Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Cornfed]

I used this diet to get in shape at the beginning of last year, and it worked really well. Makes a lot of sense too. I should really get back on it.
http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

[alex83]

Last year I was in Korea, i dropped 20 lbs. (from 190-170) Then I went home (Canada), had surgery and thus was immobile for a while. Coupled with my laziness and western diet, I gained all the weight back within 7 months (and them some).
I've been back in Korea for 4.5 months, and I'm already down 15 lbs!
I've thought about what it is I'm "doing right" because I eat tons of food (including meat, ice cream, snacks)...I drink a few times a week (beer, soju, makolli, etc.)
The following are differences that exist in my life at home and in Korea. I don't know, maybe it can be helpful for you.

1. Walk as much as possible. Try walking to places you'd normally take the bus to in your area. Keeping yourself mobile is good for your health in general.
2. Get involved in sports a few times a week.
3. Rice is probably ok, just don't eat as much as Koreans...I just don't understand sometimes how they consume the amounts they do.
4. Eat lots of vegetables, including kimchi.

Pretty generic, I know, but hopefully helpful.

[Temporary]

[Temporary]

[Crockpot2001]

[bogey666]

I'm older than you, I know everyone's different and it's harder with age to shed weight as metabolism naturally slows down, but it's doable.

I came here a fat 100 kilos. Down to 90 now. Probably lost 5 in the first month, then 3 in the second and 2 in the third. I'm shooting for somewhere around 87 kilos, though weight isn't an issue, it's more about how I look with and without clothes.

All the suggestions offered have been good. First of all, there is no getting around the basic law of eat less, move more.

The one thing I would instantly recommend is STOP eating the f....king rice. Utterly useless and sky high in carbs. Lay off the milk, unless it's non fat. I've always hated milk anyways.

Atkins was in many ways correct.. it is the carbs that will kill you.... really cause you to put on weight. etc.

All the Koreans laugh in my school as they fill their trays with rice and I eat none.. only veggies and meat on my plate. (annoyed with how their veggies ALWAYS swim in sauce though).

Then they stop laughing when they compare my physique to theirs

stay away from sauces.. USELESS calories.

Lifting I strongly recommend. It will help "reshape" your body even as you lose weight (which is very important psychologically) and it will help fight off the effects of aging by naturally boosting your BMI (basal metabolic rate) - aka the calories you burn by doing NOTHING.

aerobic can't hurt.. strangely I haven't done any since coming here.. was planning on some jogging.. like 2 miles 5 x a week or so but it's been too hot. I've still lost the weight by lifting and sticking to a sensible diet. Mine might be too restrictive for you.. but I like it/works for me (e.g. almost every day for dinner I grill chicken breasts for myself on the Foreman grill, and I drink Diet Coke like a fish.. (love the caffeine.. no calories)

other things you'll need to learn for yourself. It's often said/written more and smaller meals is better but I've always done well and lost weight even while eating as little as 2 meals a day (and fairy larger ones)

Also, for me... eating late isn't a huge issue... so long as I watch what I eat.

If you have the commitment, you will learn what works best for you.

Best luck on the fight..and if you have any questions, comments, etc feel free to drop me a line. From one geezer to be to another

one last thing... be strict but not irrationally so. Give yourself a day or time of day each week to basically eat whatever the hell you want.... so long as keep guidelines the other times. that one/two times won't be an issue and it'll help keep you sane.

[Temporary]

[BS.Dos.]

I've just bought a really good weight-lifting book which has a useful calorie calculator for determining your intake based on your personal variables etc. I don't happen to have it to hand, but will post it up tomorrow. It's straight forward enough. You just enter your info and do the calculations and it'll work out the rest for you. You then make calorific adjustments accordingly.

In the mean time, it stands to reason that you're probably aware of what you should and shouldn't be eating too much of. Processed sugary foods should be the first to be reduced. As has been mentioned, protein is a good weight-loss food, inasmuch that your body works harder consuming it i.e. digesting it etc burns more calories. Protein also keeps you feeling full for longer meaning you'll be less inclined to graze on crap inbetween meals. Having said that, any diet should always be balanced so I wouldn't recommend eating nothing but chicken for the next 6-months a la Atkins.

Another often overlooked factor in controlling your weight, is focussing on precisely how you eat. I'm also approaching 40 and am also carrying (about 10kgs) more than I'd like. Not sure about you, but my problem is that I only stop eating once I'm full, which when you consider that most people eat quickly, you're actually consuming far more than you should before your body has a chance to tell you that you're already full. A good friend of mine back home who's an eating disorder specialist gave me a few pointers to help combat this:

1. Eat all meals at a table without any distractions (TV, radio, internet etc)
2. Chew your food slowly and purposefully so that you taste every mouthful you're eating rather than simply chewing once or twice before swallowing.
3. With each mouthful, place the cuttlery down onto your plate as you chew, which further reinforces step 2.
4. Always leave something on your plate when you finish no matter how small.

The idea is that by taking longer and exaggerating the process of eating, your body will have a better chance of telling you when you've eaten enough i.e. those sensations we associate with being full. Eat quickly, and you'll consume more calories before your body has had a chance to respond to what you've just eaten.

Regarding exercise, strength/muscle building coupled with cardio represents the fastest way of attacking unwanted stores of fat. With weight training, focus on multi-movement, compound exercises rather than isolated muscle routines. With regards to cardio, you really want to be incorporating variation and differing levels of intensity. Your cardio workouts should incorporate as much as possible rather than simply jogging for a couple of miles 3-times per week. Think of the way kids exercise when they're playing. They run in one direction. Stop. Sprint off in another. Stop. Hop about for a minute. Stop. Jog off somewhere else. Stop. Do a load of star jumps/squat thrusts etc. That's the kind of way you need to think about cardio. A couple of miles spent jogging and walking with some good intensive bouts of sprinting would be best. Also, mix up the way you run; backwards for a bit, then sideways etc. Really try and mix it up. Buy a skipping rope too. You'll be suprised at how much of a sweat you'll build up after a few minutes.

