Robyn Transforms Herself

5 Simple Tips for Surviving Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here. Have you been trying to lose weight, or at least not gain weight? Do you think the two are mutually exclusive?

According to reports I’ve seen, the average American consumes as many as 3500 calories at one meal on Thanksgiving. If you add the other food you’re going to consume that day, especially if you’re snacking while watching TV, you can easily consume 3 or 4 days’ worth of food in that one day.

Have you figured out how to handle this feast without paying for it in pounds? I’m not going to kid you. It’s tough, but it can be done.

How I’ve Done It

I used to weigh 240 pounds, until one day I finally realized it was going to kill me and how much it hurt. I’ll tell you more about that in future posts. For now, let’s just try to get through Thanksgiving. These techniques and others helped me lose 100 pounds in 16 months, and they continue to help get me through the holiday season each year. When I was working on losing the weight, I managed to stay exactly the same weight the day after Thanksgiving and continued to lose.

We’ve probably all seen lots of tips on how to avoid overeating on Thanksgiving. I’m not going to repeat them all here. Besides, trying to remember a whole lot of rules, much less actually follow them, can be a recipe for disaster (pardon the pun).

So here are my top 5 tips, along with some warnings:

1. Plan ahead and eat a variety of foods. Don’t deny yourself all your favorites, but make sure you eat appropriate amounts. Eat more of foods that will fill you up with fewer calories.

Warning: Salads and soups can be good for you, but not all of them are. High-fat salad dressings and creamy soups can go right to your waistline.

2. Eat only the foods you really love when eating high-calorie items. I use this same rule when I go on cruises. Make sure you do eat the more healthful foods, such as white-meat turkey and steamed vegetables. Eat a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie for dessert, if you need one. Savor the taste of every bite.

Warning: Don’t use this as an excuse to fill up only on the high-calorie items like chips and pecan pie.

3. Follow the “one-plate rule.” This one has been the most important tip for me. It’s also the easiest tip to follow, because it’s really simple. I take a medium-sized dinner plate (not a small one, like some people say) and fill it with food following the guidelines above. Then I don’t go back again. That’s it.

I find that I get in the most trouble when I say I’ll just get one more bite of this or that. The next thing I know, I’ve filled my plate up again, usually with things I don’t really want all that much.

Warning: Fill your plate, but don’t put a huge pile on it. That’s defeating the whole purpose.

4. Drink as much water as you can. Turkey and other Thanksgiving foods tend to be high in sodium. Water helps flush that out, so you can cut down on that bloated, puffy feeling you can get. It also has the added benefits of keeping your hands and mouth occupied. Some say it helps fill you up, too. To be honest, I’m not so sure of that, but it certainly can’t hurt.

Warning: I can’t really think of any warnings needed for this. Drinking water is always a good thing.

5. Get some exercise. Go for a walk or run. Enjoy the outdoors. If you’re up for a bit more of a challenge, try a “turkey trot” in the morning. These are low-key, friendly races. Although you can find some longer ones, most of them are 5 kilometers long (3.1 miles), and you can walk or run. Many of them also have 1-mile “fun walks” with no competition pressure at all. Many of my friends have had a great time doing these with their kids.

After eating, consider playing football instead of watching it. Record the game and watch it later if you must. Besides the health benefits, you can skip all the annoying commercials.

Warning: Don’t assume that you can eat as much as you want, just because you got a little exercise. Check out the calorie calculator I mentioned above to see how much exercise you might really need.

Helpful Calculators

This fun and simple Thanksgiving calorie calculator will estimate total calories for you and tell you how far you would have to walk to burn the same number of calories. It can be very eye-opening.

The calculators for food calories and calories burned at CaloriesPerHour.com are my favorites for helping me plan and track what I’m eating and doing.

Closing Thoughts

In summary, embrace Thanksgiving and don’t be afraid of it. Just remember these simple rules, enjoy your family and friends, and keep everything in moderation. You’ll feel better both physically and emotionally.

You can also follow these tips in other situations, such as parties and vacations. I’ve even gotten through those notorious food-laden cruises without too much damage to my waistline, by following these simple rules.

Let me know how you do. Do you have any other tips that have worked particularly well for you?

Robyn

photo by LarimdaME on flickr