No More Alibis: Vintage Beauty in a Modern World

Day 10: Weight Gain (plus an update)

Hey all! I think I’ve been a bit ambitious in terms of my updating schedule. I’m in a show at the moment which takes up a fair bit of my time (I should be working on lines right now, for example), so my updates might slow down here for a while. No fear, I’m not abandoning this blog, it just probably won’t get an update every single day. But I’ll do a little chapter today for funsies, and (hopefully but no promises) I’ll be back again tomorrow with more. In the meantime, enjoy and share with your friends!

Let’s talk about a topic I’ve never in my life needed to know about: Weight GAIN. Oh yes, Sylvia has the answer to that too! The chapter is entitled “Gain Fifteen or More Pounds a Month” – which is definitely ambitious. As I said, I’ve never in my life needed to gain weight, and I’m definitely not about to try this particular meal plan (no need to temp fate) but if anyone out there does need to put on some pounds, give it a whirl and let me know how it goes!

First off, before she even gets to the food, Sylvia says “You must have a (sic) least nine hours of sleep. Some require ten.” I mean, so far I’m on board. But alas, I’m one of Sylvia’s “fat babies” (eyeroll) so I’m not allowed to sleep.

I’ve included below a rundown of the meal plan:

Let me just say, this all looks pretty darn tasty. Honestly, she’s just giving permission to eat a lot of carbs and fat, which my body is always up for. I’ve been taking a break from lifting while I’m doing this diet (no need to pass out while I’ve got a barbell on my shoulders), but I could see this diet being great for gym days. Very filling and warm.

You get to have dessert! Twice in a day! What a life. I only get a half a cup of gelatin once a day, which I mean, is delicious, but thin girls who want to gain weight get to have bread pudding! Custard! Ice cream! Ugh. Unfair.

It does seem like an awful lot of food. And on top of the regular plan, she also encourages eating “all the fresh fruit you like during the day”.

Sylvia HATES hot baths and showers. According to this chapter, she tells women who love hot showers and baths “That’s fine, if you want to kill yourself.” I mean…kind of harsh I think. But she’s Scandanavian, so I assume that’s part of the reason she’s so into the cold shower with a body brush thing. I don’t know if I could handle it. My poor skin.

Encouraged exercise for thin girls: swimming and tap dancing. Both of which are OUT for bigger girls, according to Sylvia – they’ll cause them to bulk up. Which…is definitely not true, but then, women of this time also didn’t think you could swim while on your period. So I’ll forgive the ignorance.

She has a set of exercises for thin girls to “build up” parts of their bodies they want to be larger. I’ve posted some pics and instructions below with captions.

Instructions: “Lie on the floor and bring your body into the position illustrated in picture 16. Then straighten up. Do this again and again. In the same position, pretend to be riding a bicycle. Use your legs exactly as if you were pedaling. Give fifteen or twenty minutes to this, dividing the time between the up and down and the pedaling movement.”

Instructions: “Pictures 17 & 18 tell you just how to do this. Lie on the floor and place both hands under your hips to raise them. Raise your legs and spread as far apart as you can get them. Then pull them together like picture 18. Stretch legs out again and reverse the crossing position. This works like the blades of scissors. Do this for fifteen or twenty minutes a day.”

Unfortunately the exercises for “Enlarging the Chest” don’t have pictures, but I’ll run through the suggestions here (in Sylvia’s own words so don’t blame me for how strange they sound):

Before an open window: Stand erect. Raise your arms straight in front, palms downward. As you do this, inhale through the nose. Don’t raise the arms any higher than the level of the shoulders. The raising of the arms and the inhaling are done together and very slowly, permitting you to count up to eight. From this position, arms straight in front of you, level with shoulders, without releasing your breath, slowly turn the palms outward and move the arms until they are on a horizontal line with your shoulders. In this movement you are still holding your breath for another eight slow counts. From this position, turn the palms downward and lower the arms to your sides by eight slow counts, exhaling through your mouth. Begin at five times on this exercise, working up to ten or fifteen times.
Just to the regular swimming exercise featuring the breast stroke, before an open window for fifteen minutes. Do it as if you were really cutting through water. It will develop your bust, shoulders and arms, and is much better than actual swimming because it will not enlarge your hips at the same time, in case they’re already well developed.
Singing is also a great chest builder. Have you ever seen opera singers with a flat chest? No! That’s becaues they sing. Well, you sing too. Sing for a lovely, feminine figure. It doesn’t matter whether or not you have any voice. But is essential that you know the proper breathing required in singing. Ask any of your singing friends to show you the correct breath control and the simpler exercises that all singers use. Then sing! Sing for a few minutes every day! Sing for beauty!

