Allow me to make an introduction....

This is my brother.
He's the baby of the family.
He's 5.5 years younger than I.
He's ornery. Plus.
If he could, he'd make sarcasm his job.
He takes really good care of mom & dad.
He takes really good care of me.
He's a good listener.
He can give advice like Yoda.

I'm going to call him Uncle Kicks-butt.
Because he does.
If he wanted to, he could bench press me.
I'm really glad he never wanted to. There was that time, he took my hands and made me do the actions to "I'm a little tea pot" - just to prove he could.

Some days it's just not worth the words or energy to argue with him.

His slogans are: "Diplomacy is the act of getting people to do what you want." and "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."
He loves Kung fu movies.
He loves to read weird and esoteric books.
He can run two or three Characters at once on EverQuest.

He's easy to talk to. which is where our story begins.

I decided some at the end of January, that it was time to count calories.
I know how to count calories. I found a fairly good calorie counter online. It told me how many calories I should not go over to safely lose weight over the next year. Okay. So -- I started counting calories with the support of the family. The first day was easy. The second day, not so much.

My brother is just a text away. So I would every so often (see: LOTS) text him about my struggles. Somewhere in that second or third day, He started texting me back...He was going to win.

Ha! My calorie counting had just been turned into a game.
Week one, I won the counting days because he had to keep his protein up for muscle building. I have never eaten so little!! It was actually easy to eat so few calories. There was a lot going on in the week.

Then I read that I was eating too few calories. CalorieCount said I should not go below 1250 calories. They also said that men should, generally not go below 1500 calories. So week 2 began level 2.

We can't go below our respective minimums or we automatically lose. The closest person to goal wins. We tied most of last week. We strive to hit goal.

One thing we didn't count on?? -- MATH LESSONS!!
We both feel like we're having math tests when we're trying to find that item that will help us hit goal without going over. Did you know that one almond is about 6.4 calories?? One. Almond.

He didn't make goal yesterday because he didn't feel well. It was a hollow victory. :-)

He's lost 14 pounds. That's right. 14. In 2 weeks.
He loves telling me that he's going to win the game - because he's a guy. Testosterone burns calories faster. AND he likes the gym.
I don't have either one of those - I've lost 4 pounds.
He's trying to blame me for the fact that he has to wear a belt now.
Figures.
I guess I should take the credit and not the blame. :-)
Even with the smack talk, I'm going to keep him around.

He managed to make calorie counting fun.
My brother rocks.