Thanksgiving Day - Bring It On

Hello out there in blogland!  With the inevitable Thanksgiving feast just around the corner, I've been giving some thought to how I will navigate the 'feastivities' without completely going on a food bender and putting myself in the position of feeling guilty & disappointed in myself. 

I am hosting a small T-Day this year – myself, my husband and his parents. Unlike my family, my inlaws prefer to eat dinner late in the day, around 5-6pm. I’m used to a dinner time of noon, after which there is usually a nap, much watching of TV, and then more feasting on leftovers. This year will be different.  After a month of keeping the momentum going, and losing 8 fatty pounds, I can't afford to derail my progress and backslide. So it was necessary to devise a master plan to keep my mojo going:

T-Day Plan Part 1:
There will be a good long workout in the morning, most likely step class and then a relaxing swim. A light lunch, and then some yard work or a long dog-walk in the afternoon while the turkey cooks – keep that calorie burn going!

T-Day Plan Part 2:
At dinner, many of the traditional foods will make an appearance: cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and stuffing (mom-in-law makes an incredible sticky rice stuffing with chestnuts – I will try to steal the recipe and post it later this week).  However, I will also be steaming lots of healthy veggies (green beans, brussels sprouts, broccoli) to accompany this feast.  The centerpiece of my plan is to fill my ENTIRE plate with veggies, eat them all, and only then enjoy the usual treats and eat until I am nice and full.  I’m hoping that I will be pretty well filled up with veggies before I start on the high-calorie stuff and thus will not have the belly space to do too much damage!  In addition, a later dinner means only one feast, rather than a second round of eating after a long nap. 

T-Day Plan Part 3:
Since this party is at my house, I need to worry about LEFTOVERS!  The final piece of my grand plan is to make smaller quantities of everything, so that the leftovers are gone by Friday and I can get back to my usual eating routine without the temptation of tasty treats in the fridge.

This is a new strategy for me - usually I just try to control my portions and fail miserably, thus triggering the guilt, disappointment, and mental flagellation routine - and then inevitably eat more to numb the bad feelings.

For more thoughts on Thanksgiving, check out this great post by MizFit. What are your plans for navigating this tempting holiday?