What to keep in mind as you belly up to your Thanksgiving Day meal

The upcoming holiday season is the one time of year where even the best of us can take a serious detour from our diets. 

Take Thanksgiving. You'll be hanging around the house with family and friends, surrounded by food and watching football. (Now that the NFL has added a third game in recent seasons, there's even more of an incentive to stay on the couch.) But remember this is just one day out of 365. You won't totally go off the tracks if you feast on that second (even third) piece of pumpkin pie. 

A pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories above your daily energy needs. (My daily energy needs are about 3,000 calories.) You can calculate yours here with this ACE Fitness tool. Could I eat 6,500 calories on Thursday? Sure and it might not be that difficult to do.

"Feasibly, a person could consume tens of thousands of calories," registered dietitian (and AJP Training's nutrition guru) Jayne Leonhardt says. 

#86521621 / gettyimages.com

Let's look at a sample 3,242-calorie Thanksgiving meal broken down by The Daily Meal: 

Mashed Potatoes (with Whole Milk and Butter): 237 calories per 1 cup Green Bean Casserole: 230 calories per 1 cup Candied Yams: 206 calories per 1 cup Cranberry Sauce Canned: 420 calories per 1 cup Stuffing: 350 calories per 1 cup Biscuit: 150 calories per biscuit with 36 calories per 1 pat of butter Turkey (3.5 ounces turkey) Dark meat with skin: 232 calories Turkey Gravy: 100 calories per 1 cup Brussels Sprouts: 38 calories per 1 cup Corn: 132 calories per ear; with butter: 36 Calories per 1 pat of butter Spinach: 41 calories per 1 cup Beer (Regular): Average 150 calories per bottle Generic Old Fashioned Cocktail: 155 calories per glass Reds (Burgundy): 127 calories per glass Pecan Pie: 503 calories per 1 slice (1/8 divided pie) Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop: 125 calories per 1/2 cup Whipped Cream: 15 calories per 2 tablespoons.

Looking at that, it's easy to see how you could easily double that caloric figure. 

Here are some tips to have a healthier Thanksgiving:

Stay active: Most of us don't have our meals until the late afternoon. So, why not get a workout in before that? A 5k turkey trot will allow you to burn between 300-400 calories. You can come to my boot camp class at 10 a.m. on Thursday and burn between 500-700 calories, plus it's way more fun than running. Go for a walk after the meal. 

Drink water throughout the day: You'll be less likely to gorge if your stomach feels more full.

Don't hammer the alcohol too hard: Beyond the empty calories, alcohol can interfere with your metabolic process. (Alcohol is broken down before food and non-alcoholic drinks.) You'll also tend to eat more. 

Pick the right foods: Now, I'm not saying to bring or make some vegan dish that will make you an odd-ball at the table as others enjoy turkey. There should be a few healthy choices -- especially that turkey. (Skip the skin.) Pick beans over mashed potatoes. Corn over whatever that gelled cranberry stuff is. 

Keep seconds (and thirds) to a minimum: Treat this like any other day as much as possible. It's easy to lose track of how much you're eating when you're constantly refilling your plate. 

Don't get on the scale when you get home: Please, please, don't weigh yourself in the hours after your meal. You'll freak out. It will take some time for your body to process all that food and that heightened number will drop within 48 hours as your body processes all that food.  

Thanksgiving can still be fun even if you adhere to all my advice. Above all else, don't feel guilty. Like I wrote earlier, this is just one day. What you do the rest of the year will have much more of a bearing on whether you'll reach your fitness goals, 

World's Toughest Mudder: My journey to 50 miles in 24 hours -- and how you can start racing

Nine of my fingers are still numb from frostbite, I’m still not overly mobile and there are some intestinal issues that haven’t totally subsided yet.

Still, it was all worth it. I reached my goal of completing 50 miles at the World’s Toughest Mudder in Lake Las Vegas last weekend. No, it wasn’t easy and, looking back, I could’ve possibly squeezed out maybe another 10 miles had a couple things fallen my way.

