The cool fall weather, Halloween and candy. This time of year all comes together quite nicely for anyone addicted to junk food. Not only can you justify eating bags of snickers bars by saying it’s part of the holiday, but now that summer is over you can hide the extra weight under a sweatshirt! Sounds like a good plan for anyone who isn’t struggling to stick with a healthy weight loss program!

It’s interesting that Americans have turned every single holiday into a junk food fest. Everything revolves around some type of food, and it gets worse each year. We all know that Halloween is all about the candy, but adding insult to injury is the fact that the cool weather leaves us wanting hot cider donuts, latte’s, hot chocolate and other fatty foods that we don’t normally eat on a regular basis.

If you are on a healthy weight loss program, you should not have to avoid all of the fun things other people are eating to celebrate this fun time of year. Listed below are 5 tricks to keep you on track with your weight loss efforts without feeling you are missing out on the things you love about Autumn. You say you don’t believe you can lose weight and still eat candy? Well keep reading. You’re in for a treat!

Halloween Trick To Lose Weight #1: Green Tea
Most people don’t know it, but drinking one cup of green tea every morning speeds up your metabolism so you can literally cheat on your diet and get away with it. It comes in all kinds of flavors, and you can even make it taste like hot cider with cinnamon if you want. I have kept an ideal weight after losing 70 pounds 15 years ago, and one thing I do that most people don’t is drink green tea.

Green tea has so many vitamins and antioxidants that you will instantly feel the rush of natural energy, which is another benefit that will help you achieve a healthy weight loss. How do you feel after one of those expensive, fatty lattes from Starbucks? I don’t know about you, but after I drink about half of it, it feels like I’m drinking a liquid candy bar, and that is never good for anyone who is trying to lose weight. Save your money and make an intelligent switch to green tea.

Halloween Trick To Lose Weight #2: Moderation
So you decided to switch to green tea, good for you! Does that mean you can never enjoy a fatty latte or hot cider again? Absolutely not! The biggest misconception people have with healthy weight loss is they think they have to forever be on a diet of bland salads. When you are making healthy choices on a daily basis to stick to your healthy weight loss plan, you can fall off the wagon every once in a while and not even notice a difference.

I love to visit Vermont in the fall. The changing leaves are spectacular. One year I was staying at a bed and breakfast and the host offered every guest a breakfast of home-made pumpkin pancakes with Vermont maple syrup. One woman declined because she was on a diet. Excuse me, but this is a life worth living and enjoying. Allow yourself to splurge on occasion. It is not every day you are offered something like that. If you are eating healthy and staying active on a daily basis, one plate of pancakes will not harm you.

Halloween Trick To Lose Weight #3: Exercise
No, I’m not talking about signing up for a gym membership. I’m talking about getting outside and experiencing this special time of year. Don’t hire the children down the street to rake your leaves for you. Get out there and do it yourself. Go for walks through wooded parks with your friends and pets. Autumn is famous for outdoor walking activities like public tent markets and haunted tours.

Any extra exercise off a treadmill will accelerate your weight loss and allow you to splurge more often. Since you are drinking more green tea, you will have more energy to do these kinds of things. Just remember not to eat a dozen cider donuts every time you stop and walk through a fall festival. One or two every other day will not hurt, as long as you are not eating candy apples on your days off donuts!

Keep these three Halloween tricks in mind and you won’t have to sit around and watch everyone else enjoy the culinary treats of the Halloween season. It’s easy to justify that box of donuts by thinking you have all winter to get in shape, but what what happens after Halloween? Thanksgiving, Christmas, New years, Valentines Day, Easter, etc. That sweatshirt is not going to solve any problems come summer time next year. Trust me, that’s not a treat you want to indulge in.

For those of us looking for quick weight loss, Halloween can be a scary experience! While just one night of indulgence in Halloween candy might not be enough to break your belt, dipping into the leftover stockpile for weeks on end will surely derail your diet or weight loss program.

In 1921, in Anoka, MN, the United States enjoyed our first recorded instance of a Halloween celebration. Annual candy consumption has climbed almost unabated since then. According to the Census Bureau, Americans eat nearly a half-pound of candy each week for an average of 25 pounds of candy a year. Candy is big business, with the United States boasting 1,040 manufacturing establishments producing chocolate and cocoa products in 2001. These establishments employed 45,913 people and shipped $12 billion worth of goods that year. Another 616 U.S. establishments manufactured non-chocolate confectionery products in 2001. These establishments employed 26,400 people and shipped $7 billion worth of goods that year (source: census.gov).

