Closet Gains

My brother told me the other day that his mother-in-law asked him "Is that your belly hanging over your belt?"  He said to me, "You ought to blog about THAT!"  Hey, you don't have to ask me twice.  It got me to thinking about our family's complicated relationship with food and weight over the years.  You see, my brother has been a little critical at times in years past about my battle with putting on pounds.  I started out pretty thin and was looking pretty good at his wedding, despite the fact that I'd had a baby just 3 months earlier.   His heart has always been in the right place but I usually wasn't in the mood for a lecture in self-control over the Thanksgiving holidays, with him explaining how easy it should be to eat correctly and forgo extra helpings of dessert.  John was the lucky one in our family.  He was pretty naturally thin and I will also give him credit.  He works out daily.....has a lot of discipline that way.

Our dad was thin most of his life, too.  And he also would give my mom well-meaning lectures on how easy it should be to eat correctly and keep your weight at the right level.  She took it about as well as I did.  So I was rather gleeful to find out that after I had left home, my dad started taking his trousers around the block to my grandma's house to have her alter the waistbands.  Seems he was gaining some weight around the middle and he didn't want my mom to find out.  Ha!  I hope he gained (besides the small amount of weight) a little understanding in how it's not always so easy to control your weight.

Looks like my brother's metabolism has taken a nose dive along with the rest of us.  Of course, it doesn't help that we both like to eat our sweets (and he does enjoy that occasional beer).  I think he now realizes that keeping slim isn't always quite as simple as it seems.  So I am trying NOT to chuckle about the "belly" comment....I truly am.  But I also can't help thinking, in my weaker moments, "Welcome to my world."