How much exercise does it take to work off YOUR favourite festive food? Experts reveal the number of squats, lunges and planks you need to burn off the calories (and it’s not good news if you enjoy Christmas pudding!)
- Experts looked into how many exercises are needed to burn off festive foods
- GolfSupport.com found most calorific is the Christmas Pudding (305 kcals)
- Calculated it would take a staggering 1,445 squats to burn off just one serving
- Pigs in Blanket (280 kcals) placed second and 430 burpees would be needed
- For Brussel sprouts (45 kcals), only a 4-minute jog required to burn off a serving
With the timeless phrase ‘why not, it’s Christmas?’ uttered throughout the festive season, it is of no surprise many of us come to regret our festive overindulgence in the New Year when the extra pounds just won’t budge.
With this in mind, fitness experts working with GolfSupport.com decided to look into how many repetitions of popular exercises someone would have to do to burn off the calories in popular festive foods.
After finding the top 15 most popular Christmas foods, GolfSupport.com calculated the average calories per serving to find out how many squats, burpees, lunges, planks, and jogs you would have to do to burn those festive calories off.
Experts at GolfSupport.com decided to look into how many exercises we’d have to do to burn off our favourite festive foods – and the results found the Christmas pudding (pictured) to be the most calorific of all at 305 calories per serving
| Food | Calories | Squats | Lunges | Plank | Jogging | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas pudding | 305 | 1445 | 578 | 29 | 29 | |
| Pigs in blankets | 280 | 1350 | 532 | 27 | 27 | |
| Bread and cheese | 196 | 945 | 374 | 18 | 19 | |
| Yorkshire puddings | 191 | 900 | 360 | 18 | 18 | |
| Roast potatoes | 179 | 855 | 338 | 17 | 17 | |
| Mince pies | 177 | 851 | 332 | 17 | 17 | |
| Gingerbread men | 147 | 707 | 278 | 14 | 14 | |
| Yule log | 144 | 689 | 276 | 14 | 14 | |
| Quality Street | 132 | 630 | 256 | 13 | 13 | |
| Stuffing | 101 | 473 | 184 | 10 | 10 | |
| Roasted parsnips | 100 | 473 | 184 | 10 | 10 | |
| Turkey | 70 | 360 | 138 | 7 | 7 | |
| Roasted chestnuts | 68 | 315 | 124 | 7 | 6 | |
| Candy canes | 50 | 248 | 100 | 5 | 5 | |
| Brussel Sprouts | 45 | 225 | 82 | 5 | 4 |
The results found the most calorific food item is Christmas pudding at 305 calories per serving, which they estimated would take a whopping 1,445 squats, 460 burpees, 578 lunges, 29 1-minute planks or 29 minute jog to burn off.
Just behind is the nations’ favourite pigs in blankets, at 280 calories per serving.
To burn a serving of pigs in blankets off, you would need to do 1,350 squats, 430 burpees, 532 lunges, 27 1-minute planks or 27 minutes of jogging.
In third place is a serving of bread and cheese, with approximately 945 squats needed, followed by Yorkshire puddings in fourth place, which come in at 191 calories and would take 900 squats to burn off.
Coming in fifth is the dish that makes every Christmas dinner complete, roast potatoes.
Yorkshire puddings came in fourth place and would take 900 squats to burn off (pictured, left), while roast potatoes placed fifth – and would require the nation to jog for 17 minutes in an effort to burn one serving off> Pictured, stock images
At 177 calories, one serving of mince pies would 851 squats and 332 lunges. Pictured, stock image
These would require the nation to jog for 17 minutes in an effort to burn one serving off.
Meanwhile, the festive treat that is a mince pie placed sixth, with it taking 851 squats or 332 lunges to burn off the 177 calories contained in one serving.
At the bottom of the list is roasted chestnuts. To burn off one serving of this festive treat, you would need to do 315 squats.
Just behind Roasted Chestnuts is Candy Canes, with only 5 1-minute planks needed to burn one off.
Finally, rounding off the top 15, is the love-them-or-hate-them, Brussel sprouts. A 4-minute jog will burn this smelly serving off!
To burn a serving of Pigs in Blankets (pictured left) off, which come to 280 calories, the experts calculated you would need to do 1,350 squats, 430 burpees, 532 lunges, 27 1-minute planks or 27 minutes of jogging, while a serving of bread and cheese would require approximately 945 squats