Some struggles living in Japan and deciding to take back control of my weight

@prodigalson8523 34F here. I lived in Japan for almost 6 years. TLDR: I think CICO and being aware of macros kept me small in Japan. Plan to reapply what I learned in the US.

I'm 162cm and kept mostly between 50-55kg the whole time I was there. Japan clothing sizes are ridiculous; I was an M in tops/flared dresses, but an L or even LL in bottoms. I taught mostly preschoolers and the job I was at kept me in shape. I was allowed to pick up/carry little ones if they wanted me to, and I was suprised how much lifting that was for me and how toned my arms got. I also ate really lean-- an apple with pb and a coffee for breakfast (I ordered powdered pb online), high protein conbini foods for lunch (salads with chicken breast, protein bars/shakes, boiled eggs, cheese sticks, yogurts, these kinds of things), and since I was married to a Japanese guy, I made a lot of dinners that were healthy (a meat and/or tofu dish, a soup, rice [but I'd either sub rice for black bean natto or skip rice completely]). I did have sweets occasionally, but I was very active when not working, too-- the commute was long on foot, I did almost all of the shopping, cooking, and cleaning, and I was going to concerts when I had time or taking the train into Tokyo. I kept really fit just by being insanely busy.

I'm back in the US since I divorced, and I gained 20kg and then got married again to someone a lot more suitable for me and now I'm pregnant for the first time (32 weeks) so I'm even heavier than that, in the almost 4 years since.

I expect to weigh 80 ish kg in the 2-3 months following my birth, and my goal isn't exactly to get down to my Japan weight, but maybe somewhere in the 60-69kg range and focus more on adding even more muscle than I had before. But I expect that at my age to take a couple of years, and really I just want to be healthy enough to play with my son and be there for my husband. I plan to use some of what I learned before of how my body handles activity and macros. My husband also goes to the gym 5-6 days per week and is in generally great shape, but since he eats what I cook, he did gain 10kg throughout my pregnancy. So it will help him too if I lose weight. lol

I recommend doing both weight lifting and cardio, eating enough to feed your muscles but in the right ratios, and really, at least compared to the US where I am from, I think it's easier to be fit in Japan. One of my former coworkers was going to Curves (yes they have one in Chiba prefecture at least) and I know her trainer was actually recommending strength training to her, because her natural build would not suit being stereotypically slender. I think attitudes are changing a little bit. Even as recently as 5-10 years ago, what was considered the beauty standard in Japan was even more extreme than now.
 
@prodigalson8523 I can imagine the struggle and was about to make my own post acknowledging the u.s. makes good money on feeding its people crappy food and of course makes big bucks on lack of public transportation.

Anywho I can just imagine the frustration but I'm glad your getting on top of things and have a plan!

I'm sure the weight will fall off soon, the fact that your so active now and eat super healthy it's only a matter of time before you'll see the difference.
 
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