Day 18 - Forgetful

Whoops! I had a little brain fart today and I forgot to prepare myself some breakfast AND lunch before work.  It was an early start and I was checking e-mail or something and before I knew it I had to leave for work.  I had a bluefish fillet in the fridge but not cooked and I had some rice and beans but I didn't pack any up.  I also had leftover greens that I am still a bit repulsed by.  So needless to say, I had about an 8 hour stint from 5 am on without anything but water (and that damn 1 piece left of chocolate angel food cake staring at me - sitting in a ziplock bag on the counter all day at work). 

Day 17 - Sashimi lunch

Bloggedy blog blog blog. . . It's tough to write stuff every day!  So far, not much to report.  My weight dipped a little bit again today (15 pounds lighter than starting day).  I feel quite good.  I was really looking forward to my sashimi lunch but it was a bit anticlimactic.

Day 16 - Wind blown kayak

Breakfast - glass of water
Lunch - bottle of water, container of rice and beans and the smell of a chocolate angel food cake. Mmmmm.
Dinner - glass of water, piece of striped bass
snacks - glasses of water, handful of beans here and there.

When I got home from work around 7:30 I had the great idea to jump in the kayak for a quick fishing excursion but as I started paddling to my spot the wind picked up quite a bit.

Day 15 - Keeping busy

Today I was dreading the fact that I really didn't have much to do and the weather report was once again forecasting rain and yuck.  However, I got through it fairly easily by finding some stuff to do around the house that I had been procrastinating.  In the middle of the day there was about a 2 hour break in the rain and drear so I used that opportunity to hop on the kayak for a little exercise and I was pleasantly surprised at the result.

Day 14 - I hate Day 14

I don't have a whole lot to do today.  It's raining outside so I'm stuck inside and my kids have a recent fascination with the TV Food Network.  Granted it's better than Nickelodeon or goofy cartoons but the food, the food, the FOOD!  It all looks sooooooo good.  Ace of Cakes, Good Eats, The Best Thing I Ever Ate!  Come on!  All I want is something sweet and savory and my meal plan just aint cutting it. 

Day 13 - Mastering the smoker

Although it is Saturday there is no rest for the weary.  It's kids baseball day!  Ty has a game at 8:30 am followed by Jamie's at 11.  Debbie is doing some work this morning so I am on baseball duty.
It was fun but we were rushed in the morning which made it difficult for me to eat breakfast.  I quickly sauteed some striped bass pieces which were quite delicious.  I'm getting pretty good at that and the way I slice it makes it cook very quickly. 

Day 12 - Smoking some fish

I have a nice batch of striped bass pieces drying in the refrigerator today.  Last night I made some brine with water, salt and some maple syrup (almost all gone).  I soaked the fish overnight and this morning I laid it all out on a drying rack and put it in the fridge.  I am trying to get a pellicle to form which is a sticky glaze on the outside of the meat.  This will let the smoke adhere to it.

Day 11 - Blues in the backyard

This is a long fishing report so if you're not interested then don't bother.
I had to add another post to Day 11 because of this very exciting event (if you're a fisherman).  After work I took Jamie out in the kayak at the end of my street.  There is access to the Branchport Creek of the Shrewsbury River.  I rigged a bicycle-kayak trailer so I can get some exercise when I go kayak fishing.  I'll post pictures of that later.  Anyway, we put the kayak in basically in my backyard and as we start paddling out we saw the splashes of many fish all around. 

Day 11 - The need for green

Got on the scale this morning and it read 179.  Down 11 pounds from my 190 starting point.  So that's 11 pounds in 11 days.  Interesting.  I'm not really intent on losing a bunch of weight with this diet and about 175 is as low as I really want to go.  I figure if I go to 175 then after I stop the diet I will probably put back on about 5-10 pretty easily.  So my target weight is ideally somewhere between 180-185.

That being said, I am going to have to figure out how to stay on this diet til the end - without losing any more weight (once I hit 175ish).  Hmmm.  Another challenge. 

