How healthy are you going to be this Easter?
Maybe you've started having some high sugar treats already on the lead up to the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, but how much could you be setting yourself back with all those chocolatey treats?
Lets take a look at the UK's top Easter Eggs...
1. Creme Egg (186g) - 923 calories
2. Mini Eggs (187g) - 989 calories
3. Dairy Milk (331g) - 1,759 calories
4. M&Ms (268g) - 1,386 calories
5. Smarties (122g) - 680 calories
6. Oreo (278g) - 1,528 calories
7. Aero (235g) - 1,260 calories
8. Thorntons (149g) - 806 calories
9. KitKat (180g) - 944 calories
10. Mars (331g) - 1,624 calories
So you've been working really hard in the gym since Christmas, and your trying your best to get into shape ready for Summer 2018. Are those few moments of chocolate pleasure going to be worth it?
One pound of fat = 3,500 calories
That's not to say you can't go and enjoy your Easter Egg(s). I've found many of my clients pushing themselves the extra mile or two with additional HIIT cardio sessions they wouldn't have otherwise done, so they can allow themselves that treat, or burn off the treats they have already have. However unless you are going to put in that extra work, be sure to limit the damage over this bank holiday.
What would it take to burn off my Easter Egg(s)?
It would take almost 2 hours of burpee's to burn off a 186g Creme Egg.
A person weighing 155 lbs performing 60 minutes of resistance training is likely to burn around 224 calories
A typical cardio session could burn 200-400 calories per hour depending on your fitness, exercise intensity and body type/shape/height. And no, you won't have burnt that many calories on the treadmill holding on!
You will burn approximately 100 calories for every mile you walk. That's a 17.5mile walk to burn off that 331g Dairy Milk Easter Egg!
You can also help burn off your Easter egg by putting yourself into a calorie deficit by consuming less calories than your body requires each day. A deficit of 500 calories per day will allow you to lose one pound of fat over 7 days (1 week) or more with regular exercise.
Top Fat Burning Tips:
Calculate Your Macro Needs - Do you know how many calories you should be consuming each day to meet your fitness goals? Do you know how much fat, carbohydrates and proteins (including fibre & water) you should be aiming for? Knowing these will play a massive part to getting you results.
Full Body Weight Training - One of the best ways to burn body fat and most importantly, keep it off in the long term is full body weight training, using a combination of functional kit, dumbbells, cable machines and freestyle exercises. Muscle burns calories, even at rest, including the massive afterburn (EPOC) effect following an intense workout.
Perform HIIT AFTER Your Weight Training Workout - It's during this post-weight training workout period that your blood sugar levels (glucose) and your muscle and liver glycogen levels are somewhat depleted compared to normal levels. This is a great time for you to perform High Intensity Interval Training so you primarily fuel your body from your body fat stores, rather than from glucose/glycogen stores.
Sleep More - Getting good quality deep REM sleep is extremely important not only for good health and less stress, but for allowing your body to successfully burn body fat and build/repair muscle. Consider supplements such as Milk Thistle droplets morning and night with water to help improve your sleep along with ZMA (Magnesium, Zinc & Calcium).
Considerably Reduce Stress - Write down the top 10 things that stress you out most at work. And also another top 10 things that stress you out outside of work. Stress (cortisol levels) will cause you to store body fat rather than burn it. There will be some stresses in life you can't change or massively influence. Often it's not one single thing that causes major stress in our bodies, but several collectively all at once. Try to reduce or elminate as many stresses as possible. Not only will you feel far better, but you will get better results in the gym.
Track Your Diet Intake - Download MyFitnessPal and simply scan the barcode on your foods and drinks to record what you consume, and see what your total calories and macro-nutrient intakes are. Not only will you realise what you actually eat, but it will make you think more about your food choices. You can also share your diary with friends, and add me as a friend - this is an additional service I offer, with regular dietary feedback, which comes as standard with my Personal Training services, or you can have me track your diet and give you regular feedback without PT sessions. Be sure to check out this, and my Online Personal Training via Trainerize.
Have a healthy Easter Bank Holiday
Look out for more articles coming very soon.
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