Christmas is that glorious time when you have a Get Out Of Jail Free card to consume absolutely everything and anything you want, justified by that wonderful catch-all phrase: It's Christmas, Innit?
Sadly your body hasn't got the memo, and while your brain may be happily fooled into giving itself a day off, those calories eventually add up.
We're not saying you should replace your mince pie with a trig of celery. Or forgo the tin of Quality Street for sun-dried raisins. But after reading these statistics of just how many calories we consume on Christmas day, you may want to opt for a handful of sweets rather than the whole tin full. Perhaps three mince pies instead of seven.
A recent survey found that the average person puts on 4lbs between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day after consuming twice their recommended calorie intake.
Half of those polled in a recent survey (52%) admitted to eating twice their recommended calorie intake over the holiday - largely because of the increased booze consumption.
How To Counteract Your Christmas Food Splurges
Christmas Day was by far the most fattening day of the festivities. Just under a third of those polled (31%) had a 'complete blow-out' - consuming a staggering 8,530 calories - that is more than triple a man's daily 2,500 calorie intake and four times a woman’s 2,000 daily limit.
Boxing Day was the second most fattening and New Year’s Eve was third.
The survey revealed that it will take more than one third of us around four months to shift those extra Christmas pounds.
See Also:
You'd Only Serve This Christmas Dinner Cheese To Someone You Really, Really Hate
Self-Heating 'Christmas Dinner In A Can' Is Saddest Gadget Ever Made
Here is the breakdown of where those calories are going:
Breakfast
Full English breakfast (two bacon rashers, two sausages, fried egg, beans, fried mushrooms): 813 calories
Orange juice: 88 calories
Two slices of buttered toast: 178 calories
Lunch
Two slices of ham, coleslaw, baked potato with butter: 530 calories
Portion of trifle: 235 calories
Snacks
Bag of crisps - standard size: 133 calories
A portion of mixed nuts: 243 calories
10 chocolates such as Quality Street: 393 calories
Two small sausage rolls: 100 calories
Slice of Christmas cake: 249 calories
Christmas Dinner
Smoked salmon with buttered toast and horseradish: 366 calories
Turkey roast dinner with roast potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, gravy: 1,450 calories
5 pigs in blankets (sausages wrapped in bacon): 400 calories
Two mince pies: 354 calories
A portion of Christmas pudding, custard & brandy butter: 587 calories
A slice of Christmas cake: 249 calories
One portions of cheeses and buttered cracker: 394 calories
Drinks
Three pints of lager: 540 calories
A bottle of red wine: 510 calories
A glass of port: 165 calories
2 glasses of champagne or Prosecco: 178 calories
A glass of baileys: 130 calories
A glass of mulled wine: 245 calories
Total: 8530
To get a head start before the mince pie temptress comes to lure you over to the dark side, celebrity fitness trainer Hayley Newton recommends detoxing to give a pre-Christmas boost.
"Detoxing is great so fill your diet with lots of lean mean, healthy fruit and veg and replace sugary drinks, coffee and processed foods with cups of fresh lemon and hot water or mint tea. Your skin, hair, and whole body will thank you for it," she says.
"Natural diuretics such as celery, marrow, apples, pumpkins, mint tea and hot water with lemon will help to remove the toxins from your body and flush out any water retention. This is important as sometimes water retention can cause your body to fill with as much as 5-10lbs of excess weight," she adds. "Don’t think of this as a diet but more of a healthy lifestyle choice which you can maintain in the long term."