Guest Article: Enjoy Thanksgiving Without Wrecking Your Diet

By BRIAN ZEHETNER Brian is a certified personal trainer and nutritionist who currently serves as Chief Science Officer at Anytime Fitness. We asked him for help on how to enjoy Thanksgiving without starting to look like Santa. Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, and good food that you don’t really eat all that often. Sadly, however, the holiday seems to be more and more about the food these days, and because of this, it’s best to take a “do the best you can” approach to managing your intake. With that in mind, I recommend people follow their typical non-holiday eating patterns . If you normally eat 3 meals per day, then try to replicate that on Thanksgiving. We need to remember that the Thanksgiving meal isn’t usually the cause of that horrible gluttonous feeling, it’s all the snacks and desserts consumed throughout the day leading up to the actual meal. Let’s face it—most of us are full before the meal is even served, right? If you’re doing the cooking, you may have some control over the “snacks of sabotage” as I like to call them, but if you’re leaving the prep to others, just focus on what you can control. Give yourself a chance to work up your hunger and then take “a little bit of this and a little bit of that” to satisfy that hunger. And when it comes to desserts, it’s silly to think that you need to avoid them entirely, but it’s just as ridiculous if you go back for that third piece of pie or that fourth cookie. Pick your favorite dessert, grab a reasonable portion size, and enjoy. But then be done! When it comes to exercise, holidays are often seen as days off, but they don’t have to be. Go for a morning jog or get in an early lifting session—you’ll be glad you did. If you can’t make it on Thursday, then definitely go on Friday. You don’t want one or two days off turning into many more, which is a very common pattern. And when you factor in the calorie side of the equation, your well-intentioned weight loss goals take a serious hit. Simple tips: 1.       Take a healthy protein portion. 2.       Focus on fruits and vegetables whenever possible. 3.       One and done (desserts). 4.       Get in a workout on Thursday or Friday (or both).