Weight loss during Thanksgiving holiday?

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  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
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    Last year I ate at a bigger deficit than usual leading up to it and spent Thanksgiving Day eating what I wanted to. Lost a pound that week too!
  • Monsterdog1114
    Monsterdog1114 Posts: 32 Member
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    I eat reasonable. I eat everything I want. But I keep it to the 1 meal.. I don't eat high calorie leftovers for days. I also plan a nice long walk (normal). It is 1 day. Enjoy it..
  • lizzocat
    lizzocat Posts: 356 Member
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    I don't plan to count calories, it's one day. But I also don't plan to go crazy, I'm just going to eat reasonably, exercise that morning, and go back to counting the next day.
  • wjeter3
    wjeter3 Posts: 1 Member
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    I plan on eating whatever I want and do my best to make up for it the other days of the week. Just as long as I have a 3500 cal deficit for the week, I'm happy. That may mean that the other days are 1200 calorie days but that's ok. I love green bean casserole and pumpkin pie!!!
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    I have never really understood this issue people face about holiday eating.. when thanksgiving came around for me last month I planned my day and stuck to it. I had a pretty decent sized dinner and enjoyed every bite
    Maybe you're missing that the issue isn't necessarily even the planning, but what to plan.
  • ElleMarieRose
    ElleMarieRose Posts: 37 Member
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    I am low carb, which helps with staying within my calorie range (mac&cheese and apple pie is what would get me!). I will also just fast until dinner and eat at maintenance.
  • tmartin19710
    tmartin19710 Posts: 41 Member
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    My niece who has a new house this year wants to host Thanksgiving so no left overs for me. I will eat a normal breakfast, light lunch and then sit down to one nice meal with the family. Take no leftovers home.

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    I have never really understood this issue people face about holiday eating.. when thanksgiving came around for me last month I planned my day and stuck to it. I had a pretty decent sized dinner and enjoyed every bite
    Maybe you're missing that the issue isn't necessarily even the planning, but what to plan.

    Okay..so you get to where you're going to eat and see what's happening.. when it's time to dig in plan your meal first before scooping it on to your plate? When my dad visited for a week it didn't stop me from eating what I made him.. I served him first and yeah it took a few extra min to weigh and check out everything before I sat down with him to eat but I still don't really see the problem. I bring my scale everywhere so to bring it to someone else's place for a holiday meal is not really that big of a deal to me.
    Again, I think you're missing the issue underlying the question.

    Eat at a deficit? Maintenance? Surplus? Try to keep your week in line? Accept that this week will be above goal or even above maintenance? Or don't?

    It's not about tracking what is eaten. It's about deciding how much differently to eat, if at all, on a holiday.

  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    I'm going to spend the week with my brother and his girlfriend hiking. The plan is to go 82 miles and camp along the way.

    The down-side is that I will probably lose my 500+ day streak (which should be even longer due to MFP's mobile login not counting in the past, but that is a different story for a different day).

    I am loosely tracking calories, with bags pre-made with certain calorie amounts. The difficult part will be counting burn (not sure how Fitbit will work if I can't sync for a week) and measuring shared meals (dinner and breakfast) amounts with accuracy.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
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    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    I have never really understood this issue people face about holiday eating.. when thanksgiving came around for me last month I planned my day and stuck to it. I had a pretty decent sized dinner and enjoyed every bite
    Maybe you're missing that the issue isn't necessarily even the planning, but what to plan.

    Okay..so you get to where you're going to eat and see what's happening.. when it's time to dig in plan your meal first before scooping it on to your plate? When my dad visited for a week it didn't stop me from eating what I made him.. I served him first and yeah it took a few extra min to weigh and check out everything before I sat down with him to eat but I still don't really see the problem. I bring my scale everywhere so to bring it to someone else's place for a holiday meal is not really that big of a deal to me.

    I wouldn't recommend bringing along your food scale to a family members Thanksgiving dinner. It's just one day. Just one meal. Watch your portions, limit alcohol and enjoy yourself.

  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    Thanksgiving is a no counting day for me. I'll still do my workout in the morning, but I eat whatever I want. I don't overdo it, but I get to eat without worrying about logging.