Lastly, Sylvia encourages girls who wish to gain weight to nap whenever possible. A half an hour after lunch, and again before AND after dinner. It is Sylvia’s theory that girls can’t gain weight because of a “nervous” disposition – naps are meant to calm them down, and thus allow them to put on weight. It’s interesting, if not particularly sound logic.

Well, there you have it. All the information you need to gain 15 or more pounds a month if that is what your heart desires. If you decide to try it out, please let me know how it goes!!!

Days 5, 6, 7, and 8 (I’m the worst)

I’m back! Unfortunately I don’t have a computer at home so weekends are my designated off hours from this project, and then yesterday was just too crazy at work to even think about posting. But I’m here now to give you a little update on the last few days.

I think I mentioned briefly that I’ve been losing weight, but I do have an official number for you now: 5lbs. It’s not much, but for me it’s huge because I NEVER lose weight. Even if I eat what I think is healthy and work out, the scale never budges. I’m crediting it to eating in designated hours, and the low-carb food. I’m actually enjoying most of the food still, which is awesome. Eventually I’ll try swapping out some recipes for others (I’ll probably still try to use an old cookbook just for kicks though) but for now I’m happy sticking with the old standards.

So this weekend I went to the fair! I LOVE the Northwest Washington Fair, but I haven’t been in years because I’m usually at work and in a show while it’s going on. Which I am this time too, but I was able to squeeze it in this time. And I’m so glad I did! I still took pics of what I ate that day to keep me accountable – and honestly I didn’t do too bad. Sylvia would have been disappointed in me, but compared to how I’d usually binge at something like this, I think I did pretty darn well.

My friends (Brendan and Natasha) picked me up in the morning and we went to The Birch Door for breakfast. Best breakfast food in town if you ask me. I ordered from the “lighter fare” portion of the menu, and was still very satisfied. I had a raspberry mimosa (which knocked me flat on my ass – took me two glasses of water and a coffee before I downgraded to tipsy…whoops! Now I see why Sylvia says not to drink on her diet. I’m sure she was thinking more of the weight you can put on drinking, but this is another good reason to watch it.) and a pancake breakfast – two small pancakes, a dollop of scrambled eggs, and 2 slices of bacon. DELICIOUS. I didn’t feel stuffed, and I didn’t feel deprived.

Mmmmm breakfast (note the already finished mimosa glass in the upper left hand corner…I’m a monster)

After that we headed up to the fairgrounds. Once we were in, we immediately looked at Every. Single. Animal. They. Had. I love looking at the livestock at the fair- I pet as many as I can get away with, and talk to the rest of them. I’ve included some pics below of some of the best chickens and goats. I also saw pigs, cows, sheep, llamas, alpacas, horses, and even cats, but didn’t take that many photos. Too busy enjoying myself.

Next we went on some rides. I usually hate them, but since my friends sprung for an unlimited-ride wristband for me, I had to do a few! The first one made me sick, so I took a break for a while – we went on the kiddy rides in the meantime to give me a chance to recover, and grabbed some food. I had a ridiculously huge corndog (pictured below), and a lemonade. Honestly, my stomach had already started complaining about the rich food, so I stopped there. (Full disclosure: I had a Reeses Blizzard and Pretzel Sticks on the drive home).

It was good, but I wish I had had some mustard to go with it

We rode a few more rides (Ferris Wheel, Carousel etc…the greatest hits), and rolled out right at 10pm. It was a really great day, and while I wasn’t on my diet, I honestly ate less than I thought I would, so I’m going to call it a win.

Nighttime at the fair is really something!

