Thanksgiving Without the Regret: How to Survive the Holiday Without Gaining Weight (And Actually Build Momentum) | FIT
Thanksgiving is one of those sneaky villains in the fitness story. It strolls right in wearing warm colors, cinnamon smells, and grandma’s smile… Well-meaning family members — the same ones who haven’t hit a workout since 1998 — will try to guilt trip you with “That’s all you’re eating?” Then people get blindsided with a 3-to-5 pound spike on the scale.
And every year, folks act surprised.
We treat Thanksgiving like it’s some apocalyptic meteor event. As if one meal—ONE—has the gravitational pull to drag our entire health down into a crater.
Let’s set the record straight.
The turkey is not out to get you. The dressing (gross) isn’t plotting against your biceps. The sweet potato casserole doesn’t have an agenda.
What does get people is the mindset.
The story they tell themselves.
The “Well I already messed up, might as well coast into December and start fresh in January” lie. CHECK OUT MY THOUGHTS ON THAT MINDSET HERE.
That’s the real weight-gaining weapon.
Not food.
Not family.
Not the holiday.
The decision to quit until next year.
So let’s cut through the warm-and-cozy traditions and give you the real playbook for getting through Thanksgiving without gaining weight and carrying some actual momentum into the toughest stretch of the year.
Understand Water Weight So You Don’t Panic Like Everyone Else
Let’s talk numbers—boring maybe, but necessary.
The average Thanksgiving meal is 2,500 to 4,500 calories.
Do you know how many extra calories it takes to actually gain a pound of fat?
About 3,500.
Even if you go wild like a trash panda in a dumpster, you likely aren’t adding real fat it’ll mostly be water, sodium, and carbs.
Your body holds water when you:
Eat more salt
Eat more carbs
Eat more food, period
Drink less water
Drink more alcohol
Shocker: Thanksgiving checks all five boxes.
That “three-pound gain” on Friday morning is usually temporary.
It’s not your downfall unless you turn one indulgent day into a five-day free-for-all.
Get One Good Training Session Before the Feast
The day before Thanksgiving?
Lift like you’re earning your meal.
I’m not talking punishment workouts. That’s diet-culture nonsense.
I mean strategic training.
Hit something big:
Squats
Deadlifts
RDLs
Bench
Sprints
AirBike intervals
EMOM 20 walking lunges for 20 minutes
Something that gets the engine hot so the carbs you consume tomorrow actually go somewhere—preferably into muscle tissue, not storage.
A good session the day before makes the body more insulin-sensitive, meaning you’ll handle the calories better.
Thanksgiving Day: Eat Like An Adult
This one’s simple:
Don’t show up starving.
Every amateur does that. “I’m saving calories.”
No you're not. You’re setting yourself up to inhale stuffing like you’re Kobayashi.
Eat breakfast.
Hit protein.
Drink water.
Have a small meal before the big one.
Then at the meal:
Protein first
Veggies second
Carbs last
Dessert only if you actually want it, not because your aunt guilt-trips you
You don’t have to have a giant serving. Literally a bite or two.
Go For a Walk After the Meal (Yes, Just Walk)
Before you collapse into a food-coma, go for walk. But not with the cousins who always come back smelling like skunk.
5-10 minutes in 1 direction (that means you have to turn around and walk the same amount of time coming back).
Just enough to:
Help digestion
Lower blood sugar
Reduce bloat
Keep energy up
Make Friday morning less tragic
The Day After: Get Back on Track Immediately
This is the pivot point.
The crossroads where people either:
Slip into the holiday abyss of excuses.
orSeparate themselves from everyone else.
The day after Thanksgiving is famous for leftovers, laziness, and self-loathing.
Don’t fall for it.
Wake up, drink water, and train.
Do something—anything—to reset the rhythm.
You’re not “working off” Thanksgiving.
You’re re-establishing your identity. I heard a saying once that I like “people like us do things like this”. I wish there was some secret sauce that I could bottle up and sell — but it’s really that simple. If you want your body to look and feel a certain way, do the things that support that.
Hydrate Like You Mean It
You’re going to be salty.
You’re going to be carbed up.
You’re going to retain water like a camel preparing for a trek.
Drink aggressively for the next 48 hours.
Water + electrolytes = rapid return to baseline.
Think function over flavor.
If hydration bores you, congratulations. You’re an adult now. For more information about hydration, see my previous blog here.
Don’t Turn One Day Into a 5-Week Spiral
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s, most people gain between five and twelve pounds.
Not because of the holidays.
Because of the mindset that the holidays justify throwing their routines off a cliff.
But you’re not “most people.” Remember, people like us do things like this.
The holidays aren’t a minefield.
They’re a test.
And like any test, you prepare, you execute, and you move on.
Final Word: Win the Week, Not the Meal
If you train hard this week, hydrate, get sleep, hit protein, walk after the meal, and return to your routine the next day, you will glide through Thanksgiving with zero real damage. Realistically if you eat like a human trashcan — and if you do all of the aforementioned steps, you should be fine (It’s the people that eat like jerks for the next 5 weeks that are in trouble).
You may even set yourself up for a stronger December than ever before. Which would be nice.
Most people will hit pause.
But you’re not like most people are you? Because people like us do things like this ;) right?!
If you want momentum, you don’t get it by waiting for the calendar to save you. You create it. There’s nothing special about waiting for the new year — it’s just another way for you to procrastinate.
And nothing builds a stronger athlete or human than proving to yourself that you can enjoy life without abandoning your goals.