DH and I are going to the restaurant where he works - they're doing a big family-style Thanksgiving dinner and since we aren't going home to MI, we decided that would be easier than me cooking the whole meal!

I'm going to try to find a happy medium. I'm going to eat what I want and not worry about how many calories are in each side dish and which choices are healthier than others. But I'm also going to try to eat until I'm full - not stuffed.

One thing that helps me - my extended family is big on sharing talents with each other (people play musical instruments, sing, dance, etc) and holidays usually wind up in mini-performances. Since my "art" is belly dance, I always used to watch my portions at Thanksgiving, because I knew I was going to be called on to dance, and belly dance ain't pretty on a stuffed full stomach

Even though I won't have to perform for anyone this year, I'm going to try to keep in mind, "Would I be able to get up and dance?" and use that to keep my eating in check.

And I'll probably compensate with extra workouts, lower calorie days, etc, but you know what, it's a holiday and I'm not going to deny myself all enjoyment just because I'm trying to lose weight.

Hey Megan, I think what you are doing sounds sensible - it's part of your plan, so you are not going off-plan! One splurge meal a month seems very livable to me, as long as one gets right back on the horse afterward, which you have already demonstrated you can do.

As for me - like some others have said, I am hosting Thanksgiving this year so I get control of what is being served. Apart from the turkey and I am serving roasted squash, roasted green beans, sauteed brussels sprouts, and sweet-potato-and-apple stuffing (NOT bread stuffing). So I will get to enjoy a voluminous, not terribly caloric meal! I'm hoping for leftovers, in fact, because those dishes will make a very nice few meals for me as well.

I even have dessert in hand - I am making poached pears, which I will serve with vanilla ice cream but I'll probably pass on the ice cream myself. A friend who is coming is bringing pumpkin pudding - I will certainly have to taste that - but any leftovers I will send right back home with her.

Me!

Megan - First of all, I want to tell you that I envy your once-a-month free-for-all day. Not really because you're able to eat whatever you want, but that you're able to do it without guilt. Something I'm struggling with recently is a feeling of guilt if I'm off plan. The closer I get to goal, the more I even dislike using my high calorie days on my calorie cycling plan. But that's my own issue. Just saying I'm jealous!

That being said, I really thought about throwing caution to the wind for tomorrow, but two things stopped me:

1. I'm SOOOOO freakin' close to (initial) goal! I don't want to wait anymore to say I have "normal" BMI.

2. I really thought about my traditional TG dinner and realized I don't even really like everything my parents serve and I usually eat. So I decided where I would be OK with a compromise (I'm going to have sauteed green beans, mushrooms, and grape tomatoes instead of the crazy-fat cheesy green bean casserole my mom makes; a roasted sweet potato instead of mashed potatoes, which I've never loved) and where I will accept no substitute (I'm eating a 500 cal portion of my dad's AMAZING cornbread dressing that he only makes once a year, and a good sized piece of my mom's special Mystery Pie).

Like Schmead, I'm going over cals for the day and not worrying about it, but still tracking intake in order to see the affect over time.

Also, turkey sandwiches are pretty much my favorite food over November and December, and I can't wait for the turkey breast leftovers. Delicious!

We are going to have the lightest of the traditional dishes. Turkey, roasted green beans, crudities and maybe some salad. For a splurge, we are havng stuffing - I found a relatively healthy recipe that sounds good and I did decide to make a mushroom gravy - again, as healthy as I could find. The unusual thing for me is.... no dessert at all. I love to bake and I looked at a bunch of recipes that were healthier and they didn't sound as good as their calories. The rest of the family is fine w/o dessert so we're going to skip it. I'll have coffee or tea at the end of the meal and we have plenty of apples.

I have been doing this for awhile...

And that means that I'm always aware of what and how much I am eating.

That doesn't mean I always make good choices, but it does mean that I don't fool myself into thinking that what I eat on "a holiday" doesn't count. It all counts.

My body does not know from Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, New Years, July 4, etc. All my body knows is how to turn excess food into fat. Experience has shown that it knows that very well.

Experience has also shown that weight comes on easy but comes off hard.

So, we have planned a vegetarian take-out Thanksgiving with some vegetarian friends of ours. I will eat the amounts I am used to eating, after all this time. Will it be more calories than usual? Probably. Will I just keep on eating until I'm sick? No, I never liked that, and I don't see the point. How is that fun? I'm all about quality, not quantity.

