I don't know how much I've lost, all I know is I no longer have to undo the fly on any of my pants to remove them. I've also had to poke a new hole in the belt I bought about a month ago. Apparently eating well and exercising works. Who knew!? ;) My diet on a typical day consists of:
Breakfast: Coffee (instant, with 1 tbs of sugar and a splash of soy milk), kash (Mongolian baby food: it's like that rice cereal stuff for babies in the States, only way better) and a container of yogurt.
Lunch: Two pieces of bread with butter/garlic & herb salt and an apple or orange.
Dinner: Pasta with packaged red sauce or stir-fry veggies with rice or a fried egg with rice or mashed potatoes with fermented green onions or bean/lentil/veggie soup. I've made a few other things, but these five seem to be the staples cuz I can make 'em quickly.
I'm only eating meat when we go out for our "All Volunteer Dinner" on Friday nights. Handling/preparing meat still freaks me out (poor Bambuul gets smushed up sausages [with rice and carrots] cuz I can't stand to cook her "real" meat).
Notice an absence of junk food/munchies? Yeah, that's because it (culturally) doesn't exist here. And what is here (Pringles, Snickers) is pretty expensive. Please send me junk food! Ha!
As far as exercise, well, I walk EVERYWHERE. It's about 15 minutes one-way to my school, plus walking to my site-mates' apartments, running errands, classes/clubs at the library/other schools, etc. I also play volleyball with my teachers 2-3 times a week (every day right now as we're preparing for a big competition) and I coach the teen girl's team.
I remember dreading the food situation when I learned I was coming here. Luckily I'm in the city where I can get fresh (organic) produce year-round, and even tofu on occasion. It's not an authentic Mongolian diet, that's for sure, but I'll live. ;)
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