Sunday (and Monday, for good measure) I went right back on the reducing plan (See photo of virtuous rye crisp breakfast below). Two days in a row might have been a bit much as I was a little faint by the end of the day on Monday, but I didn’t actually feel overly hungry. I’m actually learning a lot from this plan and I thought I’d share some of my insights with you:

Portion sizes are generally smaller than I think they are. Especially when my dinners have 4-5 components, it’s important to remember the size of each item should be smaller since there are so many.
Eating at night makes sleeping harder. I’ve found I go to sleep a lot easier when I’m not spending all my energy trying to digest. This is something our grandparents all obviously knew, since most people didn’t eat after dinner very often until relatively recently.
Tea without sugar is actually pretty darn good. It just takes some getting used to. I think I’ll pass on trying to drink black coffee though. Just not enough of a masochist to do that.
Carbs are overrated. I haven’t craved bread much in the last week – I have a slice some mornings with egg, and occasionally I have a passing craving for crackers, but for the most part, I’m doing just fine without them. Going out to eat occasionally is plenty for me.
Jello is VERY hard for me to portion out properly. Good thing it’s not really all that caloric, because I could EASILY eat a whole pan if I let myself. Why is it so good? It’s just gelatin and flavoring??? Witchcraft. I’m convinced.

Sunday morning breakfast – after the rich food the day before, this tasted like HEAVEN.

That brings us to today! We had a Mocha Chocolate Cake brought to the office to celebrate August birthdays – I’m not a HUGE chocolate cake person, but I took a small slice home on my lunch to have later if I feel like it. There’s a big chance I won’t even eat it since chocolate isn’t really my thing. But knowing it’s in the fridge at home keeps me from obsessing about it.

I also planned really poorly and didn’t make my dinner ahead of time – I have a chiropractor appointment and then rehearsal tonight so I won’t be home. But after some quick menu searching, I’ve decided to get myself some Tom Kha soup from a local Thai restaurant. Veggies, coconut milk, and fried tofu…mmmmm. And pretty darn healthy, so I don’t feel too bad about missing my usual meal. Maybe this really is all there is to it? You just…find something you enjoy eating that is also healthy and then you don’t feel deprived of the more unhealthy things? Weird. It seems like it should be more complicated than that.

I know I didn’t go into great depth on the book today, and I’m sorry for that. Rehearsal is really gearing up (we have to be off book this week and I might actually die – I have SO MANY LINES) and we open in three weeks. But I promise I haven’t forgotten about this blog and I’ll be back soon (hopefully tomorrow!) with more crazy Sylvia goodness!

Day 4: 1930’s Skin Care and Makeup

I know you’re used to hearing this from me by this point, but I’m sorry again. I realized too late that in order to give you all the entertainment of seeing me try to perform these exercises Sylvia has in her book, I would have to have someone take the pictures for me. I didn’t have anyone available to do that yesterday, so that will unfortunately have to wait!

I also maybe forgot to take pics of my groceries. But to be fair, it wasn’t all that exciting. Potatoes, fruit, orange juice, avocados, lemons, tomatoes, tomato juice, jello (hooray!), broth, broccoli, cotton pads (for my face), and toilet paper. What an exciting haul! I did get multiple flavors of Jello, which is very exciting for me. Lime, cherry, berry blue, and orange I think.

Some of you may be wondering how well I’m actually sticking to the eating plan since I’m not showing photos of my meals, but never fear! Aside from an extra serving of jello here and there (I’m only human! Please don’t haunt me, Sylvia!) I’ve been sticking to it like glue. I just figured you all would get pretty bored with seeing the same meals day in and day out. Yesterday I livened up my meal by slicing my steak and putting it IN my salad. Dinner still feels like entirely too much food, but I’m getting used to it better than I was. I think my portions might still be a little off – my salads might be a little bigger than she intends? I make a whole bowl of salad, and she might mean for all the food to fit on one plate, which it definitely doesn’t currently. I mean, I’m losing weight anyhow so I think it’s probably fine.

For a change of pace, I thought I’d talk a little bit about beauty routines in the 1930’s today, and then cover one of Sylvia’s shorter chapters.

