Tracking calories on Thanksgiving day?

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Replies

  • JennJ323
    JennJ323 Posts: 646 Member
    I won't be keeping tracking at all. I'll enjoy the day, eat whatever I want, then get back to it Friday.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    pinggolfer96 wrote: »
    If I did track it would only be to see how high I could or did get my calories....not to restrict myself. Gonna go crazy per usual

    Yep. That^^
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    It's one day. Enjoy yourself. Eat all the food.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    Depends on your definition of "okay." You should expect the scale to go up the next day, and you should also know that the increase will likely be mostly water fluctuation and undigested food. It's probably not fat gain and it will come off after returning to your normal routine, but it might take a few days. As long as you're aware that this will happen, and you don't let one day of overeating turn into many days of overeating, then you're fine.

    ^ This. Especially since it sounds like you have been restricting carbs, a sudden increase will likely cause you to retain several lbs of water weight. It's nothing to be concerned about, and will go away by itself when you are back to normal. Just don't freak out :)
  • Sunshine_And_Sand
    Sunshine_And_Sand Posts: 1,320 Member
    Do what you feel you can live with.
    For me, I don't plan to track it. I have sometimes tracked holiday eating after the fact out of curiosity, but I don't feel bad about the really high number or worry that I didn't weigh any of the foods I ate.
    I think if I was at a thanksgiving dinner and only ate the "healthy"/low calorie stuff I would feel really sad 😢 about all the amazing stuff I'm missing out on, especially since a lot of them are dishes I only eat around thanksgiving and Christmas.
  • WilmaValley
    WilmaValley Posts: 1,092 Member
    Good ideas and food for thought!
  • garystrickland357
    garystrickland357 Posts: 598 Member
    Eat what you want to eat - in moderation - and track the calories. As someone wrote in a recent thread, "your body will definitely log the calories, you might as well too". If you go over - fine. Enjoy the holiday. Don't feel guilty.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I track every day, it's just what I do. If I found that it kept me from enjoying the holiday, I wouldn't track.
  • garystrickland357
    garystrickland357 Posts: 598 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I track every day, it's just what I do. If I found that it kept me from enjoying the holiday, I wouldn't track.

    To the OP: That's valid for a once-a-year holiday as well.
  • patrickaa5
    patrickaa5 Posts: 70 Member
    I'll be tracking. More out of morbid curiosity than anything else. Since this is my first Thanksgiving of tracking calories, it will be interesting to know just exactly how badly I pig out. My guess is probably 4,000 cals, but we'll see.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    I plan on cutting cals for a few days. Then on lunch day, focusing on lean meats, veg, and some fat until lunch. Still track it and be mindful.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I actually don't log my food at all anymore but I think I will on thanksgiving just for fun lol
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    I tracked my first Thanksgiving I was losing weight, and it was a pain. But I was fresh into losing weight at that point in time and I still wanted to stick to eating at deficit for the day.

    Normally, I don't mind weighing ingredients and scribbling things down and then using the recipe builder, but with a lot of Thanksgiving recipes being made, it can get to be ridiculous. We also don't have traditional Thanksgivings at our house, and the menus vary from year to year.

    So, no, I will just enjoy cooking and throwing in a bit of this and a bit of that and not worrying about it. I will eat but not go crazy.

    I have one rule, and I've kept it on every subsequent holiday after that first year. I eat what I want the day of, and that's it. I do not eat leftovers. I find sticking to this rule is enough to limit the damage.
  • HGALlife
    HGALlife Posts: 5 Member
    I plan to stick to OMAD on Thanksgiving but eat what I want. I am not too worried because I know I will get full more quickly than I did a month ago. I will then look forward to my OMAD leftover plate the next day. I think I enjoy leftovers more than I do the actual meal.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited November 2018
    ellioc2 wrote: »
    I want to enjoy my Thanksgiving this year and at least have some pie and mashed potatoes. I’ve been keeping my caloric intake quite minimal (1200) and really been avoiding carb-heavy foods. I know I should enjoy myself on Thanksgiving and I don’t have to restrict per se as long as I get back on track the next day. I don’t intend to gorge myself but I don’t want to not eat certain foods since I’m dieting. I don’t think it’ll be too hard, especially if I’m having my normal breakfast which is super filling (eggs) and then that one big meal. As far as weekly calories go I don’t think having a big meal will make that much of a difference. My question is, should I still try to track my calories though and set a limit for myself (say 2000)? Or would it be okay to just give myself the day off, enjoy the company, and eat all the Thanksgiving-y foods without tracking them?

