Wordless Wednesday: Our Little Pumpkin

Tricks, Not Treats

source

Here is the Meeting Summary from October 29, 2011.

This week in the meeting room we talked about ways that we can stay on track over Halloween. Here are some great ideas from a Weight Watchers article I found.

Forget the haunted house; the spookiest Halloween specter is the candy. We show you how to deal.

Talk about scary: Halloween is a hard time to stay on plan. What can you do when those 5-pound bags of candy go on sale at the grocery store, or when your kids have laid out their loot on the living room floor? We've surveyed some people who have had success with Weight Watchers, and found out how they tackle the scariest Halloween candy scenarios.

Resist the sales
"My biggest Halloween challenge is not falling for the coupon in the paper," says Linda. "A 5-pound bag of Snickers on sale is still a 5-pound bag of Snickers."

By late
"The closer to Halloween you buy the candy, the better," says Maggie. "In fact," she says, "never, ever open the bag before the first trick-or-treater comes." That way, you'll have less total temptation time to cope with.

Buy candy you don't like
Dina says she heads straight for Mounds and Almond Joy when she has to pick up the Halloween candy. "Coconut is the one thing I don't like," she says.

Make up a game plan
If you decide to go for the mini Reese's that the kids will love you for, says Maggie, "Start giving out more as the night wears on, so there's less left over." If there are still remainders, get them out of the house. Give the candy away to a food charity, collect it all and offer it to the neighbors, or bring it to work (and drop it off in a different department).

Go out on a full stomach
If you have to walk your kids around to trick-or-treat, make lunch your big meal of the day, so you're not walking around hungry with bags full of candy. Carry a thermos of something hot to sip on, or, as Manhattan meetings Leader Liz Josefsberg says, chew mint gum throughout the night. It’ll help kill your urge to put candy in your mouth.

Come up with a candy strategy
When the candy's at home, work with your kids to decide what to do with it. Have them pick their 10 favorite pieces: If they're young, encourage them to leave the rest out for "The Great Pumpkin." And if they're too big to believe, encourage them to save the rest for lunches and parties.

Freeze!
Liz suggests putting left-over favorite candy in the freezer. If you get weak and find yourself digging into them, they will be rock solid and it will take time to get through even one.

Ditch the sense of occasion
Remind yourself that you can buy yourself candy any time of the year. There's no need to load up on fun-size bars on October 31 when you can enjoy them whenever your heart desires.

Keep things in perspective
Eating a little bit of candy on Halloween doesn't make a person overweight — it's constant overeating that can pile on the pounds. So don't assume you can't enjoy even a single treat, especially since deprivation is a dieting tactic that often backfires.

Slimming treats
Halloween means candy wherever you look, and it can be hard denying yourself outright. For those who like to have a candy bowl nearby, we searched the shelves for candy that was lower in PointsPlus™ value, but still gave a bang for the buck. Miniatures are a great deal in terms of portion control, while chewy candies turn out to be a big mouthful bargain and hard candies and lollipops score high for long-lasting satisfaction.

The 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party

Happy Halloween!

Not this past Saturday, but the Saturday before last (October 22, 2011), Jon and I attended our 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party! Every year our Sunday school class has a pumpkin carving party. This is the 3rd year that Jon and I have attended the party and we always have a great time! Here are so pictures from the party!

{Thing 1 and Thing 2}

Jon and I before we left for the party.

Jon as Thing 1

Me as Thing 2

{Pumpkin Carving}

Our pumpkin before we carved it.

Ben and Kimberly gutting their pumpkin.

Jon working on carving our pumpkin.

Courtney working on her pumpkin.

I'm getting ready to carve our pumpkin.

John and Elise hanging out with baby Memphis.

Jon and Miller

{The Finished Pumpkins}

Ben and Kimberly's pumpkin

Courtney's finished pumpkin!

Our pumpkin!

{The Costumes}

Shane and Courtney

John and Elise

Bob and Janet

Ben and Kimberly

Jon and me

Halloween Candy PointsPlus Values

source

I will be writing more about Halloween in next week's meeting summary blog post. However, I thought that this list would help you as you prepare for Halloween.

