What Happens On Thanksgiving Does Not Stay On Thanksgiving
November 20, 2009
I hate to be a nag. But weeks like this get me overly revved up. I feel like it’s early enough in the holiday season that none of us have fallen off the fitness wagon YET. There is still HOPE.
And if somehow, someway we can figure out how to manage ourselves and our eating and exercise,
then there’s hope that we won’t end up another five ell-bees (lbs equal pounds) heavier come January.
If it were just five lbs it wouldn’t be a big deal but if the same thing happened last year then it will most likely happen again NEXT year and your metabolism is doing it’s aging/slow down/I used to be able to cut back but now the weight doesn’t budge thing.
If we can manage to not let ourselves off the hook yet again, then keeping that extra weight off will be much easier and let’s face it, more realistic than trying to lose it.
Like I often say, five minutes of eating can often (and at Thanksgiving I should say always) take five hours of exercise to burn off and no pumpkin pie ever tasted good enough to be worth jogging 20 miles (pecan pie, maybe).
And further more, no one ever wakes up the next morning regretting not having eaten more. Can you imagine? “Dammit. I don’t feel bloated enough and not a whiff of gas. I didn’t get second helpings of stuffing and I should’ve tried ALL of the pies. My rings still fit and what’s up with the scales? I still weigh the same? Next year I’m gonna eat MORE.”
Can we break the cycle?
Can we eat on smaller plates?
Start with the green beans and skip the sweet potato pie?
Do we really need a roll just because they’re warm?
Can we leave the serving dishes in the kitchen and use smaller serving spoons? Can we nicely say no thank you and not worry about offending the family food-pusher(every family has one- “Come on! Just one bite! You have to try this, I made it just for you!”)
Only consider this idea if you can close your eyes right now and think back to last year and tell me honestly that you were at no point nauseous or needing to unbutton your pants.
But if you do recollect some overeating last year, consider the strain this places on your body. Like I said last week,overeating produces free radicals and free radicals contribute to aging faster. This may sound okay if you’re stuck with the in-laws all weekend but you’ll still feel worse come Monday morning.
At our health club we offer a two hour cycling class Thanksgiving morning that will burn 1200 or so calories. Considering that the average Thanksgiving meal contains 4600 calories, this will put a small dent in the calorie bank and help us maintain rather than gain. We also offer great classes the day after, which beats the heck out of going to the mall.
Consider doing the same. Or you could take it one jog further and starting now, eliminate just 100 calories per day- that only means skipping your cappuccino, so that you have another 700 calories in the fitness bank. Take an extra long walk every day this week. I know that many towns offer Turkey Trot races, go online and register right now!
Stay on track so that your holiday season gets started with a bang and not with bloat
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