NOTE: My original idea. All rights reserved.
If you steal my idea and make millions from it, I will sue your ass. And that will probably be easier than if I just tried to make millions off my idea myself.
A few years ago, I created a Candy Bar Diet. I think it is a brilliant idea. Most people don’t understand it.
The core of the diet is to track the calories you eat in a day using the magnetic, dry-erase Handy Dandy Candy Board, featured in the back of the book that explains the diet. The Handy Dandy Candy Board uses adorable candy bar magnets to track the calories you eat in a day. I created a mock up that I used myself. It was much more fun than keeping a food diary.
The following are the excerpts from the book and pictures of the mock-up.
Handy Dandy Candy Board – Daily calorie tracker and goal © not-quite-a-diet 2010
Introduction:
Candy Bar Calorie Counter
It’s “not-quite-a-diet”
How It Works
Candy bars (the normal sized ones here, no cheating with King-sized) are generally average out to be 230 calories. No matter what you eat in a day, you know you are always thinking: Can I still squeak in a candy bar? Of course you can! Especially if you think of all your calorie counting in terms of candy bars!
Start off with the maximum number of calories you want to collect in your flabby body in a day. Let’s say 1600 calories. Divide that by the average calories in a candy bar: 230 calories. That would mean you could eat calories equal to 7 candy bars in a day. And now with the dry erase, magnetic Handy Dandy Candy Board, it is easy to track to your daily goal.
Examples
That 20oz of Coke you just drank with 240 calories? That equals a candy bar. The honey bun you ate for breakfast at 460 calories—sorry, that’s 2 candy bars. Ate out for lunch & don’t know the calories? Be honest with yourself & give it your best guess. A cheddar bacon cheeseburger would probably be at least 3 candy bars. No complicated math. No tracking every tiny Pez candy. Feel free to round, but be honest with yourself. If you cheat, it will only harm yourself. I don’t care how much you eat in a day. I just want you to appreciate my adorable candy bar magnets, which I was inspired to create while squandering my life & my creativity in a cubicle.
Your Tools
Decide on your calorie/candy bar daily goal. Write it on the dry erase, magnetic Handy Dandy Candy Board . Place a candy bar magnet on the board every time you consume 230 calories in your day. The magnets are kept in a convenient storage pocket until you need them. Where do those calories come from? That is entirely up to you!
There is also a handy journal included to track your progress, if you are into that sort of thing. There is a Calories-to-Candy Bar Conversion Chart. Once the day is done, clear your candy slate & start over again! Conveniently sized to travel with you throughout the day as you rack up the candy bars, er, the calories:)
Why Count in Candy Bars?
This just happens to be how my brain works! And I AM guilty of eating multiple candy bars in a day. Whenever I tried to keep a journal of what I ate, I never made it through one day. I never made it through more than ONE MEAL! It was boring & tedious. But I realized that I was finding myself saying “well, these 2 toaster pastries equal 2 candy bars…maybe I should just eat the candy instead?!”
If you tried a strict dieting plan & became discouraged, this might be a good place to start over. By making it easier to track what you are eating, you are more likely to actually keep it up! Try the calorie counter with sweet indulgences figured right in!
Sometimes just keeping track of what you eat can encourage you to eat less. If your board is filling up, and it’s a choice between cheesecake or dinner, you might just choose dinner. If it’s a Friday night after a long week of work, you might choose cheesecake. But you will be educated & know that by eating both, you could be packing on the pounds.
The Facts
Typically a person needs 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day. To maintain your weight, you would want to eat around 2,000 calories (9 magnetic candy bars worth a day), depending on how active you are. If you want to lose weight, you would want to eat less.
Your best bet for an accurate calorie count is on the “Nutrition Facts” label on your food packaging, or in some cases on the company’s website. MAKE SURE you read the Serving Size, and be sure to multiply your servings by the Calories per Serving. Once you have that number, it is easy to use the Calories-to-Candy Bar Conversion Chart to add the appropriate candy bar magnets to your candy bar board.
And FYI…Eating 9 candy bars in a day is not recommended & will definitely result in a tremendous stomach ache.
Also, more than just calories go into making you fat, such as, well, FAT. This is a highly simplified system, therefore we only track calories. Consider yourself warned!
© not-quite-a-diet 2010
Calories-to-Candy Bar Conversion Chart
© not-quite-a-diet 2010
Candy Bar Log
© not-quite-a-diet 2010
Storage pocket for Handy Dandy Candy Board candy bar magnets. © not-quite-a-diet 2010
That is the Candy Bar Diet. Do you think it would work for you?
I'm not stalking you. 
Brilliant idea! Now do you have weigh-ins & meetings?
Umm…if there is enough interest!
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I skimmed over this and now eat only candybars (1/2 candybar every 45 minutes for 12 hours; 8 total daily). When should I expect results?
I’m on a similar diet, but with mini and snack-sized candy bars. Though they’re not very filling, I have loads of energy.
I really love your idea you should make it into a app.: )