Fun Ways to Burn Off Holiday Meals

According to The Tennessean, the average holiday meal contains a whopping 3,000 calories and 229 grams of fat! For the average person, that is 1.5 times the amount of calories you should consume in one day. While a nap may be the only thing on your mind after consuming such a large meal, maybe you should also consider ways to burn off some of those calories. While exercising may sound boring, there are actually fun ways to burn off the calories from holiday meals. Best of all, you can get the whole family involved.

Snowball Fights

If you're lucky enough to have a white Christmas, get outside and have a snowball fight. Snowball fights are a great workout because you're running around the yard, bending, jumping and burning oodles of calories. The best part is that this doesn't seem like exercise at all. You and your family will simply have a good time reliving childhood memories and making new memories with your children.

Ice Skating

A popular Christmas tradition for many is hitting the local ice rink. Ice skating is another activity that burns calories. According to Glamor, the average female weighing 120 pounds can burn around 200 calories doing 30 minutes of moderate ice skating. Speed it up a bit and you'll burn a little over 250 calories every half hour. Of course, ice skating is so fun, you'll have no trouble skating for a couple hours.

Christmas Display Hunt

Almost every neighborhood is decked out at the holidays with beautiful decorations. A fun way to use this fact to your advantage is to do a Christmas display hunt. Have everyone grab a camera and walk through your neighborhood seeing who can capture the best shots. Your mind will be more focused on taking pictures and enjoying the company of your family than walking. It's truly an effortless way to burn calories from that big holiday meal.

Day After Christmas Shopping

Not only can you score great deals the day after Christmas, but you can also burn a few calories. After Christmas sales can be a madhouse that require lots of running, heavy shopping bags and lots of walking in parking lots. If you spend the entire day shopping at various stores, you'll have a great time burning calories. Your family will also enjoy the chance to use those gift cards to grab a few deals of their own.

Sources:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20101123/FEATURES04/11230310/Holiday-health-quiz-Myth-or-Fact-
http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/activity/calculators/ice_skating