You can’t beat a bad diet with exercise!

You CANNOT out-train a bad diet!

Contrary to popular belief, you cannot eat what you want and ‘get away with it’ as long as you exercise!

The reality is that we tend to over-estimate how many calories we actually burn and forget how easy it is to over-consume.

With the holiday season upon us, this message is a timely one. Your fat cells are unlikely to outrun your Christmas pudding!

While exercise is a necessary and effective way of keeping excess fat stores at bay, bouts of over-indulgence are difficult to counterbalance, regardless of how hard you workout. The key is in the balance.

Keep this in mind when you are seduced by nana’s mince pies, or lashings of thick, creamy gravy on your Christmas turkey.

I’m not saying that this annual treat should be avoided, but instead of throwing caution to the wind, have some restraint when it comes to portion sizes and excess alcohol consumption.

It will all taste just a fabulous if you eat a smaller serve … and you’ll still be able to bare your belly on the beach this summer.

 

Just so you don’t think I’m over-exaggerating, I’ve compiled a list (below) of some of our favourite Christmas indulgences to help put things into perspective…

Food and the walking to break even

1 av. slice Christmas Pudding - 2 hours

1 av. slice Christmas cake - 2 hours

1/4 cup gravy - 40 minutes

50g piece Pork Crackling - 1 hour

2 small mince pies - 1 hour, 15 minutes

5-6 squares chocolate - 40 minutes

1 Caramello Santa - 40 minutes

1 x 375ml beer - 30 minutes

1 standard glass wine - 20 minutes

1 Gin & Tonic - 20 minutes

375ml soft drink - 40 minutes

Copyright Donna Aston 2009