Week 1 Part 3

For the first few days of the week, Chris woke up feeling awful. His legs were worse than jello, and he struggled to do the most basic things. He knew this process was going to be a struggle, but nothing prepared him for constant soreness and pain! The further along the week got, however, the better he felt. Each day, Chris shaved his stubble, got ready for the day, and donned his workout gear, which generally consisted of a plain t-shirt and basketball shorts.

Miss Valentine appeared precisely at 7:00. She provided Chris with his sparse breakfast and his morning pills. They would then go to Chris’ basement gym and do every workout possible that didn’t involve the upper body while Chris chugged pink water. When Chris was really struggling, it was clear that Miss Valentine was easing up on him. She wanted to push him to his limits, not over them. She returned with a vengeance near the end of the week when he was feeling better.

For his part, Chris fought tooth and nail to keep up with Miss Valentine’s rigorous exercise routine. He was used to going at his own pace, so following her direction was initially difficult. He did everything in his power to showcase his athleticism, but she was clearly in better cardiovascular shape, and it was somewhat frustrating to lose.

Midway through the week, Chris asked Miss Valentine about the lack of upper body workouts. She told him different types of workouts were coming, but they needed to get his lower body trained first. He accepted her explanation but vowed to do some upper body exercises on his own time. He never managed to muster the energy to do so after Miss Valentine left.

After his intense workouts, Chris would gulp down a slimy, salty protein shake, which continued to leave a horrible aftertaste in his mouth. He nearly gagged for the first few days and opted to guzzle it down as quickly as possible to avoid tasting it. He couldn’t describe the taste beyond ‘salty’ and hoped that whatever was in the horrible shake was worth it.

He’d then head upstairs to take a shower with Miss Valentine’s unlabeled products. He fell into a normal routine and didn’t think much of them by the end of the week. It was just a strange-smelling soap/shampoo/conditioner. Chris simply figured they were all-natural or homemade or something. The products left him smelling decent and feeling clean, so it didn’t feel like such a big deal.

Once he was clean, he would watch television while wearing the flower headphones. He was initially bothered by the headphones but stopped caring midway through the week. Miss Valentine was the only person that saw him wearing the headphones, and she didn’t seem to give a damn, so why should he? The sound quality was good, and they fit him decently enough. What more could he want in a pair of headphones? The whole week was 'Desperate Housewives.' Every single day, without fail, he would fall asleep on the couch while Miss Valentine worked on her computer. The strangest thing was, even though he wasn’t conscious for nearly any of it, Chris knew exactly what was happening in the show and knew all of the characters. He continued to have strange dreams and often woke up in a puddle of sweat with a headache. The dreams quickly faded from his thoughts, and he was left trying to remember what was so weird about them. Chris wasn’t sure if it was the workout, the lack of calories, or something in the afternoon shake that put him to sleep, but it was every. single. day.

When night fell, they would return to the kitchen, Chris would be given a light dinner and nighttime pills, and Miss Valentine would leave. Chris was so exhausted that he fell asleep in his bed as soon as she left. He spent a few minutes one night trying to figure out what the pills were, but without any markings, he quickly gave up. He tried the same thing with the shower products, but nothing returned with a search of ‘lavender and sour milk scented shampoo.’

Throughout the rest of the week, Miss Valentine’s attitude was fairly mild. If Chris questioned her methods or the training in any way, however, she would instantly become angry. Chris found it easier to follow her direction on most things and save his misgivings for only the most serious offenses. One particularly egregious moment was on the third day when he tried to go from the couch to the kitchen and his legs buckled underneath him. When Miss Valentine suggested that he crawl on the floor to get to the kitchen, Chris lost it on her. Surprisingly, she apologized and relented before helping him to his feet. He appreciated her apology and ignored the momentary flicker of arousal he felt when she suggested crawling.

Chris struggled all week with his libido around Miss Valentine and often found himself hiding an erection. She teased him here and there but mostly focused on his training. It wasn’t until the end of the week that he realized he had not masturbated once. He was just too exhausted!

