Thanksgiving 2012: The Calorie Count

A couple of days before Thanksgiving, this fascinating article made the rounds on several of my news and food sites. The question asked was: how many calories will you eat on Thanksgiving Day?

The answer: 2,486 calories, excluding any alcohol or breakfast. They estimated including those could bloat it up to over 4500 calories.

This was their breakdown:
A six-ounce serving of turkey with the crispy skin on, including 4 ounces of dark meat and 2 ounces of white for a total of 299 calories.
• Sausage stuffing at 310 calories — go big or go home, right?
• Dinner roll with butter for 310 calories
• Two kinds of potatoes are always in order during the holidays: Big serving of mashed sweet-potato casserole made with butter, brown sugar and topped with marshmallows for 300 calories per serving, and a half-cup of mashed potatoes for  140 calories of starchy goodness.
• Green bean casserole at 110 calories for 2/3 cup, cranberry sauce at 15 calories and roasted brussels sprouts (veggies!) for 83 calories.
• Then there’s pie that has to get shoved in there — pumpkin pie at 316 calories per slice, pecan pie for 503 calories and lots of whipped cream on all of that at 100 calories.

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I decided to do my own tracking on the LoseIt! app. I already showed you guys the calorie counts for all the recipes I did, so adding them together was a snap.

My total for the whole day was somewhat less, and it DID include alcohol, breakfast, and the Thanksgiving Sandwich for dinner.

Breakfast was two mini cinnamon rolls and a small plate of fruit: 243 calories.

Pre-lunch was cheese-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon and a cranberry pomegranate cocktail: 403 calories.

Lunch was turkey breast with no skin (178), cranberry sauce (37), mashed potato casserole (195), cornbread stuffing (188), Brussels sprouts (59), green beans (57), and a second cranberry cocktail (216): 930 calories.

Dessert was pumpkin cheesecake and a pumpkin-oatmeal cookie: 362 calories.

Dinner was my absolute favorite part about Thanksgiving, The Sandwich. 2 slices wheat toast, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and a slice of bacon: 343 calories.

That comes to 2,281 for the whole day. My dinner alone was 930 compared to 1567 in the Times article. Guess burning the rolls helped me more than I thought! ;-D




How did you do? Does the thought of counting up the calories for Thanksgiving horrify you?

P.S. The costume for the flamingo was a gift from my mother-in-law; she got us outfits for them for all the major holidays. It's been a running joke that we make fun of the geese on her stoop that she decorates for the holidays, so this was her "revenge". Ha! She found them in a catalog somewhere. I am afraid to ask where. :)