While following Sylvia’s eating plan, I’ve also been trying to follow the a skin care regimen that was common in the 1930’s. (With some tweaks based on what I have in my medicine cabinet). (I also have this really fantastic video of actress Constance Bennet completing her morning routine. It doesn’t feel at all staged or fake at all. I also wake up with a full face of makeup on and my hair perfectly in place. Don’t you?)

How do you wake up so beautiful, Constance???

Cleansing cream – This is your good old cold cream. Pond’s still makes it, recipe virtually unchanged since they originally developed it in the early 1900’s. I bought a pot of it for this purpose. You apply, rub into freshly washed skin (you can use cold cream to remove makeup, but it can cause clogged pores, so I used micellar water to take that off before beginning), and then remove the cream with a soft towel, cloth, or cotton pads.
Stimulant Cream – They did have creams that fit this purpose back in the day, but typically what it being referred to is an astringent, like a toner. I used a rose water toner from Thayers. It smells divine, and I even put it in a pretty vintage glass perfume bottle my mom gave me. Just dab all over your face with a cotton pad and allow to dry.
Complexion Mask – Sylvia mentions this part of the routine in her book, though she calls this step “feeding cream”. I have a lovely rose face cream I bought at the farmers market (Birchwood Botanicals, check them out, they make really great products!) and so I apply that next. This is your moisturizing step. I also added on to this a black-tea eye cream that I dabbed under my eyes. (Don’t worry I didn’t actually spend $70 on it…I have a sample I got with a previous Sephora order.)

Constance continues her routine (as she’s doing it in the morning rather than at night like I am):

Glow Base – I believe this is foundation (though some sources say its primer, but as she doesn’t put foundation on after it, I’m hesitant to agree with that). Traditionally foundation would have been preceded by “vanishing cream” which was a precursor to modern day primer (another reason why the term “Glow Base” for primer seems suspicious to me, but perhaps I’ll never know for sure. Either way, foundation in the 30’s wasn’t like the creams you find today. It was matte, heavy, and very thick. For a truly vintage look, you’ll want a full-coverage, matte foundation – I rarely wear foundations, but some sources say that the theatre-makeup brand Ben Nye makes the most period accurate foundation.
Cream Rouge – Besame Cosmetics offers 2 cream rouge’s that suit the time period. An apricot color for daywear, and a crimson for evening. I’m ordering one for my play next week – my makeup station at the theatre is going to be EXTRA AF. (Not kidding – I’m going to get myself a silky dressing gown too, so I can get there early and do my makeup and hair in a leisurely way).
Powder – For the first application of the day this would usually be loose, not pressed. For a real vintage touch (and economy), the company Coty Airspun still sells the powder they’ve been making since 1935.
Lipstick – it was common to overdraw the top lips slightly in the 1930’s, a change from the rosebud mouth of the 1920’s. Common colors were pinks and reds (pinks especially were popular in the early half of the decade).

Not mentioned in Constance’s routine is eye makeup, though it was worn at the time. Cake mascara (like this one available through Besame Cosmetics) was in use, and also could be used as eyeliner. Eyes were lined with brown grease pencil, and mascara was applied to both sets of lashes (lightly on the bottom). Vaseline was often used on the eyelid instead of eyeshadow, though some light colors, like blue, green, and purple were used in the evenings. Eyebrows were still very thin, as in the 20’s, but arched higher, and drawn farther down the temple.

Credit to VintageDancer.com for this image.

There you have it! You now know practically everything you need to to recreate a lovely 1930’s face! Have fun!

Do I look like her? I’ve been told I do, but she’s like 1000x prettier than me.

Day 3: Back to “Reducing”

Due to some poor planning on my part, I had to do my “reducing” day earlier than I anticipated. I thought I had it figured out, but clearly I didn’t – that’ll be on my tombstone. So today I was back to the basics – see my Day 1 post for details.

My one indulgence for the day was a late-evening Jello binge. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold out for long, and after covering the front desk again at work, and a romantic disappointment (read: rejection), I had just about had it. I decided that hey, at least it’s not McDonalds, and finished the whole pan of Jello. So I’m off to the store tomorrow for more supplies since I’m off from rehearsal – I need to stock up on fresh fruit and veggies, orange juice, tomato juice, and Jello. (I’ll post a picture of my grocery haul!)

