Halloween can be a scary holiday, not because of monsters walking the street, but because of all the free candy floating around. One way to get through it is to treat yourself some candy — because life is too short not to. For that, though, you need to track it properly.
Here are 5 tricks that will make tracking treats a little easier:
1. LOG TREATS AHEAD OF TIME TO BUDGET CALORIES BETTER
If you set aside time to enter your candy ahead of time you’ll have a better idea of how much you can eat. Planning ahead in this way gives you a little mental support in saying no to extra candy.
2. NOTE THE SIZE
There’s a big difference between mini and regular sized candy bars. Even within the mini category there are several tiny sizes. So make sure you keep track of whether you’re eating ‘fun size’ or ‘miniature.’ Really though, every size of candy is fun.
3. EAT STRATEGICALLY
Some candies contain fewer calories than others, so you can eat more of them. Lollipops and hard candies are typically lower in calories and last longer than say, candy corn which you can easily eat by the handful. If you’re a chocolate lover, go for the miniature sizes. One miniature Reese’s can take the edge off and is just 44 calories and less than 3 grams of fat, compared to 105 calories and 6.5 grams of fat in a full Reese’s cup.
4. DON’T BE TRICKED BY YOUR TREATS
Look up a candy’s nutrition info before tearing into the wrapper and then decide if it’s a worthwhile treat. With a food database of over 4 million foods, we have pretty much every Halloween treat covered!
5. MAKE A MENTAL LIST
It helps to memorize the nutrition facts for a few of your favorites so you can calculate calories on the fly. Here is a list of a few of the most popular Halloween candies:
- Twizzlers (3 twists – 29 g) – 100 calories
- Butterfinger (Fun-size Bar – 18 g) – 85 calories
- Baby Ruth (Fun-size Bar – 18 g) – 83 calories
- Almond Joy (Snack-size Bar – 17 g) – 80 calories
- Mounds (Snack-size Bar – 17 g) – 80 calories
- Milky Way (Fun-size Bar – 17 g) – 80 calories
- Twix (Fun-size Bar – 16g) – 80 calories
- Snickers (Fun-size bar 15 g) – 71 calories
- Peanut M&M’s (Fun-size Packet 13 g) – 70 calories
- 3 Musketeers (Fun-size Bar – 15g) – 63 calories
- Skittles (Fun-size Packet – 15 g) – 60 calories
- Milk Chocolate M&M’s (Fun-size Packet – 13 g) – 60 calories
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (Miniature – 7 g) – 44 calories
- Kit Kat (Miniature Bar – 10 g) – 42 calories
What tricks do you have for keeping tabs on your Halloween candy consumption? Tell us about them on Facebook or in the comments below!
Healthfully,
The MyFitnessPal Team
Photo Credit: TheCulinaryGeek | Flickr
