stop living here.
The whales are calling me. They really are.
In fact I even drew a picture.
(did I mention I've been extremely lazy too? It's to accompany the whole 'eating too much' habit. One can't be hardworking and eat a lot, right? Doesn't work that way.) ;p

the diagram above shows it all, really. It basically shows from when I first came here, and when I moved to my new host family come summer vacation...until now. =]

However, I think I will actually lose all the weight off when I return to New Zealand.
Unless my family insist on taking me to eat pasta, pizza, and all the foods that I can't eat here in Japan.
If any of my family are reading this- please don't bring me to eat any more. :(
I'm afraid I'll be an embarrassment! :P

But as long as I am here, I don't think I mind too much.
It's all part of the experience.
....
do you see how I'm making excuses for myself to eat?
XD

All my love always,

April