Does it seem to you that Valentine’s Day requires candy and flowers? Our own Faux Diet Queen shares her fun ideas for girlfriend gifts (and her own unique view of holiday chocolate).

The Faux Diet Queen (or as we affectionately call her, FDQ) has agreed to share her latest (and last) weight loss journey with us as a regular feature at Girlfriendology. We hope you’ll join us to cheer her on, nudge her back on track when she strays, and generally giggle along.

Sometimes it seems we go from holiday to holiday without a break in between. We go from back to school (yes, that’s a holiday) to Halloween to Christmas to New Year’s to Valentine’s Day. And the key ingredient for a holiday is (you guessed it) food.

Delicious food.

Melt in your mouth, go directly to your hips, delightful food.

If Halloween is the costume party of holidays, then Valentine’s Day is the heart. Generally a dark chocolate, raspberry-filled heart wrapped in pretty gold foil.

Valentine’s Day is often considered a time to celebrate romantic love. And while I am perfectly happy to accept a dinner invitation accompanied by an outrageous piece of jewelry, I personally believe that Valentine’s Day is a great time to remind all the wonderful people in your life how important they are to you.

But chocolate is not necessarily the best gift for a girlfriend watching her caloric intake. So I, The Faux Diet Queen, have graciously taken it upon myself to come up with some great ideas for showing your friends you’re thinking of them. There are no bad ideas when it comes to telling someone how much her friendship means to you. But here are some ideas with (vaguely) Valentine themes.

Meet for a red-hot drink. Think red zinger tea. Or a bright red bloody Mary.

Think seed-y. Tie a couple of packets of flower seeds together with a bright red bow.

Get together to go shoe shopping. Make sure to try on a couple of pairs of lipstick-red heels.

Find something fun. How about Valentine’s Day socks? If you’re feeling really creative, you can make a sock bouquet. Or a small pad of paper with silly hearts? (Try writing her an “I’m glad you’re my friend” message halfway through the pad.)

Got a BFF who lives far away? Buy a box of kid Valentines cards, write, seal, and send them all in one big envelop. Imagine her laughing as they all tumble out!

For a friend at work why not decorate her office/cubicle/desk with some home- made hearts? Cut the hearts out of red construction paper (even I can do this) and write silly messages. (Sign one from her favorite band, one from her favorite ice-cream—you get the idea.)

Plan to attend a Go-Red for Women event together to learn how to take care of the hearts you both have.

Of course, if you’re getting a gift for me, please stick with the dark chocolate candy. After all, chocolate eaten on Valentine’s Day has absolutely no calories.

The Faux Diet Queen is a Girlfriend and a Half, trying to find her Skinny Self. When she is not recording her weight loss journey from the bottom of a bag of chocolate chips, she is constantly on the search for ways to improve the trip back to her smaller jeans. This Valentine’s Day you can probably find the Faux Diet Queen eating Godiva and rationalizing away all the calories.

How do you tell your girlfriends they are important to you? Do you share Valentine’s Day with your gals? We want to hear your ideas!

Girlfriendology / Debba here: We love our girlfriends no matter what size jeans they wear or what the scales tell them if they’re brave enough to get on them. (Something I personally avoid like the plague.) But, we also want our girlfriends to be around and healthy for a long time. We’re sharing this journey that our girlfriend, FDQ (the FAB Faux Diet Queen) because it’s what girlfriends do – we go through life and diet together (and shoe shopping, and highs and lows …). Join us on her journey to fitness and good health. We’re excited for her to motivate and inspire us all!

Here’s some more Faux Diet Queen ‘adventures’. Stop back next Friday for the next installment!

• It’s a Cinch—Sort of | Diet Review
• I am Ashamed of Myself | Confession and Resolve
• Food Beliefs I Have to Ditch Part II – More Food Baggage
• Year End Interview — Girlfriendology Talks to the Faux Diet Queen
• Diet Re-Launch for the New Year
• ‘Tis the Night Before New Year — A Story
• Water, water everywhere – Pass the Chardonnay
• The Faux Diet Queen Talks Turkey / Thanksgiving
• Beliefs I need to Ditch – Food Baggage
• Meet the Faux Diet Queen
• I Hate the Scale and the Scale Hates Me
• The FDQ Faces the Great Cookie Onslaught–Advice Needed!
• Food Pushers and Food Police

p.s. If your food stories fall into a more serious topic, like emotional eating, we’ve got a great girlfriend for you to meet too – ELLEN SHUMAN. She’s shared great advice on emotional eating on various guest blogs and podcasts. (Her podcast on emotional eating is our #1 listened to interview so lots of us have some emotional eating issues or friends/family who do.)

By the way, we LOVE guest blogs here at Girlfriendology. Have a great girlfriend story to tell? Want to celebrate your fabulous female friends? SHARE! (And, we also have Girlfriend Gurus – check that out to be featured on Girlfriendology!)

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get our FREE eBook ’30 Days / 30 Ways to Be a Better Friend‘ - check it out!

More to check out – Facebook.com/Girlfriendology where we’re connecting with over 25,000 women (we block guys!) and Pinterest.com/Girlfriendology where we share visual inspiration. THANKS to our BIG 2012 sponsor – Biz Stain Fighter. And – Thanks to YOU Girlfriend!