It’s the last, and probably most challenging, day of the Slim in 6 6-Day Express program.

For starters, my work brings in FREE LUNCH every Friday– today is Indian. Somehow, enjoying chicken breast and zucchini with a plain fizzy water just doesn’t fly when the whole office smells of tandoori, tikka masala, naan and mango lassi.

For follow-up-ers, tonight is the Cock-T’s show at Annie’s Social Club and a dinner-date before at our favorite sushi joint, Yo’s. I have my plan of attack ready for tonight- I’ll be having one ahi sashimi, one yellowfin sashimi and a seaweed salad with hot tea at Yo’s, and club soda with lemon at Annie’s. But, still, hipster bars are kind of a pain in the ass without a bit of boozy buffer.

Surprisingly, I am feeling pretty well. I think the ill health effects I am suffering are more from the steroid shot I got for the poison ivy- tired, some joint pain and have a bit of a cough (steroid shots can tank your immune system.) I take this as exactly the kind of feedback I needed– I can go for 6 days on 1100 cals/day and not totally crash, I should be able to jump right in with the P90X+ “lean” and the fat burner eating plan with no ill effects. In other words, while I’m trying to get the fat off, I don’t need to be eating like a bodybuilder. I pride myself on eating WELL, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing… i think I was totally underestimating the quantity of good food I was eating.

We’ll see tomorrow morning at weigh-in if any of the past 6 days shows on the scale, tape or calipers. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I’m not counting on anything.

Incidentally, I tracked the poison ivy to eating a mango from the office’s Fruit Guys box about two weeks ago. I remember hearing once that mango skin has the same oils in it as poison ivy, but I’d never remembered reacting before. Anyhow, the mango was kind of not-ripe, so I was chewing the fruit off the skin. Apparently, I swallowed some because… well… you don’t want to hear about all that, now do you? Bah.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, after a less-than-stellar progress assessment on Saturday, I started the Beachbody 6-Day Express kickstart program on Sunday. There appear to be various iterations of the same basic program included with different Beachbody products, including Slim in 6 and Hip Hop Abs, but each is the same construct: Three meals, two snacks, lower carbs, low calories, and no booze or soda (even diet!)

The Food Situation: I was shocked when I tallied up the calories for Sunday and Monday to see that I was only at about 1,000 calories per day. Talk about “crash diet” and “totally not sustainable!” But, I am looking at this as more of a level-setting and cleanse than something I expect to bring long-term results.

A typical day on the program is a smoothie for breakfast, made of blueberries, skim milk and protein powder (or a scramble with egg white, mushroom, broccoli, and light Swiss cheese), a lunchmeat/lowfat swiss cheese roll-up for AM snack (or some nonfat cottage cheese and strawberries), a salad with turkey or tuna and Newman’s Own Light Balsamic for lunch, 20 almonds for PM snack and a wonderful shrimp or chicken stirfry for dinner that I kind of pieced together with ingredients from all the various nights’ dinners.

I feel like I am eating al lot, but I think I am just eating very regularly- pretty much every 2 hours- to try to cram all the food in before 8:30 PM. On the program, you are supposed to finish eating three hours before going to bed. This morning was the first day that I noticed I was feeling a little spacey, so I’ve been really careful today to have some of the higher-carb options (eg. Strawberries and cottage cheese instead of a meat/cheese wrap) and to eat very regularly.

The Liquids: I have been drinking a camel’s ration of herbal tea, which I really do enjoy. The Slim in 6 6-Day Express wants you to take supplements that have green tea in them, so, in lieu of pills, green tea has become my beverage of choice during the day. I have replaced my traditional lunchtime Coke Zero with a sparkling water (which I was pleased to find in the Free Soda Fridge at work- usually works don’t provide free sparkling water for some reason.) Those who know me from the “always a Diet Pepsi in hand” days will be surprised to hear I am down to just one diet soda per day, but I have to say, that “just one” has been tough to give up.

In the evenings, I have really been enjoying getting back into teas. I really am a tea girl at heart, but of course I’ll opt for a glass of wine or cocktail given the choice. Not pouring myself a glass of wine or snifter of rum is surprisingly easy if I just don’t give myself the option. And, needless to say, the soda machine has been a godsend.

The Workouts: Sunday, I did my run. 5.75 miles in 50 minutes or so. (Next week I must get to 6 miles!) I felt great, despite the fact it was 88 degrees out and half my face was covered in mystery rash*. My fitness must really be improving because, even without the usual post-run P90X Recovery Drink, I didn’t crash like I had on weeks previous. Monday, it was Upper Plus and Abs/Core Plus from the P90X+ program. Yesterday, it was Plyometrics. Today is Total Body Plus and I might throw in a 20 minute jog to get my heart rate up some if I get home in time.

The Results: Well, I kind of have a headache… Does that count? No, seriously, I have decided that I won’t be doing any weighing in or measuring until Saturday, and then that will be my P90X weigh-in marker moving forward. After all, I’m not doing this because I think it’s going to create lasting physical changes. I just want to reset my system before embarking on a much more reasonable eating program.

*For those who’ve inquired about the mystery rash I’ve been mentioning- It started with a dime-sized rough patch on my cheek Friday and, by Saturday, half my face had erupted in clustered blisters. Sort of oozy. On Sunday, they got all itchy. Pretty gross. Monday, I was able to get in to see the dermatologist, and turns out it’s poison ivy. Which is just reallyfuckingfantastic considering I haven’t been in the great outdoors for months, so where it’s coming from, I have no clue. (Scary: I just realized a week before the rash broke out, I was watching an episode of Batman with Poison Ivy in it… Coincidence?) All I can say is that it had better not be in the backyard! So, the dermatologist gave me a steroid shot and sent me on my way to crust over and, hopefully, heal up.