Nothing but Rain and Wind

Day: 3
Weight: 226 lbs.
Food Intake: nothing but water

72 hours and still no land in sight. The wind is blowing very hard and rain is constantly pelting me. I'm still holding up okay. No significant ill-effects so far. I seem more willing to take naps or sleep than normal. It would be a lot easier to look for land if the sea would calm down. Maybe tomorrow. Time to sleep through my 4th night in the open ocean.

No Land in Sight

Day: 2
Weight: 228.5 lbs.
Food Intake: nothing but water

It has been more than 48 hours now since I've had anything to eat. The wind is blowing wildly, but I'm really not sure what direction. I developed a head-ache today, probably due to lack of caffeine which I normally drink all the time, but that has passed. I'm still feeling great. I don't miss food nearly as much as I thought I would. I think I ate more for entertainment than for sustenance. Time to head into my third night at sea. Maybe tomorrow will bring land and the hope of food.

Overboard!

Day: 1
Weight: 233
Food Intake: nothing but water
Blood Pressure: 154/98 at pulse 98

After a great meal of prime rib rubbed with Southwestern spices and grilled medium well aboard ship last night, I find myself in the ocean! I don't exactly know how I got here, but I am floating by myself on the open sea in a rubber life raft. It must have rained during the night because a considerable amount of rain water has accumulated in the deep-sided raft. I'm feeling great. There are long oars attached to the sides of the raft, so I've done a bit of rowing today. I thought about getting in the water and swimming a bit, but I appear to be caught in an algae bloom -- billions of microscopic single-celled photosynthetic creatures, each equipped with propelling flagella and a toxin which has an irritating effect on my lungs and eyes.

Introduction

I am 48 years old and have noticed that over the past 3 years I've gained a lot of weight and my blood pressure has gone up. I currently weigh 233 lbs. at 5'8" and my blood pressure is 154/98 at a heartrate of 98/min. I've also started snoring (when my weight passed 215). It is my understanding that this is not healthy.

Way back when I was thirty something, my weight was 185 and my blood pressure was 120/80. I've tried several dieting ideas over the years, but none have really worked for me. A strict variation of "the grapefruit diet" (no sugars or starches) along with daily exercise was the most effective in that I lost 10 lbs. of fat in 10 days, but then I just didn't seem able to lose any more and I experienced a loss of enthusiasm.

I got a new diet idea Thursday night while watching "Survivor: China". My wife and I had just finished a great meal at Longhorn Steakhouse -- their new prime rib dish cooked Southwestern style. Having watched all but about two of the Survivor episodes (this is about the only TV show we've watched with any consistency for the past 8 years), I remarked that those people who stayed on the island for an extended period of time (up to 38 days) all lost a considerable amount of weight. I wondered what made them different? Maybe part of it was the fact that they were in an exciting and exotic situation. This caused an adjustment in their attitude. The fact that it was a competition with a fixed maximum participation time may have kept some of them from giving up. Peer pressure also seemed to play a part. I don't know for sure what the motivational key was, but I do know that all my dieting efforts were eventually overcome by a lack of enthusiasm.

What if I created (in my mind) a situation similar to that experienced by "Tom Hanks" in the movie, Castaway? What if I made it so real in my mind that I could convince my body that it WAS real? What if I only eat whatever the narrative of the "marooned fantasy" would allow? If I emmersed myself in this fantasy enough, would I develop an enduring attitude that would allow the diet to succeed? If I wrote a fictional narrative around the fantasy, would that provide the exciting and exotic situation needed for a proper attitude adustment? I could start a blog to write my fictional narrative and for peer pressure!

I live oceanfront (30 normal walking steps from my front door to the sand, 50 more steps over the sand dune to the water at high tide -- probably less than 100 feet from my front door to the water) so it shouldn't be too difficult to imagine that I'm marooned on an island.