Ah, it’s that time of year again. A time when the weather gets a bit colder, the hugs get a bit longer, family suddenly moves to the top of the priority list, and we all get a bit fatter and more out of shape before swearing things will be different in the new year.
I don’t know about you, but I love Thanksgiving… family and friends, endless amounts of NFL football, turkey with gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, plenty of red wine, and my absolute favorite – other than cupcakes – warm apple pie. Not to be confused with Warm. Apple. Pie. If you know what I mean…
I like me some warm apple pie, but not this much. I wonder what Thanksgiving is like at his house! Haha.
With all the hustle and bustle that goes along with the holidays it’s easy to throw diet and exercise out the window, get fat, and vow to hit the gym and your diet super hard in the new year to work off all that extra pudding you packed on.
But why go through that again this year? Do you really want to get fat, feel bad about yourself, feel guilty about skipping the gym and eating poorly, only to have to work 3x as hard in the new year? How about you have your cake and eat it too this year and enjoy yourself without getting fat like I do?
Here are 5 easy to follow tips to keep you from getting fat this Thanksgiving although you could apply these to any day of the year when the food and booze with be flowing…
Tip #1 – Workout In The Morning
Waaaah! But I want to sleep in! Don’t you burn fat in your sleep?!
Boohoo. Get your ass out of bed and do a metabolic workout first thing in the morning. This will do absolute wonders for saving your ass – literally on Thanksgiving when your mindlessly shoveling turkey and gravy down your gullet with reckless abandonment. You’re probably going to pass out later in the afternoon on the couch from all the red wine, carbs, and L-tryptophan in the turkey anyway.
Why will this help so much? Because you’ll burn off a ton of muscle glycogen freeing up space to store carbohydrates in your muscles, you’ll burn a ton of calories, you’ll boost your metabolism later in the day (afterburn effect), and you’ll create a huge demand in your body for nutrition. In other words, the food will go to good use.
What type of workout should you do? It depends on your time available and access to equipment. If you have access to a gym, go! You’ll get a better workout, but if not – don’t worry because I got you covered.
Metabolic Resistance Training Circuit
If you have access to a gym you’ll want to burn as many calories possible with a muscle building cardio workout and create the biggest metabolic boost post-exercise. You can accomplish this with a metabolic resistance training circuit. Here is a workout you can do tomorrow morning at your local gym:
This workout is made up of 2 circuits and 1 final round HIIT finisher. Circuit #1 is 1A-1E. Circuit #2 is 2A-2E. Be sure to warm-up properly before starting with some light dynamic stretching or 8-10 minutes on the treadmill or stair stepper. Use weights that are CHALLENGING but doable. You should be gasping for air and trying to catch your breath by the end of the circuit. This is intended to spike your heart rate.
If you cannot get to a gym and must workout from home, do this short at home HIIT cardio workout. It should take you about 20 minutes.
Directions: Zero rest between exercises and 20s rest after finishing all 3 exercises in a triple set before repeating the circuit again. Rest 60s after finishing all 4 rounds of a circuit before moving to the next circuit.
- Triple Set (4 rounds)
- Push-ups 10 reps (ladies from knees)
- Mountain Climbers 30s
- Bodyweight Squats 25 reps
- Triple Set (4 rounds)
- Burpees (with jump) 15 reps
- Jumping Jacks 30s
- Alternating Reverse Bodyweight Lunge 20 reps
- Triple Set (4 rounds)
- Seal Jacks 30s
- Jump Squat 10 reps
- Floor Crunch 25 reps
Whichever workout you are able to do I would highly suggest you avoid a high carbohydrate post-workout shake. The last thing you want to do before stuffing yourself on Thanksgiving is intentionally plow 80g of sugar into your muscles post-workout.
Yes, this will give you the best bang for your buck in terms of muscle building, but it will also fill up all your glycogen reserves and leave you little room for the Thanksgiving feast you are about to enjoy later in the day. Take my advice, skip the post-workout carbs and just go with protein after your workout.
Tip # 2 – Drink Plenty of Water
If you read my post about cheat days then you already know how imperative it is to drink water when loading up on copious amounts of food especially carbs and fat.
Fact, you are going to be ingesting a LOT of carbohydrates later in the day. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, apple pie, cranberry sauce, red wine, etc. Drinking a lot of water will help aid digestion, will help your liver metabolize fat, will help you so you feel more satiated and don’t gorge yourself, and it will also help your body store glucose (sugar) as glycogen.
Pounding water will help keep you thin and trim this holiday season. Aim for half your body weight at a minimum. Adding lemon or lime to the water will help flat-line your insulin and can help prevent an insulin spike therefore preventing excessive fat storage 🙂
When you ingest a lot of carbs your body needs to hold more water which is why you typically see your weight go up the day after a high carb meal. Aim for at least half your bodyweight in water. For example, my current weight is 190 lbs so I would aim for at least 95oz of water if not more.
Tip # 3 – Don’t Gorge Yourself
This one should be no surprise and although we hear it time and time again and even tell ourselves we won’t overeat this time – we often still do it anyway.
