Three days ago, Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson took a vow to spend a week eating nothing but Soylent, a nutritionally complete meal replacement created by engineer and entrepreneur Rob Rhinehart. He's documenting his freedom from solid food by day. Read about Day 3 here

Closing out day 3

As you can see in the video below, Matt and Steve came over as promised and a wonderful time was had by all. Matt was less than impressed with Soylent's mouthfeel; after three full days, I've become used to it, but his description of it being like "a little kid was playing in the dirt and spilled his Purple Drank in the dirt and then slurped it up" isn't inaccurate.

According to the latest Soylent blog entry, the chalky texture is the result of the "mesh size" of Soylent's rice protein. Matt and I seem to mind it more than some past Soylent beta testers have, but Rob Rhinehart and crew are aware and are looking at a smaller-sized rice protein as they near a shipping product.

It was hilarious to watch Matt (and later Steve, though we didn't get it on camera) partake. Matt did a lot better than I thought he would, too—he arrived hungry, drank a full glass of Day 3 Soylent Purple, and didn't stop for food on the way home. Soylent success!

Lee Hutchinson introduces his buddy Matt to Soylent. Hilarity ensues.

Day 4, 09:00: Let’s get this party started

I'm a professional Soylenter at this point, and the mixing goes quickly. The amount of Soylent in each of the bags is close to identical, but there are some minor fluctuations a few grams one way or the other. My impression is that all of the Soylent beta packages are hand-crafted by Rhinehart or one of his Soylent elves, so tiny imperfections are to be expected.

I mix half the Soylent, pour it into the pitcher, mix the other half, and grab a mug. Today is Friday, and on Friday, Soylent shall be blue. It is known.

Poop log, Day 4

Mixing different food coloring into your food makes for a fascinating way to track exactly how long it takes for food to migrate through the digestive process. The green food coloring started showing up in my poo yesterday morning, but what's fascinating is that it's still showing up. Now, though, there's also purple. I'm not posting a picture, though; you'll have to be content with the description that it is difficult to describe. Imagine something like a comic book drawing of the Hulk wearing his trademark purple pants and running really fast with lots of motion blur—just a whole lot of purple and green all kind of blurred together.

The sight doesn't affect me. I have moved beyond such things.

Things have been holding at a very steady Bristol 4 and this morning is no exception, but in the afternoon I have a sudden bit of light cramping; I make a quick bathroom trip and unload a small amount of material that would rate at about Bristol 6 to 6.5. Not sure what's up with that, but it's an isolated incident and, at least as of this writing, it hasn't been repeated.

Day 4, 11:00: Quantitative ruminations

I don't feel like I need a morning snack, so I don't eat one, instead focusing on getting the video at the top of this piece cut together. I think back on the first couple of days and shudder—I'm glad that part's over.

Why, though, did I stuff myself full of Soylent? Smug commenters have noted that I should simply have listened to my body's signals and not given it so much to deal with; they're right, but I had a good reason (and it wasn't just for the lulz). Soylent is a careful mix of macro- and micronutrients, and one bag contains not simply calories and fiber, but also the entire bucket of things your body needs to, you know, live and stuff. My thinking, backed by the info I had available, was that Soylent was crafted to be consumed in a one-bag-per-day regime.

Fortunately, this is not so. As I noted yesterday, Soylent founder Rob Rhinehart let me know that folks can eat (or not eat) as much Soylent as they want. If they're using Soylent as a one- or two-meal substitute, then they'll likely pick up anything missing from other foods; if they're going all-Soylent, as I am, Rhinehart had this to say:

No need to worry about not getting enough micros. The included amounts have some breathing room such that even 1/2-2/3 of consumption should be plenty. Just use your body's built-in mechanisms for hunger and you should feel fine, as it seems you do.

This was not obvious on Day 1, but I'm glad it is now, because my consumption level is settling right at about 60 percent of one bag per day.

Day 4, 12:30: On the go

Time flies while working—shockingly so, actually, and I find I am perilously close to running late for the interview I have to run out and conduct. A glance at TranStar shows that there is a giant accident on I-45 northbound that I'll have to sit through. I was already expecting 45 to be a parking lot into downtown Houston, but this is unexpected. I cut my editing short and grab a quick shower, then dress and leave, Soylent cup in hand.

This is actually extremely useful. I eat as I drive, multitasking like a baws. I could really have used this stuff at jobs past, where I've alternated between elaborate client lunches on some days and fast food hamburgers frantically eaten while driving and running a sales call at the same time. Sometimes you really don't have time to eat.

Day 4, 18:00: A very Soylent evening

I snacked on another mug of Soylent at a bit after 4pm, and I'm feeling quite sated as I type this up. Aside from the weirdly unexpected bathroom stop a little while ago—as noted in the poo update above—I continue to feel excellent.

I don't particularly miss food—I'm not really having any cravings. Food certainly sounds nice, but I'm not depressed or jonesing—I'm not sitting here shaking with taco withdrawal or anything. The first thing besides Soylent that I've actually chewed on was some spearmint gum on the way to my interview this afternoon—it didn't feel any worse or better than chewing gum at any other point.

More than anything else, I feel like I just don't need a whole lot of sustenance. I feel a tiny bit hungry right now, but that'll get satisfied by a small amount of Soylent right after I turn in this story.

This hasn't stopped the taunting texts, though; a coworker of my wife texted me a picture of the excellent dinner he was having with his husband, and my fine Ars coworkers also sent me quite a few delicious-looking images. Thanks, guys. NOT.

Stay tuned...

I've got one day left on Soylent, and after that, it'll be back to normal food. Honestly, the idea of eating something solid has a certain psychological attractiveness, but I'm not counting the seconds. I don't think I'll want to break my fast with an enormous meal—in fact, the idea of going out to celebrate my return to food and ordering a giant meal is a little off-putting.

Most of the Ars staff (myself included) are off on Labor Day, and my wife and I will be spending the day with friends. That will almost certainly be the first big amount of food that I eat; I'll keep tabs on the things I stuff into my face and how well my post-Soylent body reacts to starting things back up again.

The Soylent saga resumes and concludes on Tuesday, dear readers. Mark your calendars.