It's kind of remarkable how much time flies once you pass age 30. I remember the summer that I was 28. I felt like that summer would go on forever! Every day seemed longer than the last. At 34, I'm not only aware that there really are limits to what one can do in a day, but I'm aware that I won't be blessed to wait until I'm 50 (as I wish that I could) to have my first child.

Almost a week ago, I realized that it would be best for the future baby and for my post-baby self if I make a big push to lose weight before conception. I skimmed through some of the more recent studies about the effect of being overweight on pregnancy, the baby's mental capabilities, the baby's chances of becoming overweight as a child... I ended up coming to the conclusion that the correlation between a mother's high BMI at the point of conception and the risk of pregancy complications was solid enough that I must make every attempt to get down to "normal weight" before we start trying.

SIGH. I'm going to be 35 in May. It seems like everyone from OB-GYNs to lay people use 35 as a line of demarcation between youthful carefree fertility and old lady last ditch baby making. I really wasn't in a place in my life to have children before now, so there's really no point in me regretting having waited. I'm glad that I did.

Because I did wait, though, I can't spend the next year or two trying and failing to get down to my goal weight. I have limited time to make this happen.

I'm 5'6" and at 189 lbs. (I 205.3 on Feb 1st!) I have a BMI of 31.4. My goal is to get down to 160 lbs. (BMI 26.6 - still overweight, but on lower end of the range) by summer solstice on June 20th. I just chose summer solstice because it's a non-arbitrary date in June and is also mid-year. That gives me 14 weeks and one day from today to meet my goal, which is a loss of a hair over 2 pounds per week. I CAN DO THAT!