Thanksgiving....

Ok, here's the deal. I'm doing Atkins, and I'm having thanksgiving dinner with my sister and friends. We're making all the traditional stuff; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravey, rolls, pumpkin pies, pumpkin cookies, ect. Other than the turkey, its a carboholics dream. I was going to give myself a holiday and just eat whatever, watching portion size, but I'm doing so well I don't want to mess up my losses. I have this fear that one carb filled meal and I'll gain back everything I'll have lost up till then. I'm also afraid of the effect that many carbs might have on my system after three weeks of  low carbs. Any suggestions??? Also, I wanted to have a few drinks while I'm there, I know alcohol isn't good while you're dieting, but does anyone know what is the best mixed drink to get when you're doing atkins? rum and diet coke or something??  Thanks everybody! 

-Heather S.

:)  If you have a carb fest, count on it taking 3 days to get it out of you again.  3 days isn't a long time to get back on track, and we all know how difficult holidays can be.

If you wanted to stick with it.. you could always make yourself some nice zucchini and y ellow squash!  :)  That's what I'm going to have.

Booze............  vodka doesn't seem to have any effect on my weight loss efforts.  Personally, I like kami kaze's, but the triple sec is too sugar laden, so I do vodka and lime juice.

Good luck!!

I just read how much you lost,, GO YOU!  That is wonderful!!

I agree with Lori, why don't you bring a few extra side dishes to go along with the meal.  Green beans with bacon is an idea.  Or seafood salad maybe? 

I wouldn't get all bent over the liqour.  Just limit it, and the lower carb rums I THINK are white ones and Capt.  Coconut rum I think is like eight carbs per serving.  Plus theres always sugars in it.  Have fun, it's one day vs the rest of the year! :) 

My doctor has always yelled at me about "budget" and still does to this day.  I always feel guilty over eating something and then keep eating.   he's trying to break me from this  habit.  He says instead I should be budgeting through out the week if I know daily won't work for that certain week.  Instead of thinking twenty carbs a day,  maybe think  a hundred and forty for the whole week...just for that week.   He uses this with me for my calories, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for carbs too.

Ummmm, I realize that I am here to support you in your dieting efforts...and ya know that I do!  But in all of my years on Atkins, I have always taken off on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.  For me, part of being in control over my eating was to have planned days off and that was the only time I took off.  If I was off of my diet and it wasn't planned then I wuz off the wagon.  I can't tell you how many birthday parties I took my own food to or ate before I went.  And good Lawd, the casino buffets I've been to and suffered through.  OK, maybe that's a li'l fib cuz I was eating snow crabs and I LOVE those!  

If you want to stay on your plan, eat vegetables and turkey.  But if you plan to take the day off, just realize that you will gain and it will take two days of dieting to pay for your one day off.  It just depends on how much you are willing to pay for the trade off.

But eat some protein with those carbs so you don't crash!  

Mary

Thanks Mary, I do want to take thanksgiving and Christmas off,I just wasn't sure how much damage it would do. A 2-3 days is an acceptable recoverey time, in my opinon. I'm just gonna take it easy and try not to stuff myself fuller than the turkey!

Yanno the great thing about Atkins is that after you have been on it for a while your stomach shrinks and you CAN'T stuff yasself like you used to.  You don't want to be mistaken for a turkey now do ya?  

I take time off so I don't start feeling deprived.  And most of the time, the food I plan to eat had better be damned good.  I don't want to have to pay for junk the next day!

Mary

My philosophy is to follow a plan that you can follow for life...so that probably means NOT adhering to the plan for special occasions.  Thankfully I hate Thanksgiving food so it's never been an issue for me.  On the other hand, I like to eat whatever I want on Christmas (it's usually chips and salsa and dessert!) and I enjoy whatever I want on my birthday and on the occasion when I have a social life, which has been nonexistent for months now.  Remember, it's all about balance and trade-offs and what you can sustain for life.
Congrats on losing 11 pounds - WOW!! 

I'm doing Atkins too and here's my plan:
Most of my plate will be filled with turkey, green beans, and green salad.  I will also have about 2 bites of mashed potatoes and gravy and 2 bites of stuffing.  I think I'll skip the rolls.  I'm making a low sugar pumpkin cheesecake.  I haven't settled on a recipe yet, but they vary from about 12-25 carbs.  I'm going to make the crust out of almonds instead of graham crackers and I'm going to use a Splenda/sugar blend.  If I still am craving pumpkin pie, I will have a small sliver with some whipped cream.  I know I'll do fine Thanksgiving day, but the few days after when there are left-overs is what's hard for me.
-Sheryl