The Hoildays (part 2)...

...okay, Thanksgiving is over and I survived it.

I did make a decision about Thanksgiving dinner for my family: I went to Boston Market on Thanksgiving Eve (otherwise known as "Wednesday") and purchased a turkey dinner for four. The dinner included creamed spinach, stuffing, corn, and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. In addition, I went to my local grocery store and purchased a can of whole cranberries.

Now did I measure all of this food out before I gorged on it? Yes and no. Yes, I did measure it with a fork and a tablespoon ("Let's see: That looks like two ounces."), but no, it wasn't the most precise -- or accurate -- way of measuring things.

I did a CrossFit workout in the morning; thus, I felt justified in the extra helpings in my first meal (which was a t 3:30 p.m.). I even had pie and ice cream (some "old" ice cream left way too long in the freezer) for dessert. Needless to say, I felt...stuffed.

That "stuffed" feeling continued with my second meal around 8:30 p.m. The portions this time were much smaller, and I had a cup of Jello Sugar-Free Chocolate Mousse for dessert.

After this meal, I felt fat.

But I wasn't too worried about any potential weight gain or fat gain. I did a trans-continental workout on Friday (read about it here), trained with Josh at his TOUGH/Love session on Saturday morning (this particular session had no "Love"), did Olympic lifting at Balance Gym on Saturday afternoon, did CrossFit Sunday morning, and finished with yoga on Sunday night.

All the while, I was back on my normal eating schedule and consuming the foods I was supposed to consume.

So while Thanksgiving is over, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year's Eve/New Year's Day are just over the horizon.

I'm confident that I will remain disciplined and focused over this period.

The Holidays (part 1)...

...ah, the holidays! First up is the national day of gluttony commonly known in the United States as Thanksgiving.

With my family, the traditional meal used to consist of roasted turkey breast, (country) ham, collard greens, macaroni-and-cheese, cranberry sauce, stuffing/dressing - with and without oysters, cornbread (what was left over in making the stuffing), sweet potatoes/yams, and some type of dessert [make mine chocolate :-)]. In 2007, I cooked a turducken (yes, they exist up here...just go to HarrisTeeter) in place of a turkey. Other times, we have had deep-fried turkey.

But with my brother in ill health for the last three years, with my mother becoming more picky about what she eats as she gets older (and after her gall-bladder surgery nearly two years ago), and with me being on the Zone, I am forced to re-evaluate on what I do want to eat on Thanksgiving day. I know that my dinner will be less complex than the menu mentioned in the previous paragraph. Hopefully, there will be a CrossFit session on that day (I've done them in the past and enjoyed the grueling workout and camaraderie with my CrossFit DC family) so that what ever I eat that day I will process it quickly.

I'm still in decision mode.

Stay tuned.