It’s November already?! This year has been pretty craptastic, aside from a few memorable exceptions (you know who you are), and I won’t be unhappy to see it go. Assuming the course of the giant freaking asteroid passing us next Tuesday has been calculated correctly and it doesn’t smash into the planet, I expect 2012 will outshine this year in hopefully every way.

I lost both my grandmothers this year, my dad’s mom in March and my mom’s mom in August. Our finances are still wobbly, due to expensive vehicle repairs and Geoffrey having to change jobs (plus not getting paid for nearly 3 months of reserve drill), but we’ve tightened our belts and should be more monetarily stable within a few months. I’ve been to the doctor more this year than usual, and that didn’t help finances either, between the increased co-pays and a very expensive EKG. It’s almost a good thing that tendinitis in my elbow has cut down my crocheting to less than 2 hours a day anymore, because I can’t afford that much yarn!

And now for something completely TMI…

I’ve been on the Dukan diet for almost 6 weeks now, and have lost 12 pounds. My rings are getting loose, and my bra isn’t as snug (why do we lose boob weight first?!). For a while there, I was starting to develop a double chin, and that’s almost completely gone now. My tummy, while still curvier than I like, isn’t as curvy as it was.

But what I want to know is, when do I get to wear my skinny jeans?! It really sucks that losing weight takes so long. *sigh*

I worked in the garden on Sunday, mulching my newly-planted garlic cloves, moving my compost bin (which had, to my surprise, over 60 gallons of partly-finished compost in it), and getting my raised beds seeded with vetch — a cover crop that is nitrogen-fixing, and will act as a compost when it’s turned under in the spring. That is, if it ever sprouts! The forecasted rain never materialized, and now I’m wondering if a cover crop will get a chance to grow before we get too cold. I also sent off an application for a community garden plot, in the hopes that next year I can actually produce most of the fresh vegies & herbs that my family consumes.

It’s been a bad week for migraines, 3 days of them in less than a week. I’ve been doing my best to avoid triggers, but sometimes they happen regardless. I’ve got to do some more research on herbal supplements.

A whole WEEK went by that I didn’t lose any weight at all, and I was pretty cranky. Okay, admittedly I cheated a smidgen, because I received a cheesecake from my friend Matthew (he surprised me with it as a thank-you for giving him a drop spindle), and it was impossible not to nibble on it… and there may have been some Starbucks visits… but otherwise I was really, really good! I didn’t lose any weight, but I didn’t gain any. The number just stayed the same for 7 or 8 days straight. Very annoying.

Today, however, I stepped on the scale and FINALLY there was a lower number! Then I realized… oh, hormones. Stupid water retention due to that aggravation that comes with being female. So, as of today, I’ve officially lost 9 pounds since starting the Dukan diet, yay! And thankfully we’re not sick of chicken yet, since we’re still eating a lot of it. (I think it’s utterly impossible for me to ever get sick of steak. Mmmm, om-nom cow flesh!)

And bonus: Fred, my friend Molly’s husband, said if I drop 50 pounds, he will make me a black-and-purple leather corset! Woo hoo!

It’s day 6 of the Dukan diet, and I’m still sitting at 3 pounds lost. *sigh* But since I’ve been pushing fluids like crazy, I think it’s safe to say it’s not water weight.

I don’t know if it’s related to the diet or not, but my ability to sleep has been messed up so gawd-awfully that I was a total zombie at work the last couple nights. Today was the fourth day in a row that I haven’t been able to sleep more than 3 hours without waking up, and have gotten less than 5 cumulative hours of sleep each day. I haven’t been able to pin down any particular reasons that I can’t stay asleep, or get back to sleep after waking. It’s utterly miserable.

I called out sick from work tonight because I’m so fraking exhausted that I can barely walk a straight line (the theory that sleep deprivation impairs you as badly as alcohol is probably quite true, from my experience… but being boozed up is fun, and being sleep deprived is not). I made some moderately stupid errors at work the last couple of nights (nothing disastrous, but still they shouldn’t have happened) and I’m also very concerned about my ability to drive home safely in the morning — “concerned” as in, I think it would be seriously dangerous. I’m extremely eager to avoid being splattered all over I-26, or splattering anyone else, because I dozed off at the wheel.

I’ve resisted sleeping pills — today I did take an herbal “sleep aid” which sadly didn’t help in the least, although I’ve had good results with it in the past — but I’m just about ready to try some Unisom. It’s taking me about 6 times longer than usual to type because I keep misspelling things. Me making spelling errors = horrifying.

At least I’m not having migraines. I’m just trying to count the small blessings here. And on Saturday I get to eat vegetables. I have never looked forward to vegies so much in my life. It’s mind-boggling.

Lyse, Anxiety, and I are on our fourth day on the Dukan diet, and we’re pretty sick of nonfat yogurt. It’s fast & easy, so we’ve been eating a lot of it. I’ve been trying to keep enough variety in our diet (chicken breasts, tilapia, steak, pork sirloin, shrimp, lowfat lunchmeat, etc) so that we aren’t completely sick of any one thing… but eating yogurt 2-3 times a day gets old real fast. Especially for someone like me, who isn’t the biggest fan of yogurt in the first place.

I have a confession… I cheated.

And now for something completely TMI…

Day 3 on the Dukan diet, and I’ve lost 3 pounds. Yay!!!

There has been one little complication, and it’s an annoying one: muscle cramps. The Dukan FAQ advised that this is from dehydration & possible electrolyte imbalance, so I’m really trying to push the fluids, but it’s frustrating. It takes time to get used to a new habit, and consuming 3 liters of fluids a day is about 3 times more than I habitually drink.

Going to sleep yesterday, I had some mild hip & thigh cramps but was close enough to actual sleeping that I didn’t think about it — but at work last night, it was bad enough that I flirted with the idea of going home. Lots of water and some salt, plus a couple of ibuprofen, and the cramps eased and then stopped.

Hip and lower back cramps woke me up early tonight, though, so I’m once again stuffing myself full of liquids. Hopefully I can make a good dinner, ease off these cramps, and get a bit more sleep before I have to go to work tonight.

But hey, 3 pounds! And it can’t all be water weight!

Having gotten rather heavier than I ever imagined was possible for me (since I was spoiled by my high metabolism for the first 30-some years of my life), I always resisted “diets” because they don’t let you eat. I am NOT okay with being hungry. EVER.

But when my weight hit the same poundage that it was when I was 9 months pregnant, I cringed. When it hit the 200-pound mark, I cried. When it hit 220, I nearly fainted. (I’m a bit below that now.) My doctor has been pushing me to lose weight, my feet hurt ALL the time (I have early-stage plantar fasciitis), I can’t walk for very long and I can’t run at all (shin splints), and I have been extremely resentful of my body for a couple of years now. I knew I needed to do something — but I can’t deal with HUNGER!

Then I heard about the Dukan diet. You don’t have to count calories. You don’t have to count carbs. You don’t have to count “points” or portion sizes or any of that nonsense. You don’t have to be hungry, ever. You can eat as much as you want!!!

And now for something completely TMI…