Have you ever invented anything?

Well, I'm not sure that I ever did invent anything. I got a bit of notoriety when I developed the recycled juicebag, but I originally got the idea when I bought one for Stephanie, my niece, for Christmas. Hers was very nice, very fancy, with lots of pockets etc. The one I came up with was very simple, using local materials, and jeans for the gusset sides.

But over the past 6 weeks, I've come up with truly my own invention. It's a new diet. I'm living proof that it works. This will put Oprah and Dr Phil's diets on the back burner. I expect, once they hear about it, the Biggest Loser will come knocking on my door.

I am calling it the "Amira Diet".

I'll give you a bit of background. I was at a quilt guild executive meeting near the end of August, and after the meeting, I happened to take a wrapped candy out of our host's candy dish for my drive home.

It was dark when I left her house, and I fumbled to open the little package which contained a small hard candy but I got it opened and popped it in my mouth before I hit the main highway. The minute I put this in my mouth, I was ooohing to myself... all alone in the car... ohhhh, that's so nice. ohhh, smoooth, ohhhh so silky, ooooo so coffee flavor, ohhhh, yummy. This little candy lasted all the way home... I would say about 12 minutes.

It's just a coincidence that later that same week, at our first Friday girls coffee after the summer, one of the girls came back after not seeing her for 6 months. She had been to Calgary with her hubby and family while he was on sabbatical. While she was away, she lost 25 lbs and it was remarkable how fantastic she looked. I thought to myself... man, if I could lose the weight I put on over the spring and summer, I'd feel so good. So, the combination of those 2 things were the premise that got me started on my own plan. September 5 - Day 1. of the Ameria plan.

I tracked down my quilt host and she told me where she got the little coffee candies. I would have looked and looked but I would have never found them. They were in a little obscure Chinese good store tucked away in an unfamiliar part of town. I had never been there before. Off I go, and bought a couple of package of these little candies. I then knew basically what I had to do as far as eating wise, which was no deserts, no evening eating which was happening daily.

So Here is the crux of my "Eat Candy and Lose Weight Plan" aka - The Amira Diet

Weeks 1 - 4

Eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. All the usual, no fried, limited multi-grain bread. No more than 1600 calories per day. (If you're not exactly sure how many calories you're taking in - log your intake at http://www.fitday.com/. It lets you select the foods from drop down menus and does all the calorie, nutrition calculations for you....It's free).

After your lunch, make a cup of tea, and pop one of these Amira 12 calorie candies in your mouth. Don't chew, just suck on it until it's gone. It takes about 10 minutes. That's enough time to tidy up the kitchen and get out (before the cookies and other tempting sweets call you) Do the same after your supper.

I guarantee if you do this for 7 days, you'll have good handle on your success and you'll be encouraged to get through to the end of the 4 weeks.

Weeks 5 - 8

About week 5, you may need a bit of additional support. Keep an open mind for opportunities.

I started to stray a little. Another one of my Friday Coffee friends, offered to work with me on a 10 lb challenge. And yet another Friday girl who is very knowledgeable on nutrition said she'd look at my foodlogs. So I took them both up on it. A ctually there are now 3 of us in the challenge and I think a 4th is going to jump into the ring. I started logging faithfully after the challenge was set and I've been perrrrfect ever since. I'm positive I'll get my 10 lbs off by Nov. 15th.