Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
Will you log foods on Thanksgiving or no?
Options
Replies
-
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Why would you NOT track ... you do it every day, after all. So what if it ends up being over calories (or macros) ... it's just one day that adds to the total.
I can't answer this question for everyone, but here's my reason for not logging that day.
I really don't feel like measuring out the recipes of everything I'm making that day and putting them in the recipe builder and then using the food scale and measuring my portions.
Nor do I feel like entering a WAG because it's just one day, though I suppose I could do this just to say I logged, but this seems silly to me, and I'm terrible at this sort of thing so it seems like a pointless exercise to me.
It's not that I care if I'm over (I wouldn't), it's just that I couldn't be bothered.
This about sums it up for me, except I pre-log 3500 calories for the day, to remind myself later that this is the number of calories I would have to eat over maintenance to put on a single pound.
eta spelling
That's a good idea. I might do that. It's just noise in my diary, you know?
Fun fact about my little family. We don't do a traditional Thanksgiving. My daughter and I are vegetarians, my husband hates turkey. The kids always wants ravioli on holidays (this will be home made) and my husband wants meatballs. I will be making something that I can eat as well as (I haven't quite decided yet) and some veggie sides.
For dessert, the family consensus was crumb cake. They don't mind if I sub out gluten free flour so I can eat it.
Yes, we are different, but we long ago decided that since it's a holiday, we'd enjoy it on our terms.
I know this is pure sacrilege to most people, but it suits us.3 -
Why would you NOT track ... you do it every day, after all. So what if it ends up being over calories (or macros) ... it's just one day that adds to the total.
Logging holiday food clogs up my food list with foods I don't normally eat and makes logging the rest of the year more cumbersome - I learned that lesson the hard way my first year trying to "do it right" and log everything. I guesstimate I eat around 5,000 calories on Thanksgiving - 1,000 pre-dinner, 1,000 for dinner and another 3,000 in desserts/drinks so I'll do a quick add for that since I've been logging my calories lately (I don't always) but, like you said, it's one day so it's pretty meaningless.
After Thanksgiving is the important bit for me. I need to be extra vigilant not to allow myself to relapse - which really has nothing to do with logging or calories.4 -
I log every day but is more necessary over Christmas holiday time. I've just posted elsewhere how successful last Christmas was with the help of logging.2
-
yes, I plan to log, but I'll keep in mind that it's not exactly accurate. I'm not doing recipe builder, or weighing food, or anything. I'll do generic homemade dressing, mac n cheese, etc. and use the calories that MFP gives. I'll 'guestimate' serving sizes. It won't be perfect, but it will give me a rough estimate. I'm going to take other's ideas and prelog. That might help with controlling seconds...and thirds...I'll try not to go too far over calories by limiting desserts and breads. I don't drink alcohol anyway, so that won't be a problem. So, hopefully, I won't see a huge jump in my weight after two Thanksgiving dinners (both sides of the family) plus leftovers.2
-
I most likely won't log. I usually don't on thanksgiving, Christmas, and NYE. I'll have some calories banked for those days and also have a nice workout in the morning (after breakfast and presents on Christmas morning of course). I'm not on my phone during these holidays because I'm with family and choose to keep my phone in my purse. It would be difficult for me to remember everything I had and the portion sizes without keeping a note in my phone. I just plan on having normal sized portions and sticking to a few adult beverages. I allow dessert, but just one and not a sample of everything on the table
and I make sure to not make it a weekend long event filled with all of the leftovers. I have my one yummy treat meal and then get back to business the next day and wait for the next holiday to roll around. 2 -
I don't plan to log. I don't see it changing my choices, plus we're eating out at our country club. Trying to estimate what the chef might have used in any particular recipe and estimating the portions seems to leave a whole lot of room for error, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of point to trying. I might try more to at least ballpark things if we were going to cook and be eating leftovers for a few days, but since this will be a one-and-done holiday dinner, I'm just going to relax and enjoy not having to cook OR clean up!2
-
No, will just have to do better the next day or two..1
-
maura_tasi wrote: »I most likely won't log. I usually don't on thanksgiving, Christmas, and NYE. I'll have some calories banked for those days and also have a nice workout in the morning (after breakfast and presents on Christmas morning of course). I'm not on my phone during these holidays because I'm with family and choose to keep my phone in my purse. It would be difficult for me to remember everything I had and the portion sizes without keeping a note in my phone. I just plan on having normal sized portions and sticking to a few adult beverages. I allow dessert, but just one and not a sample of everything on the table and I make sure to not make it a weekend long event filled with all of the leftovers. I have my one yummy treat meal and then get back to business the next day and wait for the next holiday to roll around.
