Thanksgiving is just a couple days away, Thanksgiving being the #1 day of overeating in America, Super Bowl Sunday coming in a close second.

You could easily pack in 2,000 – 5,000 calories in one sitting this Thursday, and that’s not taking into account any nibbling and snacking that you may do before and after dinner. Now that is an awful lot of calories, and I’m only  bringing this up  for the sake of this post – I am so not a calorie counter. 😉

Thanksgiving = Weight Gain

There’s a common thought that you probably hear a lot – Thanksgiving and actually the holidays in general “naturally” equals weight gain. Well guess what? That’s only a thought, and a thought can be changed! It’s a thought that you “can’t help but gain weight” during the holidays and that “Thanksgiving means a 5 pound weight gain”.

Now of course if you think these thoughts long enough they become your beliefs and if you believe that you can’t help but gain weight once Thanksgiving roles around, that it’s all downhill from there, then you’re right – that will be your result. But what if you changed that thought to “I can maintain my weight in a healthy  manner  during the holidays”. Then you know what your result would be if you kept your focus on this thought? You’d find ways to do this.

5 Ways to Enjoy Thanksgiving like a Fit Person

Here are some super simple tips to help you stay consciously fit and aware of what and how much you are eating this Thanksgiving. You see, just because it’s Thanksgiving, it does not mean that you must pack it in and pack it on – how do you think that fit people get through this holiday?

When you are living a fit and healthy lifestyle you aren’t  focused only on the food during the  holidays  and instead are focused on the people and the fun. And hey, if you’re gathering with people on Thanksgiving  who aren’t that fun and aren’t necessarily your loved ones, why not find just one thing about each person that you really like and stay focused on that?

Focus on what you like and what you can find about the day that is fun instead of on the stress that can sometimes come up on these holidays when you get together with people you might not  have seen for a year.

Now let’s look at these tips:

1. Load up those veggies! Be the designated “veggie bringer” for your family and you’ll ensure that there are plenty of veggies to choose from. Forgoe the fatty, salty, processed dips and go raw. Veggies are a healthy choice to fill up on.

2. Drink your water No need to indulge in soda or alcohol, neither will get you closer to your goal of a slim, trim, fit body. Soda is full of either refined sugars or artificial sweeteners along with a whole bunch of other icky processed ingredients and alcohol will lower your inhibitions  making it easy to  overeat. Both will also zap your metabolism down to nothing.

3. Go for a walk Why not get the whole family to go for a walk after dinner? Or, if no one is up for it, maybe it would be a nice break for you to get out and go by yourself! Yes, not everyone’s Thanksgiving dinner will be stress free and physical exercise is a fabulous stress reliever, and besides it will make you feel good!

4. Cut your portions in half, or even better, in thirds! If you can eat foods filled with sugar and white flour and they do not trigger you to overeat you can still enjoy but cut your portion sizes. There is no “rule” that just because it’s Thanksgiving you must stuff yourself to the gills until you can hardly breathe! Yes, I’ve seen it before and it’s not pretty, the “after Thanksgiving” fallout of stuffed overindulgers.

5. Stay Conscious – are you even hungry? This is the most important tip for getting through your day without stuffing yourself – be aware, staying conscious of whether or not you are even hungry. If you aren’t physically hungry then wait until you are before you eat. Also  stay aware of the time so that you’ll be hungry when dinnertime comes instead of snacking unconsciously beforehand.

Thanksgiving does NOT = Weight Gain

If you take these tips and apply them, especially #5, then you’ll be  on your way to a fit and healthy Thanksgiving. Something else to think about is that it’s only one dinner –  how do you normally eat when it’s not a holiday? If you normally eat healthy,  whole foods because  they make you feel great and give you  the side benefit of  easy weight loss (when you use portion control)  then why is this day any different?

If you believe that you can enjoy Thanksgiving without overeating then you can. If you believe that you cannot help but stuff yourself then you will.  Of course I do advise that you stay away from your trigger foods if they are being served – it is only one dinner and it’s not worth it to get back into the cycle of food cravings again  after eating those foods that set you up for wanting more and more and more.