From The Tonight Show, here’s Gordon Ramsey’s 5 Tips For An Extremely Successful Thanksgiving. I must say I agree with all 5, especially delegating (which came up twice) and popping the champagne a little early (for yourself, of course). Let’s face it, even if you are celebrating with crazy family members, champagne makes it all better. I’m picking up my bottle of bubbly today.
Happy Turkey Day!
I controlled my eating on Thanksgiving and my water weight is gone. I’m now officially below 240 pounds!
While I attended my Weight Watchers meeting last week, I decided to use my free pass and not officially weigh-in. While I didn’t over do it on Thanksgiving, I suspected I’d show a lot of water retention with all that tasty turkey day sodium. Sure enough, when I got home from that meeting, I stepped on my home scale and saw a 6 pound gain.
No one gains 6 pounds in one day. More water weight. Basically I needed to flush the excess water and salt out of my system before getting a more accurate weigh-in.
I worked hard this week to stay on my food and exercise program.
The result? I’m down 2.2 pounds from my earlier weigh-in. Awesome! That damn water weight is finally gone (for now).
What makes me happy is that I’m finally below 240 pounds. Woohoo!
I know I dropped below 240 a few weeks before Thanksgiving. I just couldn’t let myself get too excited until that holiday was firmly in my rear view mirror. I needed a post holiday weigh-in for confirmation.
Missing My 3-Month Goal
I’m not going to reach my 3-month goal of dropping about 20 pounds before the end of the year. I’m not being pessimistic, just realistic. I’d have to lose 14 pounds in 3 weeks. That’s nearly 5 pounds a week…not very healthy (or smart!).
Am I disappointed? Sure, but I was overly aggressive in setting that goal mid way through October. But I’m not beating myself up over it.
Besides, I’m happy I controlled myself over Thanksgiving. That gives me a lot of optimism for the rest of December.
I’m revamping my expectations and shooting for 6 more pounds by the end of the year. Still a tall order considering 2 pounds a week is at the top of the range for healthy weight loss.
I think an extra spin class can help.
OK, I know Thanksgiving is over, but this can’t wait for next year. I mean, it’s Shatner after all!
Fire, metal, oil, turkey and Shatner are glorious when in harmony.
This is my favorite video showing you how to truss your turkey. Do you have to truss a turkey? No. I truss my bird to make it more attractive and for a more compact shape.
I started trussing the turkey a couple of years ago. Sure I’d always tie the legs together, but the wings always went cockeyed when it was time for the turkey to come out of the oven.
I’d seen trussed turkeys, but never could figure out how to tie the bird properly. Enter Good Eats, one of the greatest cooking shows of all time. I happened to come across a Thanksgiving episode and lo and behold, I learned how to truss a turkey. Well thanks to the magic of YouTube, that video is online.
Also if you cook your turkey in a bag (don’t laugh, it’s easy and makes a very juicy bird!), trussing the bird makes it easier getting it into the bag.
I’m planning to load up on turkey and keep the stuffing in check! (Image: An awesome Turkey with Brown-Sugar Glaze via marthastewart.com).
Check out the Thanksgiving Pledge over at Keep It Up, David. He has four simple rules that he follows — no seconds, photograph what you eat, no grazing and exercise on Thanksgiving — plus a simple pledge to make sure he sticks to his rules.
If you’re concerned about overeating on Thursday (and who isn’t?), these rules can really help you keep your eating in check.
I would add no elastic waistbands. Stretchy pants enable you to keep eating. But if you wear jeans, you’ll feel it even if your eyes want you to keep eating. As my grandmother always said, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”
So true on Thanksgiving.
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Swollen feet, knees, hands and face means I’m retaining water. Just in time for my weekly weigh in!
I knew going into my Weight Watchers meeting that I’d show a gain. Not only were my hands, feet and knees swollen, but my face was puffy too. Great! Nothing like water retention on weigh-in day.
The old me would skip the meeting. I never wanted to step on the scale if I had a bad week or knew I gained weight. I didn’t get that stepping on that scale week after week makes you accountable to yourself. Without accountability, I’d fail…and I did.
I must admit the thought of skipping yesterday’s meeting did cross my mind…for about half a second. I can no longer fear the scale. The scale is just a snap shot in time and doesn’t tell the full story. Sure Weight Watchers will officially record a gain. But the difference is I know that it’s water weight and it will fall off in a day or so. The new me knows weight loss is about baby steps and I’m not going to always have the losses I’ve had the last few weeks.
I also know if I want to reach my 3-month goal of losing 19.5 pounds by year’s end, this was the one Weight Watchers meeting I’d be foolish to miss. Thanksgiving is this week and I need all the good karma I can get before Thursday.
This week I’m up 2.8 pounds. I’m less puffy today than yesterday, so I know I’ve lost a chunk of the water. The real test is coming up — no, not Thanksgiving. I’m talking about making it to the post-Thanksgiving weigh-in.
I’m cooking up a healthy, low carb post-Thanksgiving turkey feast for me and the hubby. (Image: An awesome Turkey with Brown-Sugar Glaze via marthastewart.com)
Since the husband and I are visiting friends for Thanksgiving, we’ve decided to prepare our own little, low carb turkey feast on Friday. The beauty of going low carb is we don’t have to fear leftovers.
I don’t want to prepare something that we eat everyday. I want something out of the ordinary. Considering I’m weighing in the next day, I don’t want to go too crazy.
Friday morning I’m planning on a muscle workout, followed by a spinning class and finally some yoga. That means it’s a “high-carb” day (100g of carbs). So stuffing is on the menu!
Low Carb Thanksgiving Menu
I’m going with a turkey breast and not a whole turkey. There’s only two of us for this meal, so no need for a full bird.
I came up with a lot of options including pumpkin-macadamia soup, apple-topped mashed sweet potatoes and garlic cauliflower mash. But I’m focused on keep the carb count under control. I’ll only have 30-40g of carbs available for dinner. Other than the stuffing, I’m keeping the net carbs for each dish at or under 5g.
On paper the recipes look tasty. I’ll post the recipes if the dishes actually taste good.
Want to keep your weight in check over the holidays? Then come up with a strategy that doesn’t deprive but let’s you walk away satisfied not stuffed. (Image: An awesome Turkey with Brown-Sugar Glaze via marthastewart.com).
It’s that time of the year where people over indulge in food and drink. Studies show that most people who gain weight between Thanksgiving and New Year’s usually don’t lose that weight, despite those resolutions.
That’s why I’m coming up with a plan. I want to lose about 16 pounds before the end of the year so I need a strategy. Today, I’m working on Turkey Day.
Guiltless Thanksgiving
This year we’re spending Thanksgiving with friends. I’m not going to worry about eating high-carb foods like stuffing or dessert. I want to enjoy myself. That doesn’t mean stuffing my face. I need a strategy that keeps my eating in check and wisely uses my 49 weekly allowance points.
So what’s the plan?
Again, the name of the game is enjoying the day with family and friends. If I mess up my plan, I’m not going to beat myself up. It’s just one day. The key is getting back on track the next meal.