When Josh and I went to dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Lee last Friday,  Mr. Lee  told me I looked like I lost some weight. I was surprised by this since Josh and I had only joined the gym a few days ago.

Later on I thought about it and really I should be surprised if I didn’t lose weight since my eating habits and means of transportation has changed dramatically since I moved from the U.S.

I walk a lot more than I did when we lived in Texas. Even though the weather was warmer in Texas we both had cars so it was more convenient to drive when running errands. Here I have to walk to the grocery store nearly every day. It’s not very far, but it all adds up.

There is also a park right across the road from us which is extremely convenient, and we usually walk to the subway station when traveling into Seoul or to the Emart. Sometimes we end up standing for most of the ride. (Inconvenient, but it burns up calories ).

We don’t eat a lot of packaged food since it is difficult to read. I cook a lot of rice, fresh chicken, and beef.  I have recently been advised that there is no regulation in the meat market in South Korea which makes me a little more cautious. As long as it is cooked well I am not going to lose sleep over it, the meat in the U.S. is supposed to be regulated and it has some quality issues.

I will however, avoid any raw meat. I tried some raw cow stomach and liver the other night at dinner and that was not very smart. I like to try new things but I do need to be more careful.

The Gym
We did it, we finally joined the gym. We visited it a few months ago but couldn’t find any one who knew English. One of the guys that Josh works with joined with us last Monday, so he was able to assist us with the language barrier. We signed up for three months, I think the cost was 80,000 won per person, per month.

We were given the option of towels or gym uniforms. We chose the towels. The uniforms remind me of gym class in junior high/high school, and I didn’t like the thought of wearing clothes other people had worked out in, even though they are washed.

We were also given a small personal locker, which I never use. It’s probably supposed to be for keeping shampoo/conditioner, etc. I have not used the showers/sauna yet. It’s a short walk home so I prefer the privacy. We do get a larger locker as well every time we check in, (for your coat, bag, etc).

In the women’s locker room there is a large vanity area that has brushes, combs, hair dryers, and q-tips provided. Josh told me there is something similar in the men’s locker room. I don’t see myself using a hair brush that is “shared” among other gym members. The gym is pretty impressive, there is a large diversity of equipment available and it is usually not too crowded. (The treadmills tend to be highly utilized). One of Josh’s other friends at work told him he has been to many gyms and this one is the best he has found. So apparently we got pretty lucky, since it is in our building complex.

The manager there is very nice and he does speak some English. My first time there he told me that they have trainers available to show me how to use the equipment. I think you may also get two training sessions for free, but I wasn’t sure so I didn’t pursue this. I have my P90x on my iPhone now so I can just go back to the old routine.

I was so excited to discover that the controls on all of the equipment were in ENGLISH. It is comforting and will help motivate me to work out more.

There is some “interesting” equipment I haven’t tried yet. One contraption looks like something I have seen on late night infomercials, the machine with the elastic bands that vibrate and is supposed to burn fat. I haven’t seen any one use it yet.