Friday

Was sleep good last night?  I think it was better than it could have been, but not objectively good.  I woke up again sometime between 10 and midnight as if it were morning, had a hot flash, and went to the bathroom.  Back to sleep - pretty easily.  Woke up sometime between then and 4 am with a leg cramp (forgot the magnesium oil - won't do that again!), and got back to sleep pretty easily. Woke up at 4:10 after another vivid dream (which have been a bit rare until the past day or two), and was pretty much up from then until the alarm went off at 5:30. I don't know if that last bit is good or bad.   could maybe explain it as time-change related, except before the honey, I think the alarm itself was waking me, and I've been able to sleep in on weekends until it got light (it is definitely NOT light at 4 am). Again, I had the sensation on waking that I'd had good sleep, even with the interruptions. So, the honey is holding on the positive side, I'd say.

150.4 again this morning.  I think I'm not surprised.  Here's my eating for the day:

• scrambled eggs
  
• turkey sausage
  
• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• cheese - 2 pieces throughout the day
  
• coconut - boredom eating, I think
  
• Qdoba naked burrito - shredded beef, cheese, salsa, sour cream, guacamole
  
• salami
  
• a handful of cashews
  
• honey
  

The coconut wasn't part of the plans for the day, and I don't think the cashews were either. And the honey might have been more than 1 tsp - I used a normal silverware teaspoon, and it sort of overflowed.

Thursday

Well that was just weird.

I took the honey at 8:21 last night, prior to bedtime, but not immediately before it.  When we shut off the news and I tried to sleep, at first, I couldn't.  I was fidgety and hot and uncomfortable; my pajamas were velcroing themselves to the sheets, and I decided, after about 15 minutes of squirming in hot and sweaty discomfort, that the honey wasn't going to help me.  I put something on the iPod and got to sleep.  I recall waking once, around 2 am, but being able to get to sleep again pretty quickly.  

Around 4:30, I woke up again with this amazing feeling of well-being. I had the sense that the sleep I'd just woken from was different somehow, richer, if that makes any sense.  I'd been dreaming a lot, and vividly, to boot, but felt as thought I'd spent the entire night in delta sleep - is that the one where you're just unconscious?  No aches or pains anywhere.  And I have a lot of energy this morning and don't feel achy or groggy the way I have been for quite a while.

It's only been one night, and could definitely be the placebo effect, but I sure hope it's not. 

150.4 this morning.  I was in Heavy ketosis last night.  Wouldn't dare touch alcohol right now.  Here's yesterday:

• scrambled eggs
  
• turkey bacon (3 links)
  
• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• a small handful of small green olives
  
• grassfed beef patty (1/3 pound)
  
• zucchini spiral noodles with sour cream, butter, and parmesan
  
• two pieces of cheese
  
• 1 tsp of raw local honey
  

Obviously, I'll try the honey again for tonight - and probably nightly for a week. 

I'm doing something else that may prove interesting.  Somebody posted a 30-day plank challenge on Facebook, which I think I'll try.  Started last night at 20 seconds, which turned out to be a pretty darn long time.  I think it adds 5 seconds a day, 6 days a week, until you reach 270 seconds (4-1/2 minutes).  I would like better core strength, so it's worth a shot.  But I did it rather late last night - just prior to having the honey - and I think I will try to do it earlier in the evening, so it doesn't interfere with any sleep benefits.

Interesting updates from today

First, this from Seth Roberts' blog has me all a-flutter, and I mean to have a teaspoon of honey just before bed tonight.  From what he says, the effect is pretty much immediate, and the strength increases in his standing-on-one-leg chart are seriously blowing my mind.  I would love it if this were to work. Just getting off the occasional Advil-PM would be wonderful. Near as I can tell, a single teaspoon would be only 6 grams of carbs, which shouldn't bust my ketosis, and might help with muscle mass.  I'll report out on anything I find.

Second, I did a quick search to see if getting bloody freezing (not directly related to the sweat evaporating after a hot flash) during perimenopause is normal.  Yup, apparently it's not unheard of. And while I was reading about how it was one of the many joys of the Change of Life (tm), I saw a reference to joint pain and weak legs.  I don't think I've made note of it here, but my knees pretty much had given out on me until I started specifically working on strengthening them - a graphic illustration of this is that I had to lower myself onto a toilet with one hand on the seat to control the pace of the drop. Obviously, squats have been completely impossible for me, and that is still driving me mad. I have fixed the basic problem, but never associated the weakness, or the knee pain, or my more recent hip pain (and maybe even my shoulder issue) with menopausal stuff.  Never.  Now, it sounds like the gift that keeps on giving has given even more.  Guess I should be glad that I'm not suffering from random electric shock sensations or tingling in my extremities (other fun possibilities available to the middle-aged woman).  Yikes.  Just effing yikes.

So, honey at bedtime for the next week or so, and I may even assist with the knees and hips by doing it.  That would be awesome.

Wednesday

Sleep last night was strange.  One of the dogs was unwell around 3:30, I think, and I got up to deal with that, but up to that point, I had been asleep but aware that I was freezing.  Huddling into the covers, even burying my head in them, trying to get warm.  Nasty.  I'm still cold, although I had a hot flash in the middle of being cold while on the way to work - and they don't help; I feel cold even as I warm up and break out into a sweat.  Ugh.

