The Diet

I have briefly mentioned the study I'm involved in regarding weight loss and chocolate. While I didn't sign a confidentiality form, I'm not sure how much I can say about it. So let's just leave it with the fact that it has to do with weight loss and chocolate. I'm in the experiment (the chocolate) group (as opposed to the control -- the non-chocolate -- group.)

The real point of this post is the weight loss portion of the study. They've put us on a calorie restricted diet. It's not a huge calorie restriction, and not something terribly difficult to follow. Based on my BMI, age, body type and activity level, I am to eat 1500 calories per day. I am assuming this is to get me down to my "healthy" BMI by the end of the study (December 3; 18 weeks from now.) My "healthy" BMI is a mere 1 point lower than what it is currently. (As an aside, I think BMI is a crock of shit, but this is a topic for another post.)

To ensure that it isn't a "fad" diet (i.e. low carb, high protein, etc.) they're using the diabetes exchange system. This is how the MayoClinic explains the exchange system. It's actually much easier than counting calories. There is a bit of measuring involved, at least until you get the hang of eyeballing serving sizes. I'm still measuring things a bit. I'm trying to overestimate just to stay on the safe side, but I suspect in a lot of cases where I think I'm overestimating, I'm actually getting the serving size about right.

So far, it's not too bad. The biggest problem I'm having, though, is hunger. Not the typical "I've used all my points and I'm still hungry" kind of hunger. I still have "points" (calories, exchanges, whatever) left at the end of the day. I'm just not sure how to use them and I'm so overwhelmed with choices, that it's just easier not to eat anything.

The past two nights I've gone to bed hungry.

I might have solved this problem, though. I looked on the list of exchanges at the MayoClinic's website and have discovered that THREE CUPS of popcorn (that's stove or microwaved popped with no butter - how I usually make it) counts as one carb/starch exchange. Popcorn is a good after dinner snack for me. The Boy™ and I make popcorn a lot. Three cups is a lot, and I've been having at least 2 or 3 starch exchanges left at the end of the night. So that would be about 6 cups of popcorn. I don't think I could eat 6 cups of without getting an upset stomach (I don't digest corn very well.) This is good news.

If you're interested in more about this exchange system, or the diet itself, let me know. I'm more than willing to share the tips and "rules" with people (though there really aren't any rules except the amount of exchanges I'm allowed to eat.) I'll probably be writing more about the diet. I have 18 weeks to go.