Water retention

Remember I speculated on Tuesday that some of my weight gain might be water retention? Apparently I wasn't paying attention to the calendar--my period started that day when I totally wasn't expecting it, and since then my weight has dropped like a stone. 133.8 yesterday; 132.4 today. That's with no obvious effort on my part--I'm not eating much because I'm too busy at work (and work is spilling into home) to take the time to eat, but what I'm eating is junk. And of course I'm not exercising.

So about revisiting our goals of one year ago: my immediate goal at that point was to get down to 140 and my ultimate goal was to get to between 130 and 135. I've been at that "ultimate" goal for a couple of months now, maybe more. And I do seem to have settled into this weight--I fluctuate up and down, but haven't been above 135 for a while. My BMI has gone from slightly into the overweight category to resting on the borderline between "lean" and "healthy" (went from a BMI of 26 to 21). But, oddly, my actual weight is just slightly above the midline of healthy for my height, age, and frame size. The healthy weight range for me is between 117 and 143, and they say for my frame size (based on my elbow width I'm considered to have a small frame) I should weigh closer to the low end of that range. But frankly, getting down to 120 again is just not going to happen.

My goals now have more to do with fitness. A year ago I was panting from walking "fast" at 3.5 m.p.h. for 30 minutes. Now 3.5 m.p.h. is my cool down speed. I'm still trying to increase my speed so I can complete 3 miles in 31 or 32 minutes, but I have a ways to go. I've stopped doing pilates and I regret that--I need to go back to doing regular toning exercises because even though my weight is o.k. I feel myself losing strength again, especially in my abs, and as the muscles slacken, my clothes get tighter. I don't like that. So for the next year, I'm recommitting to exercise--back to three days of running and three days of either Pilates or some other strength building exercise every week.