Thanksgiving Calorie Cutting

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I'd love to say it's because I enjoy "giving thanks" and watching lots of football (I do enjoy both), but it's mostly likely due to all the good food that is usually available to enjoy.

Here is a short list of a few things you can do to reduce the number of calories consumed tomorrow.

1) Evaluate which foods you'll enjoy the most, and enjoy just those foods.

It's not that I dislike mash potatoes, pecan pie, wine, etc...I just don't like them enough to waste calories on them. Instead, I'm going to invest in the things that I really like. For me that's stuff like white meat turkey, dressing, homemade cranberry sauce, etc.

2) Snack before the big meal

It's a good idea to have a balanced snack about 3 hours before your Thanksgiving meal. Fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, low-fat dairy-high protein like greek yogurt, and/or a protein supplement/bar would all be great choices.

3) How important is dessert/alcohol to you?

In some cases, your dessert/alcohol could account for 25%-50% of your total calories consumed on turkey day. With desserts like pecan pie and cheese cake ranging between 650-1000 calories per slice, you might ask yourself..."do I like dessert that much." Same goes for alcoholic beverages. Two glasses of wine would run you roughly 270 calories...drink water instead of wine/beer and you've got an extra 270 calories to "invest" in another area.

Exercise ADD

I've been really trying to stretch myself out with my workouts lately and I'm really enjoying it. Here is the breakdown...

2 bike workouts (30 min each)

2 yoga workouts (30 min each)

2 strength training workouts (30 min each)

2 TRX strength workouts (30 min each)

2 running workouts (1:30 min and 30 min)

I've been holding pretty tightly to this and feeling really good. I'm not getting burn out and I'm seeing some great progress in my motivation and fitness. The 30 min workouts also work really well with my schedule. I start work every morning at 600a and finish at 645p...so working out before work or after work (as most people due) is less than appealing to me.

I've been getting into a really nice routine with my eating as well. I've gotten in the habit now of having two fruits and/or vegetables with each of my three snacks. I usually rotate between carrots, apples, grapes, tomatoes, oranges, bananas, blueberries, and strawberries. This has been great and has helped me control portions in the evenings.