The 3,000-calorie Thanksgiving dinner -- myth or reality?

It really depends I think. It's pretty hard for me to get over 3,000 for an entire day and that's a binge for me.

Including pre-meal nibbles, wine and sweet tea, and dessert. I can see it hitting 3000.

My big southern family goes all out for Thanksgiving. We each bring a dish or two and there are usually around 40 people for lunch. My typical thanksgiving meal includes

Apps
Dill dip (half sour cream, half mayo plus seasoning) and pumpernickel bread
Beer cheese dip with crackers
Chips and salsa

Main meal
Turkey
Ham with Jezebel sauce
Cornbread dressing
Gravy
Rolls
Maw maw's sweet potatoes (includes so much sugar, eggs, and coconut and is topped with maraschino cherries, pineapple and pecans cooked down with sugar)
Southern Mac and cheese
Roasted veggies topped with goat cheese
Green Bean casserole
Mashed potatoes with more gravy
Cranberry relish
Strawberry pretzel salad

Now I usually only eat 4 or 5 bite of each thing, except the sweet potatoes. I love them and only get them once a year so I eat a lot.
Then comes dessert.
I'll eat at least a small piece of pumpkin and pecan pie, probably also chocolate chess pie and a bite or two of whatever else looks good.

I'll also drink sweet tea, so much sweet tea. I only allow myself to drink it with abandon on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll have a glass or two of wine as well. Yup that could easily be 3000 calories. Of course, I won't eat a whole lot else that day. Coffee and maybe some yogurt or fruit for breakfast and then graze on leftovers in evening for dinner.

Mine's probably half of that, including pumpkin pie and date pudding

Yeah, booze has a lot of calories and most people of age are drinking when they have to spend holidays with family, I can easily break 3k calories.

willrun4bagels wrote: »

Acg67 wrote: »

ksolksol wrote: »

Every year about this time a diet industry group puts out a dire warning that we're all going to eat 3,000 calories (average, anyway) on Thanksgiving dinner alone (not counting snacks and other meals) and the media laps it up unquestioningly. Nowhere have I ever found how they tallied this.

For funsies, I put together what a 3,000-calorie dinner (2,965 per USDA Supertracker) might look like:

half pound turkey, dark and light meat, skin eaten
6 ounces ham
A full cup each mashed potatoes (made w/butter & cream cheese), dressing (with meat), corn, and green beans cooked with mushroom sauce
1/2 cup giblet gravy
A dinner roll with a full tablespoon of butter
Two cups of garden salad with avocado, topped with 3 tablespoons blue cheese dressing
A slice of cranberry sauce
A slice of pecan pie with 2 tablespoons heavy whipped cream

Granted, it IS easy to eat a lot more on Thanksgiving than intended, but I think saying the "average" holiday meal is 3,000 calories is exaggerating a bit. I'm a pretty healthy eater, and I'd be physically ill if I tried to eat that much in one sitting.

If anyone knows how the 3,000-calorie dinner was originally calculated, I'm all ears.

1 slice of pie? LOL

RIGHT?? I have pie, pumpkin cheesecake, cookies, and wash it down with wine on Thanksgiving...

And I'll add 2500 calories of baklava too.

Sounds reasonable to me. Last year I logged 2200 calories for the day (the vast majority of that on one meal) and I was being careful. Back in the day I would have snacked on the appetizer tray all day long and I probably would have eaten stuff that I didn't really want just because it was there. I likely would have had double the gravy and double the bread. I don't plan to log this year but I'll be following my usual plan-- I will only eat what I truly want and I'll stop eating before I'm uncomfortably full.

I was around 2300 for dinner this evening in a quick meal, without any dessert or drinks. Given an hour or more to eat, now and add in the booze, my mommas fanstastic mandarin orange tapioca pudding, and the pumpkin pie w/ ice cream... don't even get me started on them taters. Let's shoot for 5000+?

I don't think I can eat 3000 calories in one meal. For instance, OP has both 1/2 lb. of turkey and ham on Thanksgiving. I would eat only one or the other, never both, and probably not a 1/2 lb. 1/2 lb. of turkey is a lot of turkey! I struggle to get down 4 oz. of meat at any meal. I average 1/2 cup each of potatoes and stuffing. I can't eat more than one piece of pie. Last year, I overdid and ate more like a cup of a stuffing that had meat in it. I had chest pains so awful I thought I was having a heart attack. I just don't have the capacity for that much food anymore, even on a holiday. I'd say my calories for the meal are more like 2000.

dbmata wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

I think I could eat 3000 including wine and dessert.

Low performer.

I'm shooting for 3k in pumpkin pie and pumpkin ale.

Oh. No one calls me a low performer. It's on. I will eat SIX THOUSAND in pie and wine.