Think Twice Before You Grab That Treat
The holiday season is filled with tempting treats! How many of you find yourself grabbing a holiday cookie here or an extra glass of bubbly there as you tell yourself it’s not a big deal … you can burn off the calories later. It’s not as easy as you think! Read on to see how these little treats add up quickly and learn how to prevent holiday treat weight gain.
We’ve all been in situations where we reach for some “small” treat thinking it can’t do that much damage to our waistline. You tell yourself that you ‘ll burn the calories off with exercise later or will start dieting tomorrow. However keep in mind that mini indulgences on a regular basis will end up having an impact on your weight. As little as an extra 50 calories a day can lead to a 5 pound weight gain a year. And with the holiday season in full bloom, there are many tempting little treats around! AND I bet you aren’t burning off as many calories as you think in your exercise session (stay tuned for my upcoming blog post. My experiment is still in progress!)
Here are the scenerios:
- You’re in your office and see the box of chocolates. You think one little chocolate couldn’t hurt.
- You’re baking cookies at home (hmmm- do city girls bake? We usually don’t cook…) and see the cookie that came out malformed. You should probably eat it so your guests don’t think you are lacking in cookie baking skills.
- You are at a holiday party and see the bowl of nuts. One little handful couldn’t hurt.
- You have already had 3 glasses of bubbly at your holiday party. Why not one more small glass?
Before you indulge, think twice!
One holiday cookie = 100 – 150 calories 
One bite of cookie dough = 50 calories
One tablespoon of frosting = 60 calories
The piece of candy that flows over the candy dish = 100 calories
One handful of nuts = 225 calories
One small piece of fruit cake = 300 calories
5 potato chips with dip = 130 calories
One glass of eggnog (6 oz) = 300 calories
2 oz of Liqueur (i.e. Bailey’s) in your coffee = 200 calories
Is it worth it?
So let’s say that you let yourself have that little something extra. Here is the amount of exercise you would need to do to burn off those extra calories.
- Stair climb for 30 minutes to burn off the calories in a glass of eggnog
- 40 minutes of brisk walking to burn off the calories in 2 oz of Bailey’s in your coffee
- 40 minutes of running to burn off 2 glasses of champagne and a handful of party mix
- Elliptical machine for 30 minutes to burn off the calories in 2 holiday cookies
- 25 minutes of raquetball to burn off the calories in a handful of nuts
* these are only estimations. The actual amount of exercise you would need to do depends upon your weight and exercise intensity.
Bottom line
Holidays are a time of year to enjoy yourself. However don’t have the attitude that you can help yourself to treats on a regular basis. Little bites here and there REALLY add up. That is how slow creeping weight gain occurs. And unless you are training for a marathon, it is really difficult to burn the calories off. Try to keep the treats to a minimum!
