I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend!

As much as being sedentary and eating whatever we want is fun – it gets old quickly. It just doesn’t feel as good as eating healthfully and exercising. Not even close.

To be honest, this weekend wasn’t the best of weekends for me exercise and food wise. I had a great time at my sister’s house but going to the gym and eating the way I normally want to didn’t happen.

After a while, I was kind of sick of eating and especially sick of eating unhealthy foods.

There’s only so much sitting and eating one can do!

I’m not knocking it because every once in a while it’s a nice break but it reminded me of why I love eating healthy and exercising so much. I miss that feeling!

So, if you didn’t have the best of weekends forget about it. No sense crying over spilled milk. It is what it is.

(If you did have an awesome weekend that’s fantastic! You should be really proud of yourself!)

The challenge with long weekends is that we lose momentum. That’s why it’s really important to focus all of your energy on today. Not this week as a whole but today.

Just focus on your very next meal. Use all of your willpower and energy to make your very next meal as healthy as it can be. As soon as you eat a great meal, you’ll start to feel in control again. You’ll start to feel good again.

Once you start feeling good again, you’re going to want to keep on feeling good.

Same goes with exercise. I highly recommend you get some sort of exercise done today. It doesn’t have to be a mind-blowing workout. But get some sweat going. It’ll feel good!

Today is going to be hard. If you’ve been eating sugar and cake and junk all weekend, you’re going to crave it. Stay strong. Chew gum. Drink water. Eat lots of protein. If you can get through today, tomorrow will be a lot easier.

And it’s not really ‘today’. It comes down to a few intense moments of urges and cravings.

Ultimately, we all know how great it feels to eat healthy and exercise. But we all know how easy it is to do the alternative.

Today, especially, focus on one meal at a time.

Set yourself up for success! Get rid of all your Thanksgiving treats. Go to the grocery store and get some healthy foods. Drink lots of water. Eat slowly.

When your head hits the pillow tonight, you’ll be glad you got back in the groove!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Nothing like a good meal, great company and some football!

It’s impossible to be thankful and unhappy at the same time. The two emotions cannot coexist. Thankfulness magically gets rid of every other non-happy emotion there is.

However, for anyone who values their health and fitness, Thanksgiving can be the start of a downward spiral.

Here’s 15 ideas for you to use this Thursday so you can remain on point:

1. Your life isn’t a Normal Rockwell painting

We all have preconceived notions on how Thanksgiving should be. We can’t choose our family so you might as well make the best of it, right? Try lowering your expectations. The less you are disappointed, the more you are likely to appreciate and enjoy the day.

Example, for the first time in my life (at least I don’t remember the first 4 years of it) my father and mom are going to be at the same Thanksgiving table.

This is going to be extremely awkward for my sister and me. As anxious as we are, I’m trying to go into it with no expectations.

2. Wear your best belt and your tightest pants

It’s a lot easier to stop eating when you know you’re full. One telltale clue is when your clothes and belt starts telling you. Sounds obvious, but stopping when you’re full is probably one of the harder things to do at the Thanksgiving table when everyone else is helping themselves to seconds and thirds.

It will be easier to stop if you wear very tight pants because then you’ll have to push away from the table when you’re stuffed. You’ll just be too uncomfortable otherwise.

3. Save your calories for dinner

If you want to be a great guest and enjoy the meal the most, skip the hors d’oeuvres. A good basic rule-of-thumb is don’t eat anything that doesn’t require a knife and fork.

4. Always hold a drink and a napkin

Do you really need an appetizer before a huge meal? You can’t control what your gracious host does, but you can control yourself. Make it harder to reach for something by holding a glass in one hand (preferably filled with water) and a napkin in the other.

5. To drink or not to drink?

Is alcohol a trigger? Our irrational mind tends to get a lot louder after a few drinks. Alcoholic drinks are not only loaded with calories (especially the sweet drinks and the eggnogs!) but they are likely to lower your inhibitions and might trigger you to eat more than you really want to.

6. Don’t talk politics

My mom is very intense about politics. My mom can go from extremely calm to extremely angry in less time than it takes to break a wish bone. If someone says something that annoys you – let it go! If you’re annoyed, you’re more likely to overeat.

7. Focus on the special stuff

Don’t waste your calories on large portions of food you can eat everyday. Limit the variety you have. Let’s make a rule: Only two items on your plate at any one time. Having a lot of different items on your plate stimulates your appetite.

8. Is it worth it?

Ask yourself, “Is this really worth it” before you dig in. Many times, we’re just eating food simply because it’s available.

9. Don’t make a diet fopaux

Just like you wouldn’t wear every accessory you own at the same time, you don’t need to go heavy on the sauces, gravy, dressings, etc. Less is more!

10. Small seconds are better than big firsts

Some people show their love through food. Research on memory shows that your Aunt Grace won’t remember how much you take, but she’ll remember if you liked it enough to take seconds, especially, if you announce it.

Try taking a little bit of Aunt Grace’s ‘famous’ mashed potatoes. Tell her how great they are. Then go back for seconds and say something like, “Aunt Grace, your mashies are so good I’m taking seconds!” She’ll be really happy…and your body will be really happy too because you’ll actually be eating less even though you’re going in for round two.