Jay

I am calorie-cycling, so I am purposefully eating low all week so I accumulate enough free calories to where I don't need to freak out about food for thanksgiving. I have the same plan for Christmas. I'm not going hog-wild but I'm also not going to not enjoy the food.

the only thing i really enjoy is the stuffing, and i have a recipe that uses 100 calorie english muffins and veggies for the stuffing. cant stand pumpkin pie, and i'm making separate mashed potatoes for myself without real butter, so i'm good for thanksgiving, BUT i do plan to give myself christmas eve........within reason. i'm not logging anything that evening, and hopefully i wont let the guilt eat me alive!!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! goodluck

This past weekend I had 2 nights in a row of massive amts of wine cheese and pate (YUM ) followed by pizza and candy and had the totally unpleasant effect of feeling uncomfortably stuffed with heartburn to boot!!
I will eat carefully as I have been reminded of how those feelings do not work for me. Also, the dishes on this holiday are not overwhelmingly appealing to me.

But I am at peace with my indulgences just as I am feeling fine with being careful tomorrow.

For me, it's my weekly treat meal. I'm going to eat reasonable portions of everything (I've never been a big stuffing/mashed potatoes fan, so little dollops will do), a glass of wine and a piece of pie. One meal, then back to normal for the next meal.

We are going to a friend's house. They are making the turkey, ham, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and a fruit pie. I am bringing an awesome brussel sprouts dish (Mandalinn's recipe), home made cranberry sauce with orange zest (and a can for the purists), pumpkin cheesecake, my mom's sweet potato casserole with brownsugar/pecan topping, hot buttered rum (spiced apple cider with rum) and a bottle of wine!

It will be an off plan day for me. Is it a good idea, maybe not, but I have eaten very low calorie days for the last week, done a lot of extra exercising, I'm starting the day off with a 5k walk/run, and I will be getting right back on plan Friday. I didn't become obese by eating Thanksgiving dinner, it was the other 364 days of the year, so it is what it is.

I'm not bothering with the counting, but I will be aware of what and how much i'm eating. I even did two classes (zumba then kickboxing) at the gym last night in preparation so i won't feel so OMG I CAN'T EAT THAT!

Not going crazy, but I will indeed enjoy the day

I have my Thanksgiving dinner tete-a-tete with my mother, at her home, and it's not an easy day for either of us. We're still figuring out how to "do" this holiday without my father, who died two years ago, on Nov. 22, just a few days before this holiday. So we're dealing with a ghost at the table. A ghost who had a hearty, socially-approved male appetite & poured lots of gravy over everything, had seconds, ate himself into a near-napping state, and watched a lot of football with his eyes half-closed afterward. How we loved that man. We ate more when we saw him enjoying himself so much.

So an era has ended for us. We'll eat a comparatively light meal, with steamed green beans & broccoli, plain oven-baked sweet potatoes (she'll put maple syrup on hers) and turkey. I'll take about two tablespoons full of stuffing & some home-made cranberry sauce made with Splenda. No dessert. We really don't want a lot of leftovers sitting around, because there's only us two women to consume them.

The holiday just isn't about eating anymore for me. I mean, it may include a visit to the cemetery. If it were any other season, I'd go for a nice long contemplative walk in the woods -- which is what my father & I liked to do together -- but there'll be a lot of deer-hunting going on that day, so that won't happen.

No limits for me either...Thanksgiving comes once a year...I am having what I want ...

I'm not going to freak out if I go over my calories....but I really can't break myself from wanting to behave. I have NO DESIRE to overeat or overindulge----and I'm the one doing the cooking. I've been "saving" calories here and there all week, in anticipation of if I lose control. But from what I'm currently feeling. I think I will just eat my normal portions, eat until I'm full----not stuffed. And just call it a day. And NOT feel guilty. I plan on having a very light lunch, and light breakfast, to further save calories for dinner. i'm making chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing with my daughter. Gonna be messy, but fun. And I plan on enjoy one. That's pretty much the extent of my caution to wind. I believe we all can still stay on plan without breaking the scale and depriving ourselves of holiday fun :-). Even if it means going over calorie limit for one day out of the month.