The Thanksgiving Challenge


December 10, 2015

After several weeks of this journey, I have come to my first big challenge, which is to maintain my progress so far, thru Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving, the holiday known for family first and food second, third, fourth, and maybe even fifth depending on who you are.  I bet that most of us consume more on Thanksgiving than the original people who created Thanksgiving, consumed as a group.  So with that said, I really had a dilemma as to, how do I still enjoy the day of food while maintaining my progress?  I had to think about this a little bit and made some decisions prior to setting off that day.
  1. I needed to get a workout in.  I managed this by going to Team Speed’s 4th Annual Thanksgiving Workout.  In the past, this workout consisted of small groups in stations and working your tail off for 90 minutes.  This year was a bit different because of the snow storm that put the entire group inside.  The roads were bad and icy so there was really every reason not to go, but I made it and had a great workout which was led by Sterling Joseph, the owner and leader of Sterling’s Team Speed.  As I have begun to learn, over the journey, at this point it is important to create a caloric deficit; basically put out more than you put in.  Okay, workout is done, I now have a caloric deficit going into the rest of the day.  
  2. Have a plan going in.  In Thanksgiving pasts, any holiday with food as the main component I enjoyed, which is partially why I have been this out of shape for so long.  Oh the cakes, the pies, turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, I could go on forever but you get the idea!  I want to just say, “Today is a full-on cheat day” and hit the buffet like it was my last day of eating.  However, the reality is, I don’t want to go backwards over one day.  Okay, here is the plan.  I will have 3 small plates instead of 1 or 2 giant plates.  Interesting, I think this way I can enjoy a little bit of everything on the table without killing my progress and without feeling deprived.  Instead I tried to use a smaller plate and really tried to savor each bite of the great meal my family had created.  Will this work?  I will update you soon as to how this plan of mine worked and what my progress was through the crazy holiday week.  
Thanks and stay tuned for more posts!
Quick update:  
 
My Thanksgiving plan was a massive success! The idea of going through Thanksgiving and not eating what I wanted was too much!! So the plan of using a smaller plate to enjoy smaller portions of all of the things I wanted, left me full of good food without feeling deprived of the Holiday. Of course having the support of my family and friends with this adventure really helped everyone to understand what the heck I was doing with my tiny plates! So maybe you can give it a try at you next family food fest stay on track with you food choices and you can still enjoy and be a part of the feasting but at a much smaller and more effective level!  More to come on the Journey!!
Go Back