Staying on track during Halloween weekend

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caysunshine
caysunshine Posts: 1 Member
in Motivation and Support

Hey! I’m “new” here, and basically need help/tips for staying on track during Halloween weekend
I have tried following a healthy eating and exercise routine many times before, but often I loose focus after a vacation, holiday or just a big party weekend.
This week I decided to give this another try, and I want to follow a exercise program for 4 weeks without giving up.
What would you recommend for staying on track on those occasions?

Replies

  • DaisyHamilton
    DaisyHamilton Posts: 575 Member
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    I have the same problem. After my birthday I was off track for almost 2 months. I figure in times like those, it's better to try eating at maintenance calories than a deficit. It's easier (for me anyway) to ease back into eating lower cal meals/foods rather than jumping straight back into a large deficit, or falling off track completely.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,306 Member
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    That's the benefit of logging foods... so you can educate yourself on the calories of the foods you eat on these weekends and holidays. This is why I never eat cookies.. once I realized how many calories where in them.. they no longer look that good to me.. at all.
    So.. track that candy you just have to have... figure out if it is worth it or not. Eating it means exercising your rear off and or starving through meals to compensate. That.. or stay overweight and there is always the never ending "starting again."
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,489 Member
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    Halloween is for kids.

    I don’t recall the specifics, but when my kids were into Halloween they assembled the candy collection and I started looking through it. I was planning a trip down memory lane with some old favorite, likely Three Musketeers.

    I found one of those bites size things, and sat back to enjoy. It was awful. On my program I had limited myself to a piece of dark chocolate now and again. Now here I was with this kid candy. Yuk!

    Go get yourself a ggod piece of candy and do a taste test. I still eat an occasional bit of candy, but I go for quality. I don’t keep it at the house, I have to go get it.

    The candy I see around, the stuff folks bring to work because they want it out of their house, has lost its appeal. It’s just lousy candy.

    I know some folks reading this will start insisting that they love, just love, Reese’s or M&Ms or candy corn or whatever. That’s not love. It’s just leftover silliness from being a kid. Let the kids have their fun for a day. Limit it to one day. Don’t expect your coworkers to deal with your excesses, make liberal use of the trash can.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,177 Member
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    88olds wrote: »
    Halloween is for kids.

    Yep!!

    Although on occasion, I've been to a costume party or something around Halloween, but that's just one evening ... and it's more about the costume ... and I'll nibble at the fruit and veg platter and a few other things. No big deal.

    And usually, I've been for a decent bicycle ride or to the gym before I've headed out to the party. I've also walked everywhere for a couple weeks to all sorts of shops to put together my costume!

  • DomesticKat
    DomesticKat Posts: 565 Member
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    I have four kids who will be t&ting this year. Two of them are in braces and I have sensitive teeth so I don't eat candy, but I don't plan to keep candy in my house for longer than a week. The kids can eat some each day and then I get rid of it. If it's not there, you can't eat it.
  • amgreenwell
    amgreenwell Posts: 1,268 Member
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    My only recommendation is to eat what you want and work it off. If you are sure to log every piece of candy you'll quickly see that it's going to take quite a work out to work it all off. It can be done though.
    My advice would be to just eat a couple pieces and move on with life.
    Better yet, have self control and don't eat any and let the kids have it and feel good that you didn't splurge. I'm not sure of your goals but a little candy/chocolate in your day isn't going to ruin 4 weeks of work
  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 860 Member
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    I'm having the same problem ATM I've just looked up my daughter's party food nutritional information and for me to have about of everything will be like 2400 calories :o that's without a piece of cake that I'm making
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Halloween isn't a weekend...it's one day...it's next Wednesday. Personally, Halloween is for my kids...we take them trick or treating and I don't steal their candy...not a big candy person anyway.

    I also don't treat the holiday "season" as some kind of free for all for 2 months...for the most part it is business as usual save for the actual holidays themselves...those are "occasions" and not anything that is material to the big picture of what I'm doing. Thanksgiving is one day...Christmas is 2 with Christmas eve...
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    Halloween is for my kids. I don't dress up and go to parties myself. I will take my kids trick or treating on Wednesday and I'll probably eat some candy but it's one day. One day won't make a difference over the long term. You can just use moderation and have only a few pieces of candy.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
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    Almost NO Halloween candy is worth my going off track for. Walmart used to carry this candy corn flavored taffy....in a huge bag...and it was DELICIOUS but incredibly addicting (no way to only eat 2 pieces, and it was very rich and calorie dense). I have not even looked for it this year. Nor will I.

    Every time I am faced with a dilemma like this I need to weigh the costs vs the benefits. Halloween, Easter, Christmas, and Valentine's Day candy just doesn't seem to be worth the cost for me.

    How badly do you want to stay on track? Can you have just one or two pieces and be satisfied? How important is your weight loss journey to you? These are all questions you yourself must answer.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
    edited October 2018
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    OP, not sure if you're talking about candy or alcohol or both plus food?

    I am ALL about Halloween at 41 and have dressed up in costume for 41 years and will never stop, so clearly I don't think it's just for kids.

    My advice is to try and indulge within reason, but don't let it slide into a weeklong free for all.
    Tonight I'm going to 2 parties where there will be a lot of sweets and very good beer. My husband and I are always the ones asked to bring the "healthy" stuff so it's hummus, all natural chips & cut veggies from us. But we had a day of healthy eating and exercise and tonight? We'll have fun. We will have beer and sweets and whatever, just not endless amounts of it.

    Tomorrow morning? I have steel cut oats for breakfast and a plan for other healthy meals throughout the day. The week will be the same. Halloween night, we're having a healthy dinner before we go to another calmer party. There, we'll abstain from alcohol and eat a couple pieces of Halloween candy. We don't have chocolate/candy in our house currently, because we would both dip into it every time we passed. Why have to fight that temptation, I say?

    In the past, when I was "trying to eat healthier" and had a holiday or party come up, it would turn into a week (or more) of crazy eating and bringing home leftover cake and having it for breakfast and other less than ideal situations. No more. There are also a lot of "little" situations where we both turn down social food. For example, a group of friends is going to dinner early before the parties tonight. They'll probably hit up a chain steakhouse or something similar. We are eating homemade gnocchi with cauliflower/zucchini sauce made in the Vitamix and a side salad. We saved ourselves about 800 calories right there vs. going out (and sixty bucks).

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