The Thanksgiving Three Thousand...

I was watching Regis & Kelly today and Kelly spilled out a nice article about the calories we consume in an average Thanksgiving meal. If you are one of those ignorance-is-bliss types, you may want to stop reading now. (However, I must admit, my post title has pretty much given it away. Oops.)

Here you have it ladies and gents, the average calorie-consumption in your run-of-the-mill Thanksgiving feast:

3493

Holy moly!!! That's just about how many calories you need to burn to lose 1 pound! (And good Lord, we know how tough that can be.)

And just for kicks - here's a list of some individual Thanksgiving staples and their calorie counts:

1/8 of an Apple Pie: 400 cal
1/8 of a Pumpkin Pie: 350 cal
2 glasses of red wine: 250 cal (who has just TWO glasses?)
1 cup stuffing: 358 cal
1/2 cup gravy: 80
2 slices canned cranberry sauce: 110 cal
1 cup sweet potato dish: 315 cal
1 dinner roll: 150 cal

Thanksgiving is my husband's FAVORITE holiday. (If you know my husband, I'm sure that's no surprise.) It is my least favorite holiday. I absolutely dread Thanksgiving. It's like the kickoff to all the holiday eating and bad choices. And this year I'm still working on dropping my pregnancy pounds, so I can't exactly call it a cheat day. That meal would be the equivalent of a cheat week. I don't want to end up with an extra 5 lbs to RE-lose. And I'm also working to avoid all the Christmastime goodies as well. So I've been coaching myself (well, brainwashing myself) into thinking of all the casseroles and desserts as disgusting...telling myself I don't even want them. I guess we'll see how I do. At least I'm running the Turkey Day 5K in downtown Charleston that morning...so I can feel a little less guilty about what I do eat. It may even lead me to make better food decisions (exercise has a way of doing that.)

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! Try not to think about the calories too much and just enjoy your loved ones and some football.