Expat loosing

UntoTheLeast

hi, my name is Tina, I'm 34 and have lived in East Africa for nearly three years. One would think living in a third world country you would loose weight. But it's a common cry of expats and missionaries "I have gained so much here!" I often joke that we live in the land of carbs and oil. I have been shocked to see how they prepare food. Rice cooked with oil, mashed potatoes mashed with oil (not milk, or anything but pouring in the oil).

But also here it is a compliment to be "fat". Something I cannot wrap my western brain around being called everyday. Yep, everyday I leave my gate at least 5-10 people would come up to me to tell me (ahem, compliment) me on how "fat" I am. On my last furlough, partaking way too much on the bad foods I loved. I got on the plane and headed home at 230lbs! I was shocked and appalled.

I startd doing Zumba. I started making seperate meals for me, as those in my house couldn't grasp cooking without vegetable oil loaded into everything. Then a friend came from the states, knowing I was working hard, and got me a vivofit! I was so excited!

Now I am down to 187! (Is it strange to get excited when you get out of the obese BMI and into the overweight BMI range?) I was!

I head back to the states for training in September and am working to be at 150. And telling myself now not to overindulge in foods I miss there. (seriously, I could eat a brick of cheddar when in the states! It really is ridiculous!)

Tina

MonsoonStorm

I wouldn't worry too much about heading back to the States and undoing all of your hard work. Being an Expat is hard, you miss sooooo many things that all of your friends take for granted. If your trip back is a short one, then enjoy it, indulge a little when you feel like it, just be mindful of your ability to "hop back on the train" when you get back.

Funnily enough, I repatriated a couple of years ago after 17 yrs abroad. I recently had a trip back to my foreign "home". I didn't deprive myself of foods, visited friends, went out, had fun. The meals I was alone for then I buckled down and had a salad or something. I did gain a bit over the three weeks I was there, but now I'm back to my other "home" and back into my old routines.

Whilst you are in Africa, use it to your advantage. Relish the seasonal produce - it's something that Europe and the States tend to lose sight of, local fruit and veg that is in season and not force grown thousands of miles away is absolutely amazing. Relish those flavours! If you are near the coast then take advantage of all of the wonderful seafood. You're already starting to cook more healthily for yourself, keep it up

I have to admit that my biggest issue being an expat was the social life. Expats (understandably) tend to revolve around meeting others in the same situation as they are for the sake of finding common ground, whining about annoyances, sympathising and support. More often than not this seemed to involve alcohol. Thankfully, you'll probably find that most other expats are also disliking the weight gains and it's possible they would like to join you... Do you have a good network of expats there?

Expat4Life

I'm a long term East African expat, too!! It's amazing the weight you put on here. The conventional meals are so calorie dense, which makes sense when you're busting your *kitten* on a farm or collecting water around all day, but pretty bad for someone doing what is mostly an office job.

I've just resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to spend way more on food to get a wide enough variety of fruits and veggies for me to not go crazy (tomatoes and onions can only get you so far, right?) and have to prepare most of my food myself. I won't lie, it add another layer of difficulty to the journey that there is literally no convenient food that isn't going to assist in your packing on more pounds. I try to do as much food prep are possible on the weekends so I'm not tempted to be lazy and eat a plate of oily rice and oily beans for dinner.

Good luck!!!!