Monday, July 24, 2006

big news hidden in last sentence

A survey released last week revealed that most bloggers write about their personal lives. Blogs about politics and entertainment are further down the list. I try to write about things that are interesting to me in a way that might also be interesting to you. Sometimes I write about entertainment and sometimes about my personal life. The big time entertainment blogs are on pop culture overload today with great stuff from Comic Con. There's news about "Lost," "Veronica Mars," "Snakes on a Plane" and more.

Since the important entertainment news is only a click away, my entry today is all about me. Last year I wrote about the obsession I had with dark chocolate M&Ms. I liked them so much that I decided to never eat a boring old milk chocolate M&M again. Since the dark chocolate ones would only be available for a limited time, I stocked up. As it turns out, I didn't finish eating them before committing to a weight loss plan. A couple of months later I tried to figure out how many M&Ms I was allowed to eat on the plan. By my math, it worked out to 22 and a half pieces. After all that, I didn't want to use up one of my allotted starches on candy. A piece of bread or a bowl of cereal was more filling and therefore more appealing to me. I never got around to eating those M&Ms until now.

I am well into the maintenance phase of the program, which means I can eat a greater variety of foods while still controlling portion sizes. I'm also allowed to have one more serving of starch and fat than I did in the weight loss phase. I've recently used that extra fat allotment to enjoy some pork BBQ and some ribs. The other day I thought it would be nice to have something different as the starch and fat with my lunch. According to the food directory, a 1.7 ounce bag of M&Ms would count as two starches and two fats. I figured that half that amount of candy would count as only one starch and one fat. I started dropping candies onto our food scale until I had what looked like 0.85 ounces. There were 45 pieces in the tray, which made sense. If I counted 22 and a half M&Ms as just a starch, twice that amount could count as both a starch and a fat.

It took me about half an hour to eat all 45 candies one at a time. In the old days I would have eaten that many in half a minute. At that rate, my year-old dark chocolate M&Ms will last a while because I shouldn't have them more than once a week. I probably could have dug into the stash sooner. The company has announced that they have come out of their coma and that the best M&Ms ever are now available all the time.

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6 Comments:

Blogger Jennifer Bohlken said...

Have you seen the Hershey Special Dark Miniature Assortment package? Also a limited edition item, but they look good. I can't wait until I'm in maintenance! (And I can't figure out any way to mention Abby Ham in this comment...)

7/25/2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Frank - I listen and feel that I know you well enough to understand just how dedicated (i.e., anal) you are about this... honestly dude, take some time and enjoy yourself and the food at least one meal a week. I would be willing to bet two things:

1) You won't be able to eat anywhere near as much as you used to (that stomach is much smaller now)

2) You will enjoy the food (all food) much more.

I think the key is to realizing when the food doesn't taste good any more. I would bet that after the half bag of m&ms that the next bite isn't anywhere near as tasty as the first.

Oh, this all comes from a guy who lost 70 pounds (230 -> 160) over the course of 4 months.

Life is to be enjoyed Frank - just enjoy in moderation!

7/25/2006  
Blogger Heather said...

the dark M&Ms were my favorite too.

7/25/2006  
Blogger Heather said...

You totaly made my day

7/25/2006  
Anonymous Pam Mc said...

I have never seen such will power in anyone before Frank....you make all of us slackers look even worse LOL

7/25/2006  
Blogger jess said...

thanks for the linkback, frank! especially since I linked you in that post...
it's like a mutual admiration society.
can you believe, that even with my love of Dark Chocolate, I have not tried those M&Ms? shame on me, i know.

7/25/2006  

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