>>a few slices of my mom's famous pumpkin pie,>>

A few slices?

Why isn't one enough????

okay folks, here's what I'm thinking: LC pumpkin pie! why not, some stevia, some cream...

I'm so gonna figure this one out!!

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/crustless_pumpkin_pie.html

http://www.atkins.com/recipes/p/pumpkin-cheesecake-790

My opinion is there is absolutely nothing wrong with a planned cheat day. It's not a "crime" to eat off plan - enjoy the things you love on a holiday. The key is to get right back on the next day. I've been doing Atkins for years and have had many planned cheats - as long as you're committed to your weight loss and jump back on - you're fine!

Wow. You all really got me thinking! I had my mind made up that I was going to have a planned indulgence on Thanksgiving and eat some Sushi from Costcos, but now I'm not so sure that I will. However, I did indulge on the 4th of July and experienced a 1.5 lb weight loss the next day. My sister says it was because I ate my carrot cake and cherry pie within a 1-hr time frame like the reward meal that the Hellers wrote about in 'The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet.' So--maybe I'll have that sushi after all. If so, I'll eat it within a 1-hr time frame an indulge no more.

SJMiller - You rock!

While I was over on fitday getting the carb stats for "a few pieces of pumpkin pie" and some "stuffing", you slipped in with a like-minded post.

BTW, bread stuffing, 1 cup, moist type, 43 carbs.

A lot of rationalizations flying around here, but IMHO most people will find themselves in the same boat as Solitaire did last year. You people are playing with fire and I wish only the best for each one of you. However, I don't feel confident in your long term success, especially those in the early stages of Atkins. Many, not all by any means, Thanksgiving side dishes (stuffing, potatoes) and desserts (pumpkin pie/pecan pie) are prototypes of how we ended up on this board to begin with. It just seems counterintuitive to eat that stuff if you actually believe in this WOE.

For me, I believe in this way of eating and when I veer off, I'm heading right back to being fat and miserable. Let's see, pumpkin pie? Fat and miserable? That's an easy one for me anyway.

Good luck daredevils.

sj miller and googoo, thanks for the analogies of trying to please people by violating food allergies and sobriety. That is useful for me, and not just at Thanksgiving.


Here are some more pumpkin desserts recently posted that I bookmarked:

No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost...83&postcount=42

Pumpkin Custard:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showpost...&postcount=1943

Allison

its a personal choice - it comes down to your personality..

ask yourself

1: will the binging carry on to the next day?
2. wil u regret it?
3 will u feel guilty?

if yes to any of those, then it aint worth it..

i usually give myself the day off, i relate christmas to food, reminds me of my childhood, etc - HOWEVER i feel awful after
last xmas i gained 5 POUNDS just from xmas day

the next day i was STARVING so i ate more..i gained and gained and gained

plus i ruined my xmas by feeling fat and bloated and it was the one day i wanted to be slim for,..

it depends on the type of person u are,,,,x

What are you going to do this Christmas?

Its up to the individual. If they choose to eat off plan then so be it. No one should be punished for thinking about it.

I myself am trying to come up with a yummy LC menus that day. Since my hubby is now on Atkins with me and it will just be him,me & our kids this year I think we can manage now without other ppl bringing their own desserts,etc.. Hubby says he really wants rolls,so I am trying to find a good LC friendly recipe. I am sure we may "cheat" as in go over our daily carbs,but I guess we will find out that day.

Thanksgiving was last weekend for me. I have not stopped cheating yet, right down to making some maple fudge this afternoon, after eating a store bought chocolate muffin. I do have LC Flax muffins in the freezer. All this is after being very good for a year.

Someone up thread mentioned it earlier, and for myself and my girlfriend, we look at it as a treat, not a cheat. I find I don't have the taste for really carby foods anymore. This morning my steak and eggs came with potatoes. I ate the eggs, attacked the steak, and after all that I tried two pieces of potato. Wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

As for Thanksgiving dinner, I have never really liked mashed potatoes and gravy, or ANY kind of stuffing. I'll be eating the ham and green beans, a little of the bird, but as far as sweet potatoes or desserts like pecan pie, no thank you.

SJTMILLER, thanks for the link to that pumpkin cheese cake, it looks awesome. I'll have to try it out a few times so I can get it right before I show up to TG dinner and start handing it out.

When friends and family come over for dinner, they are constantly surprised by how good our food is. Lots of people think low carb food is bland and repetitive, but I find that those people tend to be people that don't cook much, or are afraid of trying new foods.

Kristine, a mod here, has a great pumpkin pie recipe. I made it and my family ate it, with my sf whipped cream instead of the sugary laden one!
I made my own cranberry sauce, with a bit of liquid splenda and a few strawberries in it.

I had sausage stuffing (recipe on this site), fauxtatoes, brussel sprouts sauted in garlic butter with bacon bits (I'd used the bacon to lay across the turkey for a wonderful flavour)

I made acorn squash, cut and cleaned then baked with sf maple syrup and butter.

I had some potatoes for the carbies in my family, but they devoured all the other things and barely touched them!

I froze my cranberry sauce for Christmas. The BEST thing about thanksgiving is all the low carb fare!

I feel empowered and proud that I didn't go off plan. Why waste a possible woosh? why have to fight back those pounds you may have lost but gained instead?

I went off for my birthday, not bad as I didn't gain, but gotta tell ya, all the things I thought were going to be wonderful soooo weren't. They were dismal in real life. I'd built it all up in my head and in the end, wasn't worth it.

go low carb for the holidays! Take along some amazing decadent dishes to the meal if you're not cooking. No one would feel it was rude to bring food!

This advice, I guess, comes under the category of 'do as I say, not as I do'.

I'm a Canadian, therefore celebrated last weekend. I ate it all and felt physically awful afterward. I jumped right back on the Atkins bandwagon the next day - thankfully and with no problem. We're all different.

In retrospect the verbotin food wasn't really that great anyway. Not that that stopped me from eating it.

Anyhow, as I already said, my advice is not to eat it....easy for me to say...I already ate it!

Sorry for not being helpful at all.

Maybe, if you're undecided and simply agonizing over this issue, you should leave the option open to make a choice at the very last minute. This means making sufficient LC dishes and desserts to get you through the meal just in case you decide you don't want to cheat when you sit down at the table. Start your meal with the LC dishes... see if they keep you satisfied, or if the other dishes are too much temptation to resist.

You may find yourself pleasantly surprised by the fact you don't want any off-plan stuff at all. (Heck, others might find themselves pleasantly surprised when they taste the LC dishes you made!) Or, you might end up succumbing to temptation -- but eating less high-carb food because there's also LC-friendly food to pair it with.