Day 199 -- Rice Weight, Sibling Rivalry

I feel kind of bad. With Min Oo and Sae Yeob gone, I've kind of become the de facto older sibling for Min Kyeong. I've tried to be a good role model, especially since I've only recently gotten close to my own biological sister. Min Kyeong is left alone at home a lot, cooking for herself and watching TV. Considering how often the family just throws money at her to order delivery (read, fried fast food) for her meals, it's really not surprising at all that she's a chubby kid. GRANTED, she is still a kid, so a lot of it is just baby fat, she's starting with some really bad habits.

That said, the family has noticed that I've lost a considerable amount of weight over the last month or so since I've gone on a "diet". Now, I'm not doing anything crazy, I'm just not eating the MASSIVE amounts of white rice. I'm not eating a pound of greasy, fatty samgyeobsal. I'm not eating the skin-included fried chicken. I'm not eating the ice cream they try to give me for breakfast (oh yes), the cheeseburgers they bring home, blah blah you get the picture. It's frustrating though because they'll still buy things or cook things and insist that they're diet foods. Host mom used to be appaled that I would sweat when I worked out. Now, she keeps insisting that I weigh myself because she wants to know what number I am. I've lost about 15lbs since the last time I weighed myself, but I don't go crazy over numbers. I'm more of a how-I-look-in-the-mirror and a how-my-clothes-fit judge of weight loss. It's a bit annoying to have her all over my routine.

Anyway, that got a bit off topic, but the point is that Min Kyeong decided to join the health club and go workout with me. I think this is great--if she starts forming good diet and exercise habits now, she won't have to deal with the terrible body-image problems that plague teenage girls. I mean, her own FAMILY calls her "pig". That can't be good for a young girl's self esteem.

So we go to the gym together now, and I try to encourage her to eat healthier things--yogurt instead of ice cream, eggs and vegetables instead of ramyeon/ramen. I've pushed her to try to run even just short distances instead of doing the typical Korean female lazy walk when she's on the treadmill. We take the stairs to our apartment instead of the elevator. She seems to really like working out together, so I like to think I'm having a positive effect on her.

That said, she's just like a real sister. Today I got ticked with her because she likes to go to the gym at 7, where my usual routine is 8:30pm. 8:30 is when all my dude friends go to the gym, and it's late enough that there's not a lot of people clogging up the treadmills like there are at 7pm. She came into my room just now, saying "6:50, health?" and for some reason I kind of lost it and said, "No. 8:30. 7pm there are many people. I cannot use the treadmill. I must wait. 8:30pm." "okay," she says.

I feel bad :[