Battle Stations #2

So you have planned out your "alone" time for the rest of this week.

Now, what do you plan to eat?

If you are standing in the kitchen for the next few days,set your personal menu for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks--and put them at a table in another room to eat them. This will reduce your "nibbling and testing" calories over the course of the day AND give you much-needed stress breaks.

If you are at the office, do the same--PLAN out your lunch, your afternoon snack. Don't EVER eat at your desk (I am SO adamant about this, I'm all-capsing: the only time I've ever saved someone with the Heimlich Maneuver occurred while she ate a poppy seed muffin at her computer during lunch. Everyone else was gone. If I hadn't been there, she wouldn't be here.) Take your food to a designated eating spot (even if you have to designate it yourself) and focus on it.

What (besides the big dinner) are the pitfalls and changes to your meal routine coming in the next few days? Will you spend all day Friday shopping? If so, plan for two to three fast food meals now and know what you are going to eat. Company websites can give you nutrition info, so look up Subway, Burger King or Panda Express and choose your food now.

You will eat this week. You will, in all likelihood, eat more than your body needs. But if you walk into the week eyes wide open and a plan in hand you will minimize the damage, and more importantly, minimize the guilt and self-disgust. It is supposed to be a Happy Thanksgiving, remember?

P.S. Amanda and Anonymous Pam: Thank you for the comments yesterday! Amanda won the coin toss, so please e-mail me your snail-mail addy at keri@radiantfitness.com.