No Plan yet..... and NOT ready
 

I am NOT freaking about calories... I haven't yet figured out how that whole thing goes, so I am working on visuals (smaller portions, smaller plates, making sure to leave something on the plate) What I am NOT ready for is that since I lost my job in September, I have been doing most of the cooking in my family in order to help out. I don't really know how to cook, so I have been learning. Thanksgiving is going to be a HUGE deal. There will be at least 8 of us, all expecting traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Now that said, I think I found my saving grace... by way of the Diabetes Forecast magazine. In the November issue, which I just received, there are a bunch of guilt free thanksgiving recipes. I have browsed them, and I plan on following many of them. They look good, sound simple enough, and LUCKILY, since I have started doing the cooking, my family has been looking for healthier, homemade food, so they are up for the changes.

The key for me is going to be portion control, and to limit the tasting/snacking throughout the day cooking. I find that I enjoy cooking when I am not burning something, and for a birthday present, my boyfriends father gave me a set of super sharp chef's knives, so I feel like I am really cooking.
My plan is to exercise consistently for the next two weeks, so that I can feel better about the whole thing.

Thanksgiving is two weeks after my upcoming surgery, and I will still be recovering. Instead of hosting, as usual, we are going to my uncle's for dinner. I've eaten his cooking before and am confident that it will all be too bland to tempt me to overeat. :-)

Eating at in-laws, and if last year is going to end up being the norm, there really won't be any food left for us. Last year everyone was done eating by the time we got there.
I know I will have an off-plan day though, because we are going to see the Harry Potter movie (a tradition for hubby and I! LOVE it!) and we are going to a theater we used to live by and I LOVE their popcorn! I am letting myself splurge because we NEVER go up there. I figure I will try to just stick to turkey and salad for Thanksgiving.

For me Im cooking all the food my Dad and Stepmother are coming Im cooking Turkey, gravy, stuffing, corn, brocelli, biscuits, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie with lite cool whip I already know Im NOT gonna eat stuffing, deviled eggs, and gravy and I will have a SMALL pieace of pumpkin pie and all my calories WILL be counted for that day and I WILL stay under 1500 calories

Turkey breast,
plain green beans, instead of green bean cassarole
Mashed potatoes for dh,
candied yams for dh, small sweet potato w/cinnamon for me
banana pudding for dh, slice of cranberry sauce for me

Portion control will be my friend.

There have been a few changes made to my plan for thanksgiving dinner (for the better):

6 oz chicken breast (Decided against the roasted chicken since it's just the two of us we really don't see the point in having leftovers at all.)

Also, I am going to bake the chicken, then shred it, season it and mix it with a fat free/lite type gravy and serve over one crescent roll. Also, we will be having half a baked sweet potato with 1 tbls margerine a bit of splenda and some cinnamon and also 1 serv of stuffing (generic stove top).

For dessert we will each have one apple cinnamon fiber one muffin with .5 tbls of margarine.

I was worried about overdoing my carbs and fat, but it's actually 14 grams less of carbs and 15 less grams of fat than I have allotted for myself for any given day! It's also pretty close to my usual ration of 40 30 30. extra protein and a little less fat, so I"m not worried about that at all!

I'm having a smaller breakfast (295 cals, but high protein), and lunch 290 cals (also high protein) to make room for a slightly larger dinner with snacky type dessert!