Merry Christmas

I’m on the fourth week of my diet now and I have been good. I have resisted all temptation so far because I desperately want to get rid of the pain in my thigh.

There has now been huge improvement in my meralgia paresthetica so it looks as if I am on the right track for getting rid of the pain completely. I just have to stick with the diet until it’s gone.

The pain used to get so bad I had to take pain killers fairly often and when it wasn’t painful it was irritatingly sensitive. Now it has become intermittent again. Most of the time it feels OK because it’s just a bit numb. It only hurts under certain conditions now.

It’s so good not to be feeling the pain all the time any more!

There have been other benefits of losing weight too.

I can scratch my own back again now!

Before I went on the diet I couldn’t reach most areas of my back to scratch any itchy spots. I had to use my brush to reach the middle of my back but now I can reach it with my nails again!

The vague aches and pains in my joints have almost disappeared too which is completely unexpected. I thought they were due to the loss of hormones brought on by menopause and were just one more reason to hate getting old.

I’m feeling twenty years younger with those aches and pains gone!

My dodgy knee still hurts when I go up and down stairs but the pain is easing and it feels like the knee is getting stronger every day.

My back doesn’t hurt so much, I don’t get so breathless doing things any more and people are even being nicer to me!

By people I mean men I suppose.

Went shopping for a Christmas gift for my son and the man threw in some freebies worth about 50 dollars. The gift was too big to fit in my car so he followed me home with it and even carried it up the stairs for me!

Another man stepped aside at the service station and told me to put my purchases on the counter while I waited for him to finish paying for his. He thought the pack of diet coke cans looked too heavy for me to have to hold while I waited.

It could be just a coincidence I suppose but the days of males being thoughtful and considerate towards me have been gone for a long time and I presumed it was just another consequence of getting old.

The improvements have come just in time because Christmas is going to be tough!

My workplace has bowls of lollies and other goodies all over the place for starters. I’m having to resist all sorts of temptations every time I go to work!

Christmas day is coming up and I am cooking for my children. They want me to go off the diet for the day but I am reluctant to do it.

My stomach has shrunk and the meals are filling me up now. I don’t want to undo almost four weeks efforts by pigging out for one day and stretching it again.

There is still a long way to go and I don’t want to fall down yet.

I still don’t see the things I used to see when I was younger and slimmer. Things like my collar bones and shapely knees. My clothes still fit so I am still not the size 14 I used to be.

Most important of all, however, the meralgia paresthetica has not gone completely. I cannot, and will not, quit the diet until that condition has cleared up 100 percent!

If I do decide to fall off the diet on Christmas day I plan to serve myself the same size portion the diet company gives me and try to avoid stretching my stomach. No snacks or junk for me either.

That’s the plan anyway. Whether I stick to it or not is my choice and it will depend how I feel at the time. One day won’t hurt as long as I go back on the diet straight afterwards.

Christmas will be a quiet affair for me. Lunch with my kids and we will exchange gifts then I have to go to work that evening.

Wherever you are, whoever you are, I hope your Christmas will be a good one and may God bless you all.