Halloween Candy PointsPlus Values

source

Almond Joy, Snack Size, 2 PointsPlus value

Baby Ruth, Fun Size, 2 PointsPlus value

Bit-O-Honey, 1 piece, 1 PointsPlus value

Bit-O-Honey, 6 pieces, 4 PointsPlus value

Butterfinger, Fun Size, 3 PointsPlus value

Candy Apple, 5 ounce, 5 PointsPlus value

Candy Corn, 20 pieces (41 grams), 4 PointsPlus value

Caramel Apple, 10 PointsPlus value

Charms Blow Pop, 1 pop, 2 PointsPlus value

source

Crunch, Fun Size, 2 PointsPlus value

Dots, Fun Size, 2 Points Plus value

Gummi Bears, 14 pieces (38 grams), 3 PointsPlus value

Heath Bar, Snack Size, 7 PointsPlus value

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, Snack Size, 6 PointsPlus value

Hershey’s Miniatures, (any flavor) 5 pieces, 6 PointsPlus value

Kit-Kat, Snack Size Bar, (three 2-piece bars) 6 PointsPlus value

Lemonhead, Fun Size, 1 pouch (11 grams) 1 PointsPlus value

M&M’s Milk Chocolate, Fun Size, (1 package) 2 PointsPlus value

M&M’s peanut, Fun Size, (1 package) 3 PointsPlus value

Mounds, Fun Size, 3 PointsPlus value

Nerds, 1 box (12.6 grams), 1 PointsPlus value

Oh Henry!, Mini, 2 PointsPlus value

source

PayDay, Fun Size, 3 PointsPlus value

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (2 cups) 6 PointsPlus value

Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Fun Size, 3 PointsPlus value

Reese’s Pieces (51 piece/40 gram bag) 5 PointsPlus value

Skittles, Original Fruit, Fun Size, 2 PointsPlus value

Snickers, Fun Size, 2 PointsPlus value

source

Take 5, Fun Size, 6 PointsPlus value

Tootsie Roll Midgets, 6 pieces (40 grams), 4 PointsPlus value

Twix, Fun Size, 2 PointsPlus value

Twizzler Twists, Fun Size, 4 PointsPlus value

Whoppers, Fun Size, 2 PointsPlus value

York Peppermint Patty, Fun Size, 1 PointsPlus value

Click the link to read last year's Halloween blog post about Surviving Halloween.

I posted this back in October 2009, but it still applies, so check out the Top 10 Signs You're A Trick Or Treating Weight Watcher!

Halloween Weekend

I think Halloween weekend is so much fun! Jon and I had already picked out our costumes for this year. I decided that we would dress up as Johnny and Baby from Dirty Dancing.

We wore our costumes twice! The first time we wore them at the 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party. We have this party with our Sunday school class. It has always been so much fun. The people in our class are so creative when it comes to their costumes, I just love it! The second time we wore our costumes was on Sunday at the Fall Festival
our church hosts.

This is what we were supposed to look like.



What do you think?

Johnny Castle aka Patrick Swayze

Frances 'Baby' Houseman aka Jennifer Grey

Johnny and Baby

These are pictures from the Pumpkin Carving Party.

We got our picture taken too!

I was tracing our pattern on the pumpkin so that Jon could carve it.

I am almost done!

I just love our pumpkin. Jon did a great job carving it!

Happy Halloween!!

We hope that you all have a very Happy (and safe) Halloween this year.
Don't be let Halloween scare you, feel free to check out the tips I posted to help you survive Halloween.

God Bless,
Jon and Jen

Surviving Halloween

There are only 14 days until Halloween. Ahh!! Have you picked out your costume yet? I have. Thankfully, because I don't need anything else to worry about.

With Halloween comes candy, a lot of candy. If you are like me you have been tempted by all the candy and treats that are filling the aisles at the store. This time of year, if you are trying to eat healthy, the supermarket can be scarier than an actual Haunted House. If you have not already read it, here is a post about how to Outsmart the Supermarket.

Even if you are able to buy healthy things at the store, how are you supposed to stay on plan and continue to lose weight this time of year? I am so glad you asked.

