Good morning and happy Thanksgiving Week for those of us in the US! It really is the beginning of the toughest four or five weeks of the year and I can't say I feel ready for it.

I loved all the sweet potato recipe ideas from last week and will use one for Thursday. At least there will be something I can eat instead of cheesecake and pies!

Last week was really hard because our oldest kitty isn't doing well. I ended up taking him to the vet on Thursday and thought he might not be coming home, but he got a B12 injection and two new meds and seemed to be doing a lot better. But I don't see him this morning and am worried since he always gets up when I do to drink water from the kitchen faucet (!) When DH gets up in 10 minutes, I'll go hunting for him.

My birthday was Saturday and I threw caution to the winds and ate steamed dumplings and mo shu chicken. And promptly gained four pounds overnight! Hopefully it's all the sodium and will come back off with a few days of clean eating. I made a big pot of soup yesterday and will grill two pounds of shrimp tonight so that there's food for the week.

I think I'll use my time on the elliptical this morning to think through the challenges of the week and come up with some kind of plan. What is it they always say? A failure to plan is a plan to fail? Maybe what I really need to do is to plan out all my meals for the week, right now!

Does anyone have any great tips or tricks for surviving Thanksgiving??

Meg I hope your kitty is ok.

Good luck this week to navigating all the dangers of turkey day all you 3FC folks in the USA!

I am still in the same maintaining Mon. - Fri./falling off the wagon Sat. - Sun. pattern. At least I recognize it's a pattern and will now attempt to figure out what to do about it.

I have a long work schedule this week but will check in when I can.

Have a great Monday all!

Dagmar (so far)

Good morning! I am going to see my (kindergarten) son's Thanksgiving play and then hitting the gym. I don't really have a plan for this week, either. We are leaving on Wed. to go to my grandmother's, along with 50-60 other family members. Should be fun, but there will be lots of unhealthy food. There is a small gym in the hotel, and also an indoor pool (very small, a lap would be like 5 strokes) so I will exercise if I get the opportunity. We're coming back Saturday so it's a short trip at any rate.

Meg, I hope your kitty is ok.

Hi Dagmar.

Meg - I hope your kitty is OK

Good morning.

I'm hanging at home today with DSS who has no school this week. DH is keeping him tomorrow, he is with his mom on Wednesday, back with us Wednesday night and Thursday, back to his mom on Friday & Saturday, back to us Sunday and we take him to school on Monday. Complicated week for a 4 year old to understand... Considering how much back and forth he has I'm not really surprised at the behavior issues that keep popping up at school... We have had an okay weekend after last week's ugliness (he punched his teacher on Thursday and got sent home, then threw a chair and some toys on Friday). We are working to drive home the point that he isn't in charge and doesn't always get everything he wants. His troubles at school always come up when they tell him to do something he doesn't want to do, same thing at home. Hard enough for all kids to learn, but for an only child in a two home household who is accustomed to getting everything he wants it is a much harder lesson... It is compounded by the fact that he knows he doesn't get in as much trouble at school as other kids might because he is smart and the teachers all like him, at least when he isn't punching them. Even when he threw chairs and hit the teacher, she was still defending him on Friday...

I don't have a holiday survival plan, and am a little freaked because my weight was higher today than it has been in over six months. I'm hoping some of it is water - I'm pretty sore from a new strength training routine I started this past week plus I did a lot of running. I also ate some salty foods over the weekend. I'm not naive enough to think it is all the exercise and the food though - I have eaten way too much over the last several days. A lot of it was good stuff, but there was some junk thrown in there, too. I was mostly clean with the eating through Wednesday, but started peppering the junk in on Thursday. I also have been eating too much - I've been 200-300 calories over maintenance every day this week. Last night I had yogurt with fruit before bed, Saturday it was a toasted mini bagel and a banana, all when I didn't have any calories left for the day... I've got to pull it back in line or the holidays will be a disaster. I'm going to do some cleaning this afternoon and probably go for a run at the park, I'll probably spend that time working on a survival plan as well.

Meg - hope the kitty is okay, I know it is hard with aging pets.

Ward - enjoy your trip!

Dagmar - I have that same pattern of good during the week and off track on the weekends. I beat it for a few weeks, then it sneaks up and slaps me in the face again.

Good day everyone!

Meg - best wishes for the kitty.
Ward - short pools: just treading water can work your arms if you avoid using your legs. For legs: kicking with your arms all the way out for drag, back and forth, and also just kicking vertically in the deep end. It's good interval training, that last one ... kick like a maniac to see how far you can get out of the water for 1 min, then recover, then do it again.
Shannon - empathies on the routine disruption for DSS. November and December seem to be geared toward as much excess and disruption as possible. Agree that the food challenges are numerous - I reached a lifetime highest weight after the holidays last year. I've begun rehearsing imaginary dialogues to get me through Tgiving with the inlaws - FIL is a huge booze pusher, and MIL is unable to cook without drenching things in sugar. This will be my first year refusing pie. I . don't . like . pie. I never have. And this year, I'm not going to eat it. Period.

Wanted to add this/edit my post, but no button for editing. Weird.

Mudpie - I see that pattern too. I do really well at work - I have a drawer full of really good choices in case I don't bring enough food in my lunch. It's at home that the bad stuff lurks, as DH is adamant about keeping chips and trail mix around (crunchy/salty landmines). When I go off the rails, it's because I get into his stuff.

I wonder if I'm ever going to be able to just relax and see a holiday as an opportunity to enjoy time with family and friends, and not as a "food test". Does it get easier as the years go by? Please reinforce - I need to hear it. Thanks ...

ICU - this is only my second maintaining holiday season. I was pretty nervous last year, but was in a better place with my weight so wasn't as worried as I am today. This year I'm a little up over where I would like to be, which is freaking me out. I'm hoping that passes when I settle back down a little after this week.

