How To Cope With Your Thanksgiving Binge

Photo Credit: Cameron Nordholm

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year.  There’s nothing like sitting down with the people you love and participating in pure gluttony for an entire afternoon.  Yesterday, around 2:30, we had a Ronnie Coleman-sized turkey, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, broccoli salad, about 5 different kinds of bread, mashed potatoes and of course the best pumpkin pie I’ve ever eaten.  I was going to purchase some liquid bread (beer) to go with dinner but I forgot, so I drank some leftover eggnog and rum instead.

Bad Experiences

Now, in years past, Thanksgiving was oftentimes a stressful situation for me.  I used to worry about overdoing it and eating way over maintenance, or worse, I would just let loose and binge out of control because of all the clean eating I’d participated in for many months prior to Turkey Day.  I recall previous Thanksgivings where I woke up grossly bloated, 10-12 lbs heavier and no sight of abs whatsoever.  It was depressing, discouraging and was simply a part of the common wheel-spinning process.

New Frame of Mind

Now this year (and last) was completely different.  As I mentioned in my ebook, when I plan on eating large amounts of food and do not want to go too far over maintenance, I simply fast up until the event or I will eat lean protein only throughout the day, depending on how late in the day we are eating.

So in this case, I woke up, had a protein shake and nothing else until dinner at 2:30.  Then when I got to my friend’s place for dinner, I was fairly hungry and could pretty much pig out to my greedy heart’s content without having to worry about waking up with any extra, unwanted weight gain (adipose tissue).  The only negative consequence I’ve experienced is a spike in water weight and some bloating, but I couldn’t care less because it’s cold outside and I don’t plan on taking my shirt off anytime soon in public.

No Cop-outs

Now do not confuse my practice of complete fasting or doing a protein sparing modified fast up until dinner time as fool-proof method for being able to eat whatever the hell you want and avoid negative consequences.  The whole point of doing it this way is to maintain some kind of damage control.  Therefore, if I only eat a few hundred kcals in the morning or none at all, and then eat a big dinner, it’s going to be hard(er) to go way over maintenance than if I ate normally throughout the day.  An easy way to royally screw yourself is to eat your weight in dessert.  Mix in some alcohol, lose all inhibition and I can guarantee you will have a 10,000 (or insert any other crazy number here) kcal dinner, which will definitely lead to some undesirable results.

A Remedy

So, for all of you that may have gone off the deep end this Thanksgiving, don’t worry, there is hope.  You are not a failure; you do not suck at life.  Sometimes great food, booze and that pecan pumpkin pie your Aunty May makes once per year is too good to ration out.  Heck, you may have eaten the whole thing.  It’s alright, you cannot take it back but you must get on with your life.  Write it off and focus on what’s ahead of you.

Now here is simple protocol you can use that will reverse the damage you incurred on Thanksgiving 2009.  If you want to drop the water and (gasp) the extra bit of fat you may have packed on, then follow along.  This will only last 2-3 days and needs to be no longer.  Remember; be objective and reasonable with your approach.

Depending on your maintenance kcals, you want to shoot for a solid deficit.  We’re talking about 1000-1500 kcals.  For most males, this is easily achieved by diet alone.  For women, it may require a bit more work (some extra walking, DO NOT go crazy on me with the cardio) but it’s not impossible.

Now the protein requirements are going to remain static for both genders; I’m also assuming you are training a few times per week and that your exercise regimen is actually sane.

Calorie Requirements
Protein: 1.5xbw* in pounds or ~3.3xbw in kg’s.
Fish oil: 5g per day
fill in the rest of your intake with carbs/fats

Men’s Sample Diet
180lbs – 1500kcals
Protein: 270g (1080kcal)
Fat: 30g (270kcal)
Carbs: 26g(100kcal)
Fish Oil: 5g(45kcals)

Women’s Sample Diet
120lbs – 1200kcals
Protein: 180g (720kcal)
Fat: 30g (270kcal)
Carbs: 40g(160kcal)
Fish Oil: 5g(45kcals)

*1.5xbw is a general recommendation and it can depend on how fat a person is.  If you know your body fat percentage, then just multiply your lean body mass by 1.5.  This will allow for some more variety in the diet from other macros.

Remember, if your expenditure is higher than the above examples, you can afford to eat a bit more.  Just make sure you create a 1000-1500 kcal deficit for 2-3 days straight.

Alright, I know this doesn’t look like a lot of food; it’s not, but it’s only for a few days.  Protein is kept high to preserve muscle mass and control hunger while the deficit takes care of the fat burning.  Drink lots of water to keep hunger at bay and also to help you drop some of the extra water and bloat.

Training should be low volume, strength work to prevent feeling like a sack of manure (no high volume training, period).  If you are not overly active and need to increase your calorie burn, do some brisk walking for about an hour any time during the day and just let the deficit go to work.  After your 2-3 days have ended, resume your normal eating patterns and go on about your daily routine.  It’s really as simple as that.

Tagged as: Diet