n January 2013 my husband and I made some major life changes in order to live a healthier lifestyle. One of the first steps we took was to change our diet. We began using the “MyFitnessPal” application to track every meal we ate. It wasn’t long before we started noticing the weight loss. Until now it’s been easy, but with the holiday season upon us, things are getting a little more difficult to control.
I’ve decided to be proactive, and have already planned my Thanksgiving day meal to ensure I can enjoy the day with my family without worrying about my calorie count.
In the past, I would eat two or even three big meals on Thanksgiving without giving a second thought to the amount of calories I was consuming. Well, this year has to be different. Here’s a look at my calorie controlled Thanksgiving day dinner.
The meat
For as many years as I can remember my father has cooked the turkey I’ve eaten on Thanksgiving, but this year will be different. His turkey is slow cooked in butter and other yummy things that make it way too high in calories for me. So this year I will bake my own small turkey breast. I plan to bake a 5oz of turkey breast, which will add 119 calories to my meal.
The sides
Our normal meal consists of corn, green beans, coleslaw, potatoes salad, candy yams, and much more. Of course I can’t eat most of these things because they are too high in calories. This year I’ve decided to have a medium, baked sweet potato (103 calories) with “I can’t believe it’s not butter” spray (0 calories), and a teaspoon of brown sugar (15 calories) alongside ΒΌ a cup of turkey “Stove Top Stuffing” (80 calories). My sides will add 198 calories to my meal.
Dessert
Dessert has always been my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal, but it’s so high in calories that I rarely eat it now. This year I plan to have a strawberry cheesecake Temptations dessert cup by JELL-O (130 calories), and one crushed low fat graham cracker (70 calories). My dessert will add another 200 calories to my meal.
All told, my Thanksgiving day meal will be a total of 517 calories, which may seem low, but I know I will cheat a little by nibbling on other things, so it’s just about perfect.
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