The Toll of Christmas Lunch
It’s that time of year again where we allow ourselves to indulge on numerous festive flavoured treats, suffer from the occasional one too many, and generally go a little overboard ‘because it’s Christmas’.
While we at Maximuscle fully endorse having a blooming good festive season, it’s good to be aware of exactly how much toll, Christmas day indulgences can have on the body, and how much exercise needs to be done to work it off.
Christmas Day Calories
We have totted up the calorie toll of some typical food and drinks consumed on Christmas day including; a breakfast of smoked salmon scrambled eggs, turkey lunch with all the trimmings, nibbles and champers throughout the day, cheeseboard and crackers, and the obligatory 7pm turkey stuffing sandwich. This mammoth menu equates to an impressive 5025 calories, with a whopping 188g fat. This calorie toll is equivalent to 16 ½ cheeseburgers, 116 chicken nuggets or 55 deep-fried pieces of chicken.
| Meal | Calories (kcal) | Carbs (g) | Protein (g) | Fat (g) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | ||||
| Smoked salmon scrambled eggs with wholemeal bagel, orange juice and glass of champagne | 826 | 73 | 52 | 26 |
| Snacks | ||||
| 2 mince pies, 1 piece Christmas cake, chocolate, glass of champagne | 931 | 130 | 9 | 33 |
| Starter | ||||
| Tomato soup with 2 wholemeal rolls | 311 | 49 | 11 | 7 |
| Lunch | ||||
| Turkey lunch with all the trimmings | 1281 | 93 | 68 | 42 |
| Desert | ||||
| Christmas pudding with single cream | 590 | 93 | 9 | 20 |
| Cheese board | ||||
| 120g cheese with 4 crackers and grapes | 595 | 21 | 29 | 43 |
| Evening snacks | ||||
| Turkey and stuffing sandwich with hot chocolate | 491 | 58 | 30 | 15 |
| TOTAL | 5025 | 520 | 209 | 188 |
(The nutrient database, Nutritics, was used to estimate the calorie content of food and drink ingested on Christmas day.)
Burning off the Festive Fat
Unfortunately, all this delicious Christmas food and drink does come with its downsides. Given that the average calorie requirements is 2500 calories per day for men and 2000 calories for women, this Christmas feast is over double what is needed. If these excess calories aren’t burnt off with exercise they will sadly be stored as fat. So, what exercise will burn off the Christmas splurge? – Approximately 2 marathons, 7 hours swimming or 6 hours outdoor cycling.
To win your fight against the Christmas bulge, aim for a healthy balanced diet along with regular exercise soon after the festivities. Why not start out on the right path with Promax Lean.
