Cinch! Book Review and The Results of My First Week On the Cinch Diet

What was my New Year's Resolution? To lose this baby roll that seems to have taken up permanent residence on my body!

So when I was offered a copy of Cynthia Sass' new book Cinch, I jumped at the chance. 

Do I think it's a good plan?  Yes, particularly the 5 day Fast-Forward plan - which is a 4-meals-day-plan for 5 days.

The kicker, there are specific Fast Forward foods; namely:  spinach, raspberries, almonds, organic eggs, and plain organic yogurt.

Not a lot of pickings there.  And for someone like me who is a picky eater, the pickings are slim to none.

But the restrictions lighten up some after the Fast-Forward plan.  And, actually, Cynthia says that the Fast Forward is not mandatory and can be skipped altogether - although you will not quickly lose those initial 8 pounds.

As I mentioned earlier, the pickings were slim but I've reached a point of desperation and I really, really need to lose this middle.   So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to take a crack at it.

Having started on the Cinch diet on Monday, beginning with the Fast Forward plan, the first thing I noticed is that this plan is SUPER restrictive.  I mean, I read it but to live it - O.M.G.!

One of the things one the Cinch! diet is to eliminate sodas (including diet).  As a HUGE Dr. Pepper addict, drinking approximately 40 ounces per day, this was hard.

Even harder than eating foods I'm not crazy about.

And I noticed I had headaches and felt tired.  Fortunately, I had the chance to ask Cynthia Sass if this was normal - because in the book she says you'll feel more energy in the first few days.  And I wasn't.

Well, just as I suspected, I'm detoxing from Dr. Pepper.  But Sass recommended that I substitute Green Tea for the Dr. Pepper to ease the transition.

I didn't really like the Green Tea.  And I did wind up cheating a couple of times with small amounts of Dr. Pepper - bad, bad me! - but now I'm on flavored water.  The headaches are gone and, although I'm not bounding around with tons of energy, I am starting to notice I am feeling better.

As I finish Fast Forward step and I'm heading into the overall Cinch! diet, I can proudly say that last night I weighed in at 132.2 pounds - meaning, I've lost 5.9 pounds! (How much would I have lost if I hadn't cheated with the Dr. Pepper?) Although I'm not really seeing it in tummy area...yet.

Now I've just got to stick with the remaining 25 days.  I'm pretty sure I can, but I'm hating the fact that I'm preparing two meals, essentially, because the diet is NOT family friendly.  Also, I've got to dodge restaurants for these next 25 days because you won't find anything on a menu that even closely resembles the permissible foods.

Not to mention that Princess A's birthday is coming up and the birthday cake and ice cream is going to be very hard to sidestep.

But I know I can do it.  I want to do it.  Because I really think this could work.

Check back with me next Friday to see how I'm doing.  And wish me luck!

As a member of the One 2 One Network, I was provided a free copy of Cinch! by Cynthia Sass. 
Providing this product in no way influenced by opinion as stated in the foregoing review.