[Crockpot2001]

[Ukon]

Again, speaking as someone who used to be fat....

The KEY thing to remember is to eat less calories than your daily reccomended intake(500 less or more less for faster results, but not below 1000)...period..

You can try every kooky diet method of the week, but if it fails to do that, it will almost always fail. So many diet plans try to "cheat' this basic equation principle or act like it...

If you eat enough apples a day, you will get fat like a guy who goes to burger king everyday.

There is alot of decent advice in this thread, but some of it is a bit excessive....for instance...some foods speed of your metabolism. But it isn't something I'd bank on....the vast bulk majority of weight loss is going to be due to how many calories you eat....if you hate peppers, don't go eating them just to boost your metabolism....as for comments about weights versus cardio for losing weight. Go with both...if you really want to speed things up and maximize loss, minimize time spent, and limit muscle loss do Interval cardio training....



Some comments

Limit the rice....carbs aren't evil, but it's good to reduce intake somewhat when losing weight and in general.

Don't do the detox or whatever...there are minor health benefits for the first few days or week, but it's harmful after that...

Don't starve youself or do the "I only ate crackers and cheese for lunch" diet some chicks do....it's moronic and likely to lead to your body going into starvation diet....which will cause you to gain weight ironically(notice why some women fail diets despite eating miniscule amounts?).

[bogey666]

lots of good comments from other posters.

100% agreement with guy that refers to "compound" exercises regarding lifting.

I'd also say do squats.. (though I personally despise this lift/movement)

Rice I actually ate in Venezuela along with my chicken breasts and salad, so it's not "evil" but I limited my intake... say half a cup with each meal but I remain intensely suspicious of it.

I had one girl privately PM me a while back with a question.. she said she was in good shape but had noticed that in Korea she'd put on like 2 kilos and felt strangely "bloated".

I said 2 kilos really isn't a big deal and a part of normal fluctuations which are more pronounced for women, given menstrual cycles, etc.

but I also noticed in another thread she said she was eating lots of rice at school.

I told her- cut back/eliminate the rice!

several weeks later, I get a PM from her.. saying her tummy feels like a washboard and she feels much better, etc having cut back on the rice.

So... like I said.. I remain INTENSELY suspicious of rice.

(I say this even though some Koreans without an ounce of fat on them pile on tons of rice on their dishes at school. Fine... but ONLY if you are willing to eat a purely "Korean" diet, without much snacking.. I suspect you are NOT willling to do that)


besides.. I kind of "barter" with myself... since I know I'll want a chocolate bar or even bread from that French bakery chain,,, why the hell should I bother eating something that I don't particularly care for.. like rice??

I prefer leaving eating options for the shitty stuff I happen to LIKE!

like I said.. with commitment and experimentation you will learn what works best for you.

for me... lifting is absolutely necessary and I would give it my strongest recommendation.. because from a variety of viewpoints it "helps".
you reshape your body.. "look better" even though you may not be losing much weight (this is what's important actually, not the weight, per se) but how your "ass loooks in these jeans", even if you're a guy

and it raises your BMI and burns some calories in its own right.

anyways.. as I said. good luck and let us know

ex fatsos need to be supportive of each other hahaha

btw.. boxofchocolates.

re complaining about fat Western women comment.

all I will say on that subject is in my vast observation among expats and many tourists.... is that for WHATEVER reason there are more fat(ter) women than men among North Americans (and Brits and Germans). I am not sure why, but it's a FACT. for every 4 fat guys out of 10, you'll find 6 fat girls if not 7.

this is NOT an issue for non fat Europeans like the French..(and much less so for Quebecois Canadians rather than their "English" counterparts) ..Their women all have great bodies. Part of it is cultural.it's just less "acceptable" for women, particularly among themselves, to get fat.

can't comment on the cause/effect but the data is overwhelming.

[ciccone_youth]

I agree with all the comments above, and YES, CUT DOWN on the rice!!!

-drinks loads of water. cut down on juice and soda.
-walk whenever you can. walk after having a meal.
-try exercising at least 30 min per day, any form of cardio
-cut down on the alcohol
-eat more fruits and veggies, and healthy snacks.

I found that eating 6 small meals was much better for me, too.

[Crockpot2001]

[livinginkunsan]

Hey fattie, why can't you just lose the weight.. EXERCISE.. EAT LESS.. it really isn't that hard... why do you need the approval and help of strangers on a message board?

[EzeWong]

This worked for me, I don't know if it will work for you, but it's easy to try and takes a few minutes a day.

1) Drink lots of water, mostly before going to bed. What I do is, I keep plenty and plenty of water. While I drink it I stretch, so I'm not focused on drinking the water rather the pain of stretching.


2) Plenty of cardio, Just doing faux jump ropes, or jumping jacks will work, do enough for 30 minutes. To keep myself going cause I'm lazy, I put on some rocking tunes, then I imagine I'm training a whole platoon of soliders following my orders. Put on your man voice, call em maggots and show em how its done.

3) Core exercises. Look up the Plank and side plank. I'm skinny now so it really thins out my abs and my figure is getting more V shapped.


But really the key was the water. Doesn't seem to make much sense but I think the water and stretches really made me lose a LOT of weight. I'm talking almost 20 lbs. I did it religiously only for a month. My goal wasn't even weight loss, I wanted to be more flexible for meditaiton... lmao