The calories in your Christmas dinner revealed… and you’ll need to run TWO marathons to burn them off
The average person eating as many as 5,240 calories on Christmas Day splurging on turkey and all the trimmings
DO you know how many calories are in your Christmas dinner?
We all like to splurge on turkey and all the trimmings when the big day arrives with the average person eating as many as 5,240 calories on your festive blowout, including snacks and booze.
To burn that off you would need to run TWO marathons.
On average a marathon runner burns 2,600 calories over 26.2 mile course – that’s around 100 calories a mile.
If you’d rather cycle off your roasties you’ll need to hop on your bike for 109 miles, burning an average of 48 calories per mile.
Gym goers will need to spend nine hours working out, burning 590 calories an hour, and if you’d rather jump in the pool you’ll need to a front crawl for 13 hours.
Over the festive period the average person puts on around four pounds just between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.
It’s not difficult to see why – many people will gorge on more than twice their recommended daily calories intake in one sitting.
Even the smallest things can add on to your calorie intake.
Three roast potatoes sets you back 600 calories, four slices of turkey contains 404 calories, two glasses of Champagne adds on 226 and a portion of Christmas pudding with brandy butter and custard to round off the meal has 587 calories in one serving.
HOW MUCH DO YOU EAT ON CHRISTMAS DAY?
STARTERS:
- Smoked salmon with buttered toast and horseradish: 366 kcals
- Portion of nuts: 130 kcals
Total: 496 calories
What you'll have to do to burn them off:
- run for an hour
- cycle for 10 miles
- swim for one hour and 15 minutes
DINNER:
- Four slices of turkey: 404 kcals
- Three roast potatoes: 600 kcals
- Five pigs-in-blankets: 400 kcals
- Gravy - 79 kcals
- Three balls of stuffing: 375 kcals
- Buttered sprouts: 100 kcals
- Buttered carrots: 80 kcals
- Bread sauce: 90kcals
Total: 2,128 calories
What you'll have to do to burn them off:
- jog four miles every day for a week
- play four football matches
- hit the gym for four hours and 20 minutes
HOW MANY CALORIES ARE IN YOUR CHRISTMAS DESSERTS AND DRINKS?
DESSERT AND CHEESE:
- One mince pie: 177 kcals
- A portion of Christmas pudding, custard & brandy butter: 587 kcals
- Five Quality Street chocolates: 132 kcals
- One portion of cheese and buttered crackers: 394 kcals
Total: 1,290 calories
What you'll have to do to burn them off:
- run half a marathon
- four hours of pilates
- go for a four hour hike
DRINKS:
- Two glasses of champagne: 226 kcals
- A bottle of beer: 142 kcals
- Two glasses of white wine: 240 kcals
- Two glasses of red wine: 320 kcals
- A glass of port: 154 kcals
- A glass of mulled wine: 245 kcals
Total: 1,327 calories
What you'll have to do to burn them off:
- two and a half hours of running
- two rounds of golf
- three hours of tennis
That's 1,817 calories already, without counting trimmings like gravy, pigs in blankets, vegetables and cheese and biscuits.
And it takes until Easter for most dieters to shift the excess weight – just in time for Easter eggs to tempt them.
In a survey of more than 1,000 people by more than a third of people said it would take them four months to get back to the shape they were in before Christmas.
MORE ON DIET AND EXERCISE
Lee Smith, Forza Supplements managing director, said: “The problem most dieters have is they tend to ‘write off’ Christmas and go right over the top - not just on Christmas dinner but all the endless nibbles which are brought out between meals.
“We all want to have fun at Christmas but the best way to maintain a bit of discipline is to look at the hours or exercise you will have to carry out to burn off their calories.
“When dieters realise you have to run a half marathon to work off the calories consumed having Christmas pudding and cheese, they might just think it is worth calling it day after the turkey.”
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