candy – Sweat & Sparkle

Happy Halloween!

hqdefault — Get your Halloween workouts in today!

Happy My-Favorite-Holiday, otherwise known as Halloween! My husband and I love to decorate for Halloween. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I’m pretty sure that we have the largest collection of life-size skeletons, outside of anatomy colleges.

Today is the official kick-off of the Hard-As-Hell-to-Lose-Weight season, too. I came into work to a large platter of Halloween cupcakes in the kitchen, plus a cauldron of Halloween candy at the front desk. It will only get worse tomorrow, when everyone brings in their leftover candy to make the rest of the office fat.

From here, we will soon launch into Thanksgiving, a holiday that has morphed into a day all about stuffing yourself crazy with food and pie, and then Christmas and its parties and traveling…help!

I just need to plan. It worked for the days I had to travel for work last month. I planned my workouts, planned my eating as best as I could, and I had a loss that week. I need to do the same thing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, because I’m not willing to gain any of this weight back just because of some holidays.

The other night, I was digging through my dresser and trying on workout pants from the bottom of the drawer, where they got buried because I was too big to wear them. I was able to move several of them to the top of the drawer, since they fit now. Last night I was able to wear one of my favorite t-shirts to work out in. It hasn’t fit since maybe last summer!

I also had to retire some clothes. I tried on a sweater to wear to work today, and it was way too large. Some of my clothes are baggy, and I still wear them, but this was too much. I am keeping a bag in my closet to collect the clothes that are too big. Right now it’s just a small bag. When it’s a trash-bag full, I will take it to Goodwill and clear out some space for smaller clothes in the future.

Usually I buy our Halloween candy, and my strategy has been to buy candy I don’t like, so that any leftover candy is not even a temptation. This year, my husband picked up the candy, and we now have a bag big enough for an army or a small village sitting on the kitchen counter. Apparently he anticipates trick-or-treaters by the busload! I will wait and see how much is left over, but I am pretty sure it will be a LOT.

Like I said, I just need to plan. Then stick to it. I might ask him to put the leftover candy into a bag in a cabinet that I don’t use much. Then it’s at least out of sight. Or maybe I just need to learn to say no and leave it alone!

Candy, Candy, Candy Everywhere!

Usually when I don’t post for a day or two, it means I’m busy plowing my way through high-calorie, high-fat food, swigging Coke like a seasoned addict, and pretending that the word “exercise” doesn’t exist in my vocabulary. Not this time, I promise! I’m just really swamped at work. Today I can actually see over the pile in my inbox, so I am taking a break to write here. Lucky you, eh?

Yesterday every last one of my co-workers hauled their leftover Halloween candy to work, so there was a gigantic basket big enough to hold a small child, filled with candy of all kinds, sitting prominently in the kitchen. Seriously? Why buy that much candy in the first place? And what’s with the “Leftover junk? Guess I’ll make everyone at work fat” mentality?

I sneaked a fun-size candy bar, then dutifully logged it in my Weight Watchers food diary. WHAT THE…? Five points for that tiny thing? Holy crap! I nearly gagged it back up. I thought maybe one point, at most two. I kept my paws out of that candy basket the rest of the day. It wasn’t worth five points each, that’s for sure!

I can’t believe this week is almost over already. Two more days of good workouts, then it’s time for weigh-in! I really hope I have a good loss this week. The scale should throw an extra pound loss in this week just because I resisted (most of) the Halloween candy.

Curse You, Chocolates

Have you ever seen this seductive temptress, beckoning you closer with its beguiling, enchanting ways?

If you do, RUN. It is armed, and it is very dangerous! Do not attempt to speak to it. Do not attempt to reason with it. It is a battle you cannot win. At least, I couldn’t.

For some inexplicable reason, when I stopped at Walmart to pick up kitty litter during my lunch break yesterday, I also decided to grab a bag of these wily Riesen chocolate-covered caramels. Why? The devil made me do it! No, okay, seriously, I can keep caramels in our candy dish at home, and I honestly eat one or two, and I stop and forget all about them. I learned that I cannot do this at work. Maybe it’s because the bag was sitting on my desk, where I couldn’t ignore it. Maybe I was bored and just looking for something to munch on. Or maybe just the stress and aggravation of being at work kicked my munchies into overdrive.

I’ll just have two, then put the bag away. That’s what I told myself. I even believed it at the time. Then I weaseled another one out of the bag. Then another….then another…yep, one more….you get the picture. Let’s just say there were no caramels left to worry about putting into our candy dish at home!

I felt slightly sick. No wonder, right? Luckily the bags are small and don’t hold much, but I wanted to be honest and log it on my food diary. Whoa! Over 300 calories in just chocolate-covered, delectable, chewy, caramel-y goodness…no, I mean, empty and nutrition-less calories! Yes, that’s what I meant to say.

I was very disappointed in myself. Why did I buy the damn things to start with? Ugh. Well, lesson learned. I won’t keep sweet snacks at work or at home, since I am a quivering, spineless pushover with them.

My penance was a 50-minute step aerobics workout after workout. Hopefully that burned off some of those extra calories!