If there’s one meal of the year where calories shouldn’t count, it’s Christmas day. With so many delicious meats, carb-laden sides, and festive treats on offer, all bets are basically are off the table and loose clothing is a must.
If you eat a balanced diet most of the time, there’s no reason your Christmas feast should have to throw off your progress—after all, it would take an extra 3500 calories to gain just a kilo of fat. Trying to burn off all the calories you ate at lunch by slaving away on the treadmill when you should be enjoying family time is a fruitless task. However, in case you’re curious, we’ve rounded up how many calories are in some of your Christmas treats—and if you insist on trying to burn them off, some fun and sociable ways you can do so.
Turkey
Turkey is a Christmas day staple and it’s certainly not the worse thing you could eat. Not only is it high in protein, but three slices contain only 114 calories, which according to pet-sitting company TrustedHousesitters, could be burnt off with a 29-minute walk with your dog. A word of warning though, it may put you into a food coma as turkey contains the amino acid tryptophan, which is known to make you sleepy!
Christmas pudding
No festive feast would be complete without a slice (or three) of Christmas pudding. The traditional dessert contains around 285 calories per serving, which according to TrustedHousesitters, can be burned with a 39-minute hike.
Christmas ham
No one could be blamed for going HAM on the honey-glazed ham on Christmas day—it’s freakin’ delicious. Clocking in at around 130 calories per slice, it’s not too calorie-laden, but it does tend to be very high in sugar and sodium. You could burn it off by dancing to dancing to Christmas bangers like Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ for around 30 minutes.
Eggnog
It’s just as well this creamy, delicious alcoholic beverage is generally only consumed one day of the year—some brands contain up to 400 calories per cup! You could burn it off in around an hour with a vigorous game of tennis.
Mince pies
Another Christmas day staple, just one single, short-crust mince pie contains approximately 285 calories. According to TrustedHousesitters, this could be burned off with a half-hour bike ride.
Roast potatoes
Who can resist this delicious carby goodness on Christmas day? A 150-gram serve of roast potatoes contains 149 calories, which could be burned off with around a 20-minute swim at a moderate pace.
