I'm Home!

By now you know that I wasn't at meetings last week (and last night). My husband and I went on vacation and spent a week in Tokyo. I got home yesterday afternoon and spent a jet-lagged afternoon and evening trying to stay up until bedtime, meaning that I was up for something like 30 hours. It's been a long time since I have had to do that, and I don't care if I'm only 36, I'm TOO OLD FOR THAT BUSINESS. I'm definitely an 8-hour a night kind of gal.

So anyway, I'm back, and it's time to get back to Weight Watchering. While on vacation I didn't track my food or count Points. I didn't specifically exercise, but we certainly did get in a lot of walking. Sadly I realized I'd forgotten my pedometer once we got to the airport and I saw someone else wearing one. Regardless, I do feel pretty good about things post-vacation.

Tokyo is a very different city from San Diego. Compact and vertical instead of flat and spread out. The city has a multitude of train and subway options, and we took advantage of that. Using public transportation is way different than living with a car (as I'm sure some of you know from experience) because instead of driving from door to door, inevitably there's someplace you need to go that's not right at the mouth of a train station. And so you walk.

Tokyo is also different culturally...well duh. But taking a look around, I noticed very few native people carrying extra weight. And I have to say that there's something at the heart of the culture that leads to that result.

My husband is a coffee fanatic, so a few times we popped into a cafe (and yes, sometimes it was a Starbucks, SHUT UP!) and the thing is, their small is SMALL. I've heard you can ask for a short coffee at Starbucks in the states, and the thing is, that's the small in Japan. Then you can get your tall and grande as well. That's it. Everything's smaller there. What holds true for coffee holds true for food as well. I never ate until I was full. Even when we got what seemed like a good quantity of food, because of what it was, we never left feeling sluggish or heavy.

Here are some photos of our most extravagant meal while we were there:





I'm sure the grinding of the sesame seeds with the mortar and pestle was good for an Activity Point, right? Anyway, look at that food. On my plate, despite all the noodles and rice, there are like 3 little pieces of chicken. Meat as a condiment, practically. My husband's plate is the one with all the sashimi. If you've looked up the Points for sushi you know that doesn't add up quickly.

So. Lighter, healthy foods, smaller portions. Lots of walking in the city. Hmm.... I may not live in Tokyo, but perhaps I can train my brain to think like I do.

MONDAY GROUP: I just realized that because of the holiday I'm not going to see you until JUNE! Crazy talk. Y'all better be at that meeting, okay?