Get Fit on the Road, Get Strong in the Gym, Get lean in the Kitchen

I've been meaning to talk about this for a while.

Get Fit on the Road
Get Strong in the Gym
Get Lean in the Kitchen

My brother came for a visit and we were talking about weight/fitness and all that business. It was nice actually, since he was here minus the family and we never get a lot of time together alone to just hang out and talk. He and I are very very similar (16months apart in age) and at the same time, totally different (insert plenty of psychobabble regarding trouble childhood/broken home/various step-parent issues etc etc).

We both have similar body types, and the same tendency to carry weight in the same areas, but in the end he is fit, and lean and strong and I am fat and out of shape. In fact, I was shocked to see that he now has a six-pack. O.O

He is a firefighter by trade, so this in itself tends to lend itself to more working out and keeping fit ... since their lives depend on it. However, its not like he's always been a lean-six-pack machine. He has been chubby and huffing and wheezing and fat and out of shape in his lifetime... and had some pretty big weight gains and losses. But these last 5 years he has been getting fitter and leaner every time I saw him. It made me think..."hey, what gives??"

What gives is this: I indulge in food and do not get enough exercise. He manages his food, and gets in all the fitness training that he needs - for both job and happiness in body appearance. I eat to alleviate my worries, cure boredom, and bury emotions that I do not want to express. I need to change.

We were in the car and I was telling him the typical bullsh*t that I say - I'm fat but strong, I can walk for miles "fit fat".... and he said to me that these were the words that he said to himself: Get fit on the road, get strong in the gym and get lean in the kitchen. It was a moment with him that I haven't had before. Where, he was (I just I'm just going to infer here since I don't know for sure, but this is what it felt like) telling me that he acknowledged my shape, and had felt the same pain before and this is what he has done to help himself. It felt really really supportive actually. Nice to be next to him and not feel like I was being judged.

While he was here I actually called the sister-in-law and said... "holy crap, he has a six pack now... what has he been doing differently??" And she told me that what she had noticed was that his eating had changed.

Its the sad truth that I have been trying and trying to circumnavigate. Food ... Eating Habits ... Portion Control...

So I'm trying to keep these things in mind because I am an exercise eater. If I exercise...I get to eat more. When really, this is not the case. The gym is where I get fit and strong... the Kitchen is where I get lean. And now I have to make the food choices that will assist that and stop eating the calories that I've burned on the road.

Time to make a sign for the fridge.