Thanksgiving usually isn't much of a test for me when it comes to eating and portion control.

I'm simply not a big fan of stuffing, cranberry sauce and … (Dare I say it?) … turkey. I know, I know, I'm in the minority on this, and my husband loves Thanksgiving food. Feed him turkey and stuffing on his birthday, which is in June, and he's a happy man.

Growing up, my family always made a ham to complement the turkey, and I get way more excited about the salty sweet goodness of a well-cooked ham. However, I've found that a lot of people don't do ham at Thanksgiving, so turkey remains the go-to main entree.

But as a kid, I'd pile ham, a couple of green beans (because somebody would inevitably tell me to put some vegetables on my plate) and a roll or two on my plate. For me, the only part of Thanksgiving that made up for having to dodge the dreaded stuffing and oddly textured yams were the pies.

My aunt made the best pies - chocolate, pumpkin, pecan, some pink thing for which I never really knew the ingredients. The best part of Thanksgiving was when my aunt walked into my grandmother's house carrying a stack of aluminum foil-covered tins. To this day, I've yet to find a chocolate pie as good as my aunt's pie. Believe me, I've tried.

Since she died several years ago, pie no longer excites me. It's just not the same.

And that's why I don't usually join in on the gluttony of Thanksgiving. I get a little turkey, a small spoonful of green beans and a small scoop of mashed potatoes. It's really like any other meal for me. Of course, I do still indulge in a small piece of pie, even if it isn't as good as the desserts I ate as a kid.

However, occasionally in South Texas on Thanksgiving, I get thrown for a loop. Tamales. They're my weakness. Those greasy, lard-filled bites of deliciousness get me every time, especially if they're chicken and cheese. You can take all other things Thanksgiving, just give me tamales. Put those in front of me and all thoughts of a healthy lifestyle go out the window.

Luckily, I only weigh myself every month or so. I decided around September that weighing myself once a day or even once a week makes me crazy. It throws me through this emotional loop every week that basically ends in me eating sweets until I feel sick and feel sorry for myself.

This time around I'm trying to lose weight slowly. No crash dieting, no starving myself. And that means there won't be dramatic weight loss every week.

I stepped on the scale this week for the first time since before Thanksgiving and found I had lost a pound a half. Not bad, considering I have eaten terribly. It wasn't just the Thanksgiving tamales. I'm a stress eater, and I have been stressed out. I think remaining active, aiming to walk three miles a day has helped.

I also think it helps that, although I stress eat, I'm not eating as bad of things as I once did.

For the past month or so, I've made a big pot of a chicken soup recipe I found on Pinterest. It's filled with cabbage, broccoli and carrots and has a slightly spicy flavor. It's called Southwest Chicken Detox Soup, and I take a bowl of it to work every day for lunch.

I also take baggies of popcorn ( 70 calories) each, packs of four thin Oreos (140 calories each) and a bag of chips (180 calories each) to work for munching. Yes, I could be eating much better, but I'll tell you, I'm losing weight, and I don't hate my life. Baby steps, people.

It's not been easy, and I'm far from perfect, but progress is progress, and I'll take it. I'm down 32 pounds since I started this journey in July. I feel amazing.

But what about you? What are you doing to stay or get healthy? I'd love to hear your tips and success stories. Tweet me @ByJulieSilva or email me at

Julie Silva is editor of Observer Newspapers and oversees the Atascocita, Humble, Kingwood and Lake Houston editions.