How to Approach Thanksgiving
"Money spent on your health and fitness is not an expense; it's an investment."
How to approach Thanksgiving?
Just like everything else, go in with a plan, man.
I will be FEASTING this Thanksgiving. And I'm lucky enough to be celebrating 2 Thanksgivings - my family on Thursday, and Amy's on Friday.
I won't be holding back at either. And I also won't be gaining any weight I don't actually wanna gain (I'm bulking right now).
But if I was looking to lose / maintain my weight, here's a very simple way to approach Thanksgiving that will allow you to fully indulge and not derail your progress:
Step 1: Approximate how much more you think you will consume from a calorie perspective on Thanksgiving Day vs. your normal day.
This does not have to be exact. You don't have to track your food to estimate this.
My personal guess is ~33%. Meaning I think I will consume around 33% more calories on Thanksgiving than my standard day. But you need to determine your own number. If you usually have 10+ drinks alongside a massive feast, it's probably a greater percentage.
Step 2: On any day leading up to Thanksgiving over the next week, aim to consume that same percentage LESS on another day.
So continuing with my example, next Tuesday I could choose to consume 33% less calories.
I eat 3 meals a day roughly equal in size. So how would I accomplish this? Skip one meal. Probably breakfast - that's the easiest one to cut out.
It's not rocket science people. It's a calorie game as we know. If you overdo it one day, all you gotta do is underdo it on another and you'll be right back where you were.
You don't gain weight from one big meal or day of eating. Weight gain is cumulative over the course of weeks and months. So you can quickly get caught back up if you plan appropriately.
Step 3: If you have more than one big day planned over Thanksgiving weekend, repeat the same process multiple times.
So for me, as I mentioned I'm having two Thanksgiving festivities. So I would cut out breakfast on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
Do it before, not after. It will feel better. If you're not able to adjust beforehand, yes you can reduce however many days of intake afterwards as well and have the same effect. But it'll feel really good if you've already banked those calories heading into Thanksgiving.
Don't use step 3 as an excuse to be stupid though. Thanksgiving does not last all weekend. It's really one day. I'm already pushing it with the dual celebration. By Saturday I'll be back to a regular routine.
Here are other quick Thanksgiving strategies:
On Thanksgiving day, eat a light breakfast and no lunch
When you build your plate, prioritize high protein / fiber foods first, then fill in the rest
Stay active over the weekend. Schedule activities now. It's a week out and I already have 1-2 paddle games locked in, and will definitely hit the gym on 1 or 2 other days over the weekend
I'm sending this out a week before Thanksgiving intentionally. If you wait until next Wednesday to plan this out, you will already be behind the eight ball.
Take a look at your schedule now, and plan out your approach.
Let me know how it goes.
Stay well,
Hal the Health Coach
