For everyone freaking out about Thanksgiving...

deb3129

I am not freaked out about it, but I am not going to pig out either. Yes, Thansgiving is an American tradtion, but to me it should be about giving thanks, and spending time with your family. I realize that pigging out one day a year on a holiday is not what makes me fat, but for me I think it is just better to stick to a reasonable amount of food. This is working for me. I also know from the few times that I have binged since I started eating healthy that not only will I feel guilty after if I do, I will feel physically bad. So it is just not worth it for me. So while I may eat things I would not on a day to day basis, I will still try to be in my calorie goal, and I will find time for at least a short walk that day.

azjenny72

On Thanksgiving Day I will eat what I want but in moderation. I do plan to log just out of curiosity. I am not going to shoot myself for that day. As for the other events that surround Thanksgiving and Christmas... those I plan to also attack in moderation. I will have at least a taste of everything I want but not go overboard and I will log it all.

If I go over my calories for that day it won't be the end of the world. As other posters have said this is about a lifestyle change... the holidays will come around every year for the rest of my life so I need to learn how to deal with them in moderation and know that I can get back on track if things don't go so well with my self control on those individual days.

Happy Holidays everyone!

bluelena

Excellent post! Couldn't have written that better myself.

I great quote I heard on Fat2Fit Radio podcast is "It is not important what you eat between Christmas and New Years, it is important what you eat between New Years and Christmas." The same idea can apply to Thanksgiving.

LOVE this!

Skymollie

So, it is not just the one day of eating but the door it opens…followed by a very dark, long hallway.

Very good sentence and so true. Most of us are not here because we ate two cookies instead of one. We ate the whole bag many times over. Binge eating is becoming an American way of life. Emotionally we are unhappy and so we reach for the sugar fix. It is amazing how you can eat one cookie and be ok psychologically but if you eat three you feel like a failure and so you eat three bags of cookies to prove the point in your mind that your'e still the failure you have always been. It's time to change this thinking but hard to undo a lifetime thought process.

verptwerp

(Asking the hostess to keep all the food wrappers ??????? Wow, I thought I'd heard everything :laugh: )

One thing I've learned over the last 4 years of "weight watching" is that this is MY decision ....... it's up to ME to take care of myself ..... if I'm watching calories, it's up to me to make healthy selections and adjust portions ...... if I'm vegetarian and invited to someone else's house, then it's up to me to bring along foods that I can eat ....... and if I want to taste that lovely dessert my sister made, I do ...... and I don't ask how many calories it is.

People hosting parties have enough on their minds without my "special needs" ....... in fact, I don't talk about diets at all, especially during the holidays while people are stuffing their faces .......

But if someone really wants to know how I lost 40+ lbs I'll be glad to talk to them ...... away from the dessert table LOL

Thanks, OP, for sharing your thoughts ...... and enjoy a great Thanksgiving :drinker:

Nukkers

Agreed! Great post!

4Phoenix

I just love you....you always make so much sense. I am vegan so I've bought a tofu turkey and I'm making all the trimmings for others. Thanks for the reminder that it is not what you do once a year, but how you daily live your life. Happy Thanksgiving!

tejasmh87

My boyfriend is cooking this year and he goes all out. Frankly, we will have leftovers thru Sunday. I plan on running my 5k training runs today and weds for some extra padding room. I will probably run the day after if I can.

However I am not even gonna try to count calories Thanksgiving Day. This is my one massive cheat day and I will be thankful for it!
nom nom nom nom!

tinanana7

Going to quick add 3000 calories to my food diary in the morning and thats the last of MFP for the day.

I hope I stay below 3,000 but who knows! I'm running a half marathon that morning so that makes it totally justifiable, right?!

Great idea! I think I will do the same. And you will burn a minimum of 1000 calories if not more with the 1/2 so its totally justifiable!. To ease my guilty conscience I will be attending a 1 hour boot camp class and a 1 hour Zumba class (the Zumba is more for fun with the added bonus of burning calories), Then its turkey and mashed potato time!!:bigsmile:

woodsy0912

So glad for this post. I have been waffling between skipping all the good stuff, trying to log everything, just saying forget it for the day, that kind of freaking out thing.

I'll just have fun with family and friends, eat what I want to in moderation, burn up some extra calories that morning at the gym and get right back into the swing of things on Friday.

Also, I wont even think of stepping on the scale until that next week.

Then of course there will be the family Christmas party and Christmas day to "not" worry about.

Then new years will roll around and I wont have anymore big cheat days to look forward to for awhile.

NCchar130

I think prelogging a few thousand calories sounds like a great idea! I've been trying to decide just how specific I want to try to be with my food diary that day and that really sounds like a plan. I probably will bank a few calories tomorrow and Wednesday which has kind of been the way I've done things all along, as I'm not as hungry some days as others.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

thisisiamj

I'm gonna do a quick work out in the morning and eat all the turkey I want -- plus the extras I'm not worrying!

AllonsYtotheTardis

Yup - planning to look at it that way on Christmas day. I'm not going to log one bite. I'm going to enjoy what's available, and enjoy my family time.

But ya know what? I discovered at Canadian Thanksgiving that I couldn't eat as much as I used to. So I'm not really worried about going crazy on Christmas. I'll eat until I'm satisfied, and stop there (instead of stuffing myself, like I might have at one time).

