RBW Thanksgiving Edition

I haven’t been posting weekly Romance Biggest Winner updates because there’s not been much to report.  I’ve been hovering around the same number, up a pound, down a pound, wash and repeat over and over and over.

It’s frustrating to say the least.

However, I’ve also gotten just a little bit lazy on my tracking.  Where I was tracking faithfully every day, I’ve just been so busy — and had a few too many slips — to keep up.  When I’m writing hard, I tend to get up early and stay up later, which makes me even more hungry.  And yes, I’m always tempted to use munchies to help me stay awake even longer.  Enter my nemesis, the Lay’s potato chip.

But this NaNoWriMo I’ve been pretty strong.  I only indulged in chips once.  I even got a little exercise in last week — but I’m still not consistent yet.  Baby steps.

Yesterday I tracked my food before I ate it — planning my day out to the final point so I already knew I would have nothing else after the last apple snack.  I drank water with lemon (that I finally remembered to pick up), which helped me want even more water because I love the taste, especially bubbly water made by our SodaStream.

And today, I was finally thrilled to slip into that new decade on the scale.  .91% loss for RBW and 57 pounds lost for the year!  Woot!

Now a lot of you might be wondering what I’m going to do for Thanksgiving.  Will I make diet food?  Will I starve myself and gorge on all the goodies at dinner?

Here’s my philosophy.  I love to cook the big dinner.  I make it the way my mom always made it, with a few extras that That Man’s family likes.  I use the best quality ingredients I can find.  I make my own chicken broth for the gravy and noodles (and I don’t skim the fat off).  I make bone broth from the turkey carcass for another round of healthy soups after the big day.  I make real food.

Many “light” and “fat free” products have added corn syrup and fillers to make them taste good.  So I don’t often use them.  I do substitute light sour cream and light cheese occasionally because I personally can’t taste the difference.  But when I’m cooking for twenty people on Thanksgiving day, I’m making the best food I possibly can and I’ll use the real deal.

Will I have pie?  Yes.  Small pieces of both pumpkin and pecan.  Will I eat both mashed potatoes and carby homemade egg noodles?  Yep.  But I’ll eat in moderation.  I’m going to have a filling Greek yogurt and Kashi breakfast.  I’ll drink my water along with a gallon of coffee.  I’m preparing a healthy yet delicious spinach salad to eat along with the carbs, and my SIL is bringing a vegetable platter.  I’ll try not to eat until I’m miserable, which shouldn’t be too hard.  I’ll be too busy serving and cleaning up to eat a lot anyway.  As soon as the main late lunch is consumed, I’ll throw the carcass into a pot and start the late dinner soup fest with the leftovers.  (We’ll have people visiting all day)

So I won’t “diet” that day — but I will try to eat in moderation.  I’ll go into the day with a plan and do the best I can.  It’s only one day a year, the only day I’m responsible for cooking delicious food for so many people, and I’m going to enjoy it!