The insomnia marathon may be - dare I dream? - over! I did not wake up at 3 a.m. last night, for the first time in close to two weeks, and my allergies also have backed off a bit. Maybe my energy level will return to normal and I'll be able to start exercising again.


I'm doing well at sticking to my balanced, healthy lower-carb diet, it's easy and I feel great on it, but I know that ultimately a middle-aged metabolism does not respond to diet alone. I really need to get things moving, because going back to work has just emphasized my dire need for new clothes. But I really feel like this will work THIS TIME. Part of it (and it sounds terrible to say it under the circumstances, but it's true) is that there is an advantage to dieting when living alone - I only buy what I can eat, eat when I am hungry, and so forth. I also probably have an advantage in that I have a doglike ability to eat the same thing for days without getting tired of it - this week it's grilled chicken breasts. I fired up the grill Monday evening and cooked several along with some nice grilled veggies, and the chicken plus a nice big salad is the basis of my meals so far this week. Now if I could just get motivated to get out of this chair and onto the exercise bike, I'd be SO much further ahead. But I am just thrilled with the difference this diet has made in my hunger level. It really is amazing how much less hungry I feel when I avoid certain carbohydrates - I used to eat a nice "healthy" bowl of cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, and by 9:30 I was actually, physically, growling stomach hungry, and searching for a protein bar or something to get me through the morning, I was constantly eating at the "top" of my Weight Watchers points, but I was freakin' physically starving all day. I just cannot live on a low-fat diet - it must be something about my metabolism. Now I eat 2 eggs and 2 slices of Canadian bacon at 7, and I'm fine until lunch around 1 - I don't even think about eating until lunchtime. I do miss my favorite carbs at times, but actually seeing the scale budge after many months of a discouraging plateau is a strong motivation to learn to live without them. And as I mentioned before, with my family history of heart disease and late-onset diabetes, I feel like a poster child for the type of "future diabetic heart patient" Dr. Agatston describes in the book. Though I've never been much more than 30 lbs overweight at my worst, my dad has always been very trim and HE still developed the heart disease and late-onset diabetes, so merely keeping the numbers on the scale at a certain level isn't everything.


It's good to be back at work. I hadn't believed I could miss it so much, but I really did. I've concluded that maybe I'm just not what you'd call a "self starter," unless you count knitting projects. I don't think I could do well working at home, or adjust to being self-employed. I need the structure of Going to the Office and interacting with colleagues to be productive.

Knitting-wise, the Xanax Sweater is moving right along - I'm working my way through the shoulder decreases, and I love the way every row gets a little shorter, it's like a reward for making progress. It's hard for me to put it down - I stayed awake later than I expected to last night, because I was in "just one more row..." mode. I need to cast on the Sitcom Chic and get started on it this week.