Maintain a lean, healthy body by keeping track of your Thanksgiving calories this coming holiday season.
Keeping Track of This Year’s Thanksgiving Calories
Food
Keeping track of the calories you consume is important no matter what your fitness goal is. Here’s how much calories every Thanksgiving food item has.
Turkey
Serving size: 3 ounces (The size of a deck of cards)
Calories: 132 (white meat)
How many calories are in a slice of Thanksgiving turkey? Well, the calories in turkey dinner with all the trimmings are around 132 per 3 ounces. Take note that this is for white meat turkey. Dark meat turkey is much tastier but has more fats and calories.
Vegetables
Serving size: ½ cup (a rounded handful of chosen veggies)
Calories: Varies
A half cup of vegetables is the palate cleanser you need to wash off all the fats and grease you’re consuming. Stick to green, leafy vegetable for fewer calories and more vitamins and minerals.
Salad
Serving size: 1 cup (the size a baseball)
Calories: 100-150 (depending on the dressing)
A cup of salad usually has around 100 to 150 calories. Keep in mind that most pre-packaged dressings are extremely high in calories.
To cut back on Thanksgiving calories, opt to use low-calorie cheese or vinaigrette instead of traditional dressings such as thousand island.
Gravy
Serving size: ¼ cup (the size of a golf ball)
Calories: 30-50
Contrary to popular belief, gravy doesn’t contain that many calories. In fact, there are only around 30 to 50 calories in a ¼ cup of gravy.
Just make sure not to eat more than a cup to avoid consuming too much sodium.
Cranberry Sauce
Serving size: ¼ cup (the size of a golf ball)
Calories: 105
Cranberry sauce is another Thanksgiving favorite. However, when counting your Thanksgiving calories, keep in mind that cranberry sauce has more than double the amount of fat that gravy has.
Stuffing
Serving size: ½ cup (the size of a standard ice cream scoop)
Calories: 180
Try to keep your turkey stuffing down to less than half a cup. Going over that will just increase your Thanksgiving calories.
Potatoes (Sweet or Mashed)
Serving size: ½ cup (the size of half a tennis ball)
Calories: 145
Sweet and mashed potatoes are a must at any Thanksgiving dinner. Luckily, you won’t consume too many carbs and calories if you only eat half a cup.
Tip: Don’t drown the potatoes in gravy. Doing so not only lessens the flavor, but it also adds unnecessary Thanksgiving calories.
Cornbread (Without Butter)
Serving size: 1 medium muffin or square (the size of a bar of soap)
Calories: 175
A serving of cornbread without butter has around 175 calories. It’s best to limit yourself to one piece of cornbread.
Think about it, this pastry has more calories than a serving of white meat turkey.
Butter or Margarine
Serving size: 1 teaspoon (the size of a dice)
Calories: 36
Adding a teaspoon of butter or margarine on your cornbread will lead to an extra 36 calories.
Pie
Serving size: ⅛ of a 9” pie (the size of a standard light bulb)
Calories: 323 (pumpkin), 456 (pecan)
Thanksgiving day is the perfect opportunity for families to bust out their best pie recipe. However, if you want to cut back on the calories in your Thanksgiving dinner, stick to eating pumpkin pie.
But if you simply can’t resist the goodness of a pecan pie, just try to lessen the amount you’re eating.
Drinks
Let’s face it: no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without a few rounds of drinks. But keep in mind that alcoholic beverages add a ton to your Thanksgiving calories. Plus, they offer zero nutritional value.
However, Thanksgiving only comes once a year. So we can’t blame you for having a glass or two.
Overall, the best pick among these drinks is champagne. Meanwhile, try to steer clear of the sugary cocktail drinks and calorie-filled beer.
White Wine
Calories: 121 per glass
White wine is a great alcoholic drink that helps lower cholesterol and balance your blood sugar. After all the food you ate, a glass of white wine may be the cleanser you need.
Red Wine
Calories: 127 per glass
While it does have 127 calories per glass, red wine contains plenty of antioxidants that are helpful to the body. You can opt to have a glass or two this Thanksgiving.
Champagne
Calories: 78 per glass
Champagne drinks are very smooth and easy to drink. Plus, they only have 78 calories per glass. They’re the ideal alcoholic beverage to down this coming holiday season.
Regular Beer
Calories: 150 per bottle
Many of us are too lazy to do anything other than pop open a bottle of beer. But if you want to stick to your fitness goals, it’s best to lay off the regular beer this Thanksgiving.
Light Beer
Calories: 95 per bottle
If you really don’t want to drink anything other than beer, don’t worry! Opt for light beer instead. It packs as much punch and flavor as regular beer minus the extra calories and carbs.
Generic Cocktail
Calories: 155 per glass
This Thanksgiving, it’s best to skip out on these sugary cocktail drinks. They contain too many sweeteners and juice that add up to carb- and calorie-consumption.
Download this infographic now and reference it later.
This is just a simple guide you can use to keep track of your Thanksgiving calories. Overall, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables should make up the biggest part of your meal.
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