Training & Nutrition - holiday meals. what is your strategy?

with thanksgiving coming in the US what is your strategy with your holiday meals?

-eat until you are in a coma on the floor?
-eat the recommended portions
-dont eat any of the meal unless it is within your diet plan
-eat until you are full, then eat more, then eat more, etc, etc


ill let you know what i end up doing tomorrow

with thanksgiving coming in the US what is your strategy with your holiday meals?

-eat until you are in a coma on the floor?
-eat the recommended portions
-dont eat any of the meal unless it is within your diet plan
-eat until you are full, then eat more, then eat more, etc, etc


ill let you know what i end up doing tomorrow

Eat like a rabbit today, eat like a pig tomorrow :D. And I may go for a bike ride this afternoon (temps in the 70's - may not see that again until April).

Eat everything and anything I want. What the hell? It's Thanksgiving for cripes sakes!

Good habits make for a better athlete, and bingeing on stuffing and gravy isn't going to make or break anything. As long as I mind my Ps and Qs during the other 350 days a year, I figure I'm doing okay.

Yeah, I know there are 365 per annum. I'm just allowing for a few other good times!

So my advise to all else here at BF: Hedonism is the word of the day!

Depends on the person. Some people live to eat and some eat to live. Also for the religious, whether, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, or Buddhist, fasting and temperance play an important role in their lives. That's how they are called to "live out" their faith.

No matter what, living out the human virtues is the better thing. Besides there's plenty of leftovers for a few days anyways.

How about this for an analogy: ride 5,000 miles in one month because you like riding so much.

Eat a normal sized meal....maybe a little heavy on the protein, but basically a normal sized meal.

I eat big on the holidays, but try to stick with birds and greens. I do eat dressing and potatoes, but I try to keep the starches down as much as possible. That being said, I'll probably be the first unsnapping the top button of the jeans...

oh well, happy Turkey Day

the problem with eating healthy is that when I indulge in sweets/badstuff, I get nauseated. Crap. I was licking the spoon from my wife's chocolate eclair cake, and I got faintly ill...

the problem with eating healthy is that when I indulge in sweets/badstuff, I get nauseated. Crap. I was licking the spoon from my wife's chocolate eclair cake, and I got faintly ill...

I am one of those rare people that doesn't like chocolate very much. Not allergic. Just don't like it very much. In little bits, it is OK, but given the choice for desert I will always pick something that has no chocolate. And it is a pain when others start ordering food - like a cake to celebrate something at the office. Someone will always get it into their head to order chocolate :mad:. Those cakes are gross anyways - they get slab cakes from Costco.

My girlfriend ordered a couple of pies for Thanksgiving. One of them is chocolate-pecan. What's the matter with regular pecan??? Those are pretty good - a little on the sweet side, but I would usually have a small piece. But then they need to foul the thing with that chocolate. Ick.

the goal for me is to go heavy on the clean fruits and veggies and the lean protein and light on everything else. 1-3 glasses of red wine, too.

it's not worth it to spend 1-4 days of binge eating to have to spend 1-4 weeks of super clean eating just to compensate, for me.

I also will be running thursday morning with the GF and taking an hour walk after the meal as motivation to not over eat. then running again saturday. Back on the bike sunday for 3-4 hours as my R+R week ends.



What helps me to is really thinking about why I dont want to over eat on turkey-day. My though process goes something like this:

"I want to be a better bike racer, I want to be a healthier person for my whole life, I want to get sick less and I want to support my GF in her quests towards similar goals.
Eating a whole pie will offer little reward and lots of guilt and excess calories/hydrogenated fats, simple sugars that i dont need or even enjoy. Have some tea instead with a small piece of pie and try and realize you're already full, self!!"

I'd like to enjoy being with friends and family and work towards realizing holidays are about these people and the opportunity to share great moments with them, not about gorging oneself until puking and feeling sh**ty for days afterwards. I used to be proud of eating 10,000 calories in a day, but now that thought makes me disappointed in myself and a culture which supports this behavior (nathan's hot dogs anyone?).

This is what I'm trying to do. We'll see if writing it in this post helps.


What helps you make the decisions that you can be proud of?

