What Goes In Must Be Burned Off…otherwise we’ll easily gain a couple of pounds of excess pounds which can be more detrimental especially with the Christmas Season fast approaching. Let’s face it, fluctuating weight is not good on the system any time of the year. It also can negatively affect our metabolism which means how many calories our body burns at work and at rest.
With Halloween near, candy is top of mind — and hard to resist. We did a little digging and found that, according to a 2016 poll, peanut butter cups are North America’s favorite candy. And it turns out our MyFitnessPal community might agree. On Halloween alone, total peanut butter cup calories consumed in the U.S. last year alone hit 6,830,097 — put another way, that’s 5.4 calories per active user on Halloween versus 1.8 calories per active user on an unrelated Monday.
We get it, if you’re going to eat candy, Halloween is the day to do it so long as you get right back on track the next day. Plus, when you think about it, one peanut butter cup has 87 calories — an amount that’s surprisingly easy to burn off.
We definitely need to be mindful when indulging in some Halloween treats and one of my rule of thumbs is to choose treats only 20% of the time and enjoy healthy, clean foods 80% of the time.
I always say, “If you don’t love it – don’t eat it.” Have you ever found yourself picking out a couple of your favourite Halloween treats and then suddenly the Coffee Crisp or another treat that you don’t love, is calling your name??! This is what sugar can do to us…it’s highly addictive and brain will crave more of it, if the sugar is highly processed (white table sugar). Knowing what sugar does to the brain, means you’re not alone. Don’t analyze or feel bad, get rid of it so you don’t have to live with the guilt and extra pounds!
One fun-size package of Peanut M&M’s, for example, will require a 140-pound person about 83(!) burpees to burn off its 93 calories. A Three Musketeers could be used to extort 44 burpees from a person weighing 180. A 10-calorie mini-package of SweeTarts, however, can be burned off by only seven burpees. So in other words, read your labels and choose wisely!
What to do…?? For those with kids, let the Halloween Witch take (ie. Donate) your kids treats or yours (bought a bag because it was on sale?), pick out a few they/you love, remove it from the house (ie. Donate or throw out). The Halloween Witch replaces the candy for a small non-food gift or even money – something like the Tooth Fairy!
Once you’ve edited the treats that you really love, enjoy and/or replace with another treat like 85% dark chocolate and then make sure you get in some extra exercise to burn off those Halloween treats! Below are some suggestions:
- HIT THE TRAIL – Hitting the trail for a moderately strenuous hike can burn off a peanut butter cup (plus a few bonus calories) in just 15 minutes. With all the gorgeous fall foliage to take in, chances are you won’t even notice the workout. Add a backpack to your trek, and you’ll burn an additional 80 calories per hour.
- GO TRICK-OR-TREATING – Turn trick-or-treating into a power-walking session. You can sell it to your kids by reminding them they can hit more houses that way — and you can burn those Halloween treats off as you snag them. Walking at a pace of about 4.5 mph for 15 minutes burns 100 calories.
- DO YARD WORK – Raking leaves, cleaning the gutters and other fall yard work is inevitable. If you need a little extra motivation to check those chores off your list, know that they can be surprisingly good calorie burners. While raking, throw in some walking lunges and squats to boost your heart rate and burn off a few extra calories.
- GO FOR A JOG – Before winter weather makes outdoor runs a distant dream, enjoy the crisp cool air and fall foliage while burning off the equivalent of a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Just 15 minutes of jogging (at a pace of less than 5 mph) burns more than 100 calories. Pick up the pace for a solid 6 or 7 mph, and you’ll burn off the whole pack.
- PLAY PICKUP GAMES – Get into the spirit of football season with a good old-fashioned game of touch football. A high-energy game can burn major calories (and help you hone your skills for a Thanksgiving match) — just 15 minutes of playtime burns about 150 calories.
- GO FOR A RIDE – Fall is also a great time for cyclists. To take advantage of the best fall foliage, grab your bike and hit the trails — mountain biking for just 10 minutes or riding through your neighborhood at a moderate pace (8–10 mph) for 15 minutes also does the trick.
Here’s a couple of comparisons charts of small snack size (“Halloween size”) candy. The first chart is based on how long approximately it takes to burn them off based on a 130 lb woman and the second one is based on a 180 lb man.
| TO BURN OFF (REMEMBER MOST PEOPLE WOULD EAT 2 OR 3 OF THESE AND OFTEN 4 OR 5 MAKE UP A “REGULAR SIZE” VERSION. . . | YOU NEED TO DO . . . |
| Hershey’s milk chocolate bar (67 calories) | 15 minutes of dancing |
| Kit Kat (70 calories) | 10 minutes of rowing (moderate effort) |
| Regular M&M’s (67 calories) | 9 minutes of jumping jacks |
| Milky Way, Mounds, Snickers, or Twix (80 calories each) | 9 minutes on the elliptical |
| Butterfinger or Baby Ruth (85 calories each) | 10 minutes of Zumba |
| Peanut M&M’s (90 calories each) | 13 minutes of hiking |
| Mars (110 calories) | 17 minutes of leisurely bike riding (10-12 mph) |
| Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (110 calories) | 7 minutes of jogging (10-minute-mile pace) |