Day 1 - Let the Games Begin!

It's May 2nd and today is the first day of my Survivor Diet Challenge for 2015!  This is the latest I've ever started and some of that has to do with the weather (brrrrrrr!) and some of it has to do with my knee.  I recently had a knee procedure called Regenexx Stem Cell Therapy in order to help heal some injured components inside my knee.  Although not very painful, this procedure was done last week and I wanted at least a week of recovery before beginning the SDC.

So here I am again - alone in my quest and starting at an initial weight of 198 pounds.  My goal is to reach 175 in 40 days.  As an added incentive, I joined a "Biggest Loser" contest sponsored by Debbie's gym.  Man, they don't have a clue about what I am bringing to the table (no pun intended).  In addition to losing weight, getting healthy, feeling great and having a whole lot of fun and adventure in the process - - - I'm going to win a whole bunch of cash!  Pretty cool huh?  I almost feel sorry for the other contestants for having to go through the whole process of weekly weigh ins and paying dues - but in the end I'm sure it will be good for them to lose weight as well so it's really a win-win (although I'm pretty sure already that the winner has already been determined).  Sounds pretty cocky huh?  Well, that's because I have the data and the history to back it up.  This should be a slam dunk - as long as I stick to the plan.

The one drawback of starting later than normal is that clamming season ended on May 1st and in the past, clams have been a major part of the first couple weeks of my Diet.  I went out on Wednesday and dug up a couple dozen clams in order to have something at the start but that supply is not going to last very long.

There are several advantages to starting a little later in the year such as vegetables growing in the garden, fish and crabs and other sea life are all starting to show.  If I have learned anything from the past few times taking on this Challenge it's that things don't really start going until May.  Well, here I am.  It's May 2nd and I'm starting out with a bit of rice and a glass of water for breakfast.  I have clams in the refrigerator and a small supply of SDC honey on my pantry shelf.  Additionally, I was smart enough to tap a few maple trees for sap in March and I have a nice size jar of pure maple syrup.

In the past, the taste of 'sweet' was one of the things I missed the most while surviving.  Now I should have an ample supply to carry me through.  Learning and preparing from the past and past mistakes is a big part of surviving.