That’s how many I’ve lost in the last five months.  It may not seem like much, but it took me over six months to lose that much in the past.  You may think this increase in my calorie burning efficiency is due to the fact that I am unemployed, living in a city full of hills and guilted into using my overpriced gym membership (since I’m unemployed and therefore cannot afford an overpriced gym membership) but all of those issues have been true in the past.  I think I actually have the oh-so-health-conscious environment of Australia to thank for my looser pants.

Aussies are a very healthy bunch.  They run, swim, play sport (not sports) hike, bike, and just generally move more often than not.  Sure, obesity is still and epidemic here, although Americans can still claim to be top dogs in that category, and beer consumption knows no bounds, but It’s not often that you see someone on the train who takes up two seats, which was a familiar commuting woe in NYC.  Now my daily life is filled with joggers, obsessive lap swimmers and the pressure to prove that I’ve got just as much game.

I still think that the squad coaches who force tethered children to swim for their lives in the deep end of the pool should be charged with child abuse, and that somewhere deep inside me is a chain smoking, alcoholic, who wishes she had a tranquilizer gun every time she sees someone jogging before eight am on a Saturday.   But I can’t help but be inspired when I see a woman who must be pushing seventy five, step into a racing suit and swim like she crosses the English Channel every other week.  I think to myself, I want to do the same thing when I’m her age, and then I realize, it means I have to start now.

In addition to an inspired increase in the amount of sweat i’m willing to drip on a daily basis, I think the Aussie food has also contributed to my healthy glow.  I’m not referring to barbecued roo or even shrimp (which are actually always called prawns) but endless Thai restaurants, cheap sushi, individual pizzas, sandwiches on Turkish bread (just called Turkish) fresh fish and plenty of fresh vegetables.  I must be eating enough of the good stuff to offset the fish and chips (some of the best I’ve ever had) extra chips and or potato wedges that come with almost everything you order, plenty of cans of drink (a.k.a. cans of soda.  Hey, they come with the lunch specials) and a firm latte addiction.  I’ve even managed to avoid gaining a Tim Tam ten, which was a worry during my first month or so spent eating my way through Arnotts various biscuit products.

Even though junk food isn’t hard to find out here, it’s significantly more expensive than the healthy stuff, just like the liquor versus the heart healthy red wine.  And when you eat out, you won’t get a plate covered with heaping amounts of steaming food, but a reasonable serving that will leave you full, satisfied, and not anywhere near comatose.  In other words, you have to try harder and spend a lot more, to eat like an American.  But since I plan to still fit nicely into my cossie at the age of seventy, I’ll stick with what I’ve been doing, and avoid the overindulgence.  Although, I don’t think I’ll ever go for a run before my first cup of coffee.