and 50lbs lighter!

At the end of 2008 I weighed in at about 225lbs.  At the Mazda R&D center I worked at there was an old digital car scale that I would sometimes go stand on to make myself cry.  I remember the horror when that scale went over 220lbs the first time and didn't stop there.  225lbs is the highest I really remember it ever being.

But then February '09 came and I was no longer working at Mazda.  I had two months to liquidate a lifetime of being a pack-rat/collector.  The liquidation of stuff not only included our 2 bedroom condo but a 10x10 storage unit packed full of junk.  Those were probably among the toughest months of my life as I had to sell or throw away one prized possession after another.  But that's another post for another day.

Those two months of hard moving shaved a few lbs off my gut.  The first sign that I had lost some weight came on moving D-day.  The size 40 jeans I was wearing (and used to be about the only pair I had that fit!) just wouldn't stay up.  I had a belt in the suitcase but due to it being so packed I couldn't dare open it and ruin my perfect Tetris packing that took me the better part of a day to accomplish.  Sadly they don't sell belts at LAX either I found out.  

After making it to Japan I found a scale in the bathroom.  95kg is what I clocked in at.  kg?  What the heck, dang metric system.  Turns out thats about 210lbs.  Hey not bad 15lbs in 2 months!

Over the next few months more and more of my clothes became too big and too loose.  Sounds great right?  Well turned out to be a double edged sword.  In the two months before we moved I spent a good bit of money buying new clothes figuring (and at the time rightly so) that finding clothes my size in Japan would be a bit difficult.  My $300 Calvin Klein suit got used once before becoming way to big.  The size 40 jeans I had were the first to go.  Then the 38's.  Now I don't have a single pair of pants that I brought with me that I can wear.

The good news is I can find clothes that fit me in pretty much every Japanese clothes store now.  My size 34 Uniqlo jeans fit fine if not a bit tight at first but now require a belt.  I'll have to try on some 32's eventually just to see.

That same scale that weighed me at 95kg when I first arrived over a year ago now has me at about 78.5kg.  Or about 173lbs!  The how and why I'll have to save for another post!