Thanksgiving Calorie Countdown

By Mia Coen 

OK. I know that everyone’s excited for Thanksgiving, but if you’re on a weight-loss regimen like I am, you’re also very calorie-conscious and already planning out how you’re going to fight the flab this holiday season.

I did a little research and have come up with some great tips for how to burn off some excess calories, while having fun and spending time with family.

But first things first. I’m going to crunch some numbers to give you an idea of the calorie damage in a typical Thanksgiving dinner. Don’t get down on the numbers! It’s just food for thought:

•  Turkey Breast: 280 calories in an eight-ounce serving. That’s a very decent, half-pound serving of lean, high-protein meat. Now when your family is fighting over the legs, keep in mind that they are fighting over a 150-calorie appendage. You’re better off fighting over a wing, which contains only 50-60 calories each.

•  Turkey Gravy: up to 60 calories per half-cup. Though this may seem like it won’t affect your calorie deficit, gravy is equally bad for your diet when you look at the sodium content. This serving contains up to 550 milligrams of sodium. That’s nearly one-quarter of the recommended daily intake based on a 2,000-calorie diet! So do your heart a favor, and go easy!

• Stuffing: up to 350 calories per half-cup. OK—I know what you’re thinking. You know that expression, “It must be bad for me because it tastes so good?” Well, that’s the case with bread stuffing. It’s loaded with savory flavors and ingredients that are sure to tack on the calories, fat, and sodium, (which is probably why it’s one of the most delicious items on your plate).

•  Mashed Potatoes: up to 300 calories per cup. If your family is big on the mashed potatoes, then they won’t skip an ingredient. That means butter, cream or milk, salt, garlic, and sour cream. This dish is high in sodium (again, almost 1/4 of the recommended daily intake!), and high in fat (up to 20 grams per serving). Save room on the plate for the good stuff.

• Butternut Squash: up to 120 calories per half-cup. One of Thanksgiving’s staples is a hearty and delicious butternut squash purée. This warm, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth dish is also one of the healthiest items on your plate. Butternut squash is high in vitamin A and a little goes a long way.

• Cranberry Sauce: up to 110 calories per quarter-cup. If your family is like mine, they delicately remove the gelatin mold so it retains the shape of the can. Unfortunately, this ready-to-serve cranberry sauce is loaded with sugar (21 grams in a quarter cup!), and carbohydrates (25 grams!). You’re better off going all-natural and making a homemade sauce, which lightens it up to about 50 calories and 15 grams of sugar per serving.

• Green Bean Casserole: up to 300 calories per half-cup. Depending on the recipe, this dish can either make or break your plate. French-fried onions, cream soup, and cheese are typical ingredients that will pack on a substantial amount of sodium, fat, and cholesterol. So be careful with this one!

• Pecan Pie: up to 500 calories per slice. In case you didn’t know, the recipe calls for pecan nuts, sugar, and corn syrup. Need I say more? Maybe consider sharing a slice. 

• Pumpkin Pie: up to 500 calories per slice. Although this seems like a healthier alternative to the sugary pecan pie, a single slice packs in lots of fat (up to 30 grams), sodium (up to 500 milligrams), and carbohydrates (up to 60 grams). Maybe skip the whipped-cream topping.

You can worry less about the calories if you just stay active with the family on Turkey Day. A key thing to remember: The minutes add up! Every minute of activity plays an important role in weight-management, whether it’s a 10-minute walk, a 15-minute game of tag with the kids, taking the dog for a walk…These minutes add up to a considerable number of calories burned—or, you could say, calories earned.

You can earn yourself calories just by getting in some pre-Thanksgiving exercise and working up an appetite. I’ll be waking up tomorrow and grabbing the jump rope. This is an easy way to get the heart rate up and burn calories. Jumping rope burns 750 calories per hour. Just 15 minutes can burn off two glasses of wine!

Instead of having my morning coffee with cream and sugar like I normally do, I’m going to switch to green tea with lemon, which has next to zero calories, but will give me enough anti-oxidants and energy to get me into “baking mode.”

Playing tag, Frisbee, or even flag football can burn up to 350 calories an hour. A game of badminton or dancing can burn up to 200 calories every half-hour. Even just playing in the leaves with the kids can burn off a serving of butternut squash! 

Alternating your intensity between activities burns more calories than just exercising at one pace, so make sure you change it up! (For more info about this, check out Patricia Amend’s CBI Unbound post, “Help for a Healthy Holiday Season.”)

Or, you could do as the rest of American does and indulge this one day out of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!