I swore, when I started this journal, that I would be transparent — and today, transparency is what you’ll get. Not everything about my weight loss journey has been easy or happy.

Sometimes, the frustration sets in, often with a little regret. I’ve struggled with keeping my head in the right place, this week; I haven’t been tempted to jump off the wagon, but I haven’t exactly been thrilled with my progress, either.

I’m pretty sure I saw Nessie in my driveway.

Which is dumb. The week before last, I had one of the biggest weeks of weight loss since starting; losing 6.4 pounds in a week, 2 1/2 years into a weight loss effort, is phenomenal. Reasonably, I knew I’d have a correction last week, especially when I was a little concerned that perhaps I’d cut my food intake too much, and purposely increased it over the weekend.

Then, we went camping; it was a triumph for me, because I was able to do just about everything I wanted to do during our brief weekend trip. I still deal with limitations, but not as many as I thought I would. I was pleased. But one of the downsides of camping is that I often restrict my fluid intake, because of the distance to the bathrooms, and I end up dehydrated. My body retains water when it’s slightly dehydrated, and the only way to get it moving is to drink water. Lots of it. So I did.

The water is taking its own sweet time leaving my body. Water retention causes joint pain; so does bad weather, and we’re currently on our fourth day in a row of heavy rains, with a couple more days to go. My pain level, this week, has been higher than it has been in some time — and nothing gets me down, quicker, than arthritis pain. I’ve skipped workouts in the pool, both because of pain and because of storms. (Large bodies of water + lightning = not the best of ideas.)

Even though, in the grand scheme of things, this is just a hiccup, I feel like I’ve gone backwards in progress. And just because I know, mentally, that I’m being unreasonably hard on myself, doesn’t mean I can fully release that, emotionally. It’s times like these when I have to be careful; when the balance is somewhat precarious and I need to remind myself that success in anything is never a straight trajectory. No, it’s more like a roller coaster. There will be down times, and keeping my wits about me is imperative.

This, too, shall pass — but it’ll take bearing down and being patient. My body will release the water eventually, the rains will stop (hopefully!), the sun will come out and the pain levels will return to normal. Feeling as sluggish as I do at the moment is like a throwback to a couple of years ago, and perhaps it’s a good reminder of where I’ve been, and where I would be, again, if I ever lose my focus. This is not where I want to be.

On a positive note, I did have a few non-scale victories, including ordering some clothing that I intended to get in a smaller size than what I currently wear, but when the clothing showed up, it all fit now, and one of the shirts might even be a tad too big. It’s things like this that keep my brain in check; my deviation in water weight is only a few pounds, not a hundred. My hard work is paying off.

Soon, the sun will come out, again, and clear the rain away.