How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was quiet and low-key---just my 17-year-old son and I. Usually we gather with my two brothers and their families, but with the COVID-19 numbers going crazy high in Southeastern Virginia we decided to sit Family Thanksgiving 2020 out and wait until Christmas.

I got a 14 pound turkey at Kroger for under $5.00 (great sale!) and cooked low-fat versions of the traditional side-dishes for my son. He has lost 15 pounds since I began my WLS journey. I'm proud he has been open to making changes.

I was prepared to just have turkey and a little low-fat gravy.....but then I added 2 tablespoons each of mashed potatoes, dressing, and green bean casserole.

Not a good move.

Even though I could NOT FINISH my very small portions, I felt ill. AND....I gained 4 pounds. What!?

Took me a week and a half to lose those 4 pounds PLUS lose 2 more.

I was incredibly annoyed with myself!

Happy to be back on track now.

Looking ahead to Christmas, we will do Christmas day dinner with the family. And I will stick to my plan!

Anyone else making plans/guidelines for Christmas?

I'm almost two years out and at goal, so I was pretty relaxed this Thanksgiving. I tasted everything and had fun doing so. I even had a mini-cupcake. I was careful not to overeat though because I didn't want to be miserable. I put on a few pounds of water weight from the carbs, but I didn't stress over it. The next day, it was RIGHT back on plan, no leftovers, no "I'll wait until Monday" (anybody remember that one?). It worked out okay, so I'll probably take the same approach for Christmas. I'll taste everything and maybe even have dessert, but then it's right back to my plan the day after.

Switch it up - we no longer have food as our main holiday idea, Heck we downloaded some trivia game on ROKU for T day and had more fun with that then the FOOD theme

I had my mom (81 yo) visiting for Thanksgiving. It was very low key, my sister, my son, my mom and me. If it could have ended with that day. I probably would have been fine, but since she drove up from Miami and spent 5 days...well...I gained 3.3 pounds and today I finally lost weight below the 225 I was at on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving! YAY! We ate out (I tried to steer it toward seafood), we ate leftovers and TOO MUCH CHEESE! And crackers, meats and nuts...little "snacky" things. (Plus eggnog...I made mine with a vanilla protein shake, egg yolks and spices, but the brandy...ah. the brandy!)

For Christmas, it will just be my son and me, and I will NOT have all of the snacks. There will be a special meal (Prime Rib) and I have mashed cauliflower, but will be making mashed potatoes too.

4 hours ago, Mr Alley Gator said:

Switch it up - we no longer have food as our main holiday idea, Heck we downloaded some trivia game on ROKU for T day and had more fun with that then the FOOD theme

Good idea!

For some reason the holidays and vacations I always seem to lose weight. I become super aware of every bite of food.

If there is anything we have all learned is what foods are our trigger food and what makes us gain. I know that a week ago I was having trouble with snacking... mostly chips. I did cook a roast with carrots and potatoes. I ate too many of the carrots and potatoes and not enough meat,..... Lesson learned. Stick to what I know....

Lost 3lbs on Thursday.... I had to do a liquid diet for one day for a colonoscopy. Back at the 120.