Day 1 of the “General Reducing” Plan

*Before before we begin* – My “editor” is sick today, so she didn’t proofread this post- forgive my errors and terrible writing. Thanks in advance!

*Before we begin*  – Sylvia says you absolutely must have a colonic irrigation every day for 3 days before beginning her plan, but needless to say, I’m going to take a hard pass on that. Sylvia will just have to cope.

However, she also thinks that people who want to lose weight shouldn’t drink more than 2 glasses of water a day for fear of “stretching the stomach” – so I think we can safely say she’s not a doctor. 

Madam Sylvia insists that her “fat babies” (come on, Sylvia, that’s just rude) must not sleep more than 8 hours a night (preferably more like 6-7 hrs). I’ve already proven to be an abject failure. I set my alarm dutifully for 6am, but when I half-woke at 5:30 I grumbled and pushed it back to 7am, knowing I needed the rest. What can I say, I have rehearsals at night and it takes it out of me. Mea culpa, Sylvia, I’ll do better! (But actually no promises)

On to breakfast! I’ve included a picture of today’s meal:

Includes: 

• Small glass of orange juice (8 oz)
• Cup of black coffee, no sugar *I quickly realized this was disgusting and switched to unsweetened tea, not pictured*
• 2 rye wafers with honey (no butter)

Thoughts: It’s definitely not a lot of food, but I’m rarely hungry first thing in the morning, so I packed up my little meal and took it with me to my desk at work, where I ate around 8:30am. The rye wafers didn’t taste like much, but the honey helped. I felt full enough initially

Lunch: Madam Sylvia says that “when reducing, you must have one liquid meal a day, luncheon or supper”. I have no interest in trying to go to rehearsal on nothing but liquids (and I’m sure my fellow actors would prefer I were well fed before working with them – I get hangry), so I’ll be doing my liquid meal at lunch. 

Includes: 

• Glass of tomato juice
• Bowl of clear vegetable soup (no crackers) *I included some actual veggies in the broth, as I believe that’s likely the kind of soup she meant, rather than just straight broth*
• Cup of tea with lemon (no sugar) (not pictured)

Thoughts: Honestly- better than I thought it’d be – I deferred my cup of tea until I was back at work so I wouldn’t feel like I was going through the whole work day without anything extra. Maybe it was just that I was so hungry from breakfast that anything would taste good, but I did actually enjoy the veggie broth with soup vegetables cooked into it. Very simple but tasty. I was hungry by the time I got home for dinner, but wasn’t ravenous so I’m calling it a win.

Afternoon “Snack”:  Sylvia allows a large glass of tomato juice in the afternoons. Oh goodie. I decided to skip this today because honestly, I just didn’t feel like I needed it. Next time I think I’ll have it between breakfast and lunch because that’s a bigger block of time between meals.

Dinner: The last meal of the day contains more components than I’m used to having for a meal (at least as an adult forced to make my own food). But when I was a kid, I remember the days of a plate with meat, veg, and starch, followed by dessert. So I’m happy to return to that.

Includes: 

• Fresh fruit cup (A plum in my case)
• Salad of lettuce and tomato, generously sprinkled with parsley and dressed with oil and lemon juice
• Small piece of steak *instructions say to broil, but I don’t have the right pan, so I fried it on the stovetop*
• Baked potato skin (RIP fluffy potato center – not allowed to eat that)
• Gelatin (raspberry!)

Thoughts: I definitely forgot how long it takes to cook a potato and so mine was a little…tough. I’ll try cooking it during my lunch break tomorrow, and then doing the “second bake” when I’m actually making dinner. I saved part of my salad, and my fruit for my break during rehearsal, and my jello for after I got home. Not probably what she had in mind, but honestly, it was a LOT of food! I was pretty surprised. I might make less salad next time, because between the potato and steak, I really didn’t need that much else. 

Final Thoughts on the Day: This really didn’t feel as restricted as it actually is. I’ve suspected for a long time (and so have other friends) that I actually eat far too little most of the time, and then binge on fast food in one fell swoop. The fact that this (based on my calculations) about 700-800 calorie plan didn’t make me feel deprived at all kind of concerns me…hmmm. If nothing else, so far this is confirming that I have terrible eating habits!

Well, that concludes Day 1 of the “No More Alibis” plan – tune in tomorrow for the “In-Between” meal plan, which should seem less Spartan. I’ll also try to compare my measurements to Sylvia’s “ideal” measurement chart, which I’m sure won’t be depressing or demoralizing at all. See you tomorrow!