Have your pudding and eat it too: Our guide to burning off your Christmas treats

Posted on 17 December, 2014

Christmas, for the vast majority of us, is a time of overindulgence. Most people will embrace a fairly decadent Christmas dinner or lunch with all the traditional trimmings. And so we should! It’s a special time of the year where we get to celebrate and be with our loved ones. By all means—eat, drink and be merry.

But let’s not forget that overindulgence has a price.

This year, I feel I’ve trained hard enough to earn a spot on Santa’s nice list. I should be able to enjoy a decadent meal without guilt or worry. But as Christmas approaches and the parties pile up, I’ve started to realise that it’s not Christmas lunch that does the worst of the damage—it’s the champagne at the work Christmas party, the mince pies thoughtlessly eaten as we sit at the kitchen bench chatting, the candy canes left on our desk by a thoughtful colleague, or the seconds of sugary desserts inhaled after hastily putting away a delicious full meal.

So, I consulted my friend, and resident nutritionist Kate Freeman to find out exactly how much exercise it takes to burn off our favourite Christmas treats. The answers won’t be making me any friends, but it’s information to keep in mind as we start to think about health and fitness goals for 2015.

Mince pie – 1 small pie (100g)

1038 kilojoules (248 calories), or a slow walk up Mount Ainslie

Champagne – 1 small glass (100ml)

189 kilojoules (45 calories), or running a kilometre in under 5-minutes (that’s fast!)

Beer, low carb – 1 stubby (375 ml)

454 kilojoules (108 calories), or half an hour of doubles tennis

Christmas pudding, with custard – 1 small slice (80g)

1218 kilojoules (295 calories), or swimming laps at a moderate pace for 57-minutes

Pavlova, with cream and fruit – 1 slice (80g)

984 kilojoules (235 calories), or 25-minutes of shaking your tail at Zumba, with hand weights

Peppermint candy cane – large (12g)

199 kilojoules (48 calories), or 10-minutes of continuously punching a punching bag

Potato chips – 1 cup (21g)

449 kilojoules (107 calories), or 30 minutes of heavy squats

Lindt ball – 1 piece (12.5g)

311 kilojoules (75 calories), or a 10-minute Crossfit WOD (workout of the day) with heavy kettle bells

So by all means, enjoy yourself over the Christmas break. But next time you reach for that fourth tiny-but-oh-so-delicious Lindt ball, imagine yourself doing a 40-minute Crossfit workout – ouch!