10/28/09

There is one night every year when I can’t help but splurge. Okay, that’s not exactly true considering that I splurge on pretty much all of the major holidays including my birthday, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years Eve, 4th of July, and my anniversary. But there is one holiday that lingers. No, it doesn’t just linger. There’s a build up to it. Yes, this holiday seems to kill my diet for about two weeks, maybe three. And that day is just around the corner. Halloween.

Why the two-week Halloween candy binge? It starts the day I come home from the grocery store with bags full of mini pieces of my favorite candy bars. A couple a day won’t hurt right? Then the night of Halloween the flood gates go down. And for days and days after, the lingering pieces of dreamy decadence slowly disappear. Until I finally break down and, in a angry-at-myself fury, throw all of the remnant candy away in the dumpster (the dumpster because the trash can is still too tempting).

The Seasonal Fat Cycle Begins
-New Year (slim down begins)
-Spring (amp up the fitness mentality in prep for bikini season)
-Summer (bikini season=leanest point of the year)
-Fall (Holidays start to roll around and the fitness lifestyle gets the shaft)
-Winter (diet? What diet)
-New Year (slim down begins)

And on and on we roll year after year.

Face the Facts
Well this year it’s time to stop the cycle. How? Sometimes knowing the facts is enough to enforce self-control. So, when it comes to Halloween, face these facts:

-One in four “healthy” adults admit that they (they, meaning you) eat at least 10 pieces of “fun-size” candy bars each Halloween. (And that only includes the actual night of Halloween).
-SparkPeople decided to analyze an average 10-candy breakdown to see how much damage you’re actually doing during one harmless night of Halloween candy grazing. Brace yourself. The “fun-size” bites included in the count were: Reese's Cups (40 calories, 2.5g fat), Snickers (45 calories, 2g fat), Kit Kat (50 calories, 2.5g fat), Whoppers (60 calories, 2.5g fat), Skittles (80 calories, 1g fat), Peanut M&M's (110 calories, 5g fat), candy corn (140 calories, 0g fat), Butterfinger (100 calories, 4g fat), Pay Day (90 calories, 5g fat), and one Tootsie Roll Pop (60 calories, 0g fat). Ready for this?

TOTAL HALLOWEEN CANDY CALORIE/FAT: 775 calories and 24.5g fat.

Need I say more?

Exercises To Burn Those Candy Calories Off
Now how are you going to remedy the situation? Exercise. Here’s how much the average 150 lb woman would have to work out to negate the splurge:

-4,650 jumping jacks performed vigorously for 1 hour and 18 minutes (According to SparkPeople.com's Fitness Tracker (membership required)
-Run for 79 minutes-straight (According to Fit Watch’s Exercise & Activity Calculator)
-High-Impact Aerobics for 90 minutes (According to Fit Watch’s Exercise & Activity Calculator)
-Fast Swimming for 63 minutes (According to Fit Watch’s Exercise & Activity Calculator)
-Intense Weight Training for 105 minutes (According to Fit Watch’s Exercise & Activity Calculator)

Know what I am going to do on Halloween? Put these facts on a little reminder note and stash it in my purse so that when a moment of weakness hits I am armed and ready with my defense: the facts. It’s hard to splurge when you know just how steep the consequences are. But… one piece of candy won’t hurt. And you know I will treasure that little sucker like none other!

posted by: Laurel