Here's how much exercise is needed to burn off Christmas Day calories

Research by the team at online health and fitness site Vivotion.com has revealed that food consumed on the average Christmas Day – complete with breakfast, lunch, dessert, snacks and drinks – tots up to a massive 5,350 calories, which could take up to 13 hours of intense exercise to burn off.

Read: Pupils at Ravenscliffe High School enjoyed a special festive countdownChristmas is the time for splurging and enjoying a variety of tasty treats, and many of us forget – or choose to ignore – the number of calories we’re putting into our bodies over the festive period.

By taking into account each food type usually found on our plates over the course of Christmas Day, the team have calculated that the average Brit will consume over 5,000 calories on this one day alone, which is double the recommend daily calorie intake for a grown man.

In order to wave goodbye to these extra, unwanted calories, the average person will have to spend between six and 13 hours completing rigorous exercise.

Read: Funding blow to major Halifax station gateway schemeYou would need to tackle a 13-hour uphill walk, get in the boxing ring for over seven hours, or spend almost eight hours skipping with a rope.

An hour of aerobic dance will be needed to burn off the roast potatoes alone, and an hour’s spin class will counteract just two pigs in blankets and a serving of honey roasted parsnips from the annual Christmas Day lunch.

A spokesperson from Vivotion.com said: “Christmas is the one time of the year that everyone tends to really let their hair down and eat and drink anything and everything they want.

“It’s this behaviour that contributes to festive weight gain, and it’s no surprise considering the annual Christmas Day lunch alone is bursting with almost 2,000 calories.

“By taking into account the exercise we’d all need to be doing to ultimately burn off those calories, we hope that people will be more mindful and perhaps re-assess their decision to go back for second helpings.

“We have put together handy tables of calories consumed and burned via various Christmas foods and exercises respectively illustrate this.”

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