Day 10 - Surviving the day at work

I had to rush a bit this morning because I had a long day ahead.  I work until 6 and then I have a digital photography class after work.  I had to get my camera together, make lunch, steam some clams, vacuum up some more fish fillets and get ready for work.  I was in a rush and left the kitchen a whirlwind - sorry Deb, I'll clean up later.  I got to work and at some point in the mid morning a box arrives and is sitting on our lunch table.  It had a Dr Cuozzo label on it so it must be from his office.  I opened it up and inside

Day 9 - Farewell Mr. Fredrickson

Long day ahead at work.  It was easier knowing that I had some nice striped bass in the cooler on ice - ready to fillet when I got home.  That wasn't going to be until 7:30 pm though.  And I had about an hour of cleaning to do before I could even start cooking.  So I had my regular beans and rice for lunch at work.

When I got home the kids were excited to tell me all about how they let Mr Fredrickson go back home.

Day 8 - The day of the Striped Bass

Got a good night sleep - looking forward to my upcoming fishing adventure with dad.  Woke up and had some clams for breakfast.  No, not your ordinary clams - these had butter, salt and pepper!!!  What a difference.  This photo may look like a pan full of worms but

Day 7 - One Week Down!

I woke up this morning and went right out to Takanassee Lake because I thought there may be a chance to catch a trout for lunch.  Ha!  Boy was I mistaken.  I counted a hundred casts with my little gold spinner before I left (freezing my ass off).  Should I just give up my quest for trout?

Day 6 - Fish? hardly.

What  can I say about Day 6?  It's Saturday.  Ty had his first baseball game at 8:30 in the morning and the weather was threatening rain but never did happen.  It was a cold and dreary morning and the ocean and river were basically out of the question for fishing.  I still had a nice supply of clams but that's not going to sustain me for much longer.  Plus I'm getting sick of them.

Day 5 - Gone Fishing

I woke up this morning with high hopes in catching some type of fish for the grill.  The weather was threatening to rain all morning but I decided to throw caution to the wind and take the boat out.  I grabbed a handful of beans from the fridge for breakfast and brought some clams and worms with me for bait.  Today was the first day out on the boat this season so that in itself is usually an adventure.  Something always goes wrong with either the engine or the steering or the trailer or one of the other hundred things that could have something go wrong.  What was it going to be this year? 

Day 4 - Blogs?

I finally caught up to my blog.  Isn't 'blog' a stupid word?  I still don't fully understand it.  What's even the point of all this blogging.  Nobody knows or cares that I'm even doing this.  Well, I suppose I'll just call it a personal log to document my experiences - for me.

Had to get up at 5 today for work.  I guess I'll be skipping the photo session on Thursdays.  And breakfast too for that matter.

Day 4 - Clamming

Headed out this evening to restock my clam supplies.  Went with Ty, Pat and Jonah and we hit the end of low tide so there wasn't too much sand left to dig for steamers.  Surprisingly we did quite well.  This spot is very good.  Stocked up on some big cherrystones and a bunch of steamers and also collected some large worms

Day 3 - Sashimi

Waking up today without a headache was the best start I could have asked for.  Anyone who has suffered from headaches knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Breakfast today - well I was out of my cooked rice and beans and I didn't feel like having clams for breakfast so I just picked on some of the leftover greens from yesterday.  It wasn't much but I usually don't eat much for breakfast anyway.  Today is Wednesday and once a week I have allowed myself a sashimi lunch as part of this plan.  Let me explain why. . .

Day 2 - The Headache

Uuuugggh - What a day.  Debbie told me to expect this but did I listen?  Nope.  I woke up with a mild headache today that progressively got worse and worse and worse and worse (how many times can I write worse?) and worse throughout the day and when I got home from work it was still there. 

Day 1 . . .continued

Hmmm. . . what's for breakfast?

My agenda for today was to get my rations of beans and rice and some containers to put them in.  I also have to get some greens from the lawn and I have a great idea for some seasonings (read on).  I have been trying to find some places to catch fish for the past couple of days but have been unsuccessful.  I am a little worried about that. 

Day 1 - The Beginning (April 12, 2010)

Well, here we go again.  This is the official start of Survivor Diet Challenge II.  It will hopefully run from April 12, 2010 through May 21 ending on Memorial Day weekend.

Each day I am planning on waking up and recording my weight and blood pressure and at some point in the morning I will take a photo from the belly up and a profile photo.

Today I was excited to get started but I have to say that I was a little nervous about what I was about to embark upon (again).