I'm currently a PCV in Romania. Everyone told me I'd automatically lose weight in the Peace Corps...not true! I've been lucky enough to maintain even without watching my diet, but it's definitely time for me to eat healthier and work out more.

RPCV Madagascar 06-09 (got evacuated :-/)

And yet you have the same years as me - doing a 3 year tour. I am jealous though. I really want to see hissing cockroaches in the wild.

Yup, I extended then about 2 months before my COS date we evacuated but I still counted as a full 3 year volunteer
as for the cockroaches....no need to look in the wild, I had a kitchen FULL of them. My first night I poked at one with a stick just to get them to hiss (totally like a 3 year old)

Hi my name is Ed.

I was in Peace Corps Panama from 2006 to 2009 - living on a reservation working with coffee farmers. It was great!

Now being back in the states I put on a bunch of weight and trying to get it off.

I'm trying to start the couch to 5k program and a program called starting strength for weight lifting. Trying to get a handle on my food intake but living in DC with happy hours and eatting out isn't helping.

Also trying to use the fit bit.

Happy to have found this group.

I had a medical evac during my service in El Salvador and got to go to Panama City. I met some volunteers, sounds like a pretty unique place to serve. Bienvenido al grupo. I'm doing c25k too, along with P90X. I am trying to get back a pre peace corps physique. To many tortillas and not enough soccer!

Hi Kat and Yessi - thanks for the posts !

I just met up with my sister, and she told me about the Duchan Diet. Has anyone heard of it or tried it?

I guess its a high protein thing.

When i was in my site I was on an all potato like veggie diet, but I was also on a work out schedule of climbing mountains to do manual labor, so it worked out. Living here in the city now I have to switch it up.

I hope you're all doing well

Ed

Hello! I was in the Peace Corps a lot earlier than many of you....in Western Samoa from 1997-1999. This is when they only had one traffic light for the entire island. It's a little more developed now. I did organizational development....worked for "Catholic Social Services" out there doing health-related projects. It actually inspired me to go back to school and get my masters in nursing and public health. My username here is Samoan (so you can see it always stays with you). It simply means: foreign woman.

Trying to lose my last 15 pounds after gaining quite a bit of weight with my 2 kids......

Nice to meet all of you!

My name is Christina, and I'm a current PCV in Mozambique. No one bothered to tell me earlier that female PCV's often gain weight during their service (like I have).

I'm an RPCV from Ecuador 2002-2005. I actually did lose weight in Ecuador, but right after COS I started gaingin it all back and any all kinds of extra weight that I never had before. I went into the Peace Corps at 280lbs, lost in service to about 212, came back and over time have ballooned up to 350..what the hell. I am taking a serious shot at getting somewhere this year and hope to get to 300 before July.

I have an application pending for the Peace Corps but would like to be able to loose 40 more pounds before leaving. I have been using a C PAP machine since 1999 and have always been told that I could get off of it if I lost Weight. I now have the motivation to do so but could use a little support. I have been told that I should be prepared to live somewhere where I wouldn’t have electricity so I can understand the need to loose Weight. From the sounds of things loosing weight in the Peace Corps isn’t an automatic thing. The staff of my Group Home who are from Liberia say that I would loose 50 lbs. by just sweating it off if I went to Africa. I believe I should start living on a third world diet now so I would be ready for living wherever the Peace Corps may send me if you have any recommendations that might help me loose weight. I may just break down and see if a nose and throat specialist could eliminate my need for medical equipment so that I can help the rest of the world who has to live without it. I would like to be able to help those who have to live without a lot of things that we could learn to live without. Maybe I might be a stronger person if I learned to do the same. If you have any dieting ideas and support I would be happy to for them. Otherwise you can just tell me how I can seek to stay healthy wherever the Peace Corps may send me while helping others to stay healthy. I figure it won’t be hard to loose weight once I begin eating like a third world member. All I would need to do is drink the water or get a tape worm even though my doctor today during my physical didn’t recommend it. It is harder to loose the weight now so that I am prepared to be ready to help them. Maybe someone can pass on to me their advice.

I have been nominated to the Peace Corps, have sent off my finger prints for the background check and am waiting for a conditional medical release from PC Medical for a placement that has dependable electricity since I have Sleep Apnea and use a C Pap machine. I have been continuing to seek to loose weight to resolve the issue and expect I would loose some weight serving in the Peace Corps. I am getting a dental appliance that should help and if they have difficulty placing me I may go ahead and have surgery to help resolve the issue. I hope to receive a Placement Recruiter when I pass the Background Check but they project it could be any time between October and next spring before I would go out. I expect that I could end up in Asia or Africa. I was curious what you diet and living conditions were like in many of the Peace Corps countries and how hard it will be to lose weight there. I have always said all I would have to do if I was desparate to do so is drink their water but I don't know how advisable that would be.