so true. you have been slowly but surely turning into a blimp. but i think you should be a little stronger & give up desserts like cake and parfaits. you have more of a tendency to crave those than anything else.

Ahaha~ you guys are so funny. =D

I think giving up pasta is great!! I personally have no problem doing it-- gee, wonder why. ^_^;

If you want to lose weight, just walk with me! ^_^ I've been walking every other day this last week, for at least 4 hours (not by choice necessarily, but it happens..) Ahhh the places that I ended up! I would do it more, but when it's cold or rainy, I can't go.. (yesterday was so nice though!! I couldn't resist!)

rofl. don't give me that face.

*dead*
Seriously girl, I don't know what you have in mind but I don't think giving up italian food to lose weight it's useful.
Pasta is not the problem, I know it because diets here have pasta just maybe not the quantity you use to eat.(not to mention the mediterranean diet is the most complete and healty diet around^^;)
Everything can be eaten, it depends on the "size" and on the sauces.
When I'll come there this summer it'll be hard for me this time XDDD
As of why...I'll say it only in a few months XD
But seriously, I think the biggest problem in Japan is that everything you drink or eat contains too much sugar or too much sauces.
Personally I don't think you need to give up eating pasta, if on the contrary you share that big portion with someone it's ok. Just try to not eat anything else not even desert plus try to eat pasta at lunch and not for dinner.
Just refrain from taking it with a heavy sauce, prefer something lighter like a simple tomato sauce^^;

XDDDD Plus pasta and rice have basically the same quantity of calories, so remember that if you eat lot of rice, that too will be a problem if you want to lose weight.
When you eat pasta, don't eat rice on the same day, same for bread. (especially jap bread which is sweeter than normal bread)
And avoid potatoes if you eat bread or rice or pasta.

These are the only things I can tell you.

I think Japan has a big problem with the size of what you eat. They tend to give you a big size of everything when you order things...they should make them smaller^^;
Of course rice/bread/pasta are all carbs, which is why they should never be eaten together on the same day and especially for dinner.(add potatoes too, they are deleterious...)

One thing even if I did understand it's not only for diet that you decided to do this.
Metabolism gets used to food easily, and when it gets used to food it's hard to lose weight. The secret is to change everyday. Even when you cut pasta if you continue to eat bread and rice it'll be the same.
Try to alternate them during the week, I don't know...for example, rice on monday, bread on tuesday, pasta on wednesday etc etc especially because japanese bread is too sweet and my guess is that it's more caloric than both pasta and rice O_o
But try to vary your diet, so your metabolism won't get used to always the same food. You don't have a lot to lose IMHO you don't have anything to lose but anycase it makes it harder for someone already skinny to lose weight, even more than for someone who is overweight that's why you should just pay attention to the small things like vary the food and eat smaller sizes.

Honestly I have no idea on how I'm going to eat in japan, I've gotten used to certain things now and fixed my way to eat, it will be hard in japan since there is sugar everywhere, I'll just stick with eating carbs at lunch and eating fish or meat at dinner, it's the best way to keep in check your weight. Cigs make people skinnier yes, but I remember Sonja saying that jap cigs are even lighter than european ones. I think the main reason is that usually when they eat at home japanese people eat grilled fish and rice which is a good combination and even if they fry something at home they tend to make it light?
Don't know I can't understand how they can be so skinny considering how full are the restaurants there...at any time of the day.