Thanksgiving as a Free Day?

[RobBroadhurst]

Hey friends,

I'm finishing up Week 10 right now and my results have been really great so far! As of my weigh-in this morning, I've lost 21 pounds and I'm starting to see some great definition in my shoulders, pecs, and stomach.

Anyhoo, I will probably post 12 week pictures 2 weeks from now, but I don't really consider this a 12-week program. I plan to keep going with this and hopefully get in the kind of shape I was in after my first challenge (which took me 17 weeks).

That said, I haven't decided how I'm going to handle Thanksgiving this year and wanted to have people weigh in. It seems odd to have a Free Day in the middle of the week like that (my normal Free Day is Saturday), but I don't want to miss out on some good Thanksgiving eats. My gym will actually be open from 9:00-2:00, so I could theoretically treat it like a regular day in which I had a "free meal."

So my options are:

Take my regular Free Day tomorrow (Saturday, Nov 22) and take my next Free Day on Thanksgiving, which would mean I'd have to wait 9 days till my next Free Day (ugh. )

OR

Treat Thursday like a regular day, go into the gym between 9:00 and 2:00 and do upper body, have a modest Thanksgiving meal with friends, then maybe have a moderate Free Day that Saturday. Since it is a weights day for me, I'm thinking that the extra calories from turkey and ham might actually be a good thing.

What are you guys planning? I've done REALLY well thus far without splurging, so part of me thinks I deserve a free meal and part of me doesn't want to start splurging so close to the end of my 12 weeks (which, as I said, is arbitrary to me).

Thanks!
Rob

[Drewno]

I have a similar albeit more difficult situation to face on thanksgiving. I have to fly out of state to visit the folks, and I am going to have to make a few changes to keep up. What I'm going to do:

I leave tuesday afternoon and return friday night

Normal week routine: Mon/fri: Upper, Wed: Lower, Tue/Thu/Sat: Cardio, Sun: free

Revised routine: Mon: Upper, Fri: Lower, Tue/Sat/Sun: Cardio

So I'll miss one day of lifting, and that should be it.

As for you I'd say just take a free meal and keep the rest of the routine the same if you can do it. If not then take thursday as your free day and take whatever your normal free day is as an extra cardio day to stick with the program.

[Hamoth]

I'm going to have a modest thanksgiving with friends where I'll spread the feast over two small meals and then have my own thanksgiving where I cook my own bird (yes, I'm going off the pescetarian diet for T-day) and all my favorites.

I'll use left over turkey breast for my main protein in many meals till the end of my 8 weeks.

[Chris]

I say workout in the morning (if you want, I'm taking it off) then pig out on Thanksgiving. It's only 1 day a year... and it will be good for your metabolism. The traditional food items really aren't that bad for you, sure there's more butter and larger portions, but you can handle it. Then back to work on Friday. You can take a break from exercise on Saturday or Sunday, but eat the "proper" BFL diet.

Cheers!

[tskeltonpga]

my gym is having a
"high calorie burn before the thanksgiving feast"

it basically ammounts to about 2.5 hours of cardio...don't think i'm going to attend...just gonna do my 20 mintues..but i thought it was interesting

[Hamoth]

I have changed my plans.

I encourage any of you who are away from family or who have a small family on the program to try volunteering somewhere on Thanksgiving and then having your own private T-day on your usual off day.

With the economy as it is, church kitchens are expected to have twice as many in attendance and donations are down by 40%.

Consider spending Thursday looking at how you can use service to others as part of your reciprocation requirement for BFL.

I know it's not an option if you have a big family event or kids, but the singletons and couples this might be a nice plan.

Either way, I strongly encourage all of you to donate generously some healthy foods to the food bank of your choice or to call local churches and shelters and ask them what they need.

This could be the year that you are thankful you finally made that contribution to others - and sticking with the program over the holiday shows SOLID commitment to yourself and the world.

Enjoy!