Poll: Do You Count Calories During Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas?

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Every Halloween, I buy an absurd amount of candy in the hopes that a bunch of little green-faced monsters and tutu-clad princesses will knock on my door and scream, “Trick or treat!” demanding candy in that insanely cute, totally rude way that is only acceptable on October 31st.

But the truth is, I’ve never actually handed out candy on Halloween. Something always come up: I’m working, I have a night class, or maybe I’ve decided to dress up like a green-faced monster myself. So what ends up happening to all of those individually wrapped Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers bars is this: I eat them. All of them. I mean, not all at once; I’m not actually a monster. But within a week or two, all of the candy is gone. This is why even though the full-throttle holiday season is still a weeks months away, I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to start packing on the pounds as early as October, only to compound the problem come November and December.

To avoid turning into the candy-monster, like myself, some folks choose to count their calories during the holidays. I’ve tried this method, but my calorie-count just ends up going through the roof. I simply can’t resist holiday day treats like mini Twix bars, pecan pie and creamed spinach.

So, this holiday season, I’ll be filling up my plate and forgetting about the calories. My philosophy? Work hard, play hard. I’ve done a bazillion crunches this year so, if I happen to find myself surrounded by a bunch of empty mini-Snickers wrappers in a few weeks, I’m not going to sweat it too much.

What’s your holiday calorie-counting philosophy? Do you keep your mental calorie-counter turned on during the holidays? Or do you let yourself have a cheat-day (or two)?