11. Slow down!

Seriously! Slow down. Pretend you’re a NY Times food critic. Really taste each and every bite. Put your fork and knife down. Take a sip of water. Engage in conversation. There’s no rush.

12. Forget the post dinner snacks

We won’t starve if we skip the late night turkey sandwich. This is a great time to focus on the family and not on the food. Besides, are you really hungry? Most likely, you’re just bored.

13. Plan activities

The holidays aren’t only about food, are they? They are about enjoying each other’s company, having fun and laughter! How about planning a fun activity?

A football game, a big game of monopoly, or how about that game where you have to guess the word while receiving clues? You can’t say the actual word though. And there’s a timer. Got it! Catchphrase! (See what I did there?) All these can be tons of fun.

14. Come out of the closet

Eat whatever you like but only out in the open. No sneaking.

15. Perfection doesn’t exist

Most importantly, and this is somewhat counterintuitive, don’t sweat it if you make a dietary mistake or two or three. We all will. And we’ll have the other 364 days to do it right!

Just like any other day, Thanksgiving will have its ups and downs too. There is no perfect day much less perfect Thanksgiving.

As always, if you’re consistent with your diet (and exercise) for the other 364 days you should be in great shape. If you’re not, I guarantee it’s because you’re not staying consistent with your diet and/or exercise. You might want to consider giving yourself – or someone else – the gift of MBT.

Finally, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for reading! Enjoy your family and friends and, of course, have a happy, healthy and fit Thanksgiving!

This morning, I client writes to me, “It’s 10:30 in the morning and my coworkers have already opened a bag of chips! No wonder my resistance for junk food is low by the end of the day…!”

Ugh, I hear ya. I do. Temptation makes everything harder. And sometimes no matter how much we prepare ourselves – removing all temptations in our homes, cars, etc., – we can’t control the temptations beyond our control.

The reason why temptation is a pain in the ass is because it forces us to have that conversation with ourselves. “Do I want this? Do I not want this?” “I want it!” “No! I don’t want it!”

“I deserve this! That’s it. I’m going for it.”

“I’m standing strong. I don’t want this. Forget it. I can’t bring myself to eat this.”

Sound familiar?

Yes, you can give in and eat whatever you want. But how is it going to make you feel when you’re done?

Honestly.

Note: Many times we’re actually giving in to shut our damn mind up because we’re tired of having this conversation with ourselves. It’s annoying and uncomfortable. If this is the case – and 90% of the time it is – stop being so selfish!

Let me explain: In this moment, you’re only thinking about you and your supposed cravings because it’s hard to ignore the closest and most ‘rewarding’ stimuli. This is the way we’re built. (And no, you’re not selfish.)

But focus on something or someone else! Stop thinking about yourself. Quickly.

As much as you think you ‘must’ have the junk, you don’t. You know you don’t.

Go to your favorite blog. Go on Facebook. Email me. Call someone. Go for a walk.

Engage in something, anything, that you truly enjoy doing. Even if it’s a guilty pleasure. Just do anything besides eating.

These urges and periods of intense discomfort will absolutely fade. They always do. For those tough few moments though say to yourself: “This too shall pass!”

Also, when in the battle of an intense craving, discomfort session, tension session, whatever you want to call it – acknowledge it. Laugh at it. Realize what it is. Focus on each minute. Don’t think about later or tomorrow. But mostly – focus on something else.

Anything.

You’ll absolutely, positively, feel better about staying strong.

Besides, it’s not really worth it. Is it?

Unless it’s going to make you feel good after you eat it, I don’t think so.

Thanksgiving is certainly in the air and when we anticipate change, or a different routine, we tend to go back to our old behaviors and forget about all of the change we’ve made.

For some reason, we feel as though ‘it doesn’t count’ right? Besides, we can just ’start back up next week’ we say to ourselves. Because it’s impossible to avoid all the temptations at work and holiday parties.

I don’t want to talk about Thanksgiving just yet. Instead, I want to talk about making the most of the 3 days we all have before Thanksgiving. (To my non-American clients, I apologize!)

I’m also not suggesting you worry about Thanksgiving. Instead, focus on today, tomorrow and Wednesday. If you make these 3 days extra focused, it’ll be a nice head start.

In fact, focusing on bite sized chunks is not only a good literal way to eat, but it helps to overcome resistance (the fear we all get before starting something new).

So what I want you to do is focus on making today, tomorrow and Wednesday incredible days. Both with your diet and exercise. Both with intensity and level of fullness.

And if you’re traveling on Wednesday focus on just today and tomorrow.

The party is Thursday. Not all week.

Just like when we’re cooking dinner, be sure you’re not eating dinner too. When you cook, cook. When you eat, eat.

Anything is possible in bite sized chunks. I’m not asking you to keep the intensity up forever.

Need some ideas?

Run 10 minutes longer than you normally do.

Eat 3/4 of what you normally do.

Lift 20 percent heavier than you typically lift.

Just for 3 days. You can do it!