The Secret to Surviving Thanksgiving Without the Weight Gain

Thanksgiving is often a stressful time for dieters or those trying to maintain their weight loss.  ”Should I have the turkey without the gravy?  Can I really stick to the veggies and not have some of the mashed potatoes made with real butter?”  It’s like we’re in a constant dilemma all day long.

We worry about how many calories are in each serving, or can we nibble on appetizers without going overboard, or can we really just take one serving of everything?  So little time, yet so much on our minds.

Last year I wrote about How to Enjoy Thanksgiving Without the Guilt, which is a good read for those of you worrying about feeling guilty after eating a bit more than you normally do, and how to deal with the voices in your head telling you to eat the carrots when what you really want is the homemade stuffing.

But today I’m going to take it one step further.

You’re probably looking for some “tips” on how to best deal with Thanksgiving.  And you’ve probably already heard them all somewhere:  eat breakfast (great advice), don’t eat the appetizers (good advice, but often tough to resist), drink only water (yeah, right!), don’t eat seconds (c’mon, who are we trying to kid…), wear tight fitting clothes so you don’t eat too much (how much fun is that?!), and just have one small serving of dessert (it’s Thanksgiving for goodness sakes!).

While these all have good intentions behind them — and some even really good advice — but the problem is there are too many “rules.”  Now this doesn’t mean throw all caution to the wind.  You need to be realistic about how much you can really eat (and how terrible you’ll feel if you stuff yourself).

So my one big piece of advice this Thanksgiving is this:  use common sense.

Yeah, I know, not exactly rocket science….I know.

But think about it.  You know you should have breakfast and not arrive at the Thanksgiving dinner table famished….you know you should get out for some exercise during the day (preferably in the morning before the big meal)…you know you shouldn’t pile your plate so high that it’s a mini-mountain…and you know that having 3 or more desserts is not the best route to keeping the pounds off.

So listen to yourself, your inner voice, and your inner guidance, and do what you know is best.

Enjoy the day, enjoy the food, and eat with real pleasure.  Because that’s what Thanksgiving is all about, don’t you think?