My Weight Loss Adventure – Thanksgiving
It is week four of my journey and I am still unable to get weighed. This makes the task a little harder as I really don’t know if I’m moving forward or not. I have done my best to implement the suggestions made by the dietician and I am starting to do better with those. I have limited all the sugar drinks, including juice, from the diet. My main drink now is filtered water. I have not made it to 64 ounces a day but I have made it to 32. That’s a lot of water for me.
The dietician suggested chair exercise routines and I have implemented those and worked out Monday Through Friday of last week. Some of the routines I found are very easy and some are as hard as any regular routine I have ever tried. I’m seeking a middle ground here. I don’t want it so easy that it won’t do much good and I don’t want it so hard that I’ll quick. If you’d like to try chair exercise, I simply googled “chair exercise” and a variety of routines and instructors showed up all of which were free.
This week presents a new challenge. THANKSGIVING! I think, for the most part, people give themselves the day off for Thanksgiving while they are implementing a lifestyle change. After all, there are just too many lovely temptations out there. Canapes, Alcoholic beverages from cocktails to wine, the meal itself, and the plethora of desserts that come with it can just be too much. I think I solved my dilemma for this year.
You know we really haven’t been celebrating Thanksgiving for that long. Yes after the first year that the pilgrims survived life in The New World a feast was held. It was a feast to give thanks for making it through that first year. The settlers celebrated it with themselves a group of about 50 and 90 Native Americans. There may have been turkey on the table but there was also venison and other rustic food. The native Americans did not come empty-handed but brought all sorts of food with them as well. This was the beginning of our nation and the peace that was established with the Native Americans would last 50 years, but not Thanksgiving
Our Thanksgiving came about when a publisher in Philadelphia, Sarah Hale, began to see the dissolution of the family due to the industrial revolution. She began a 30-year letter-writing campaign that eventually ended with Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln declared the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving. However, it did not become an official federal holiday until the 1940s when Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill making it so. By that time The Macy’s Parade was 10 years old.
The history of any holiday is fascinating but why bring it up here? I wanted to lay the groundwork for what Thanksgiving is going to mean this year. We have all suffered through a lot this year. Many have lost loved ones to COVID-19 or other illnesses. We have all had to change our lifestyle and our habits. I love the joke about the guy that says, “This is the first time in my life I’ve gone into a bank with a mask on and asked for money.” Our whole way of looking at the world had changed we are different as people and we are different as a nation.
This year, for most, Thanksgiving is going to be small or at least smaller for most families. People who spend Thanksgiving away from home are most likely not doing that this year and those who are at home will probably have fewer guests if any at all. The thing to remember amongst all the changes is that this is still a day to give thanks. I have a lot to be grateful for. There is a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. There is plenty of food and things to do that I still enjoy. I have family, and although I don’t know when I’ll see them, I know that I am secure in their love. I have friends. Good people who have chosen to walk alongside me in life sometimes the wind and sometimes the sail, but always together.
This year’s feast will just include my housemate at me. We order a fully cooked dinner from Fresh Market that will include a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberry relish, gravy cranberry walnut squash casserole, a pumpkin pie, and two little Bundtlette cakes which were ordered from Nothing Bundt Cakes. My housemate likes cake and I like pie. I Intend to have a small amount of the potatoes and the stuffing but larger amounts of the breast and the vegetables. We are pairing the meal with a Moscato Wine. The day should be easy yet festive. I hope to spend some time contemplating how blessed I really am.
Happy Thanksgiving and stay healthy friends.