Halloween candy

Maintain your routine as much as possible, and one strategy deployed by many is to reserve like... 100 or so calories on "normal" days to use up at special gatherings and occasions. If you have foods that are really hard to resist, get them out of your house ASAP - drop them in the office break room or just throw them out. Decide before you start eating what you want to prioritize because it's your favorite, and make sure you work that reward into your calories accordingly. It gets easier with practice and a little bit of planning ahead.

I usually only find myself messing up if I fail to plan and wait until I'm SO HUNGRY (or shaky or whatever) that I'll eat whatever's closest. My child complains strenuously when I try to bite her. ;-)

I implemented the Halloween Fairy this year, and I have to say it worked GREAT.

I usually don’t use monetary rewards, but last year I ate a few of the snack candies per day for quite awhile. Not this year; I must learn from prior challenges.

So, I told myself I could buy a sweater (still building my “thin” wardrobe if I ate NO Halloween Candy. I didn’t but I got so overwhelmed with figuring out which sweater & not knowing what size...that it was not a reward lol

SO I switched it to a Michael’s run to get two supplies I’d like to have: toned paper & Paynes Grey Acrylic Ink! THOSE feel like a fun reward & I’ve got my reward!!

Hubby hid the candy. Again we have no trick or treaters. Can’t decide whether to toss or take to Senior Center. Not really sure it’s good for *anyone* to eat, so not sure what to do...

DH and i are both good at resisting overindulgence in candy. We'll eat a couple of mini-chocolate bars when we're hungry or craving chocolate, but not more. We had really bad weather this year so only 4 kids showed up (driven by their parents door to door) and there's a lot left over. It will sit up above the refrigerator until it's gone. From past experience, it will likely last until June or so.

We usually do Christmas and Thanksgiving with relatives, so there's never much in the way of leftovers. It means we have one big blowout each month where we eat turkey and pie until we're stuffed, but then it's done. I don't buy or make any Christmas cookies so unless a neighbor gives us some, we don't have a lot of temptations in the house.

We have no candies or chocolate in the house, and we haven't celebrated Halloween in years.

The kids have their own families and they don't live near by, and some of the grandchildren are too old for trick or treats, anyway. My husband and I reside in a gated community so we get no trick or treating kiddos. All is good, we had our share of Halloween thru the years, and we enjoy the peace and quite now.

Hollis100 wrote: »

MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »

Hubby hid the candy. Again we have no trick or treaters. Can’t decide whether to toss or take to Senior Center. Not really sure it’s good for *anyone* to eat, so not sure what to do...

Please, humbly and respectfully, don't dump candy you don't want to eat on seniors and other vulnerable people who may have diabetes, high cholesterol, and other serious health problems.

I worked for years and years for an organization that helped the poor. People would bring mountains of Halloween and Easter candy into my office to "donate" because they didn't want to eat themselves sick at home. When they left, I would throw it away. I know many people would say that's wasting food, but come on. Human beings are not garbage disposals, any of us.

@Hollis100
No offense taken. I asked!

The senior group is one I belong to; I know many are on tight budgets, healthy, trim, active... The senior center only allows individually wrapped items to be brought in.

Interesting Re: your work with the organization working with the poor. This is the opposite of what I had been told. That they get lots of canned soups, veggies but rarely a “treat.”

I suppose I will call the Senior Center & see what they would prefer. I might just trash it. They are well known candies, but still..

Hollis100 wrote: »

MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »

Hubby hid the candy. Again we have no trick or treaters. Can’t decide whether to toss or take to Senior Center. Not really sure it’s good for *anyone* to eat, so not sure what to do...

Please, humbly and respectfully, don't dump candy you don't want to eat on seniors and other vulnerable people who may have diabetes, high cholesterol, and other serious health problems.

I worked for years and years for an organization that helped the poor. People would bring mountains of Halloween and Easter candy into my office to "donate" because they didn't want to eat themselves sick at home. When they left, I would throw it away. I know many people would say that's wasting food, but come on. Human beings are not garbage disposals, any of us.

I would like to know why three people clicked the "disagree" bottom when the comment posted by @Hollis100 was very respectful and right on.

The only change so far is I'm eating less healthy carbs within my calorie budget. The candy I like, M&MS, Snickers, etc are easily lovable and the snack sizes are easy to fit in.

Now a few weeks ago I was at an event that lasted a couple of hours of sitting with a "bottomless" bowl of Peanut M&MS. I gained 1.5-2 lbs in one night.