I love Thanksgiving. It’s so restful for me because we go to my mom’s house for dinner. I don’t have to mega clean my house or cook a huge meal. She wants to make everything herself and is only “allowing” me to bring a dessert.
I get to go into the gym in the morning and have a kick-butt workout. (The goal is to burn at least 800 calories.) Then I can put my feet up and catch some of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV before we leave.
The only thing I’m a little anxious about is the food. There’s a lot of it and tons of calories.
Over the years, I’ve learned a couple of ways to survive Thanksgiving dinner without too much trouble. If I’m careful, my calories will still balance out for the week and I won’t gain. Here are some tips I hope will help you too:
- Get extra exercise. The day before and after, really hit the gym hard. Put in lots of time doing cardio to burn those calories. On Thanksgiving Day at least go for a walk even if you can’t get to the gym. Or grab your family and have them join you outside after dinner for some football.
- Eat light around the “big” dinner. For the day before and after, plus breakfast on Thanksgiving, eat light with lots of fresh veggies and fruits and lean proteins. Avoid heavy carbs, sugars, and sodium.
- Make dinner one event. It’s okay to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner and enjoy it. But when you push away from the table, it’s over. Totally. No snacking on leftovers. Period. Get rid of the leftovers or freeze them. (And don’t stay at the table for 5 hours so you can keep eating!)
Eating one totally fattening, calorie-laden meal in a week you can roll with. If you keep nibbling on Thanksgiving treats, you’ll nibble your weight right up on the scale.