Here I am getting through one of the tougher obstacles. Grab the Shaft. (Yes, the organizers have fun with the names.) 

But I think my tearful breakdown as I crossed the finish line for my 10th-and-final lap proved that I gave it all I had for 24 consecutive hours. I’m not usually a weepy mess. Yet, there I was welling up as I picked up my 50-mile bib Sunday morning at the conclusion of my first WTM.

I finished 227th out of more than 1,100 competitors. (There's proof at the bottom of this post. )

This was something I had trained to compete in for about a year. I had second thoughts about running this since I had severe IT band issues (a part of the body I make ALL my clients aware of) in my right leg in the weeks leading up to the race.

As a trainer, I knew what I had to do to keep that IT band functioning. (I used the foam roller after each lap.) Most of the obstacles were new to me, even though I had done seven Tough Mudders previously. Still, I designed my workouts to focus on the muscle groups needed to get me through the 23 obstacles per lap.

Curious to see what those workouts are? AJP Training will launch a weekly boot camp class starting this Sunday at 11 a.m. The class will cost $10 (through the final weeks of 2014) and will be limited to eight people, so make sure you email me and get on the list. Our goal will be to run in the June's Virginia Tough Mudder. 

I guarantee you won't have to work out in below-freezing sandstorm conditions like I had to last weekend. Here's a look at those winds:

When out in such conditions, Mudders had to Believe in themselves to Achieve their Goals!!! #BelieveAchieve Every WTMs, needs a World's Toughest Pit Crew!.. Only another Crazy will be out to video it!

I will have a lengthier feature running on a national website within the next month or so. You’ll have to wait to read about all the good stuff --- or you can come to my gym here in Sterling and I can reenact the best parts of the race. Bring barbwire, a cattle prod and mud to make the depiction accurate. 

Thanks to my dad for helping me set up my tent, get me into my wetsuit and cheering me on for a few hours as a member of my pit crew. Although my mom is still pissed I did it, she was in Vegas as well to help out. Also, a huge thanks to my wife and all the others who supported me -- either via text or on social media -- during the race.

Don’t worry. I’m not crying as I type this. Honest. 

AJP Training hits the World's Toughest Mudder

AJP Training will be closed Friday – Monday evening.

It’s for a good reason, I think. I’m running the World’s Toughest Mudder in Las Vegas this weekend. This is the 24-hour version of the Tough Mudder, a race I have done seven times over the last two years.

I’m already an ice hockey goalie, so this doesn’t seem much crazier to me. The race starts at 10 am PT on Saturday and runs until 10 am PT on Sunday. It’s a five-mile course with about 20 obstacles, including a massive cliff jump that includes a somewhat lengthy swim to shore. I’m aiming to complete 50 miles (10 laps), although my IT band could have something else to say about that,

My parents will be there to cheer me on and my dad will be the lone member of my pit crew. We are setting up the tent (which I really hope not to use much) on Friday. I have my wetsuit, compression shorts/leggings/socks, energy gummies/drinks and tons of water set to go. And, of course, I have the foam roller that I hope will allow me to stay on the course for at least the majority of the race. 

You can follow my progress (or lack of progress) on this site. There's also an iPhone and Android app to check out how the 1,200 or so competitors and I are doing. The Tough Mudder has a live stream going of the race as well, although with so many runners I'm not sure I'll be getting much play. (I can tell you now, I won't be vying for the title -- unless they created a goalie/journalist/trainer division.) I will also be updating the AJP Training Facebook page and my Twitter account when I can. My dad is awesome, but he won't be able to weigh in from his flip phone. 

On my plane trip out here, I've already met some fellow Toughest Mudders. We will be timed, unlike the regular Tough Mudder events. But the same collegial attitude among those who compete will remain intact. The Tough Mudder pledge remains intact. 

• I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.
• I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.
• I do not whine – kids whine.
• I help my fellow mudders complete the course.
• I overcome all fears.

I've warned all my clients that I may not be 100 percent when I get back to AJP Training Monday afternoon, but I'll give on 100 percent in our training sessions just like I will during this race.