I won’t bore you with the details of my meals today since you’ve already read them – but I’ll say this: I really am enjoying the food on this plan. I like that I’ve chosen to alternate between the two schedules as it gives me just enough variety to keep me from going crazy. If I were to continue this after my experiment is over (and I actually might – though I’ll give myself a little more slack), I’d probably swap out sweet potatoes for the white ones, and maybe do beans or lentils instead of meat, since I’m trying to eat more vegetarian, but otherwise most of the day is definitely doable. Who knows, maybe I’ll go hunting for another vintage diet book for your entertainment!

Today’s fun chapter is entitled “Clothes Tips for Structural Defects”. Sylvia has no patience for “clothes that attempt to hide your excess weight because their (sic) shouldn’t be any excess weight to hide”. However, she’s been gracious enough to give “you fat girls” tips for dressing while dieting. She’s a real charming lady. Her suggestions are as follows:

Wear plain clothes, rather tailored, but not tight.
Wear dark colors with no big patterns or flowers
Subtle, narrow stripes are acceptable as long as they are vertical
No pointed toed shoes or high heels “…nothing is so ridiculous as a fat woman wabbling (sic) around on spike heels.” (Rude, and not true- I have great legs, and I get nothing but compliments when I wear heels)
A plain, fairly tailored suit, sports hat (which is essentially a menswear inspired hat like a fedora, bowler, panama etc.), and walking-heel shoes make the best costume
Not a lot of jewelry. No beads or necklaces, as they will draw attention to a “fat neck”

She also gives tips for various “structural defects” that can’t be changed (thank you Sylvia, for acknowledging that we are, in fact, human):

Narrow shoulders: shoulderpads and puffed sleeves, taffeta, collars, scarves, and big bows at the neck
Short waists: princess type dresses, no belts.
Tall women: break up lines with fullness in blouse, and in the skirt beginning around the knees, wear belts to break a long line, and baby French heels in the evening.
Short girls: long and simple lines, narrow vertical stripes, small polka dots, jackets with long narrow rows of buttons, long, straight skirts, high-heeled shoes, the hem of your day skirt should be 8” from the floor.

Nothing revolutionary here, friends. Sylvia is giving tips and tricks that we still read in magazines today. What differs is that now we are also told that you can wear whatever you like, and if you have enough confidence, you will look good. But if Sylvia had told women that, no one would have needed her book!

Preview for tomorrow: I have the evening off rehearsal, so look forward to finally seeing some of Sylvia’s exercise regimen for reducing fat. It’s a HOOT.

Day 2: The “In-Between Plan”

*Note: My friend/editor is still out sick, so again, apologies for any mistakes you find – I’m covering her job at the front desk, so I’m hastily posting this right before the end of the workday.*

Today we’re moving to one of the other (less strict) meal plans in the book – for the “In-Between” figure. I was just as miserable about getting out of bed as yesterday – I swear one of these days I’ll actually be able to get up on time. But I did get up soon enough to make breakfast, though not early enough to wash my hair. Oops! #priorities.

Breakfast:

Includes:

Glass orange juice (in place of berries)
Glass water with lemon juice
2 slices of toast with butter *I strongly suspect toast back then would have used smaller slices of bread, but this is what I had*
1 poached egg *I didn’t have a coddler, so it’s poached – also it’s hidden inside the toast…I’m not great at making my food pictures photogenic. Plus I was hungry.*

Thoughts: So satisfying. I don’t eat hot breakfast very often before work, but every time I do it makes me so happy. I love eggs and toast, so I’m very pleased with this meal – especially since I was allowed to have butter on my toast!

Mid Morning Temptation:

The donut of shame. What wise-ass thought it was a good idea to bring a jelly donut into this office??? I mean, of course I ate it. It was delicious and I have no regrets. But Sylvia would probably beat me.

(Literally – she seemed like a pretty violent person – wait for my post on her advice on “squeezing off” fat and hitting your friends to make them stand up straight. It’s hard to believe Hollywood stars tolerated this kind of treatment.)