Brandi1168

Great post!

gaylynn35

Great post!!

SeekingOne54

Sometimes, on some days, calorie counting just isn't worth it to me.

Amen, sister. Good advice. Celebrating on occassion is good for the body, mind and spirit in my opinion. Cheers, y'all, and have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving!

AntWrig

I'm going to enjoy myself and as far as diet to something similar to this, which is what I do for all social eating occasions so that I can enjoy them when I decide to go to something. Thanksgiving and Christmas are too important to miss. We are meant to have feast days (just not every day!). The only thing I will do different compared to this article is I will workout hard because I WANT to --> http://johnbarban.com/whats-your-diet-and-exercise-plan-for-the-next-7-weeks/

Working out prior to a big feast will only increase your appetite.

KathyRed07

....**One BAD meal cannot make you Fat ~ just like one GOOD meal cannot make you Skinny**...

SameMe_JustLess

GREAT POST!!!!!

sgv0918

well written

saraann4

AMEN.

rydn4h2o

Well said, thanks for sharing! :happy:

recee96

Awesome post!!!

punkinrn

CAN I GET AN AMEN!!!!

dreilingda

Very well said. It isn't 1 or 2 days a year that made us overweight.

I like to have a good long workout or run a race early Thanksgiving morning. Do I do it so I won't feel guilty, or burn more of those Turkey day calories? Nope, I do it so that I'm even hungrier for all the yummy food. My realtives are probably on here somewhere posting about how they know this guy that can eat whatever he wants and stays thin...

Lormic98

Well said! Thanks, and enjoy!

sstoro

Thanks so much for your post. I have to admit I've been a little worried due to the fact that Thanksgiving is a few days away and my family is going on a 7 day cruise in a few weeks! Your post makes me feel much better.

redhousecat

People hosting parties have enough on their minds without my "special needs" .......

This is so very, very awesome! Thank you!

IamBlackMamba

If you have been on this board at all the past few weeks you have likely seen many new topics posted about how to stay on your diet plan during Thanksgiving, how to not overeat, how to tell your relatives you can only have salad, etc... As someone who lost 80 pounds 8 years ago and has managed to keep it off (except for a few minor weight gains in the first couple years as I learned about proper weight maintenance), I wanted to give my completely non-expert, non-professional, non-scientifically founded advice.

Hopefully, you see whatever diet/exercise plan you are following as a lifestyle change and not a quick fix. Now, are you going to freak out about Thanksgiving every year for the rest of your life? I have eaten whatever I wanted at Thanksgiving since I got to my goal weight eight years ago. My family is from the south and absolutely every side items is a casserole, full of butter, cream, cheese, bread crumbs, etc. There is not one single healthy option, except maybe the celery that is under all the cream cheese. I have eaten that food, drank several glasses of wine, had pumpkin or pecan pie, and then had a leftover turkey sandwich for dinner every Thanksgiving. And you know what? It has not hindered my long term weight loss goals. Now, I wouldn't recommend stepping on the scale the next day. But I would recommend not feeling guilty, not trying to starve yourself for days to make up for it, and not trying to throw in hours of extra exercise in an attempt to burn the calories. Just wake up, get back to your normal routine immediately, and your weight will soon be back to normal. Most of the weight you put on will just be water weight anyways.

I have seen posts on here in the last week with people saying they are only going to eat salad and a piece of turkey, they are going to use an extremely small plate, one person even said she was going to ask the hostess to keep all the food wrappers so she could log in the calories exactly. Can you imagine if someone asked you to do that? Not only would I think they were incredibly rude, I would think they were a certifiable nut job.

This is ONE DAY that happens ONCE A YEAR! As gluttonous as it is, it is an American tradition. So please, stop stressing. This is supposed to be a fun time to spend bonding with your family over traditional foods. Don't ruin it with anxiety over some extra calories that are not going to matter a few days later. Maybe watch your portions and pick one dessert instead of all three, exercise in the morning, but enjoy yourself and don't worry about every calorie you take in!

6 days ago, I got back from an all inclusive island vacation. I ate like it was Thanksgiving every morning at the breakfast buffet and every afternoon at the lunch buffet. You would have thought every five course dinner was my last meal. I pretty much drank like I was on college spring break. I did run 5 to 6 miles every morning, but with the amount of food I was eating it didn't matter. When I got back home, I made the mistake of weighing myself. I had gained 10 pounds! I freaked for a second, but promised myself the next day I would just get back into my normal routine of daily exercise and healthy eating. I weighed myself this morning and I am back to my pre-weight trip, in less than a week. That is from 5 days of binging, so I don't think anyone is going to gain 5 permanent pounds from enjoying one Thanksgiving dinner.

I know everyone's body/metabolism/whatever is different, but be realistic here. If you really want to make this a lifestyle change, it has to be doable and you have to allow yourself to relax sometimes and just enjoy life.

Congratulations on your long term sustained weight loss! Thank you for this very sane post, I appreciate it very much.

Happy Thanksgiving to you.

joslin2005

Love this post........it's a life style change not a diet!!! Enjoy Thanksgiving EVERYONE

This!