Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kiwiliz]

Hi,
Since I came to Korea I seem to have put on weight which is odd as I had been told Korean food is healthy and I eat Korean food for lunch at the primary schools I teach at. I then find I am not terribly hungry at dinner and eat a sandwhich or a salad.

I also walk heaps, and at a reasonable pace, and go uphills when I can.
So why am I putting on weight?

I am wondering if its the salt. I never cooked with salt at home, only having it on the occassional fish and chips and potato crisps. You actually get enough in bread. Can it be the salt making me retain fluids?

and if so..does anyone know what I can take to help reduce the fluid levels? or any other idea? My clothes are getting tight! and I don't want to buy new ones!!!

[laogaiguk]

[kiwiliz]

Thats just it..I don't snack. if I do want something its fruit but I find if I eat Korean food for lunch I am not hungry for much and only want a light meal because I should..and yet the clothes are tight!

I am watchful of what I eat. And I don't drink beer either.

[cornie_man]

Then maybe it's muscle from all all that hill walking, assorted exercise etc, you are doing...

[Colorado]

Get thee to a Gymnasium!

I lost 20 kilos when I moved to Thailand, but have gained it all back in Korea and I don't even like Korean food. I started going to the gym and cutting back on fast food. It's my new hobby. The progess is slow but the alternative is too ugly to contemplate. Good luck.

[xtchr]

[quote="kiwiliz"]Hi,
Since I came to Korea I seem to have put on weight which is odd as I had been told Korean food is healthy and I eat Korean food for lunch at the primary schools I teach at.

When did you come to Korea? i.e are you still relatively 'new' here? I ask this because I see you mention primary schoolS (plural). I visit several schools on a rotational basis, and find that because I'm so infrequently at the same school the kitchen staff treat me as though I'm new, and a 'visitor', and heap up the food on my tray, way over and above what the Korean teachers get. When I was newly arrived I thought it was impolite to not eat it all, (especially because all the Koreans watch me intently every lunchtime to see what/how I eat ) and initially gained heaps of weight. But now I just eat the side dishes and a little of the rice and turf the rest out, and couldn't care less what the Korean teachers think.
Since then I haven't lost any weight (because I don't agree with exercise ) but I have stopped stacking it on.

[semphoon]

Is the weight fat or muscle? When people say "I've put on weight" they usually mean fat.

How much excercise do you do? How often do you drink beers? Do you snack at night?

Here's so good advice - sprint up a hill and walk back down. Repeat until you vomit. 2 or 3 days later, do it again. Repeat until you are superman.

[laogaiguk]

[RACETRAITOR]

It could be the beer. I have a theory that they put something in the beer to fatten people up. When I went back to Canada for three weeks and drank Canadian beer, I lost a lot of weight.

[canuck in Ansan]

My theory is that the rice makes many people (especially women) gain weight.. I think the koreans are just used to it, their metabolisms have been handling it since they were kids, eating it for 3 meals a day.

I eat as little rice as possible (plus, I don't like rice, so it makes it easy)

[John Henry]

[quote="xtchr"]

[Doogie]

[quote="John Henry"]

[kiwiliz]

You might be right xtchr, I am still fairly new. I have leant the korean word for 'a lillte please' and now say tht every lunch time. I have been teaching in primary schools for 6 weeks, before that I was in hogwan and we had to supply our own food. And yes, I felt I had to eat it all but as I thought it was good for me I did not worry.

So if I stop worrying about offending by not eating it all, it should help? I thought rice was good for you. Actually something is, my finger nails have never been so strong. But how much salt is in the food? I get very thirsty by mid afternoon.

I do exercise a lot, trying to avoid the cost of a gym until winter..and I have a set of dumbells I use. I wondered if any others had had the same problem.

[heydelores]

Hi kiwiliz. I do think you're on to something with the salt. I never add extra salt to my food. Korean food tastes salty to me, and I find myself drinking a lot more water here than I did before. Also, Korean food uses quite a bit of oil, so while it may appear to be healthy, there are hidden calories and fat in that. Rice is not bad for you, but it does have a lot of carbohydrates.

I actually had the opposite thing happen to me. I lost about 5 kilos in my first couple months in Korea, and I ate lunch at school everday. I also walked a lot (2+ hours a day at a good clip) and was pretty stressed out, so I'm sure that's what did it for me.

[sadsac]

It's the rice. Since I've taken it out of my diet, weight loss is so much easier.