My weigh-ins since coming home have fluctuated wildly, but this morning I am settling at a solid starting point of 212.0. I was barely grazing 208 when I left (I was just over 209 at my last recorded daily weigh-in) and so considering how drastically different my eating was when I was gone, this is not a terrible or unexpected gain. I'm not thrilled with it, but I am working to get it off and have been for the past few days.

I'll confess, I made sugar cookies for my family to enjoy as their holiday treat and pilfered more than I should have from the haul, but calculated the damage accordingly and did not see any ill effects on the scale (I was over my target daily deficit but not over what is required to maintain my weight). And now, those cookies are off to work with hubby and safely out of my house. I have some control around my favorite sweets, but not strong enough that I can have them around for days on end without gobbling them up, so it is better that I enjoy them in limited quantity and then send them packing so the temptation is gone.

My workout schedule this week is hopefully going to be cardio on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and strength training on Tuesday and Thursday. With a Christmas Eve performance for bell choir and the holiday shuffle, we'll see how well I can stick to it, but it is a starting point nonetheless.

On a related note, Peter and I are going ahead with TTC baby #3, so I have a lot of incentive to lose these extra 10-12 pounds as quickly as I can, so I can still make my goal of being at or below 200 when I am pregnant. We are fudging the timing a bit because I am tired of waiting so that just means I need to work that much harder to achieve my goal.

Whenever I fall pregnant I will talk with my midwives about what sort of food/exercise routine they'd like to see me in. Manny women who are heavy like me can still maintain a daily calorie deficit and exercise with reasonable vigor, so I can expect to lose some weight again while pregnant (as I did, very naturally, with my other two). It won't be at the same rate it was pre-baby, but I think I can get their blessing for running just the slightest deficit, as long as I am eating healthy and not going hungry.

So. It's a start. That's where I am right now, good or bad, and I intend to make the best of it!