Monday:

I woke up Monday morning absolutely pumped to try out my new vegan protein powder in a Pinterest-approved breakfast shake, but only managed to clog my blender with whatever green gack Whole Foods sold me. It was definitely not worth being late to calculus, and I stuck with a plain banana breakfast for the rest of the week.

Tuesday:

Learning from Monday’s mistakes, I had a no-mess banana for breakfast and actually succeeded at trying an Alexis Ren-approved lunch: a lettuce-wrapped veggie burger with avocado. While I cannot say I preferred it to the charcoal-smokey goodness of a classic Angus patty, it was not bad, and I felt reasonably proud of myself for meal-prepping. Maybe I can be an Instagram model.

Wednesday:

Wednesday took whatever hope and confidence I had gained from Tuesday and smashed it with a hammer. The trouble began when I decided to go for a night-time jog in order to follow Ren’s 1-2 hour a day workout schedule. While the run itself was fine, I forgot that another one of her rules is no eating after 7 p.m. Starting my run at 6:30, I didn’t return until well past 7, and thus sat sadly at my kitchen table with an empty plate while my parents enjoyed fragrant Thai food. They confirmed they ordered it to mock me.

Thursday:

At least my second-to-last day proved improvement is possible. Not only did I successfully make an aesthetically-pleasing smoothie bowl snack (perfect for my new Instagram life!) but I also completed an hour-long yoga class inspired by Ren’s posts of flexible poses. However, I did learn that despite yoga looking incredibly serene and graceful online, the stretches were incredibly painful until my muscles released.

Friday:

Friday left me dreaming of all the gluten and sweets I had missed throughout the week, but because the challenge wasn’t quite done yet, I had to settle for Ren’s homemade banana ice cream recipe. Essentially just blended bananas and almond milk, it was nowhere near ice cream, but it was a semi-delicious reward for a week of workouts.