Thursday, September 27, 2007

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.

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