I usually eat myself into a coma on Thanksgiving. However, I have been watching my calories in and out for the last couple of months and between that and keeping up on the training I am steadily losing weight (about a pound a week average). I figured what I would do this Thanksgiving is to enjoy everything I usually do but just in smaller portions. Don't get me wrong, I will probably still take in 3k calories (or more) tomorrow. But I'll wager that's a lot lower than previous turkey days! :D. Plus I just bought some cold weather gear so I can get out for a ride before the household gets to active on Friday morning.

I feel confident I can accomplish this successfully over Thanksgiving. A harder issue for me is going to be my Mom's fudge at Christmas. She usually sends me home with a couple pounds of it. And I guard it jealously and attack it over the course a week with lot's of milk :D. I don't want to tell her to not give me any because I want to have the option to enjoy it in excess again once I am at my goal weight. So, I'll just enjoy some this year and farm some of it out at work!:cry:

well i have gained weight since quitting my job. sitting around on the couch and overeating has helped that! just recently i began riding and working out again like i had. if you ask me if i regret the 2 wasted weeks i would probably say yes but overall i think it was worth it.

that being said, i will try to not overeat and feel gross but most likely i will come close. knowing i have put over 1000 more in the saddle this year makes me feel good about it.

I don't gorge myself, but the portions will be generous. I'll still be averse to egregiously fatty stuff (like cream dips and such). There's no reason to be some kill joy at these things if you can just balance out with the rest of the week.

My girlfriend ordered a couple of pies for Thanksgiving. One of them is chocolate-pecan. What's the matter with regular pecan??? Those are pretty good - a little on the sweet side, but I would usually have a small piece. But then they need to foul the thing with that chocolate. Ick.

I live in South Texas. I think that counts as a crime against the state, to put chocolate in a perfectly-good pecan pie.

listen it's a special occasion...take a day off of your regimen, enjoy the food and stuff your face! it's not like you do this every day...it won't turn you into one those big lardasses. Just don't make it into a lifestyle, go for a run or ride the next day...and don't feel guilty!!

Ate sooo much, can't move. Seriously I am still full from lunch, which was 12 hours ago!

with thanksgiving coming in the US what is your strategy with your holiday meals?

-eat until you are in a coma on the floor?
-eat the recommended portions
-dont eat any of the meal unless it is within your diet plan
-eat until you are full, then eat more, then eat more, etc, etc


ill let you know what i end up doing tomorrow

so far im off to a good start. in the middle of a small post ride lunch. a pear, some brie cheese, a medium tomato with salt pepper and basil, and 3 crackers with artichoke hearts.

did a nice hard effort for a 26 mile ride. hope that burnt enough calories to cover 1/2 of dessert!

All bets are off today. No scales, and not a thought of a calorie.

I do stay away from some of the heaviest things, but that's only because I don't want to reduce the opportunity to gorge on all the other things. There's only so much space, ya know...

Happy thanksgiving, everyone!

:beer:

I eat smaller portions of the food I really like and don't worry too much about the nutritional value for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. I do keep up my exercise regime. I avoid snacking on those days as well.

Al.

eat mostly protein and stay away from booze.

I live in South Texas. I think that counts as a crime against the state, to put chocolate in a perfectly-good pecan pie.

My wife made a lovely pecan tart and an apple pie. Pumpkin bread was made previously in the week. First time I've had real whipped cream (on the pecan tart) for several years.

I had no breakfast, a nice salad with mesquite grilled tuna (on the weber grill) and water. No dinner.

Feel great!

Chris

Started the day with no strategy. But, a planned workout on the schedule. 3 hours with VO2 intervals. Fun!

Quick breakfast of chocolate-banana and almond croissants, with some fresh fruit. Hop on the bike, and do the dirty deed. 2400 calories burned later, I get back in the kitchen and start to do my duty for the evening. Candied yams and green been casserole, all fresh with no cans involved, so that takes a good 1.5 hours. By the time we sit down at 5:15, I dig in pretty heartily. First time I've sat down since breakfast.

I can't really move right now, but I'm not all too worried. We prepare our holiday dishes a bit healthier than is traditional. Well, except for the apple pie and vanilla ice cream later in the day.

Hectic but fun day. I think as long as you approach the holidays sensibly, there's no reason to over-think things. Eat, be merry, and enjoy the company of family/friends/pets.