A typical Thanksgiving dinner has 4000 calories!

A typical Thanksgiving dinner has 4000- 4,575 calories. Ouch. But it’s OK because it’s only once a year, right? Want to know how long it will take you to burn that off? Well, volunteering for dish duty or organizing a game of touch football isn’t going to do it — you’d have to run for seven hours, do 20 hours of yoga or lift weights for 10 hours.

Walking burns just under 8 calories a minute, If you weigh 160 #’s and start walking at 7p.m., you will burn the last of your Thanksgiving related calories just before sunrise, about 5 a.m., just in time to say good-bye to the in-laws. ***Another related article suggested 17 miles.

Conquer the tryptophan: Tryptophan in turkey makes you tired, so going for a walk after dinner is a great way to not only to keep you off the couch, but help you digest.

Skip the leftovers: Thanksgiving dinner is a one-meal deal. Don’t take leftovers home (unless they are healthy ones). If they’re not at your house, you won’t eat them. If Thanksgiving is at your house, pawn the leftovers off on everybody else.

Enjoy: I’m all about being realistic, not deprivation … eat in moderation. Enjoy the holiday and take time to reflect on all that you are thankful for. Look around and realize how blessed your life is. In the end, a pound here or there isn’t the end of the world. There are so many more important things in life than obsessing over the scale. Realize you MAY gain a pound, but you’ll get right back on your clean eating plan and take it off ASAP.

Work hard: Get ready to work off some of those calories on Friday after Thanksgiving, and then really hit the workouts hard on Monday as you enter December and all of those holiday parties. The time is now to get in shape because I know you don’t want to make the same old resolution this year as you did last year…to lose 10 pounds, right?


6 oz. mulled wine	156	Swimming laps moderately for 20 minutes will burn 158 calories.
3.5 oz. white turkey meat	156	20 minutes of football burns 158 calories.
3.5 oz. dark turkey meat	186	Sneak away for a 20-minute jog and burn 197 calories.
1/2 cup mashed potatoes	150	Burn 158 calories by walking briskly for 40 minutes.
1/2 cup gravy	150	44 minutes of cleaning burns 152 calories.
1 small baked sweet potato	54	Stretching for 15 minutes burns 59 calories.
1/2 cup stuffing	180	A 23-minute bike ride at a moderate pace will burn 181 calories.
1 slice apple pie with 1/2 cup ice cream	555	Hiking for an hour and 35 minutes will burn off 561 dessert calories.
1 slice pumpkin pie	180	Take the family bowling for an hour and burn 180 calories.

Weight is determined mostly by the balance of calories – how many you burn vs. how many you eat each day. To lose weight, you need to increase your activity to burn more and/or eat fewer calories each day.

Calories and Weight

A pound of fat equals 3500 calories. To lose 1 pound a week you will need to expend 3500 more calories than you eat that week, whether through increased activity or decreased eating or both. Losing 1-2 pounds of fat a week is a sensible goal, and so you will want to use the combination of increased activity and eating less that will total 3500 calories for 7 days.

How You Burn Calories

Your weight x distance = energy used walking. Time does not matter as much as distance. If you speed up to walking a mile in 13 minutes or less, you will be burning more calories per mile. But for most beginning walkers, it is best to increase the distance before working on speed. A simple rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile for a 180 pound person.

Calories burned per mile by walking

Speed/Pounds	100 lb	120 lb	140 lb	160 lb	180 lb	200 lb	220 lb	250 lb	275 lb	300 lb
2.0mph	57	68	80	91	102	114	125	142	156	170
2.5mph	55	65	76	87	98	109	120	136	150	164
3.0mph	53	64	74	85	95	106	117	133	146	159
3.5mph	52	62	73	83	94	104	114	130	143	156
4.0mph	57	68	80	91	102	114	125	142	156	170
4.5mph	64	76	89	102	115	127	140	159	175	191
5.0mph	73	87	102	116	131	145	160	182	200	218