Burning Halloween Candy Calories: A Workout Guide for Illinois Parents

Hey Illinois parents, before you steal and unwrap another “fun size” candy from your kids' candy stash, maybe you see how much exercise it will take to burn that small treat off your waistline.

Best Things About Halloween

I love Halloween, because I am a kid at heart with an obnoxious sweet tooth. I dress in costume to take my kids trick-or-treating, and I shamefully steal a lot of candy from their buckets when we get home.

Yes, I fully understand that stealing candy from children is a despicable thing for an adult to do, but to me, stealing Halloween candy is the exception.

After all, we walked along with those children to collect all the candy, why shouldn't we get to enjoy the sweets of that labor as well?

My kids collected a ridiculous amount of candy trick-or-treating this year, and they have a ton of options I can't want to gobble up, until I saw this list that completely broke my candy-loving heart.

How Much Exercise Is Required to Burn Off Popular Halloween Candies

Between what's leftover from the candy I bought, and the amount my two daughters collected trick-or-treating, we could live off candy alone for several weeks in my house, but then I saw a list that has forced me to practice restraint.

The website Momtastic broke down how much exercise is needed to burn off some of our favorite Halloween treats, and many of Illinois' favorites made the list. (Full disclosure, the results are 100 percent off-putting):

5 Mini Milky Ways = 190 calories

It takes 28 minutes of aerobic exercise to burn these puppies off. Hope you like burpees.

7 Mini 3 Musketeers = 170 calories.

Burn it off with 22 minutes of swimming, or chasing your kid who just found out you ate their candy.

20 Pieces of Candy Corn = 150 calories

I know candy corn isn't exactly popular, but it takes 25 minutes on the stair climber to burn them off. Sounds like another great reason to never eat them.

4 Mini Snickers = 170 calories

You’ll need a 50-minute brisk dog walk to even the score. Good luck convincing your dog (or anyone) to walk that long in the cold.

3 Mini Twix = 150 calories.

Burn it off by jogging for 20 minutes or full-out running for 10 minutes.

1 Piece of Licorice = 70 calories.

Burning off just one twist requires doing 25 minutes of yoga.

If you’d rather avoid the workout, and just remove the temptation from your home altogether, here are some great ways to do it.

Where to Donate Leftover Candy in the Rockford Area

Here's the truth, if I don't find a way to get rid of all this Halloween candy, I am going to eat it all and immensely regret it. Here are some places you can donate leftover candy  in the Rockford, Illinois area:

• The Rock River Valley Pantry (and other local food pantries)
• Rockford area nursing homes
• Churches and community centers
• Donate it to Soldiers' Angels that make treat boxes for troops.