Chris was beyond thankful at the end of day five (Saturday). He was ecstatic that the first day he met Miss Valentine for the house tour counted as a training day. He was looking forward to relaxing without an intense stare burning holes in him all day. And no workout!! She gave him two meals and a shake at the end of the fifth day alongside two paper cups filled with pills. She was sure to instruct him about proper times for consumption.

Chris woke up on the last day of week one sometime around 9:30. He spent several minutes taking long, relaxed breaths and enjoying the softness of his bed. His relaxation was broken, and he yelped as he remembered: morning pills! He’d put them on his nightstand. He poured the handful of pills in his mouth and washed them down with some pink water. The sweetness of the liquid did not faze him any longer, and he was becoming comfortable with it. In fact, it was the only thing he had to drink all week.

He grabbed his nearby phone and saw a text. It was from Sal. He sighed as he opened it. He hadn’t thought about Sal in a few days.

SAL: Hey Kid, just checking up on you.

CHRIS: Im ok sal trying to stay alive over here

SAL: You know, I talked to Matthew Mcconaughey’s agent when he was going through a similar thing and it sounded awful. You’re strong though, Kid, I know you can do it!

CHRIS: yea thanks sal.

SAL: I got the paperwork for the production: ‘A Woman’s Soul’. You just have to show up to film with their “specified body type”, whatever that means. Do you still want me to sign this and send it back? It’ll be hard to get out of the contract once it’s sent.

CHRIS: get it done im doing this

SAL: Okay, I’ll get it done. Hey, while I have you, Kid...I was hoping to run something by you. There’s an Avenger’s anniversary meeting and I-

Chris stopped reading and tossed his phone angrily towards the side table. It landed with a crash. He was fuming! That snake was still trying to get him to do superhero shit! Chris hopped to his feet and retrieved his phone. He sighed, and his shoulders drooped. It was cracked!

He tried activating the phone only to find the screen was completely screwed up. It was to the point that Chris couldn’t even use it. He gently placed the phone down on the table, as if treating it well would somehow fix it. He would have to get a new one. Well, at least he knew what to do with his day!

Chris walked to the bathroom, thankful that his legs were feeling better. He contended with his daily dose of dizziness and dry mouth. He stared at himself in the mirror and gasped. 

He raised his arms and turned to look at himself from every angle. He’d lost a lot of weight, and his arms, chest, and back were visibly thinner and sleeker. His muscles were disappearing at an alarming rate! He wasn’t exactly shocked, as he knew this was bound to happen, but the speed that it was happening was the shocking part. It had only been one week! He examined his chest hair. It looked lighter and sparser while the hair on his head looked longer. He hadn’t had a haircut in a while, but this seemed unusually quick. His mind wandered; had the weight loss somehow affected his hair growth?

He turned his attention to his legs, where there were far fewer changes. His muscled legs were still thick and strong. He noticed his butt was a little bigger when he turned sideways. He figured it was from all the squats Miss Valentine was forcing him to do. He gave it a squeeze and expected hard muscle. The muscle was there, sure, but there was also an unexpected layer of fat. He couldn’t believe he was able to gain fat anywhere with the low amount of calories he was consuming. It must have been the supplements. Chris figured it had to be some potent stuff!

Chris shaved his stubble, noticing it was thinner than normal. He knew extreme calorie cutting could affect hair growth, but it still baffled him why his head hair was growing so quickly while his facial hair was slowing down. His gaze drifted to the shower, where he saw Miss Valentine’s products. Maybe she was giving him some hair growth supplements to prevent calorie-related hair loss? Once again, that had to be some potent stuff!

He brushed his teeth with his trusty toothbrush and washed his face with water and store-bought face soap. He tried to locate any changes to his face and noticed that his cheeks were a little more gaunt from the weight loss. It made him look a tiny bit older.

With his morning routine complete, Chris put on some casual clothing. Just a black v-neck and some jeans. He wasn't planning on doing any exercise whatsoever! He noticed they were a little loose. He descended the stairs just before 10:00 and stopped on the last step in horror.

There was a knocking on his front door.