    It depends!
    Do you find logging stressful or tedious? If so, then giving yourself a day off when you don't really care anyway might be a good idea. For some people, that occasional day off helps a lot with compliance.
    If you don't really mind logging, and you can separate logging the food from any guilt over what you're logging, I think it can be really informative and interesting to see what you do when the rules are lifted. I'm the type that finds it fascinating to have that data and see the effects (if any).

    Some folks here have mentioned you should not track and just enjoy the food. That's an issue for some people and if it is for you, don't log. Logging has never kept me from enjoying my food though, so I just keep logging logging logging :lol:
  • siobhanaoife
    siobhanaoife Posts: 151 Member
    The thing I try to be mindful of is eating slowly enough that I can tell when I'm getting full. Eating 1200-1400 calories a day, I am never full. Eating a lavish meal and drinking wine and there's a cheese plate before and dessert after, I need to keep an eye on pacing myself, or I can get full too soon in the meal, or drink more wine than is good for me.

    The upside is that eating mindfully you get to really notice how wonderful the food is and how it makes your body feel.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    ellioc2 wrote: »
    I want to enjoy my Thanksgiving this year and at least have some pie and mashed potatoes. I’ve been keeping my caloric intake quite minimal (1200) and really been avoiding carb-heavy foods. I know I should enjoy myself on Thanksgiving and I don’t have to restrict per se as long as I get back on track the next day. I don’t intend to gorge myself but I don’t want to not eat certain foods since I’m dieting. I don’t think it’ll be too hard, especially if I’m having my normal breakfast which is super filling (eggs) and then that one big meal. As far as weekly calories go I don’t think having a big meal will make that much of a difference. My question is, should I still try to track my calories though and set a limit for myself (say 2000)? Or would it be okay to just give myself the day off, enjoy the company, and eat all the Thanksgiving-y foods without tracking them?

    It depends!
    Do you find logging stressful or tedious? If so, then giving yourself a day off when you don't really care anyway might be a good idea. For some people, that occasional day off helps a lot with compliance.
    If you don't really mind logging, and you can separate logging the food from any guilt over what you're logging, I think it can be really informative and interesting to see what you do when the rules are lifted. I'm the type that finds it fascinating to have that data and see the effects (if any).

    Some folks here have mentioned you should not track and just enjoy the food. That's an issue for some people and if it is for you, don't log. Logging has never kept me from enjoying my food though, so I just keep logging logging logging :lol:

    https://youtu.be/0iAzMRKFX3c


    Lol
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    :lol::blush:
  • akronrick
    akronrick Posts: 8 Member
    Eat what you want and track. Tracking is a habit...or it ought to be...not just something you do to provide yourself good feedback. If you eat way over your calories...so what? You know it's not going to make a difference in the long run assuming your health habits are in place.

    Don't tie your mood to what the number is at the end of the day. Track because it's the right thing to do and it works over the long haul. The practice of tracking is healthy....obsessing over tracking or not tracking isn't.
  • Unknown
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  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    edited November 2018
    I have logged Thanksgiving the past couple of years.
    My habit is to prelog food so that is what I did. It helped me plan out what I would have. We pretty much always have the same stuff and I am cooking most of it. I adjusted my food diary if needed.
    I did not skip anything I wanted but had reasonable portions. I felt full. I did have a higher calorie day... maybe 500-800 calories over my normal calorie goal. So I ate at maintenance level for me or slightly above. The rest of the week I ate pretty normal. I also remained active.
    One high calorie day did not cause me to gain fat.
    If you don't log it'll be okay.
    I was not eating low carb and then suddenly eating a bunch of carbs. You may retain some water doing that so don't hop on the scale and freak out. It is temporary.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    I usually don't track on Thanksgiving when I'm otherwise tracking (I also don't always track at maintenance, but I also did not track on Thanksgiving when I was losing). The reason is that for me using the recipe builder can be a pain, and that our Thanksgivings are at my place with most food prepared by me, but others prepare food too or are there while I am cooking. Trying to estimate items made by others with lots of ingredients or trying to write down ingredients for logging when cooking a million things at once and trying to time everything and socializing ends up stressing me out. I know others like to just estimate, but I don't, which is why I found logging more fun with a food scale (although I was losing fine before I got one).

    That said, I've recently started tracking on Cron again, mostly to give myself some accountability and because I find the nutrition tracker fun. That requires more estimating since you have to log whole foods to get the nutrition, and while I mostly cook from whole foods I buy lunch sometimes and go out to dinner at least once a week (interesting local restaurants, so no calorie counts or nutrition info), so I've started estimating more, but am also not focused on always hitting a specific calorie number -- it's more informational. So I may actually log on Thanksgiving this year (it's also going to be a smaller gathering than usual).
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