The overwhelming popularity of the South Beach Diet, Zone Diet, and Atkins Diet has prompted low-carb weight watchers to eat less candy. Overall consumption has actually declined over the last few years; as recently as 1997 the average annual candy consumption was a sky-high 27 pounds.

The Problem:
Most people on a diet plan or weight control program look at candy as little brightly-colored fat bombs. That assessment isn’t far off the mark, either, with most candy packing little nutritional value and a ton of calories.

Some of the more popular Halloween candy has too many calories to be included in any healthy diet:
Twizzlers 1 treat size pkg.= 45 calories
Almond Joy 1 snack size bar = 90 calories
Milk Duds 1 treat size box = 40 calories
Butterfinger 1 snack size bar = 100 calories
Milky Way 1 snack size bar = 90 calories
SweetTarts 1 treat size pkg. = 50 calories
1 Tootsie Pop 1 pop = 60 calories
1 Tootsie Roll 1 small roll = 13 calories

Note: Calorie content is based on 1 serving of Halloween ‘snack’ or ‘fun’ size packages, not full size servings found in the candy aisle.

While just a few pieces of Halloween candy won’t obliterate your diet program or weight loss plan, it’s the temptation to keep having ‘just one more’ that will pack on the pounds. It only takes nine small fun-size candy bars to put on a quarter-pound of fat. Besides candy, Halloween threatens many other high-calorie treats like Caramel apples (243 calories), 8-oz. apple cider and a cake donut (319 calories), or a slice of pumpkin pie (240 calories).

The Solution:
Is it possible to cope with the menace of Halloween candy without taking all the fun out of the holiday? Absolutely! If you’re looking for fast weight loss, and don’t want Halloween to bring your fat loss to a screeching halt, consider these healthy Halloween tips:

1. Walk with your kids while they’re trick-or-treating. A 165-lb. woman strolling along (walking slowly) for one hour will burn approximately 150 calories (source: caloriesperhour.com).
2. Out of sight, out of mind. When the kids have unloaded their stash, store it in an airtight container and put it in the cupboard. A bowl full of candy on the counter is an open invitation to have ‘just one’, but a stockpile you can’t see is less tempting.
3. If you’re going to give out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween, don’t buy it until October 31st. Having a candy supply in the house before Halloween only entices you to have some early.
4. If you must buy candy before Halloween, buy a kind you don’t like. Again, this will reduce the temptation for you to dig in.
5. Hosting a Halloween party? Supply vegetables, healthy dips, and low fat snacking alternatives instead of candy.
6. Set a Halloween candy deadline by which all Halloween candy must be either consumed (by the kids) or it will be thrown away. Saving that candy for weeks, or even months, only keeps temptation in the house.
7. Put more emphasis on dressing up in a great costume, and less on candy. This is especially true for the kids, who often view Halloween as a candy free-for-all dream come true.
8. By hosting a party on Halloween night, you can control the menu and have fun with friends at the same time.
9. Focus on Halloween activities other than eating. There are lots of options available, from hayrides to haunted houses to bonfires.
10. Candy has a long shelf life, and there’s no reason why you couldn’t put some of it in airtight bags and store it in the freezer. Allow the kids to take out one bag every two weeks until it’s gone. This tactic will at least space out the temptation and minimize candy binge eating.

Of course, the absolute best way to avoid weight gain, and perhaps even achieve some easy weight loss, during the Halloween season is to bump up the amount of exercise you’re getting. There’s no better way to lose weight fast than a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Make sure the workout you’re doing includes both aerobic and resistance training, as it is critical to get both types of exercise to maximize weight loss. It’s also important to exercise for at least thirty minutes, three times per week, which is the most recent recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (source: cdc.gov).

A fantastic strategy is to find the best weight loss program for you now, before Halloween hits. The reason is that the last three months of the year are packed with holidays, special dinners and seasonal treats. Starting with Halloween candy and ending with Christmas fudge, many people find that they’re packing on more pounds during this period than they do any other time of year.

Joining a gym is an excellent way to combat Halloween and holiday weight gain. Finding a good gym to join now will not only help keep off those holiday pounds, but will even make you slimmer by New Years.