150.8 today, so whatever was going on yesterday was a blip, I guess.  I was in Moderate ketosis, approaching Heavy, last night.  Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream (twice)
  
• no supplements
  
• two pieces of cheese
  
• pecans - about 2/3 cup throughout the day
  
• vegetable soup with beef
  
• salami
  
• two more pieces of cheese
  
• one square of maltitol-sweetened chocolate
  

That was it.  The appetite reduction effect of ketosis has kicked in, I think, and I'm feeling much less inclined to eat at night again.  Very grateful for that.  I'm trying hard not to get wedded to the weight loss, because I think it's possible that it will stop because of hormones, but I'm glad to reclaim the freedom of being able to look at candy and the like as not-food.

We still haven't made it to the gym.  So be it.  Maybe tonight.

Tuesday

152.2 this morning.  Do I have any idea why?  Who knows.  Perhaps the scale was propped up on the floor molding yesterday.  Annoying.  Still, much less than I was on Thursday last week, so I shouldn't complain.  And I was in Moderate ketosis last night.

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• scrambled eggs
  
• 3 turkey sausage links
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 4 pieces of cheese throughout the day
  
• Paleo shepherd's pie (cauliflower topping, so low carb)
  
• one square of maltitol-sweetened dark chocolate
  

I can say that toward the end of the workday, my feet were swollen, and I feel like I might have a digestive issue working right now.  Whatever the reason, I am continuing to eat as high-fat, very low carb as I can.  Soup tonight for dinner - leftover roast beef, vegetables, stock.  Probably not a high-fat item, so I will make blue cheese dressing when I get home, and have a salad as well.  

I have noticed a reduction in appetite, which is good.  Planning on continuing a moderate fat fast today; I've had 2 pieces of cheese so far, and have pecans with me, and I turned down lunch for a lunch meeting.

Sleep was not good - lots of hot flashes yesterday and a lot of restlessness overnight that may or may not have been related. My hip was hurting as well.  We didn't make it to the gym last night for various reasons.  I hope we make it tonight.

Monday

Oh, how I do love being in ketosis.  I got so much done over the weekend, it was crazy.  Saturday involved shopping and a high-school football game nearly 90 miles away, and dinner at home (taco salads); yesterday I made a valance for the kitchen window, altered a skirt, fixed the neck of Elizabeth's new dress so it wouldn't gap open when she sits down, washed walls and scrubbed countertops, did a bit of laundry, watered plants, made dinner for last night and another for tonight.  I had that fidgety energy that ketosis gives me, and just went to town with it.

151.0 this morning, thank you very much.  Finally got the water out.  I am going to stick with this very low carb approach for the indefinite future - once I laid out all of the things that had become "okay to eat" in the past 2 years or so, it was obvious that, while hormones might have played a role in a 10-pound gain, they weren't the prime suspects.  

Here's yesterday:

• tea with cream
  
• bacon
  
• cheese
  
• salami
  
• walnuts (probably 1 handful total)
  
• roast beef (pastured rump roast)
  
• green beans
  
• salad with vinaigrette dressing
  
• two squares of maltitol-sweetened dark chocolate (supposedly 2 net carbs for 3 pieces)
  
• a handful of cashews
  

That was it. Lots of individual items, I guess, but in reasonable quantities (e.g., the salami was 4 slices total).  We are having Paleo shepherd's pie for dinner tonight - with the cauliflower topping. And going to the gym, probably first. 

Sleep is still a bit cruddy; even with an Advil-PM last night I woke up a couple of times.  Hot flashes come and go - either I'm getting used to them, or they are becoming less frequent.  Still annoying, though.

And it's return-to-standard-time week.  Usually this about kills me, so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I don't feel draggy so far, which may be a good sign.

Friday

Is it inappropriate to say I spent yesterday peeing?  Because I kind of did.  152.8 today - so 2.2 pounds of water weight lost.  I ate as close to zero-carb as I could.  Survived Halloween without eating any of our Halloween candy.  Here's the breakdown:

• tea with cream
  
• the usual supplements
  
• 6 total pieces of cheddar cheese
  
• about 1/3 cup of coconut flakes
  
• salad with blue cheese dressing
  
• a little cottage cheese
  
• roast beef
  
• green beans
  
• bacon bits
  
• butter (2 tiny tubs)
  
• 2 squares of 85% Lindt
  

That was it.  Carbs would have been in the coconut flakes (1-2 grams total there), the salad, the green beans, and the chocolate.  I think I was down in the 20s, and that was the goal.  So a good thing.

Sleep was not so great.  I felt some calf fasciculation in the evening, so hit my calves with Magnesium oil at bedtime.  No calf cramps overnight, but one did hit in the arch of my left foot around 3 am.  A few night sweats on top of that, and I'm pretty achy this morning.  

I did some thinking yesterday about slippage in how I've been eating over the past 2 years or so, and there's enough there to account for 10 or so pounds, I think.  I'm going to work very hard to get back to where I was when losing the weight originally. I know I am fighting some hormone issues, but I think if I ramp up the fat and am really strict on the carbs, things will calm down a good bit.  I want to get back to where I was when commercial ice cream was too sweet - because it hasn't been that way for quite a while.

Fat-fasting today as much as I can, although I don't know what dinner will be yet. I'll come up with something.