    It's important for me to spend the holidays without thinking about food. I only do this for a few select days of the year and it really has no impact on my overall weight loss.
  • sweetpea03b
    sweetpea03b Posts: 1,124 Member
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    I try to exercise on the day (I think I ran 9 miles last year on Thanksgiving - training for a half marathon) and eat what I want in reasonable portions... I still logged but I sort of made peace with the fact I may not be at a deficit for the day. I think in general, its best just to log it and move on. Often times days of "no logging" will become weeks of no logging and before you know it you're "off the wagon".
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    sweetpea03b wrote: »
    I try to exercise on the day (I think I ran 9 miles last year on Thanksgiving - training for a half marathon) and eat what I want in reasonable portions... I still logged but I sort of made peace with the fact I may not be at a deficit for the day. I think in general, its best just to log it and move on. Often times days of "no logging" will become weeks of no logging and before you know it you're "off the wagon".

    It depends on your plan. I have a few "no logging" days through the year. Basically major holidays and my birthday. Day of is "no logging", next day is right back to it. If you have a plan and are disciplined, there's no snowball effect.
  • dolliesdaughter
    dolliesdaughter Posts: 544 Member
    edited November 2015
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    My running group has a special run on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. I am going to have eat a normal breakfast and enjoy myself for dinner. We always celebrate my sister's birthday on Thanksgiving, since it is November 25th. I don't do leftovers so I will be fine. I will log as best as I can and I will done one helping of every items that I want and only get during the holidays.

    Plus we have our holiday meals around 2:30p.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    I have never really understood this issue people face about holiday eating.. when thanksgiving came around for me last month I planned my day and stuck to it. I had a pretty decent sized dinner and enjoyed every bite

    Few things though...

    1) there is food available that people are usually not eating. So more temptation
    2) hard to plan when you really have no idea what's going to be served
    3) some people, like me, get hungrier during the day than at night, so saving calories for dinner is more of a challenge than for people who are used to having a big dinner

    Last year I had a plan until I got there and they took out the nice cheese and crackers as appetizer and there was an extra pie and... you get the drift. Bottom line, it's more realistic for me to eat less the rest of the week and save calories for that day than to plan to stick to my calories, because that's just not going to happen (it did two years ago though, but we ate at home and it was just us, so it was easier).
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    DeguelloTex wrote: »
    MiniChef_Kriss wrote: »
    I have never really understood this issue people face about holiday eating.. when thanksgiving came around for me last month I planned my day and stuck to it. I had a pretty decent sized dinner and enjoyed every bite
    Maybe you're missing that the issue isn't necessarily even the planning, but what to plan.

    Okay..so you get to where you're going to eat and see what's happening.. when it's time to dig in plan your meal first before scooping it on to your plate? When my dad visited for a week it didn't stop me from eating what I made him.. I served him first and yeah it took a few extra min to weigh and check out everything before I sat down with him to eat but I still don't really see the problem. I bring my scale everywhere so to bring it to someone else's place for a holiday meal is not really that big of a deal to me.

    Yeah, but how do you even load the recipes into the recipe builder? Do you know if someone used 1 stick of butter or 2 in their mashed potatoes, how many grams of potatoes they used, the total weight of the recipe minus the dish? You get my drift.

    I'm lucky enough that my family is pretty health-conscious, so everything is friendly. I'm not a huge eater at Thanksgiving (maybe because when I was in high school our homecoming dance was that night, and I wanted to fit into my dress), but I love to drink champagne! This year we'll go to my in-laws. Last year we did BOTH - ugh.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    _Justinian_ wrote: »
    So what is everyone here planning to do during the Thanksgiving holiday? Are you going to count calories? Just say forget it and eat whatever you want? Fast all day until the evening meal? Double or triple your exercise during that period? I'm curious how everyone handles themselves during those major feasts on holidays!

    it's but one day of many...none of this is predicated on what you do one day...none of this is predicated on occasions here and there...try to look at the bigger picture.

    beyond that, there's no need to eat until you feel like you're going to pop...

    i traditionally do the Turkey Trot 5K in the morning and then head home to prepare our Thanksgiving meal...I do most of the cooking. I would say that there's really nothing inherently unhealthy in what I traditionally make...Turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes w/homemade gravy, chipotle sweet potatoes, squash, brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, and usually my mom will bring over a couple of pies.

    we typically eat mid afternoon around 3PM so I have a normal breakfast and the Thanksgiving meal serves as both lunch and dinner.

  • OhMsDiva
    OhMsDiva Posts: 1,073 Member
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    robertw486 wrote: »
    I'll probably beat the elliptical machine up while everything is cooking. And the day before. Probably the day before that as well. Maybe for a week after if needed.

    But I'll eat pretty much what I want for that day or two.

    I have pondered this many times. I am going to enjoy, but I will also keep up my exercise. Monday I will get back on plan.

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