Lunch:

Includes:

Glass tomato juice *this was meant for mid afternoon, but I figured I’d just have it now*
Salad of lettuce, avocado, cottage cheese, and parsley
½ cup jello

Thoughts: Shockingly tasty. I definitely wasn’t expecting much from a bowl of lettuce (and I didn’t even use as much as she asked for – she wanted me to eat a whole head of lettuce – no thanks!) avocado and cottage cheese as dressing, but it wasn’t bad. Sylvia certainly enjoys parsley – the taste is one I’m not used to in my food, but I don’t hate it!

Dinner:

Includes:

Cup of clear hot soup (veggie soup from yesterday)
Small piece of steak (pan-fried again)
Baked potato with the center scooped out (this will never not be tragic to me)
Green vegetables with butter (brussels sprouts in my case)

Thoughts: Again, this was WAY more food than I’m used to eating for dinner. I drank the soup while I cooked the other food, and there ought to have been a salad and piece of fruit included as well that I was planning to bring to rehearsal with me as a snack…but I was running late and so ended up skipping that part of the meal entirely- to be fair, I didn’t feel deprived or hungry, so I’m cool with it. I’m sad that jello wasn’t on the menu today though. It’s hard to leave it sitting in the fridge – I want it!!!

(Important note: I’ve always had a weird obsession with jello. My mom used to whip it with cool-whip and it was my favorite thing as a kid. She also made this cool jello/raspberry/graham cracker crust pie thing – I could have eaten POUNDS of it without any trouble. So having a whole pan of it in my fridge and not eating the whole thing in a sitting is really a problem for me. I really deserve a prize for this kind of self-control.)

Note for tomorrow: I wasn’t going to go back to the lower calorie count plan until Thursday, but because of my poor grocery planning, I don’t have the avocado I need for lunch, so it’ll have to wait. Back to my liquid lunch tomorrow!

Measurements:

Here’s a fun extra for you today! Madam Sylvia offers up a chart of “perfectly proportioned” measurements for women of different heights. I mean, at least it doesn’t include weight, but this honestly might be worse. See below.

Woof. Women were TINY back then. I’ve taken my own measurements for comparison. See below. (Measuring myself like this made me feel like Midge from Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!)

Height: 63″ (5’3″)
Neck: 13.5″
Bust: 41″
Upper Arm: 12.5″
Wrist: 6″
Waist: 36″
Hips: 43″
Thigh: 25″
Calf: 16.5″
Ankle: 9.5″

I’m not quite Sylvia’s idea of proportioned. She does at least acknowledge that some peoples frames are different and make meeting these measurements basically impossible. It’d be nice to get a LITTLE closer to these, but I think my body would topple over if I had a 26 inch waist. (A 10 inch difference!!) I don’t think my bone structure would support that little flesh. It’s just one more way the times have really changed – I’ll never fit into the authentic vintage clothes of the era – people shaped like me either didn’t really exist, or, like me, they wore their clothes until they fell apart.

Thanks for tuning in again! Tomorrow I’ll detail another chapter of No More Alibis, and on Thursday (since I don’t have rehearsal) I’ll show you some of the fun exercises she suggests for “spot reducing”.

Also, if there’s something you’ve seen you’d like more info on, or would like me to clarify (or if there’s just something you’re curious about in general), please feel free to comment and I’ll do my very best to get back to you ASAP!

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!

An Introduction to Me, Sylvia of Hollywood, and “No More Alibis”

Welcome to No More Alibis: Vintage Beauty in a Modern World! I’m Kim – actress, singer, cubicle-worker, and lover of all things vintage. I decided to start this blog because I wanted to share my weird interests in the diets, beauty tips, and fashion of a bygone era. I went to school for vocal performance so eventually I’m sure that will bleed into this project as well, and I’ll definitely be mentioning the shows I’m in (especially the current one, as it’s a period show set in the 30’s).

I’m adopted, and was raised by parents who are now in their 80’s, which has had a definite effect on my interests. I grew up watching old black-and-white movies, learning to make my own clothes (though I’m woefully out of practice now), cook and bake for myself (this I’m still quite good at – my lemon squares are the shit), and generally be self-sufficient. I’ve gotten lazy as I’ve aged, but I still remember how to sew on a button and darn a sock when needed. I prefer old books to new ones (Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald (NOT GATSBY), Hemingway, Dorothy Parker etc), and I probably own more cookbooks than anything else. I read them like other people read novels – and I flag pages with recipes I want to try.