to the bolded, i agree, i don't want to sit at the table and search for things during the meal. we had friendsgiving last night and i snapped a quick picture of my plate which wasn't out of the ordinary in any way (thanks instagram!) and then put my phone away. when i woke up this morning i had the picture for reference and then estimated from there.3 -
Nope. I'm giving myself permission to simply enjoy the time with family. I have, however, made the rule thgat anything I eat must be eaten sitting at a table. That will help me avoid mindless grazing at the cheese tray and dessert table.2
-
I'm on a logging streak so no way am I breaking it. I also fear I'll fall off the wagon if I get too crazy, so I am planning to eat maintenance for that day but no more. (hahahahaha, well I can TRY)2
-
Im logging......no matter how ugly it is. Doing a 15 mile walk first thing in the morning so I will have wiggle room
3 -
jessiferrrb wrote: »maura_tasi wrote: »I most likely won't log. I usually don't on thanksgiving, Christmas, and NYE. I'll have some calories banked for those days and also have a nice workout in the morning (after breakfast and presents on Christmas morning of course). I'm not on my phone during these holidays because I'm with family and choose to keep my phone in my purse. It would be difficult for me to remember everything I had and the portion sizes without keeping a note in my phone. I just plan on having normal sized portions and sticking to a few adult beverages. I allow dessert, but just one and not a sample of everything on the table and I make sure to not make it a weekend long event filled with all of the leftovers. I have my one yummy treat meal and then get back to business the next day and wait for the next holiday to roll around.
to the bolded, i agree, i don't want to sit at the table and search for things during the meal. we had friendsgiving last night and i snapped a quick picture of my plate which wasn't out of the ordinary in any way (thanks instagram!) and then put my phone away. when i woke up this morning i had the picture for reference and then estimated from there.
Oh that's a great idea! I'll totally be doing that, I never even considered taking a quick picture!1 -
I'm on a logging streak so no way am I breaking it. I also fear I'll fall off the wagon if I get too crazy, so I am planning to eat maintenance for that day but no more. (hahahahaha, well I can TRY)
The streak isn't actually associated with your diary. It's based on the number of consecutive days you log into the website/app.2 -
Also, one thing I've found is that since my family has basically the same menu items every year, prepared basically the same way - I can just copy my diary entries from previous years for a rough estimate of the calories, and adjust the big things like 1 piece of pecan pie vs 2, extra serving of mashed potatoes, two extra glasses of wine, etc. It was a best guess the first year I put it in, but it hasn't derailed my progress yet, so might as well stick with the estimates. For fun I looked back at my 4 years of logging on Thanksgiving. This is for the actual day, we celebrate a second time the Saturday after with another side of the family.
Thanksgiving 2016: 1891 calories (did not make my sweet potato casserole, went with roasted instead)
Thanksgiving 2015: 2532 calories (full on everything - first full year in maintenance)
Thanksgiving 2014: 1959 calories (recently transitioned to maintenance, trying to be cautious)
Thanksgiving 2013: 1876 calories (actively losing)
I also bank calories the days leading up to it, eat a small breakfast that day, go for a long walk in the morning, and try to avoid eating anything big later in the evening, maybe some popcorn if I'm feeling peckish.
2 -
Yes I am and I will exercise that morning as well.
For us its the same menu/same recipes already built in the recipe builder from the past 4 years except a new pie I wanted to make this year. So there is no reason really for me not to log and stay on point.3 -
Yes, I'm going to log. We are going on a road trip with friends. I will have my scale with me. Logging isn't a chore for me. I will prelog what I can, however
1 -
jessiferrrb wrote: »maura_tasi wrote: »I most likely won't log. I usually don't on thanksgiving, Christmas, and NYE. I'll have some calories banked for those days and also have a nice workout in the morning (after breakfast and presents on Christmas morning of course). I'm not on my phone during these holidays because I'm with family and choose to keep my phone in my purse. It would be difficult for me to remember everything I had and the portion sizes without keeping a note in my phone. I just plan on having normal sized portions and sticking to a few adult beverages. I allow dessert, but just one and not a sample of everything on the table and I make sure to not make it a weekend long event filled with all of the leftovers. I have my one yummy treat meal and then get back to business the next day and wait for the next holiday to roll around.
to the bolded, i agree, i don't want to sit at the table and search for things during the meal. we had friendsgiving last night and i snapped a quick picture of my plate which wasn't out of the ordinary in any way (thanks instagram!) and then put my phone away. when i woke up this morning i had the picture for reference and then estimated from there.
I LOVE this
1 -
I'm on a logging streak so no way am I breaking it. I also fear I'll fall off the wagon if I get too crazy, so I am planning to eat maintenance for that day but no more. (hahahahaha, well I can TRY)
The streak isn't actually associated with your diary. It's based on the number of consecutive days you log into the website/app.
Oh right! But it works the other way in my head...1 -
This is the first year in my life where it's going to be me & hubby & the dogs so I'm going to weigh & log. I'm having turkey , mashed potatoes, a little home made cranberry sauce, no stuffing or pies but my son is making us his delicious chocolate cake with butter cream frosting so that will be the cause of my going over. If I were going to someone's house, I'd just pick the "thanksgiving dinner" on mfp3
-
I usually don't but this year I'm going to. Mostly out of curiosity. I don't think I eat much more on Thanksgiving than any other day (more varieties of food but I tend to just take a very small bit of everything) and I never eat more than one plateful. I'm not worried about going over my calorie allotment but I'm curious to see if I actually do, especially since I'm so busy cooking/prepping I usually eat very little else, if anything, that day. Really, it's the wine that will probably put me over, lol! Gotta deal with the inevitable drama somehow
ETA: I'm not planning on weighing the food. Just estimating as best I can. And NOT doing it at the table!1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 911 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions