on female characters not carrying their own story

Here's a novel thought:

The reason most female characters can't carry their own story is because the canon they are in is usually not about them.

So of course the female character(s) of most canons can't carry her own story, because the writers of canon do not write about her as though she's a person with her own desires, thoughts, goals, and suchlike that just happen to intersect with the male character(s), but as though she's an appendage to the male character(s) - there for his convenience, use, and dismissal/destruction when his story requires it.

still losing weight

Three weeks and I'm down to 56.4kg.

I haven't been keeping to the diet religiously: a rice cracker here, a Hershey's kiss there, a half-glass of full-carb soft drink on the side.

And, of course, there's been the days where I simply haven't kept to it. The weekend comes to mind.

The major down side of the diet is that I've been feeling exhausted. I don't think the diet was designed for someone involved in high calorie-burning activities like a regular sport and gym classes. My body's accustomed to the easy carbs of bread and rice for the energy boost, and it seems to be having a little trouble converting over to the slower carbs of vegetables and oat bran.

Interestingly, my parents didn't do any high calorie-burning exercise while they were on this diet and they said they never felt particularly tired. So it's probably not a big problem if you're not particularly active from the start. More difficult from my perspective.