How to Help Your Body Maximize Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving should be a guilt-free holiday for your body.  In fact, you can even use Thanksgiving to drop a pound or two if you play your cards right.  Here's how to help your body maximize Thanksgiving...

1) Eat light on Wednesday.  Front-load your calories the day before Thanksgiving (consume 1,000 before 3pm).  Have a light dinner (4-6 oz. of a protein source with a light veggie) and drink lots of water in the evening.

2) Start your Thanksgiving Day with fiber!  I think a fiber in powder form is better than pill form, but pick one and start your day with it.  In addition to helping your digestive track get in line, fiber helps track down toxins in your blood stream.  It's a great way to start your day everyday, but especially on Thanksgiving.

3) Eat light but don't skip any meals before the BIG MEAL.  Our metabolism is effectively primed when we eat often.  Eat light and often before the big meal to help charge up your metabolism.  Remember to drink a protein shake after your workout!

4) Do a weight-training-based workout before the BIG MEAL.  Weight training can have a positive impact on our metabolism for up to 39 hours!  By hitting the weights before hitting the feast, your metabolismwill be charged up quite a few hours and will best be able to handle the upcoming caloric load!

5) Enjoy your Thanksgiving meal!  Eat up, and don't forget dessert!

6) Shut off the foods by 8pm.  I'm arbitrarily picking a time here, but it's important to stop eating as early in the evening as possible.  I think 8pm is more than reasonable.  After 8pm, stick to water.  Maybe toss in a protein shake in the evening if you are hungry for something.

7) Have a light day of leftovers on Friday.  If we sandwich a high-calorie day (Thanksgiving) with two low-calorie days (Wed. and Fri.), our body will be more able to burn off the Thursday feast (before I get attacked by the training world, read up on caloric shifting...).  Sprinkle in protein, go easy on the carbs, and try to do the #2-#4 from this post on Friday as well.

If you want your body to work for you and not against you this Thanksgiving, use the seven steps above to help your metabolism use your Thanksgiving feast for good.

Adam Erwin is a nutrition and fitness coach.  He works with clients to give them the food and fitness month of their life.  In 2009, Adam's clients have lost an average of 13 lbs. in the first 28 days of working with him.  To learn more about what it looks like to work with Adam, click to rapidresultsfitnessmn.com.