Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

So here's the first test! And so far I'm doing well - I'm having a super low cal day to save up for the evening meal at my in-law's house. I've made a list and plan on sticking to it for dinner, including the mac and cheese - it's a staple at my mother in law's dinners because it's so yummy, and I should be able to squeeze in a small piece of pumpkin pie and stay under 1600 calories for the day.

So that's the plan - I'll let you know tomorrow how it went, after I get back form the emergency room (hopefully just kidding). I'm going to Wal Mart for Black Friday for the very first time tomorrow, and I should be able to finish my Christmas shopping there and stay within budget if I'm lucky. I'm a little bit nervous though - I hear it can be a bit of a mad house, and being up at 3am really doesn't sound fabulous.

But I'm thankful this season. I'm thankful that we're still, by the skin of our teeth, in OK financial shape after the bashing that was the past year. Losing my job and then hubby being hit by a car was a major stress, but we're still here, and still fighting. I'm thankful for a daughter who has understood "we can't afford that" for the past year and hasn't complained once. I'm thankful that we still have a roof over our head, and I'm thankful that the financial stress hasn't seemed to put stress on our marriage, in fact, apart from the occasional heated exchange, we're probably closer than we were before.

So, it's been a tough year, but it hasn't been a bad year. There's a difference, and I'm thankful for that.

Planning time

I always feel better going into challenging situations with a plan, so it's about time I started thinking about a holiday eating plan.

Not so much for Thanksgiving, because I've never really been a fan. I'm a fan of the being thankful part, and definitely of the watching football all day part ( which I never really get to do because I'm expected to sit and look at sale ads with all the other women at my in-laws house), but it just seems so wrong eating a turkey dinner in November. I'm English, I never grew up with Thanksgiving and although I love the idea of having a day to count my blessings, I don't have that innate need to count my blessings with food. So I'll actually be able to stick to my calories Thanksgiving no problem.

Christmas is a whole other story though. I'd have to say that in the UK even more so than in the US, Christmas is celebrated with the over consumption of really good food. I remember from my childhood people putting money away every week from their paycheck to pay for the extra nice food they would eat over Christmas. My parents will be coming over and staying with us for a month this year, which I'm excited as anything about, but it also means I'm going to have to be pretty careful. For most of the month it shouldn't be too hard to stick to my plan, since my mum cooks healthier dinners than I do - in fact, it'll be a month of learning to cook much better for you food. My dad is diabetic and controls it with diet alone, so dinners that we all eat together should be no problem whatsoever.

My issues will be eating out (which we do rarely anymore because of the money situation but we'll be expected to at least a few times over the holidays) and Christmas week its self. I think I'm going to allow myself Christmas day and boxing day "off" and do the same with New Year's Eve. Every other day I'll stick to my calories. If I can maintain what I've lost over Christmas and New Year, I'll be happy. If I happen to lose any, I'll be ecstatic.

And what am I thankful for today? I've decided that today I'm going to focus on being thankful for my body. I can't hate my body because I've ruined it over the last few years. That's not my body's fault. In fact, my body has stood up pretty well to the abuse, and I'm grateful for that. I could have many more health problems than I currently have. If I'm going to move forward on this journey, I'm going to have to start loving it - and taking better care of it.