Thanksgiving! Memories of fires in the chimney, smells of turkey wafting from the oven and my mom's voice coming from the kitchen, quickly come to mind. I remember playing games with my family, chatting and laughing around the table as we all enjoyed mom and grandma's cooking and begging my dad to change the channel from all the boring football games (eventually he would fall asleep and we'd get to watch something else). I don't ever remember worrying about how many calories I was consuming or whether or not the turkey was free-range organic.
Thanksgiving is still about family, friends, playing games and good food made with love for me. But for many, its a stressful landmine of worrying about what and how much they should eat.
Why don't I subscribe to such behavior? Honestly, its one day! One day is not going to undo all the healthy eating, exercise and treating myself right that I've done for the last 363 days of the year. Thanksgiving is about family, friends, giving thanks for everything we have and FOOD! I'm going to enjoy those family favorites that are saved for this one holiday. I'm going to get in a good workout that morning to lessen my guilt (I normally workout on Thursday, so why not this Thursday?!) for my food splurges later in the day. And I'm going to be thankful that I'm injury free and able to exercise.
What I'm not going to do is stress about the ice cream and real whipped cream that will accompany the slice of pie as they pass my lips. My hips, thighs, butt, abs, will still be there the next day. Maybe I'll do a few more squats on Friday to ensure those extra calories don't find a home there, but I won't stress over what I'm eating on Thanksgiving. I may stress over ALL the cooking, but not the eating!
If you're exercising regularly, eating right 80% of the time, taking care of yourself (rest, relax, getting together with friends, getting regular doctor physicals, etc), one holiday meal is not going to wash all that hard work away. Stressing over it will be harder on your body, than the food itself!
So choose now, to enjoy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the time with family. Enjoy the laughs. Enjoy the games. Enjoy giving thanks for all the many blessings in your life. And most of all Enjoy the food! You have the rest of the year to count calories, watch your waistline and you have tomorrow to work off those extra calories in a killer workout!!!!
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