Evil Candy Corn

I am hating Halloween candy.... Just venting. What are your holiday strategies VSG'ers? Vets, how do we combat all the holiday goodies?



Lisa

Stay away from it!!! Its not worth the sickness or the weight gain. Walk away.

I seriously want candy corn and the other Halloween candy that goes on sale this time of year but I have stayed away since this is a "slider food". What I do is wait for others to bring in their leftover Halloween candy and then I can have one or two pieces and stop vs. being a bag of individual candies and plan to eat one or two and eat a lot more!

You can do it!

So when I lost 50 pounds a couple of years ago (gained it all back of course), I LOVED to smash sweets. It was incredibly satisfying to take a cookie and turn it into crumbs over the trash can or in the sink. I used to take ketchup and cut the Halloween candy into pieces and smother it. Sometimes I used spicy mustard or Worchestershire (sp?) sauce - anything that sounded totally disgusting with the candy.

I figure I'm being ALOT nicer to it than the damn candy it is being to me. At least I don't make the candy and cookies suffer.

Thought my brother was going to pass out when I did that to a piece of chocolate pie at Crhistmas dinner. *giggles*

Others will tell you that it's all mind over matter and all that.

I found violence against the malefactor very satisfying.

My way of doing it(first halloween post op lol so we'll see) is keep it out of the house!!! If it is in the house, it is in my mouth....house and mouth are the same when it comes to candy....so I gotta stay far away!!!

I do not allow it in the house, I do not go down the candy isles at any stores, I do not buy it.  We are lucky that we live rurally and in over 20 years we have never had a single trick or treater.  I make a few cakes and cupcakes for the school's Trunk or Treat cake walk fund raiser but I don't attend.  I don't have kids anymore (this is the first year in over 40)  at home so its a lot easier for me than many of you.  Try doing a halloween not focus'd on candy...go to a haunted house, wear your costumes to a local hospital and deliver treats instead of collecting, go to a party..  Have a party in which games with prizes are the object not the getting and giving of candy....

I quit candy the way I quit smoking. By saying 'I don't do that anymore.' And I didn't. Both smoking and candy made my health take a dunk, so now after 22 years of being smokeless, I plan on snubbing the refined sugars too. If I want chocolate I think about eating a chunk of lard because of the fat in it. Not very appetizing, is it?

I dont keep it in the house!! Period!! I CANNOT control myself at all when it comes to sweets. 1 piece becomes 20 within a matter of minutes. Doesnt matter what I tell myself it's gonna be a binge fest if its available.

I did buy some pretzels to hand out this year because I'm not crazy about them. They are safe in my house. I do take my grand daughter trick or treating and she knows the drill. Nana can have 2 pieces of candy and she sticks to it. She picks out the 2 pieces (she knows what I like) and leaves them in the car when I drop her off. Those are eaten as soon as I get home and then I am done.

OMG what I would give for a bag of candy corn!! I LOVE the stuff but I havent had a piece of it in 2 years!! 

I think this one arena that I have a different mindset on than others.

1) I made the choice to have surgery. Not my family or friends or the rest of the world. I simply refused to ask the world, my family, or friends to accommodate me because I had surgery. So, I have always kept "junk food" no no foods, candy in the house. I just choose to have more diligence about food choices. I did not cheat or waver in my losing stage. Just not worth it.

2) In maintenance, that's a different ballgame. I have trigger foods. I don't want anyone to get the impression that I live this charmed VSG life without some sort of f*cked up baggage of the "why" I was fat. BUT, due to my hard work and success, I simply refuse to gorge on junk food. Now, and since being at goal, I simply refuse to deprive myself of certain foods. I don't justify it, I don't say "well, I've been good for 3 days, I'll have XX today." That is a past behavior I had to deal with, and it all resulted in binging and then feelings of guilt. My resolution and experience; I eat a smaller portion of XX food choice that will satisfy me, and keep me from binging. It's a hell of a balancing act and it's not easy. BUT, I'm not going to ever do deprivation dieting again. Nor will anyone ever hear, see me justifying a sh*tty food choice. It's because I want it and I will not allow it to become a behavior again. 

I realize others can not allow XX foods into their bodies, I get that so I am not negating that struggle. What I'm saying is that deprivation did not and does not and will not ever work for me. I'm going to enjoy my 1 Reese's peanut butter cup and put the other one in the freezer for my next craving/desire to have 1 Reese's peanut butter cup instead of the 4 that come in the Kind Size package.

I've decided in advance how I'm going to handle the holidays this year.

For Halloween, I'm not indulging in ANY candy.  If I don't start, I'll be just fine.  My daughter will go trick or treating and she can have her candy in the house and eat it as she pleases (she's a thin non-eater -- I'll throw more than half of it out when she gets tired of it).  I'm not having any.  Period.

For Thanksgiving, I'm going to cook Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, a traditional fruit salad and a fruit cobbler.  I will have it in very small portions for my planned meals.  The monday after Thanksgiving, it will all be thrown away. (Except the turkey, which will be a great protein source for leftovers.)

For Christmas, I will allow myself one treat a day for one week before Christmas.  I love to bake Christmas cookies, but will limit myself to one batch of sugar cookies instead  of 10 different kinds.  I will make one batch of fudge.  The day after Christmas, it will all be thrown away or sent to the ex's.

One drink on New Year's Eve, normal protein-based meals -- I love prime rib for New Years dinner.

That's the plan.  I do best if I don't make eating decisions "in the moment."  With those holiday exceptions, I do not plan on deviating from my plan or eating sweets or treats until I'm at my goal.  I think it's important to make a realistic plan and decide what is acceptable and unacceptable for you.  

Even though I "like" halloween candy, I like losing weight more.  Now, I LOVE me some Thanksgiving and I am an awesome Thanksgiving cook, so I'm willing to trade a week of weight loss for a few days of Thanksgiving food.  Same with Christmas cookies -- I don't expect to lose or gain weight that week, and I'm okay with that.  I know that if I set a time limit, I will get back on track. 

Everything is a choice and a trade-off -- you'll make better choices if you think through the pay-offs and consequences in advance.