The Quintanas, Week 9: Gobble, Gobble, Gobble (We Did)

A wise pilgrim reading my post from last week might have said, "Pick up the pieces and don't skip a beat ... unless there are turkey and mashed potatoes to eat!"

Thanksgiving was not the best time to try to right ourselves after a week of emergency-induced poor eating, but we did our best -- and that wasn't too bad. It's ancient history at this point, but we behaved so well, I feel inclined to brag about it.

The week started off with a motivated bang. David, my husband, and the kids made it to training at American Top Team Doral on Tuesday, while I rested off the events of the previous seven days.

I was missing my workout once again, since yoga classes at Pranoga had been put on hiatus for two weeks as my instructor, Aditya Gir, traveled to see his family in India. I knew that I would have to be extra careful with my eating, in order to compensate for the lack of exercise. By lack, I mean zilch, zero, nada!

How to be careful during a holiday that is completely about eating? I thought about this as the big feasting day approached.


I was bestowed with the honor of hosting Thanksgiving in my home this year.

I prepared the turkey for my family, and slow-roasted it the night before. That evening, I also pondered my first-ever Tofurky, which I had picked up for the occasion.

The next morning, my mom showed up and the marathon began.

I like to make as much as possible from scratch. I made my homemade mashed potatoes, with sour cream, butter, salt and pepper. We also served green-bean casserole, corn on the cob and cornbread stuffing.

I had a small portion of potatoes. I ate my veggies. (I'll be honest: After the criticism my addiction to Reese's Pieces -- which are not vegan -- received during week three, I'm looking more closely at labels, and have realized that most vegetarian foods, such as Boca Burgers and Morning Star products, contain milk and/or eggs. So I am no longer calling myself a vegan. Who am I kidding? I am a vegetarian.)

Everyone else enjoyed the beautiful turkey and fixings. Aaron, Elizabeth, Christian and Chloe, our children, all made us proud. Each one mustered up the bravery to taste every dish. Yes, even the green-bean casserole!

David, my husband, king of the oversized portions, only had second helpings. I know what you are thinking -- but in his defense, David would normally eat three to four helpings of everything. Not only did he limit himself to two servings at this special meal, he munched on raw veggies throughout the whole day leading up to it. He had mumbled something as he crawled out of bed that morning about saving all 2,000 of his calories for dinner.

The pumpkin and apple pies, I purchased -- unlike Amy Hatch, my Healthy Families Challenge contender, who spent the whole week baking desserts for the special occasion. Chloe, my youngest, surprised us by discovering that she loved pumpkin pie, something she would never even taste before due to its unappealing color.

We had been given permission by our nutritionist, Su-Nui Escobar, to take the day off from dieting on Thanksgiving. She asked us to "please not over-exaggerate," but to enjoy the meal before us. She didn't clarify exactly what "over-exaggerating" meant, but in my opinion, everyone was pretty good.

David even got to the gym on both the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving! And Chloe, make no mistake, made it to her session at the Little Gym of Doral on Saturday, as they are beginning preparation for their end-of-semester show, where they'll demonstrate all the cool gymnastics moves they've learned throughout the course.

After three days of leftovers, little to no exercise, and a couple of sinks full of dishes, I was down another 2.5 pounds, bringing me to 136 pounds -- and a total weight loss of 9.5 pounds since I began the Challenge. David is down another three pounds, bringing him to his lowest weight since discovering my wonderful cooking skills almost 12 years ago.

We've sworn at this point that there will be no future compromises, holiday or not, because we have not felt or looked this good in years.

Hopefully we will remember that come Christmastime, arriving in a few short weeks!

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