Preparing for Thanksgiving on a diet…

The holiday season, traditionally, for me, is a straight run from the first week of October all the way through the new year – almost 3 months of unfettered food hedonism filled with meats and candies, gravy and rolls, and general gluttony galore.  Does that paint a pretty picture?  Probably not, but it sure has tasted good.  I’m guessing that a lot of my weight gain over the years has come from this time of the year, when food flows freely and candy appears in every dish on a daily basis.  And going into my diet in early September, I knew I’d face a special challenge when the holiday season rolled around.

You see, the standard advice is to avoid starting a diet around the holidays.  There are just too many temptations and it’s too easy to fail.  That may be true, and if you are on the fence about dieting, perhaps you should wait.  But for me, it was different.  I had decided I was going to do something about my weight, and the fact that my decision was made shortly before the holidays was kind of inconvenient, but it was what it was.  I did ponder that at the time.  In the end, I realized that I could choose to wait, and then possibly lose my nerve or resolve by the time January rolled around, and I wasn’t willing to risk that.  I was ready right now, and felt I had to take advantage of it while my attitude was good.

And besides, what’s the difference?  This holiday season, the next, all future holiday seasons – they’re all the same.  I’ll be just as tempted this year as I will be next year, and the year following and the year after that.  The whole point was not to simply diet and lose weight.  The point was to make permanent changes to my eating habits and lifestyle, and if the goal was bigger than simply losing weight, then the holidays were going to have to be included in those plans sooner or later.  As far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.  Let’s get it over with and take my first test.

I got through Halloween ok.  All right, I admit to a bit of candy snacking here and there, but I will gladly rationalize that my candy consumption was easily a tenth or less of what it has been in previous years, when I gluttonized freely.  Now comes Thanksgiving and its accompanying feast.  I admit it makes me a little nervous.  I look forward to this (and the Christmas feast) all year.  I love turkey.  I love mashed potatoes.  I love, love, love that gravy.  I’ll drizzle it over my turkey and mashed potatoes, and even dip my roll into it.  The roll is smothered in butter, as are the mashed potatoes.  Sugared cranberries, pumpkin pie, beer and wine…the list goes on and on.  Most years I fill myself, then keep going, until I’m stuffed and tired and can’t move and feel like going to sleep.  Are you salivating yet?

But this year is going to be different.  It has to be different.  I won’t expect to adhere strictly to my calorie budget for the day; it’s a special day after all, and I figure I’m bound to go a little over.  But not by too much.  I will still measure everything, and I’m not going to let myself be taken in by the holiday mood and atmosphere.  It’s a meal, just like any other.  Just because it’s eaten surrounded by family and the food being offered isn’t normally what we fix, that doesn’t make it any different from a dieting perspective.  All the same rules still apply:  enjoy what you like, but watch your portions, and don’t overeat.  Measure everything.  When you’re no longer hungry, stop.  The same basic stuff I do every day.  Here are some specific tips I’ve culled from friends and other sources that I plan to follow on this most marvelous of feasting days:

• Visualize and self-support. Don’t engage in self-defeating rationalizations such as, “I’ll diet after the holidays,” or, “This one day won’t hurt.”  In one day, you can easily tack on an extra pound or two that will take you a week or two to lose.  Instead, self-affirm your goals and visualize where you want to be, just like you should be doing every day anyway.  I plan to go into our Thanksgiving feast visualizing nothing more than a healthy, satisfying meal, just like every other meal.  Just because there is something special about the day does not mean there has to be something special about what I eat.
• Climb back on the wagon when the day is done. Do your best to portion your meal, but chances are good you’ll go over your calorie budget anyway.  It is one thing to say, “I’ll diet after the holidays,” which suggests you are abandoning your diet for the time being, and another to say, “I may go a little over, but tomorrow I’ll get right back on track,” which suggests you’ll do your best while understanding the reality of the feast in front of you.
• Eat a healthy breakfast and lunch. It would be a huge mistake to starve yourself during the day, because by the time you get to the feast, the urge to gorge may be overwhelming.  I’m planning on a light breakfast and lunch that day, but certainly not skipping them altogether.
• Go ahead and sample. There’s bound to be lots of yummy food you don’t get often during the rest of the year, so go ahead and sample a little bit of everything so you don’t feel left out.  Just watch those portions.  For my part, instead of the typical half-dozen deviled eggs (I mean, really, come on), I’ll just have one.  And that pumpkin pie, just a thin slice, no ice cream on the side.
• Ditch the skin. Calorie-wise, turkey is great meat, but the skin can double the calorie count and for so little benefit.  Don’t eat it.
• Eat a salad. A full salad, right at the start of dinner, so it fills you early and makes you less hungry for the fatty stuff.  This is known as “low energy density food” – food that fills you up and satisfyingly occupies space in your tummy, but doesn’t have a lot of calories.  Remember to go easy on the dressing.  When you do go to town on the main courses, focus on the turkey, which is probably the lightest thing on your plate.
• Skip the gravy. Hard, I know, but think about it.  Liquid fat drippings mixed with flour and poured over food that’s already laden with calories.  It’s just not a good idea.  I’m skipping this like I’m skipping the ice cream with my pie.
• Wait 10 minutes before going for seconds. The hunger center in your brain needs a little time to catch up to your stomach sometimes.  It’s amazing how we can be very hungry for seconds right after polishing our plate, but 10 minutes later, wonder why we wanted any more food.  Give it a wait and see if you still really want anything.

Good luck – if I can do it, you can too!