This has been a pretty confusing concept for my host mom to grasp, but I want to get into better shape, eat less, exercise more and live healthier while I am here in Mongolia. Generally speaking being larger and having more fat on your bones is seen as advantageous and desirable in Mongolia, as it might be in many other developing countries I would imagine. Conversely, being thin and muscular can be characteristic of being a working man or woman who does not have an excess of money coming in from their job, making eating a lot and not having to exercise a desirable luxury. With this in mind I understand why my host mom wants me to eat a lot, but I am still standing firm about trying to lost weight and get in better shape. Almost every meal we kid back and forth about me eating more even though I say that I am full. I know that my stomach has gotten smaller and that I have already lost some weight in the first month that I have been here, but that means I am on the right track. My host mom thinks I’m a little crazy, I know, but I’m on a mission. I’m coming home to America in as good a shape as I was during football season in high school. Push-ups, jogging, sit-ups, meditation, the whole nine yards. And maybe, just maybe, a pizza or two thrown in there once and a while for good measure.
