Last night was the first night we didn't huff and puff our way through our walk so it's obviously doing some good. It only helped that it was coolish too so I got back home feeling rather good. Shoes did well although I now have a blister on a blister (is that possible? If not, it's just double the size). It's the first time to get one on the sole of my foot so I reckon I must walk in a strange way, hmmm.

Tonight is my drinking night (no beer for the past 2 days) so I'm going to have to be strong-willed and get home at a reasonable hour or feel like crap tomorrow morning although I'm hoping the weather forecast turns out right and BB gets cancelled. Problem is, because we are 45 mins away, we never get the message before we have to leave the house.

On all other fronts things are as boring as ever. Friday is my worst day for teaching since I've got one class of 1st graders who just aren't 'getting it'. Reckon I must be getting too old for the amount of energy that age-group have since I remember having the same problems last year with the same age-group (who by the way are now 2 great classes). Maybe next year I'll only take 2nd grade and up! One more lesson to go then off out galivanting.

Oh just remembered something else, because of taxes Setsuo is going to take a cut in pay and when we added up my earnings from the company, teaching and rent, I'll be earning more than him - don't think he was very happy when he realised although it doesn't make much difference since all the money is pooled and it invariably gets put back into the company anyway!

Yesterday I said I was going to have an 'apple-cider soda' drink but meant an apple-vinegar soda drink.

Anyway, I did and it was probably better than the beer after our walk which turns out to be 5.6km. When I told Keita the length, he couldn't believe how such a short walk could make me as tired/sweaty as I was. Baby steps, baby steps.....

My new shoes were a godsend. Not only were they comfortable but they lit the way for us - very white!

Another good thing about doing this walking lark is that it's timed just as I would be washing the dishes so I usually arrive home to them being done for me - last night it was obviously Keita's turn because although the dishes were washed, dried and put away, the rest of the kitchen was a shambles!

Tomorrow I have another 'drinking' night but need to get home at a reasonable time because it's my turn to be 'on duty' at BB. I'm hoping to be back in the house by 11pm but we'll see!

Have more or less given up on the hula-hoop, I'll try again when I have more of a waist to keep it up with!!

For the past 4 nights I've been going out for a 1-hour fast walk with my neighbour. The first night just about killed me - that's how unfit I am - but it's getting easier and we are walking faster. Two nights ago I ended up with a blister on the sole of my foot and then last night got another one on one of my toes so today I went and bought another pair of shoes which hopefully will solve that problem. Only drawback is that I've also been having a beer when I get home but from tonight, I'm going to have an apple-cider/soda drink instead.

Because of the O-bon holiday, I have no lessons from August 9-17 but got an email last night to say that there are bb matches on quite a few of those days so I won't be having the relaxing time I'd planned.

Well I've got past the first kg and even managed to lose 200g on top of that so at least it's a start.
I'm more or less eating the same as everyone else but no rice and our meals have probably been re-vamped a little with more tofu related products and veg.

Still no improvement with the hula-hoop - maybe it's just not my thing but will persevere and maybe once a bit more weight comes off it'll get easier.

Another bit of trivial news (but important for me) - after 26 years of being here, I've finally found a deodorant that a) doesn't react with me and b) actually helps me smell a bit sweeter! Yaay!

Well as expected I probably did drink more than you should when you're trying to lose weight but it was fun nonetheless. I was good in that I came home after the meal and didn't go on to the second pub. However, the next night everyone was out of the house - Setsuo has patrol duty at the local summer festival and both Kana and Keita went there with friends - so I was on my own with nobody to even cook for. In the end it was a toss up between reading my book (book 2 of Stieg Larsson's trilogy which is highly recommended) or going out with my neighbour. In the end, the lure of friendship won! We were home just after 9.30 and only had 2 beers so although I wasn't exactly good, it could have been worse!

I still haven't mastered the art of hula-hooping but today had plenty of exercise washing the staircases, cleaning Lisa's room (for those who know her, you'll appreciate what kind of job that was!) and then doing the usual washing of floors and a big pile of washing since it's been raining for the past two days. While I was still feeling enthusiastic (actually it was because I saw myself in the mirror after my shower) I also washed down the verandah. Hopefully by tomorrow morning I'm going to see a bit of a change in the scales because so far I've only lost 800g!

On the bb front, we are off to Wakayama on Saturday with the 3rd year team. If they manage to win then it'll be a repeat on Sunday and again Monday too if they win that game. I've a feeling it'll just be a one day thing though.

