IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME – HO HO HO

Do you find it hard to stick to your diet through Christmas & New Year?  Just follow our comprehensive list of approximate calories to help you.

Christmas day is upon us once again and a lot of us say “I’m going to eat and drink whatever I like and think about it in the New Year”.  So often though, Christmas day extends through to New Year and we are still over indulging.  You may be a person who is conscious about what you eat, live healthy all year and who can work their way through the holidays without damaging your waistline.  Chances are if you do binge on those Christmas goodies they will leaving you feeling sluggish, lazy and all out of sorts.

With a bit of careful planning, we could easily manage without putting on too much weight.  By drinking water between alcoholic drinks, filling up on vegetables, trying not to have too many treats and perhaps going for leisurely strolls.

We have provided (at the end of this article) a comprehensive list of approximate calories to help you this Christmas.  If you are calorie counting there is plenty to choose from.  Just check for items with less calories and you can still enjoy your traditional Christmas Lunch without anyone being any wiser.

For weight maintenance calorie intake for a man should be somewhere around 10,500kJ (2,500Kcal) a day and 8,400kJ (2,000Kcal) for a woman.

If you consume an extra 500 calories a day, this equates to 3,500kcals per week.  You will probably put on 1lb/ 0.45kg every week and a massive 3.1/2 stone/23.6kg a year.  It is so easy to pile on the pounds without noticing.  Of course the opposite applies if you eat 500 calories less per day, you will lose the weight.

Of course this depends on your lifestyle.  For example a person with a sedentary lifestyle and slow metabolism will use less calories than a person with higher levels of activity and metabolism.  Then there is the age factor to be taken into account along with a host of other things.

The top 3 New Years resolutions are to

1. Lose weight
2. Drink less alcohol
3. Get fit

Setting ourselves unattainable goals.  Knowing full well you aren’t going to stick to it.  A large percentage of the population try the latest fad diet in January which usually fails as it is so different to their normal life.  It would be better to find a plan more suited to you personally.  That way you are more likely to stick to it.  We will be adding more blogs at our http://blog.slimmingsolutions.com/ address in January to help you in any way we can.  Our blog page has lots of hints & tips for your perusal with a huge list of categories covering a lot of subjects.

Christmas calories

STARTERS                                  APPROX    kcal 

Melba toast 20g with  Pate                1tblsp     135

Melon 100g with  Parma Ham           100g    290

Prawn Cocktail             per average serving    324

Salmon                                                      100g    208

CHRISTMAS LUNCH            

100g of roast meats

Beef                                                                            267

Capon                                                                        234

Chicken                                                                     146

Duck                                                                          450

Gammon                                                                   193

Goose                                                                         319

Pheasant                                                                  133

Pork                                                                           247

Quail                                                                         208

Turkey                                                                       147 

100g of each vegetable boiled or steamed   

Asparagus                                                                 22

Broccoli                                                                      24

Brussel Sprouts                                                        35

Cabbage                                                                     27

Carrots                                                                       24

Cauliflower                                                               28

Parsnips                                                                    75

Potatoes Boiled/steamed                                      75

Potatoes mashed with milk and butter          100

Potatoes roast                                                        149

Turnip/swede                                                          28 

Other additives you may have

Bread sauce                                              20ml       17

Brussel sprouts with chestnuts

& Red onion cooked                              100g     294

Cranberry sauce or redcurrant jelly     25g       50

Gravy                                                      ½ cup      80

Pigs in blankets                                        24g       59

Sage & Onion Stuffing Balls                  26g       63

Yorkshire Puddings                                 18g       46

DESERTS                                    APPROX   kcal

Brandy Butter                                             50g    280

Brandy Sauce                                           100g      92

Christmas Pudding                                100g    300

Fresh Double Cream                                30g    139

Mince Pies                               individual pie    225

Tirimasu                                                   100g    220

Trifle                                                          100g    120

Yule Log                                                      50g    220