First, I wanted to share with you Three Quick Tips! from Hungry Girl to help you survive Halloween.

1. DO NOT stock up on your favorite candies. Too late to take that advice? Here's what to do. After the last wave of trick-or-treaters has come through, PUT THE CANDY AWAY! "Out of sight, out of mind" is a cliché, but it's true. If the candy still haunts you from the cabinet, bring the extras to work Monday morning. Set it out in a bowl and it'll be gone before lunchtime. Disaster averted.

2. Just because the candy bars are little doesn't mean you can have ten of them. Those "fun size" bars generally have 70 - 100 calories and 3 - 6g fat each (POINTS® value 2 - 3*), so watch out! The bite-sized "minis" often have about 30 - 50 calories and 2 - 3g fat each (POINTS® value 1*). Set a portion-controlled stash aside, and don't keep going back for more. Or be strong and just skip 'em altogether.

3. The best way to avoid the lure of holiday sweets? Eat other things. For the love of Elvira, DON'T skip dinner so that you can go nuts on the candy! Eight Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures do not equal a meal. Eat normally all day long, have a small treat after dinner, and don't turn that plastic jack-o'-lantern bucket into your personal feed-bag!

Second, if you just have to eat some candy here is a link to Hungry Girl's Halloween Candy Guide. This is a great resource to figure out the calories and/or points in your favorite sweets.

Finally, move more. That's right, you need to get up and move more. Trying going for a walk or exercise the days leading up to Halloween, this will compensate for some of the extra calories that you will be eating for Halloween.

Also, Stephanie over at She's in There Somewhere wrote a blog post, Halloween Candy Survival Guide if you are interested in even more information of surviving Halloween!

You can do it! Do not give in to the candy, because it is just not worth it. You deserve so much better!!

Flashback Friday: Fun with Halloween Masks

Michelle and Amanda are two of my best friends. I want to start by saying that I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends! I have so many memories with these two and I would like to share just one of them with you. Let me take you back five years to October 6, 2005.

Jon was away attending school in Texas, which left a lot of room for me to hangout with Michelle and Amanda. We often made trips to Fred Meyer to get out of the dorms and have some fun. This time was extra special, because all of the Halloween costumes were out and available for us to look at and play with!

I'm pretty sure we tried on almost every mask, but here are just a few of my favorite pictures. Enjoy!!

Which is your favorite mask?

Amanda and Jen

Michelle and Jen

Jen and Amanda

Jen and Michelle

Amanda and Jen

Visit Tia for more flashbacks.

Halloween and Fall Festival

What a fun weekend!! Saturday evening we had our annual Pumpkin Carving Costume Party!! You had to come up with a costume for under $10.00. It took Jon and I a very long time to decide what we were going to be for Halloween. You see I like to dress-up, but Jon does not. After suggesting about 50 different ideas, he finally agreed to dress up as Salt and Pepper (thanks Bobbi for the suggestion). We had so much fun at the party. We carved a mummy on a pumpkin and we tied for best pumpkin with another couple.

Then Sunday we welcomed in the month of Navember with the annual Fall Festival at the church. Sunday evening we were in charge of the Tic-Tac-Toe booth at Fall Festival. The kids had so much fun, more candy then they need. Some people even had trouble figuring out what we were supposed to be. It was great! I am already trying to come up with ideas of what we could be next year!

Top 10 Signs You're a Trick or Treating Weight Watcher

So I thought that this was funny and just had to share it with all of you.

In the spirit of Halloween...
From Dotti's Newletter

Top 10 Signs You're a Trick or Treating Weight Watcher

10. You know how many door knocks it takes to earn an activity point.
9. You're the only Power Ranger in the neighborhood with a pedometer and a Points finder.
8. You ask each house if they mind if you step on their scale -- just to compare.
7. You ask to trade candy corn for the real stuff.
6. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you yell out the # of POINTS!
5. Your costume has a handy water bottle holder so you can meet your water requirements for the day.
4. You ask to use the bathroom every 3rd house because of #5.
3. At the end of the night, you sort your candy by POINT value.
2. You ask for high fiber candy only.
1. Your goodie bag has a half filled out journal taped to it.