I enjoy research, and can be very detail-oriented when it’s a topic of interest. Once I was put in a 1920’s style dropped-waist dress for a show set in the 30’s and I think I told all my friends about it 100 times before I could move past it. Well. Sort of. I’m still mad. I mean, it takes FIVE MINUTES to do a Google search and see that the dropped-waist style was out by the early 30’s. It’s fine. I’m fine. Where were we? Oh yeah. This blog. Where all my insanity collides: beauty, diet, lifestyle, cooking, fashion etc, from days gone by (specifically the days from around 1920-1960 – that’s my specialty). Now that I’ve sufficiently bored you with talk about myself (I wasn’t going to include it, but my “editor”, otherwise known as my friend Zoe who has an English degree and thus is much more qualified to be blogging than me but whatever), insisted on it so that my “voice comes through”. I’m trusting her on this one.

Ok. On with the show:

“No More Alibis!” proclaims Madam Sylvia (also known as Sylvia of Hollywood) in her 1934 book. A “Reducing” guru to the Hollywood stars of the time, Sylvia used this book, as well as her regular articles in Photoplay magazine, to bring the same no-nonsense advice she dispensed to the rich and famous to the masses. She promises “if you will string along with me and do what I tell you to do, you will be as lovely as the stars of Hollywood– and lovelier!”. Bold promises to be sure! Read more about Madam Sylvia here.

I’ve always been tickled by old books on etiquette, lifestyle, dieting, and beauty. I first came across this book several years ago while working at a bookstore in my hometown – and I couldn’t believe my luck when I discovered this well-preserved glimpse into a time gone by. It sat on a shelf at home (surviving several purges of property over the years) and I picked it back up recently after being cast in a local production of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None”. I realized my particular copy of the book was released only a year before the play was set, and thought it would be a fun read to get myself in to the mindset of a woman from the era. And then I had a most brilliant idea (if I do say so myself). I already wanted to shed a few pounds for the show, so why not take Sylvia’s advice, and see what I could learn from her? Some of her advice is bound to be bizarre by today’s standards, but as long as I’m sensible and don’t pass out from hunger, this should be a fun experiment!

So here I’ll be chronicling my journey into the world of Madam Sylvia and her famous clients (including Jean Harlow, Ruth Chatterton, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, Norma Shearer, and more). In an effort to include more of the content from the book (as well as not starve to death), I’ll be alternating between two of her diet plans, using the 5:2 method (one of several styles of Intermittent Fasting that have become popular recently). I’m sure Sylvia wouldn’t approve, but it’s what I’m doing anyhow. 5 days a week I will be using her “in-between” plan, for those who do not need to lose or gain weight, and 2 days a week I will be using her much more extreme “reducing” plan. See below for details.

The Plans:

“Diet for General Reducing”

Diet for the “In-Between Figure”

*Note: I have no idea what “Gelatin with thin coffee cream” is supposed to be and the internet hasn’t been very helpful, so I’ll just be eating a small serving of Jello here – that generally seems to be what she’s referring to other times she mentions gelatin, as she talks about how many flavors it’s available in. I could make coffee gelatin but that doesn’t sound super appealing.

I will also do my best to include the exercises and lifestyle tips she prescribes, though keeping up with her suggestions would almost amount to a full-time job! This was a plan originally for actresses who had to spend a LOT of time on their looks to remain viable as actresses.

* A Note on Heartburn: I have a past history of heartburn, and I have noticed that the Reducing Plan is especially acidic. I will be making changes and substitutions as necessary if I notice a problem, but hopefully as I’m only using that plan 2 days a week I won’t have too much trouble.

*A Note on Black Coffee: It’s disgusting. I’ll be drinking plain black tea with no sugar in place of coffee where it appears. I assume she prescribes it for the caffeine/energy benefits primarily.

That probably covers everything you need to know up front, so let’s get started!