I'm now the proud owner of one multi-coloured hula hoop! Lisa bought it in Don Quixote on her way home but alas there were no skipping ropes. Only snag is........I can't for the life of me get it to spin more than a couple of times without it falling to the floor. Oh well, practice, practice, practice. Lisa and Kana on the other hand can keep it going forever - or at least until they get fed up of spinning it - makes you sick since they're the ones that don't need the exercise.

Last night I was good and stayed off the beer and kept to my no rice dinner - I did go to bed dreaming about what I was going to have for breakfast though! Funnily enough although I ate more this morning, by around 11am I was starving so maybe the metabolism was kicking in.

Tonight and tomorrow will be no problem but on Sunday I'm going to have to make a real effort not to eat/drink too much.

On Sunday night we have another meal out with the whole BB club so I went shopping today to see if I could see anything - nothing fancy, just more than my usual t-shirt and jeans. Whatever I fancied looked terrible on me, mainly because of the weight I've put on and the lack of muscle tone so, once again after seeing myself in the full-length mirror, I am determined to lose at least 5 kg (but hopefully either 7 or 8). I'm going to cut out ALL BEER unless I'm out for the night or it's the weekend which is going to be hard especially since we have loads of it in all the fridges (thanks to summer gifts). I'll try to have better breakfasts and lunches and low calorie dinners. I'll still eat the same foods as everyone else, just smaller quantities and no rice at night.

And, I'm going to buy a skipping rope and hula hoop!!!

I reckon if I manage to skip (you'll be able to hear me puffing miles away!) then it will also tone my legs and upper arms. My upper arms were the biggest shock today. Because it's summer, all the tops had short, short sleeves which really emphasized the flab (not to mention the colour contrast with wearing longer short sleeved t-shirts to BB!) We have the wii fitness DVD but I reckon I should be able to get by with just those two bits of equipment and I can just take them out while I'm waiting for classes or have a free 10 minutes or so.

Last week when I was out food shopping I came across apple cider vinegar that has been getting some good raves so I bought a bottle and finally opened it at lunch time expecting it to taste foul but it was surprisingly good and refreshing so I'm going to drink that with soda water in lieu of beer at nights. (Keita and Setsuo also tried it and liked it too).

Anyway, that's my plan - just hope I can stick to it (and hopefully get out and buy the skipping rope and hula hoop tomorrow!)

Watch this space!!!

Since I'm here twiddling my thumbs waiting for my first lesson (3.45) I'd be better off going upstairs and preparing dinner, just can't be bothered. It's been a really boring day today mainly because I was up early (Keita) so got everything out of the way. I also went and got my hair cut and as usual it'll take a couple of days for me to like it (not that it's a different style or anything).

For want of anything better to write, I'll let you know what we're having for dinner - salmon cutlets, tomato spaghetti salad, green salad, rice and ??? Any ideas? Having to think about what to cook is the bane of my life. I love cooking, just don't like planning a menu. Maybe I should post what we eat everyday and then after a month, just start it all over again! In fact, I think if everyone who's blog I read did the same, we may all get some new ideas.

A long time with no news to post.

There's really been nothing much of happening (not that there ever is) the last few weeks other than that we are all doing whatever it is we do every day. Both kana and keita have had exams - kana is still in the middle of hers - and keita re-joined the school baseball club so setsuo is getting a rest since he was riding his bike with Keita when he was running at night and now no longer needs to do that. Because the school club uses a different ball, he isn't allowed to do any ball throwing (catching is okay though) so the coach said if he brings his own ball and glove, he'll catch for him while the other kids are using the lighter one. He also gets to do all the training exercises on the days when he doesn't have his own club practice.

Keita is also on a work experience thing from the school. They go to shops, restaurants, kindergartens etc and Keita ended up at one of the local kindergartens! They are there from 9 - 4.30 so I bet they'll be glad when the 3 days are over and they are back to school.

Setsuo has just finished the 3rd of the houses he built this year and they have started on the 4th one. All are just around the corner from us so the carpenters don't have far to go. Until now nobody could see into our house but the 3rd one is positioned in such a way that if they looked out of some of their windows, they have a birds eye view into the kitchen area, toilet and bathroom (although are about 6 houses space away) so we have finally got around to putting blinds on those three windows. We are also thinking about putting them on the living room ones, Kana and Keita's rooms and one of the windows in our room. We don't really need them for privacy but it will cut down the amount of sunlight that comes in during the summer.