I plan on eating what's there but in moderation. I don't eat pumpkin pie - I am allergic lol so that doesn't tempt me. Mine will be bread -- which I just won't eat. Just give me veggies and turkey! lol

My boyfriend and his family are coming down for Thanksgiving and I intend to have a "free" day, and there will be pie. I'm not going to limit the things I love im just going to eat it in small portions. I will be making alot of the food so making small changes to make it slightly healthier without my family crying over "healthy food" (Which they do about EVERYTHING) Plus a little bit of casual walking after dinner always helps :) Good luck ladies!

Honestly, there is nothing that says that you have to have a huge feast just because it is Thanksgiving. I think the year before last, we ate chinese leftovers on Christmas.

If you were having a guest come tomorrow, what would you make for them? Would it be on plan for you? How about lots of roasted veggies? How about raw veggies with a hummus dip?

I cook for my inlaws a fair bit and really I don't cook for them anything I wouldn't eat.

You can have turkey, mashed cauliflower and low carb pumpkin pie. I did atkins when i had my daughter I lost all the baby weight with atkins and breastfeeding in 2 weeks and i went to the weight i was (165) ever since (5yrs.ago) then i have lost and gain weight but the heaviest i got to was 175 and it wasn't til my daughter was 3. As long as you eat whole wheat/grain carbs you'll be fine. You should try vegan or vegetarian recipes they use whole wheat flour or soy flour & some use rice flour you should really look into it. Conmgratul;ations on ur weight loss and good luck with the rest of your journey!!

Wow. I'm fairly certain I couldn't do that. But clearly it is working for you and clearly you are loving your lifestyle AND like you said, it keeps you out of trouble. :smug:

:bravo:

I agree that it needn't be a huge feast just because it's Thanksgiving. The little kids won't eat much, and you can figure out how much 3 adults - two of them trying to lose weight - will eat. Just don't make a lot of things. Choose maybe two or three dishes that say Thanksgiving to you, and make them in reasonable portions. :) You'll do fine.

I feel like Thanksgiving will be a very eye-opening experience for me in terms of how to cope with food outside of my plan. I want to maintain once I've reached my goal weight but I also feel that, personally, I can't live in a WW bubble forever. I need to learn to eat in moderation without a measuring cup and a defined ingredient list. Personally, I want to learn these lessons early.

We're all different. But for me, it was first things first. I needed the weight off, like yesterday. I was fearful for my life and leaving my children motherless. I needed to firmly get the control thing down pat. I wasn't taking any chances on letting things spiral out of control. I knew one tiny bite could *possibly* derail the whole day or week and I wasn't willing to stall my weight loss. I'd been that route before and it always led to disaster. This time HAD to be different. But that's just me. Like I said, I was fearful for my life. I knew (hoped) eventually, waaaay down the road I could add in occasional splurges and not have them trigger horrible eating episodes and now that I'm in maintenance that's how it's been.

I think, that no matter how you approach the day, you need a plan you can and will stick with. Whether it's limiting yourself to only healthy on-plan choices; or giving yourself tiny samples of less healthy options; or deciding to go off plan for just that one meal with extra exercise and careful eating for the rest of the week. What's important is finding a plan for the day that will work for keeping your mind and mouth in the right place.

For me, we're going to a cousin's this year. (I have an enormous family, and we help out whoever is hosting each year. Thirty people isn't unusual for us.) I asked her what I could bring to help out, and found out what she was planning on serving. I'm bringing two healthy dishes (sauteed swiss chard with wild mushrooms; a shredded carrot and cranberry salad with ginger dressing, both recipes from this month's Bon Appetit magazine) and a healthy dessert (platter of nice fresh fruit with a yogurt/honey/mint dip). I'm planning on loading my plate with the healthy things, and taking a small spoonful of two the off-plan foods, and one glass or wine.

Yes. I think it's important to have a SPECIFIC plan and SET strategy going into the day. Don't wait till you get there and wing it. Too risky. A strategy in place.

I. Want. Those. Recipes. Is is possible to pass them along? Please? They sound phenomenal! And your plan sounds top notch. :smug:

Carrot and Cranberry salad: http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2...inger_dressing
Sautee of Winter Greens with Mushrooms (I'm planning on increasing the mushrooms and using shiitakes, baby bellas, and dried porcinis) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/fo...shrooms-355759

The whole November Bon Appetit issue has many fantastic, healthy Thanksgiving recipes.

Rachel, we have that same situation, what we make basically stays here as leftovers. I love making sweet potato pie, but that means having an entire pie that I will not being able to resist, which means not a one-time, small piece indulgence. I stopped baking bread (yes, I used to make homemade rolls!!), and pies. I like making stuffing (one of my favorite dishes), but maybe I'll do something else this year that's better for me.

I didn't change all my non helpful Thanksgiving meal thinking in one year (a time to go hog wild cooking and eating). I do look and approach it much differently now. It's not so fun to have to deal with the weight loss backtracking, and I don't want to approach the holiday with dread. lower cal delicious stuff is the best way for me to go.

I'm not sure why, but when bf reheats and serves the leftovers, he seems to want to pile the plates high, like we have to plow through everything in as short a time as possible. he actually needs to gain weight this year (just a few lbs) (!!!)