Happy Thanksgiving

I'm sitting in my basement bedroom in my new house in Cheyenne, WY. The wind in Cheyenne in winter is fierce - it sounds like a freight train is roaring past the house, and has sounded like that for the last few hours.

In two and a half hours, I have to get bundled up (I think it's 11 degrees outside) and head over to my sister's house for Thanksgiving. There'll be turkey, mashed potatoes, presumably stuffing (hopefully not with giblets in it), and for dessert, pumpkin pie.

I intend to chow down.

And hopefully you will too. Whether you're going over to friends, or having a solitary meal yourself, don't be afraid to eat everything on your plate. The key is merely portion control.

And if you do "over-indulge" today, so what? You've got today, and you've got Christmas, when you will be surrounded by family and friends and over-eating just comes naturally. Don't stress out over it. Resume your portion control eating habits (I prefer the term eating habits to dieting - it's "eating habits" that will get you thin and then keep you thin, and healthy) the next day.

Of course, if you've been "good", fall off the wagon today, and all of a sudden you start eating uncontrollably tomorrow, well then, that's a lesson to be learned. That you can't go even one day of breaking your good eating habits, without consequences.

Bear that in mind, take however much time you need to get your eating habits back under control, and then don't break the habit again. And for Christmas, make sure you do practice portion control.

The whole point about losing weight and keeping it off is to KNOW YOURSELF. Know what you can do and can't do, food-wise.

I've blogged about this before - I can't have fresh baked cookies in the house. Whether it's the aroma or just because they taste so good... I'll scarf them down in one sitting. But if I have a box of Oreos in a cabinet, I can eat two of those for dessert, which satisfies my chocolate craving, and I don't need any more until the next day.

So enjoy today - either as a day when you get to eat as much as you want before resuming your eating habits tomorrow, or as a learning experience.

Indeed, every day should be a learning experience - but that's a topic for another post.

I hope you all have a good Thanksgiving - whether you're in the bosom of your family or enjoying the solitude of sitting in your own living room watching football - or whatever TV floats your boat, or just reading a good book. (Which is what i really wish I could be doing in two and a half hours, but family calls...and at least the food should be good. ; )