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Two months have passed since I officially began. I've lost about 10 kilograms and dropped almost two waist sizes, and as far as anyone can tell I look exactly the same:


I got compared to Santa Claus today. Jesus, people.

Labels: Diet

I am both grateful and disappointed to admit that someone has finally made authentic Buffalo wings commercially available in Beijing.

Grateful, because it's nice to have something to snack on late at night (though not terribly good for my diet. I just had five wings on my way home tonight). Disappointed because I wasn't the first to get to it.

It never bothered me that some places offered "spicy chicken wings." Nobody has ever gotten it right. When you make good, authentic Buffalo wings, people like them. Now, if it were my bar, I'd include the celery and carrot sticks for free (especially in China, where vegetables cost less than water), but, we can't be perfect.

So, for those of you who don't know, COX is the name of the place that serves the wings. They're connected (not physically, but ownershipwise) to The Saddle. COX is a hellishly goofy name, but their wings get my approval. They need to work on the Qingdao. It's so bad that I wouldn't finish a nice cold bottle of it despite my burning mouth.

As an aside, I just did a Google search for "Cox Beijing," and got Jim Boyce's site as the first result. I love the internet.

Labels: Diet, Drinks

link back to month 1

In Beijing it is very difficult to maintain a diet and lose weight, even with a hefty amount of exercise. Especially while freelancing.

It's not just that there's a wealth of great and easily accessible food in Beijing, but also that there are a lot of generous, friendly people in my life.

I have a strict diet, which I am very good at keeping. My friends, business associates and clients are terrible at keeping my diet. I don't mean to complain about generosity and friendliness, all I mean to say is that I'm not refusing your fifth round of beer out of politeness.

Then there's the business dinners, which, are truly more about dinner than about business. Which is nice, enjoyable, and terrible for my health. Not to mention the fact that every week, some friend or friend of a friend is leaving Beijing forever or visiting Beijing for the first time or celebrating a birthday or whatever the hell else so we have to take them to the best freaking restaurant in town and follow up the huge feast with a big party or loads of cocktails.

Like I said, it's an enjoyable life which, for whatever reason doesn't make other people fat.

Another problem is the complete lack of encouragement. I have quite a few Chinese friends (I say this because a lot of expats in Beijing don't) and most of them engage in the national pasttime of telling me I'm fat.

One month on and, though I realize that others cannot see the fact I've lost weight, pants that once fit snugly now fall down as I walk. Running into a Chinese friend today while working she said, "你又胖了！(you're even fatter!)" It's really hard to keep a positive attitude about it.

In any case, I've been fairly successful in changing my habits, and expect eventual change. I'm still convinced others will see a difference by the end of March, and after another three months I'll be very healthy.

Then again, tonight I am getting together with some friends to go to Din Tai Fung (the one that is always hyped up as 'one of the top ten restaurants in the world' according to the New York Times) and there's not even a special event.

Labels: Diet

The first mistake I made was deciding to run my errands before exercising.

Things went south when Karen decided on McDonald's for dinner.

Not having to pay for my own drinks at Centro set things spiralling downwards.

Pub grub at 3:30am sealed my fate.

...

Well. I wanted a final binge anyhow. Lao Beijing food Friday night and a probably work-free weekend means that I won't get my real start until Monday. Give me a six-day margin of error for the stoning, please.

Labels: Diet

Well, after far too long a break, I'm going to begin exercising again. Give me three months, people. March 13th, 2007, if you don't see a significant increase in sexiness, please stone me to death.

So, here's a set of pictures I just took of my handsome mug. I took these with my computer's built-in webcam, partially because it refuses to take anything besides the least flattering shots of me, but mostly because I get some silly satisfaction out of telling my readers that my laptop has a built-in webcam.

Does yours? Didn't think so.*


*Does not apply to people whose laptops do.

Labels: Diet