I'm happy to be back, thank you for all the condolences on the deaths in my family, I really appreciate the support.

On the weight/food front, I'll just get it all out there and then explain: I weighed in at 214.8 this morning, down a pound from yesterday but up about four pounds from my last official weigh-in.

Sounds bad, right? It would be, except that I am pretty confident that maybe 1.5-2 pounds of that is actual weight gain, and the rest is wicked (but expected) bloat, the type I don't think will subside for another few weeks.

The reason for this terrible bloat? I'm PREGNANT! Thrilled to be so, as this was our first month trying. I am due 10/4/10, and thus my dieting efforts will be altered a bit in the meantime. Right now I am battling water retention and alternating horrible PMS-style cravings with major food aversions, so keeping my eating on plan has been a little tricky. However I may I have to modify my eating plan, there will still BE a plan, and food will still be written down, exercise will still be had, etc etc.

While I am not aiming to lose a ton of weight during the pregnancy, I am intending on continuing my healthy habits and limiting my calories to the more nutritious side of things, and so I expect I *will* drop some more during this process, but won't be upset if I do not. I will continue to eat to my hunger, and that is a perfectly safe plan for pregnancy. Healthy food, moderate exercise, watching calories but making sure I am not hungry - we'll see what happens, but right now I am just tweaking to see where my body wants me to fall in terms of calorie intake.

I would still like to be down to 189 by the end of the year, and will still keep up this blog as a general diet/life writing space. I am NOT abandoning all of you! What may be tricky is to monitor my weight weekly without getting disappointed when I am not losing. It will be weird, after so many months of hoping for downward trends, to be doing the right things and seeing the scale go up after awhile :)

I am SO excited about this pregnancy and it works in perfectly with our plans. I have all my fingers crossed that, like my other pregnancies, my weight gain will be VERY limited, but even if it is not I will deal with baby weight as it comes. The only change I am really enacting is to up my calories a bit to get the amount of protein I need daily (roughly double what I am currently at) so I can build a healthy baby.

We're STRONGLY hoping for a boy, but another daughter would also be a blessing. I hope, for my husband's sake, that his male sperm were feeling up to the challenge, as he would love having a son to raise alongside the girls we already have. I have had TERRIBLE symptoms from almost 4 weeks onward, lots of nausea, bloat, breast tenderness, headaches, fatigue, food aversions, you name it. MUCH more symptomatic than I was with my girls. Every pregnancy is different, but I am hoping the early symptoms of this one don't foretell a rougher pregnancy than I have had before.

One thing is for sure - it HAS to be less difficult to be 45 pounds lighter this time around. The impact on my hips and joints, at least, should be markedly less painful with that much less weight on me. I am looking forward to higher mobility and less pain at the end, and perhaps an easier labor due to all the exercise and toning I have been working on.

So good news all the way around. I am so glad to be back home and back to my old routines, and looking forward to all the physical changes the next year has in store for me. I am praying for a healthy, strong pregnancy, as well as a body that will continue to get more fit. Because of my current hormones I *am* having a much harder time resisting carb-laden junk, but I will try to take it one meal at a time and eat to grow a healthy child (and not a bigger waistline - that's up to the baby to transform, not Oreos!).