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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Enjoy Easter without weight gain


Avoiding the Easter weight trap

 

The Easter buns and chocolate eggs have been visible since January and with Easter just a week away, the lure of sweet treats may be becoming just too hard to bear. If though, you are hoping to survive the long holiday weekend without gaining a couple of kg to match, you do need to take control immediately.

 

First of all, try, try, try to not indulge until it is actually Easter which means that that bag of tiny eggs you have in your desk drawer needs to go into the rubbish, right now! Considering that a that a single, small milk chocolate bunny has the equivalent number of calories that it would take an hour of treadmill running to burn off, the little bunny may suddenly seem far less attractive.

 

Unfortunately those little eggs are not much better either with just three mini Easter eggs containing more than 500kJ and let’s be honest, who can stop at three? Generally speaking, once we open a packet, we eat the packet. The same can be said for Easter buns – a traditional small Easter bun contains just 600kJ compared to the mega chocolate chip varieties that now inundate our stores which contain more than 1000kJ, and that is without the butter. More importantly, trying to hold off these tempting treats until Good Friday is an even better idea.

 

Where possible, look for portion controlled treats – small individual eggs rather than an entire bag of minis and a packet of buns to share rather than just to keep at home. Remember when it comes to food, especially sweet foods, if they are there you will want to eat them so the fewer Easter treats you keep at home, the better. Finally but perhaps more importantly, go for quality over quantity. Enjoy a social Easter feast with plenty of good food and a small amount of good quality chocolate, and use the extra holiday days to embrace your training program to make sure that you survive Easter without a couple of extra kg to boot.

 

Still looking for chocolate? Once you translate your Easter calories into workout unit the treats may no longer seem so appealing.

 

Eggs Selection                                     kJ                                           Fat                          Exercise units

200g Easter Bunny                             3740kJ                                   50g fat                   2 hrs of running

2 Caramello Eggs                                500kJ                                     6 g fat                    15 min rowing

1  Crème Egg                                        718kJ                                     6g fat                     45 min fast walking

100g Deluex  Bunny                           2270J                                     33g fat                   2 cycle classes

3 mini eggs                                            560kJ                                     7.5g fat                  15 min skipping

Small hot cross bun (no butter)         600kJ                                     2 g fat                    30min swimming

Large hot cross bun with butter        1200kJ                                   10g fat                   30 minutes jogging

Choc chip hot cross bun                     1100kJ                                   9g fat                     1 Zumba class