I've been thinking alot about this. I never do well with eating any time of my life that I don't plan. (And even planning is not always successful.) I do best when I approach a food situation with some idea of how/what I will eat.

We will have family here for four days from all over. I am very excited. So, I must start to think about it all.

So far, I've decided that on Thanksgiving day I will only eat foods that I don't eat other times of the year, often. I will have some stuffing, turkey with some gravy, some green bean casserole/ a dab of cranberries and taste of pie. I will sidestep the rolls/mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes/ because I eat them throughout the year. In my DH's family these are the food traditions and they never can change. I could make a relish try with a few cut up veggies and some olives.

I've made a huge batch of healthy veggie-beef soup for later in the weekend.

I will try to adhere to these ideas: NO SECONDS on anything, eat seated only, plan what I'll eat, eat slowly, taste each bite - I know I'll think of more and/or this will change a bit in the next week.

Frankly, it's easier to go somewhere else for Thanksgiving dinner and then not have to deal with all the food afterwards. But - most importantly I want to enjoy my family (grandkids!!!!) more than the food. Also - count my blessings of course.

I wish I didn't have to think about all this food stuff. But, I know I must plan ahead.

How about you? Do you have a strategy for Thanksgivng? Maybe something you are doing could help another person.

We buy turkeys on sale and eat them at odd times through the year so turkey isn't really "special" to my family. I don't think my parents are coming to my house that day and I think one son has to work actually (fast food restaurant) so it is probably just going to be an almost regular day here. I am still cooking the turkey and all the fixin's but I just plan on keeping mindful of portion sizes. Nothing is off limits as long as they are sensible sized amounts for me.

At the inlaws I am going to have a half a plate of veggies, 1/4 a plate of meat, and 1/4 a plate of bread or dressing or maybe a roll. I will make several pies and take them and there is no sense in over eating on stuff I make, because I can have that any time. I will eat a bite or two of something sweet if someone else makes something. At my house I will keep a bowl of sliced veggies on the counter so I can eat while I cook and when I sit down it will be the same plate break down as at the inlaws.

ETA The only thing I am going to really have to fight with myself over is my mil's cranberry relish. Oh Man!!!

I have been trying to eat approx 100 calories less per day everyday this month. Sort of a calorie budget, to offset any damage I may do over Thanksgiving.
I plan on starting out with a salad plate rather than a dinner plate, of course turkey and a small piece of duck. My dad makes to die for dressing so I will 1/2 cup of that, I plan to measure EVERYTHING. russe sprouts, no butter sauce. I will make the sweet potato casserole and last year I change the traditional recipe, cut the sugar in half, used evaporated skim milk instead of sweetened condensed milk. I can skip potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole I will probably just bake a sweet potato for myself. I will have one bite of Dad's homemade banana cream pie.

The biggest challenge will be wine. I will have to watch that closely. I have decided one glass before dinner, one glass with dinner.

Most importantly no matter how well I do or don't do, it is one day. If I slip up I will not fall into the..."well I messed up yesterday so today I may as well eat__________. I will start Monday." Trap!!

I have regular portions of salad, turkey, and veg, and a bite or two of everything else. I have pumpkin pie but don't eat the crust, and probably 2 glasses of wine. We have our dinner around 3 pm, so I just have a bigger breakfast than usual, and maybe a few bites of whatever appetizer is out.

This year I'm doing a "turkey trot" 5k in the morning, so that gives me a bit more flexibility on my calories.

I made the turkey, dressing, veggies, baby new potatoes; and had only one plate. That filled my plate which is smaller than normal -- we use the dinner soup bowl as a plate, so have food only in the center. I do the same if I use a big dininer plate; keep to the center circle.

If I am really hungry, I may start with some salad, but these days I find just the one plate of food is enuff for me. The veggies were chunks of celery, onion slices, green beans, and carrots baked along with the turkey. Yes, I made gravy; and had just a few tbls. Measuring is important.

Also, I have one small slice of pie (giving most of the crust to our dear Fido). I also made myself a small, crustless, pumpkin custard and had that for snacks the next day. I made one this weekend too -- only DH had the pie and I had the custard instead.

Btw, I munch on baby carrots when cooking so I don't eat anything else. I also eat lighter for BF and lunch that day to make sure that I don't go over. This strategy has worked wonders for me ...

Plus, leftovers are divided and put away for the next day for lunch or dinner; and the rest are frozen that night too.

My plan is to eat. When I feel deprived, I start to binge and cheat so on Thanksgiving I will have whatever I want. I have finally broken my addiction to soda, so I will have tea and whatever quantity of food that satisfies me, and not worry about it. On Friday I will have the treat I look forward to all year, a turkey sandwich on super-fresh white bread with mayo, bacon, and iceberg lettuce. By dinnertime Friday I will be back to whole-grain bread, mustard, and dark greens.

I know myself - I can eat what I want for 3 meals and move on, or I can deprive myself/feel sorry for myself/binge for a week. I am prepared to accept whatever the scale shows me on Saturday morning, knowing it will come off because I am eating sensibly most of the time.

As of now, I'm planning to eat what I want on Thanksgiving, too. I haven't really had a "cheat meal" since I've been losing again, so it feels like a good opportunity. I'm usually an "all or nothing" person, so this is an unusual concept for me.

It will be just my Mom and me -- our family scatters for Thanksgiving. Mom's 78, so I'm not guaranteed many more Thanksgivings with her and her wonderful cooking. Now, we cook together, and she really enjoys making sure I get "her dressing" and "her gravy" just right.

Last year we had pork loin instead of turkey, and maybe this year, too. Both are healthy. Really, we don't go all out. It will be a slightly bigger carb load than I'm used to, but I think we'll try a sugar-free desert so I don't risk waking that particular monster! ha! I have a great pumpkin whip recipe that is SF butterscotch pudding, canned pumpkin, spices & Coolwhip free. YUM!

I'll get back on track with the very next meal. That's the plan, anyway.

lots and lots of fruits and veggies. I’ll make some form of vegan plate to share with my family and nit pick at the rest.

+1
Im going to have my 1 day with my family and enjoy it, then right back on plan 100%.

I plan to skip all the extras at work!

To stay on track: drink plenty of H2O, enjoy the raw veggie plate with lite dressing, a small slice of turkey, small portion of dressing, skip the tatos/gravy, & very small piece of Mom's pumpkin pie (which I adore!!!). Go for a walk with whoever will join me while the guys sleep off their turkey. Always happens!!! ;-)
Unfortunately, my Aunt Bridget passed away this spring...her amazing rocky road fudge won't be there. She'll be missed horribly, but at least I won't be tempted by it. Cause that stuff is crazy yummy.

I plan to just go and do like I usually do, with moderation of course! I probably won't eat breakfast and if I eat after the big meal, it won't be a whole lot! I haven't had a completely off-plan day in a while, so I highly doubt it'll do enough damage to be worried about.

Well my fiancé and I are running our first 5k thanksgiving morning! Then I think I shall fast until lunch and have a very very small lunch and then eat at
Maintence for dinner, which I doubt I'll go over. It's one day and I'm going to enjoy myself with my fiancé and some of his family

Thanks for all these ideas, thoughts, & suggestions, folks.

-My plate will only have some traditional things i.e turkey, hmmmm and turkey wait I don't plan to eat potatoe of any kind, stuffing or rolls. That leaves me with the salad and some brussel sprouts (which isn't the tradtion here). I do plan to allow for a piecce of pie. Nothing over the top 'cuz I feel guilty over it . My 'tom' just hit me hard and I PMSed for 2 weeks with much too much allowances there.