Coping With Weight Gain in Japan

This is not your typical body-positive rant. This one’s Japan-specific.

For most non-Japanese women, moving to Japan and transitioning to life here can be a huge weight. So what do you do when your body suddenly changes without warning? How do you cope with weight gain and feeling foreign in your new body? And where the heck can a gal find brown bread in Japan?

Know That Change Is Gonna Come

© Photo by Anisa Kazemi

So you’ve acquired an unwelcome muffin top. Or your skin has exploded. Or your hair has taken on an electrocuted frizz and… you—loathe—it.

Guess what? It’s completely okay to feel that way, but just remember that it is expected. It’s what our bodies do. They change, especially when our lives have taken a 360-degree turn. I came to Japan on JET (the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program), where I was randomly placed in the most inaka (countryside) location ever.

This meant the health foods I was used to back home—whole wheat crackers, brown bread, quinoa, nuts and seeds, to name a few—were alien to my new environment. Plus, the nearest sports facility was an hour’s drive away, and I felt uncomfortable exercising outside because everyone stared.

I had to accept that living in an unaccustomed place, breathing in different air, eating exotic foods, working an unfamiliar job and instinctively engaging in new daily habits have a big impact on our health.

See Your Body For What It Is: A Miracle in Motion

© Photo by iStock: hxyume

It turns out that Japanese food isn’t as healthy as I had expected. During my first months here, eating the kyushoku (Japanese school lunch) with white rice and white bread every day, dining out and eating over at my Japanese friends, my weight dramatically changed. Suddenly, my decisions, my temperament, my self-esteem, my everything depended on how I felt about my weight. I stopped enjoying my life here. I blamed Japan and its lack of sugar-free cake.

When our body changes from what it used to be in the comfort of our home country to something foreign and unfamiliar, naturally we instantly become uncomfortable, unattractive or big (to ourselves). But change is normal. In fact, it would be unusual if we were to stay the same.

Whenever you’re hating on your body, it really means you’re looking at it in the wrong way. Author Lynn Shattuck has these magical words:

They [our bodies] start as a microscopic, a flicker of cells. They weave bones and blood, the essential blossom of the heart. They grow and grow, muscle and fat, hair and bones, eyes and fingers. They grow until they are done growing, and even then they continue to replace themselves. Our bodies are miracles in motion.

Wow! When was the last time you viewed your body as a miracle in motion?

Give It Time

© Photo by iStock: tdub_video

Looking back, I can see that all I needed was to be more patient with myself. Eventually, I sourced the oats, the raw almonds and the brown bread, and I even made friends with the starers.

As much as we try, we can’t beat nature. So be kind to yourself and make time for the enjoyable things in life, breathe deeply and let your “miracle in motion” heal itself. I assure you that stressing out will further the problem.

By The Way, You’re Not Alone

For most Japanese women, being thin is the ultimate aspiration. There have been countless articles and documentaries on this topic, and it’s my Japanese female friends’ and colleagues’ favorite topic of conversation.

It doesn’t help that the majority of Japanese women are smaller than us ex-pat ladies. Yes, we all know comparison is unhealthy, but we’re also only human. If you occasionally feel like the literal elephant in the room—girl, you’re not alone.

Living in the capital of our image-obsessed world, you’d have to be made of stone to not be affected. People can sometimes be particularly blunt when it comes to discussing weight gain in Japan.

“Anisa-sensei, you’ve been eating too much Japanese food. It’s delicious isn’t it?” Then out of nowhere: “You look fat today.“

Gee, thanks!

Go and Love Yourself

© Photo by iStock: AzmanJaka

Strive day by day to create an unconditional relationship with you. With the muffin-top, the pizza-face, the candy-floss hair and your current burdens of pain. At the end of the day, you are and will always be, your number one mate. So be a joker and laugh at such comments, knowing what actually matters.

How do you stop criticizing yourself?

By engaging in the exact opposite of negativity; enjoying yourself and enjoying all that life (and Japan) has to offer. And if that comes in the form of a bowl of ramen the size of your head with an extra soft-boiled egg, then so be it!

I invite you to view your body and its changes with a different lens. You are living, working and surviving in a foreign country where almost everything is different from what you’re used to, so be proud of yourself, all that you are, all that you have achieved, and all that you are yet to conquer—including that sweet, sweet Kyoto parfait.

Have you struggled with any weight gain since arriving in Japan? Share your story!

Comments

Haley says:

October 15, 2024 at 9:13 pm

Thank you for this article!! I was feeling really bad after suddenly developing tummy fat after moving to Japan as someone who’s been skinny my whole life, and this made me feel so seen🥹 I want to enjoy my time here, not waste it worrying about my body!!

Rochelle says:

November 4, 2024 at 4:31 am

Wow ! Finally someone gets it. Thanks for this relatable article . Rapid weight gain has weighed me emotionally. But I’m learning to love the body I’m in and treat it well. I’m learning to stay away from eating a typical Japanese diet .