Matt Wolf: Dieting in Japan

Today was my final pre-tirzepatide session with my nutritionist.

These appointments started last autumn and always possess a faintly ceremonial quality — a quiet weighing, a brief yet free-ranging and informative discussion of intentions and approaches to dieting, the polite fiction that numbers are emotionally neutral objects.

How I arrived at this particular session, on this particular morning, is a longer story. Or rather, several stories. Why am I overweight? How did I end up overweight in Japan, land of the supposedly healthy diet? Stories I may or may not tell here.

Then came the scale.

Day Zero: 148.8 kg.

The number itself holds little novelty- I have seen the scales show similar numbers many times over the past months. My reaction to it remains reassuringly consistent- no matter how many times I see the number, it is something that I wish I didn’t have to see. But I know it is what it is.

I will not be repeating this number.

I am uncomfortable with it.

It is not a pleasant figure, but it is an honest one.

Today is Day Zero.

Rather than fixating on change of absolute weight — figures that would invite unnecessary negativity — I will refer instead to change from this baseline.

My first injection is scheduled for 27 March 2026. This space is simply a record of what happens next — observations on appetite, weight, and the small, practical complications of dieting while living in Japan.

Progress will, ideally, be measured in kilograms lost.

In satiety gained.

In confidence re-gained.

In perhaps resolving the peculiar contradiction that while I like myself, I do not always enjoy meeting my reflection.