Halloween is merely days away and for most it brings feelings of excitement and intrigue – especially if you’re young and love dressing up, decorating your home, and giving out treats. For others, however – for those of us struggling to maintain a healthy weight or lose a few pounds – Halloween is more like a nightmare. Here are a handful of things you can do to ensure you are able to participate in the fun without cramming down a zillion extra calories.

Don’t Buy Candy Until Halloween Day

Hopefully it’s not too late for you. The longer the candy is in the house, the more tempted you will be to eat it. According to WebMD, a single snack-sized candy bar can contain 100 calories – just one. Eat a couple of those things because they’re small and you’ll add a few hundred calories to your diet in a single day. It only takes 3,500 calories to gain a pound, so you could see the weight gain creep up on you in no time flat. Buying your candy on Halloween day will ensure you don’t have it in the days before to munch on. And if you have leftovers at the end of the night? Dump it all into that last lucky kid’s bag. [Read more…]