How can you combat this and prevent yourself from gorging yourself? Try by implementing Tip #2 and drink plenty of water. This will help you feel more satiated and eat less. You can also go with a high-protein, low carb, low fat meal to start your day such as an egg white omelet or a protein shake. Studies have shown this tends to curb your appetite and prevent overeating later in the day. If you implement Tip #1 and workout, just take 2-scoops of your favorite whey protein post-workout and bam! You’re ready to go.
I hate putting a negative spin on the word “gorge” because although gorging yourself with food on Thanksgiving is a terrible idea gorging yourself on all things Dave Matthews @ The Gorge is the Best. Idea. Ever. Damn that place is special. Plus, I look like a beast in this photo with my boy J-Bone.
Other tips to prevent gorging yourself:
- Eat Slowly / Chew More
- It may sound odd, but by chewing your food more and eating a bit slower you will reduce your insulin spike and give your brain time to realize your full. Remember, insulin is a storage hormone and when it spikes (especially in relation to excess calorie) that means you are storing fat…which is a bad thing unless you are trying to do a Homer Simpson and get disability by being overweight. Also, by eating slower and giving your brain time to realize you are full, you’ll automatically eat less calories.
- Don’t pack your plate
- Don’t fill up your plate all the way. We have a tendency to eat what is on our plate and in front of us. If you make yourself refill your plate for 2nds or 3rds you will be less likely to overeat. This is especially useful if eating in a big group. If you’ve ever read Mindless Eating (great book), then you know that people often eat 100% more calories than they would normally eat alone when eating with a group of 4 or more. Since people often eat in large groups on Thanksgiving, be aware of how easy it is to get lost in conversation, keep up with the group, and overeat. By not packing your plate from the start, you can help prevent this.
- Stop when you can no longer taste the food
- When eating, take a moment and ask yourself, “Can I still taste the food?” You’ll be surprised at how often we keep eating despite not being able to even taste the food any longer. This is a clear sign you’ve had your fill and it’s time to relax and push away from the table. When eating cupcakes, I eat pretty slow because I want to savor every single bite. Eventually I always reach a point when I can no longer really taste the flavors and it’s at that point I stop even if I haven’t finished every single bite.
Once I cannot taste the food any longer, even if eating cupcakes, I call it quits. If you cannot taste the food, what the hell is the point anyway?
Tip #4 – Make A Choice: Excess Food Or Alcohol (NOT BOTH)
What tends to get most people into trouble at holiday parties is combining both excessive amounts of carbohydrates and fats with excessive amounts of alcohol. I’m here to tell you that you can have one or the other but not both. Sorry.
I’m not saying you cannot have 1, 2 or maybe even 3 drinks during your Thanksgiving Day meal but getting plowed on red wine or champagne and combining it with heavy carbs like stuffing and potatoes, fats like gravy and butter, and sugary foods like pies, cakes, and cookies will certainly add to your waistline and cause you nothing but guilt, regret, and pain.
If you want to eat whatever you want without restrictions, go for it! Enjoy! But keep the alcohol to a minimum. I like to eat whatever I want on Thanksgiving and I especially love dessert so I keep my intake to 3 drinks max for the day going with 1 glass of prosecco early in the day and 2 glasses of red wine later in the day with dinner. Spread over a few hours and combined with heavy water consumption – it’s all gravy 😉
On the other hand, if you like to really get after it and throw em’ back on Thanksgiving then you absolutely must sacrifice on the food. I’m sorry, but your waistline and your ass with thank you in the new year.
I like drinking wine as much as the next fella but you must make a choice: Excess carbs and fat or wine. Here is me acting like a snob while fine dining at Alinea in Chicago. Notice there is no food in from of me! Haha, because I ate it all. I need to work on that dimple in my tie. Bad form, Peter.
If you are going to drink heavily then limit your food intake to only proteins like turkey and non-starchy vegetables like asparagus, kale, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach, etc. Oh yeah, and you’ll have to skip or go super light on the gravy because gravy is nothing but liquid fat. I know, it tastes good and what’s turkey without gravy you say! But if you want to drink heavily then sacrifices must be made.
While consuming excess alcohol eat as much turkey and non-starchy vegetables as you want as long as you avoid heavy carbs and fat.
Tip #5 – Go For A Walk
Walking might not seem like exercise for most of us, but it is. And taking a long walk after eating Thanksgiving dinner will do wonders to speed up your digestion, help your body store carbohydrates, and burn a few calories.
Even going outside in the yard and chasing your kids or nieces and nephews around will help. Just do something, be active after dinner. Try to avoid the post-dinner crash and couch nap that most of us fall into. Go throw a football around for 20-minutes outside. I still like to pretend I’m a famous quarterback when doing this, it’s fun!
“Yo, throw me the football. I’m Tom Brady. Oh, shit! That’s right… where is Gisele I deserve a little touchdown celebration!”
– Jackson Bloore (on Thanksgiving 3 drinks in while throwing a football with the fam in the yard)
Final Thoughts
Enjoy yourself this Thanksgiving, but if you want to avoid getting fat be sure to follow these 5 tips:
- Workout In The Morning
- Drink Plenty of Water
- Don’t Gorge Yourself (Not to be confused with DMB @ The Gorge)
- Make A Choice: Excess Carbs/Fat or Alcohol (NOT BOTH)
- Take A Walk
If you want more tips and even a checklist on how to manage your food on a cheat day, be sure to download my Cheat Day Checklist: