Every year I cringe when I see these article titles:
"How to have a guilt free Thanksgiving"
"How to Reduce 350 Calories from your Thanksgiving Dinner"
"9 Recipes for a Low Calorie Thanksgiving"
Don't do it.
Thanksgiving is a FREE DAY
Let's take a look at that.
Thanksgiving Should Be *Free*
That's the point of free days – you eat WHAT EVER YOU WANT!
Seriously, go crazy. I swear, it's not what you eat on Thanksgiving that makes you fat or fit. It's what you eat the other six days out of every week.
Enjoy it. Give thanks. Stuff yourself silly.
I know I'm going to have five plates of turkey and stuffing and pour gravy on everything. I'll put gravy on my stuffing, gravy on my vegetables, I'll even put gravy on my cranberry sauce. And for desert I'll have a wicked slice of chocolate cake (with gravy).
Now for normal everyday free days, I tell people that if they get nauseous or pass out from eating too much, the free day is over. Not so with Thanksgiving. It's one day I say eat everything in sight.
Dig in!
Thanksgiving Should Be A *Day*
When people gain weight from Thanksgiving, it isn't because of Thanksgiving Day. It's because of Thanksgiving Week.
You really can go crazy on Thanksgiving – The first rule of Thanksgiving is that it's free. But the second is that it's one day.
The most important thing is to get back on plan the day after Thanksgiving. You might even want to tighten things up a little extra the day after thanksgiving.
Have your free DAY, then get right back on plan.
Post Thanksgiving Meal Plan
Thanksgiving Day: FREE DAY
Friday Nov 25th: Protein, Vegetables, and Fat (no carbs)
Saturday Nov 26th: Protein, Vegetables, Fat and Fruit (no grains)
Sunday Nov 27th: Protein, Vegetables, Fat and Fruit (no grains)
Monday Nov 28th: Back to normal "eating clean" style meal plan
***Note: If you are doing 24/7 Fat Loss, just treat Thanksgiving as a normal free day, and follow the carb cycling program as written.
Enjoy!
By Josh Hillis, RKC, CPT, PES, ZMIS
author, The 21 Day Kettlebell Swing Challenge
and System Six: Easy Fat Loss
quoted by USA Today, The Denver Post, and The Los Angeles Times
True that, Josh! I remember you saying this before and it hit home. I used to feel guilty anytime I’d cheat, but that’s not realistic. I’m kinda OCD so I have to be careful not to swing too far the other way (haha) but c’mon, one day isn’t going to ruin you. Two days, maybe…. 🙂
Good stuff, thanks!