Advice for Living in China?

rtwfitness

Hey everyone, I just moved to China after backpacking through 10 countries. I lost about 15 pounds on my journey because of..well...eating exotic foods and drinking lots of beer. Anyway, I have been living in China for 3 months and was feeling pretty lonely and sad...then i noticed I gained pretty much all the weight back, so I'm pretty much where I started.

I was wondering if any of you have any advice for someone with no access to 1) clean air (lol) 2) gyms 3) I literally have no kitchen. I have a hotplate but i can only heat one thing at a time. 4) protein or western food.


I'm not going for diet nor exercise. I'm going for a lifestyle change. I want to be able to drink on occasion (because this is how you make friends), and in general do what people in their 20s do, but to do it healthier than previously in an unfamiliar land.

My goal is to lose weight, gain flexibility, and feel comfortable with permanent changes to my diet and exercise.

It's going to be easier in China because portions are small and dairy and cheese are not common. It will be hard because of noodles, msg, sodium, sugar, and rice!

In the US it was easy for me to lose weight because I had access to all sorts of weight loss goodies, organic foods, and in general healthier foods. Was hard because CHEESE om nom nom! So yeah, lots of yo-yo weight depending on mood, willpower, discipline, and etc.

China will be a true challenge! So many unfamiliar foods with no idea how to even estimate calories, healthiness, etc, with questionable quality on the things that I deemed "healthy" back at home! Like apparently eggs are super gross and dangerous here because of...bacteria or something? I dunno, everyone told me the one thing I need to avoid at all cost is eggs.

TL;DR-- Working out outside will be just as bad as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. There is no gym. I have no kitchen so I cannot cook for myself (yet). I don't have access to Western foods like most familiar vegetables and fruits. Everything is unfamiliar. What do I do? What would you do?