ICU, it does get easier, it really does. Both because our new habits become totally ingrained and because our families get used to the "new us". Thank goodness, the time comes that what we eat (and don't eat) isn't a focus or topic of conversation any longer. It takes a while to establish the "new normal", both for ourselves and our families, but then -- it's just who you are. It's what you do. And if you don't like pie, definitely don't eat it!!

I found the missing kitty and he's doing OK. He loves the weight gain cat food that the vet gave him. Problem is -- all the other cats love it too.

We can make it through the week!! Plan, plan, plan! I have the day entered into Fitday and will stick to it like glue.

Meg, I hope your kitty is okay.

My holiday survival plan is to not eat junk BEFORE Thanksgiving, and to not take home any junky leftovers. Hopefully we will bring home leftover turkey (I ordered a bigger bird than we need because I really love leftover turkey) and maybe some veggies and cranberry sauce. I plan to try to foist off any leftover pie on relatives who are not watching their weight.

Thanksgiving this year will have lots of veggies available, since MIL decided she wanted to have a "healthy" Thanksgiving but still have all the traditional foods. This is MIL's standard MO - a "healthy" meal is one at which there are some healthy options. Fair enough, but (1) Thanksgiving is usually a planned splurge even for those who watch their weight, and (2) if there is junk food present, most people can't resist it and stick to the healthy options. Nobody (in our family) really wants to have a Thanksgiving where we don't have all the unhealthy usual suspects. I honestly don't think I would enjoy the holiday that much if all I had to eat was turkey and green beans. I could have that any night, there's nothing special about it.

DH and I were planning to go for a run either on Thanksgiving or the day after. We thought about doing an organized Turkey Trot (actually the one here is called the Drumstick Dash) but decided we didn't want to deal with a crowd. Of course, both of us sort of twisted our ankles running last week so now I'm not sure what will happen. Maybe a Thanksgiving bike ride instead. Our parks department's fitness center is having a "Great Turkey Burn-Off" where they're having 2-hour fitness classes Friday and Saturday. It consists of a "Burn off the Biscuits" kickboxing class, "Say Goodbye to the Stuffing" strength/cardio interval class, "Crunch off the Cobbler" core strength class, and "Kick that Turkey" turbokick class.

This is what I get for typing my post, then wandering off for 20 minutes before posting! Three whole posts appeared while I was chatting with my coworker.

Meg, I'm glad the kitty is okay!

ICU, definitely if you don't like pie, don't eat it! I skip stuffing and mashed potatoes because I just don't care about them that much. I think for me Thanksgiving itself isn't the challenge, it's the days around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The whole holi-DAYS not holi-MONTHS thing. I have always allowed myself one cheat meal per week where I can eat whatever I want, so Thanksgiving is just my cheat meal for this week and I don't restrict what I'm allowed to eat at it. The trick is making it the ONLY cheat meal.

Meg-- belated Happy Birthday! Glad your kitty is doing better.

Shannon-- working at a school I see so many kids with two households. Even though it is so common these days, it is difficult and confusing, traveling between households where rules and expectations are bound to be different. Hugs to all of you.

My daughter is home from college for the week. Add me to the list of people already eating too much and seeing my weight creep up. I also skipped the gym yesterday. I usually only skip Tuesdays because I work two jobs on Tuesdays. Since I am off from one job this week (school), I rationalized that I'll work out on Tuesday this week. I hope I do....

Busy day planned with my girls...... plus cleaning the house, getting ready for Thanksgiving, etc. Going to try to get flu shots this morning too (regular, not H1N1), then the girls and I have a waxing appointment and we are going to try to fit a sushi lunch in there.....

I'll check back in later. I will definitely need you guys this week!!

Having a houseful of family is hard! I have to buy extra food and have to have all the Thanksgiving food, too. Then last night I needed to make a salad for dinner and if I had, I couldn't have put it in the fridge! I ended up cutting up all the veggies for the salad and putting them in a ziplock bag which I could manage to stuff in the fridge and then at the last minute I tossed it all with the bagged lettuce.

Leftovers? Forget it--there's no where to put it all! And we have THREE fridges! Granted the one out back is just a mini fridge and I have it stocked with beer and wine and soft drinks for the holiday. But two turkeys really take up room!

Anyway, eating so far with everyone has been pretty much on plan. I'm not stuffing myself anyway, but I really have to watch the wine.

Meg, glad your kitty is feeling better. We're dealing with the day to day ups and downs of an aging dog. Lately he's been acting a bit confused. We're pretty sure he's gone blind in one eye and I'm sure the other one isn't seeing very clearly. He falls a lot and doesn't always want to eat, but DS will hand feed him if he won't eat on his own.

Add me to the list of aging pets. Both of my cats are in the 14-15 year old range and are starting to have minor health problems. Meg, I'm glad that kitty is no longer MIA and is feeling better.

Thanksgiving could be tough for me this year. I'm 10 pounds from goal, looking pretty damn good (she says modestly) and this has traditionally been a dangerous place for me because I get less careful. I'm off work this week and have already drank a lot more beer than I should have, plus have been out with the girls for Mexican food. Add that to a big dinner with pie and I'm a little worried. I have started back up at the gym and am planning to do a long, heart-pumping walk this afternoon so hopefully I will be able to at least maintain this week. Weight was UP this morning; but yesterday I had bacon and the afore-mentioned beer.

I feel like I'm walking a tightrope.

I have a new employee starting today - have to get my cardio in before they get released by HR! Add a houseguest and the pounds of turkey-day food to be prepped and you can sense the stress level!

Goals for today - get work done, cardio, can jellied cranberry sauce. That's not so bad, right?