Yesterday, I went to the front desk of our building to pick up an iHerb package. The security guard on duty was an old man whom I've known since I moved in. We have a strange relationship that is sometimes prickly, sometimes jocular. Yesterday, when I came up to the desk to pick up my package, he asked, "Did you stop exercising?" I had just finished a 7.5-kilometer walk and was dripping with sweat.
The guard knows I've been an avid walker, but like many Koreans, he feels free to remark on my weight, so if he mentions exercise, you know that a mention of weight loss is never far behind. Anyway, his question flabbergasted me, given the amount of weight I've lost since mid-May, but once again, I was reminded that I have a long way to go before most people even notice the weight loss.
"You can't see I've lost weight?" I replied, running a hand over my belly.
"Only the stomach," the guard said. "Only the stomach." By this, I guess he meant the rest of me—my face, etc.—looked the same.
Another 20 kg, and I think the weight loss will finally be visible.
Koreans may be assholes when it comes to being blunt and direct, but that directness can be a useful gauge of the reality of a situation.
Well, the weight is and will continue to come off, that's the important thing. Listen to the scale, not the security guy.
ReplyDeleteI don't recall getting much feedback either way on my weight loss journey. But your story reminded me of a long-ago incident in DC. I was waiting for the metro and this old woman walks up, pokes me in the belly, and says, "your wife must be a good cook." Then she walked off as I stood there speechless.