Surprisingly, the Easter holidays can often turn into a more indulgent time than the Christmas holidays. At least at Christmas you can actively avoid the chocolate and take your mind off it with your new gifts. At Easter the gifts are the chocolate – so there’s no escape!
If your usual strategy for Easter is to eat your eggs super quick so that they are gobbled up as soon as possible to prevent long term chocolate guilt, then why not take note of some of our top tips for not going chocolate crazy this Easter.
1. Smash your Easter egg and wrap small pieces in cling film so you don’t eat a whole egg in one go – not only is this fun but will help you portion control
2. If you like cold chocolate (like I do) put it in the bottom draws of your fridge as well as the additional chocolate bars you normally get.
3. Move all fruit, veg and salad that were in the drawers to the shelves. This way the healthy stuff is in sight and the sweet stuff is sort of out of sight.
4. ALLOW yourself your portioned chocolate at least every other day (or even everyday if you think you deserve it). The more you tell yourself you are not allowed something the more you want it and you are likely to binge on it. Work it in to your daily calorie allowance and its pretty much guilt free
5. Last but not least… Chocolate is not a guilty pleasure it’s a necessary pleasure. So try and fit in some exercise to stop it being a guilty pleasure!
Our resident fitness advisor, Simon has given us some guidance on exactly how much exercise you will need to do to burn off a typical Easter Egg (we are using a Cadbury’s Crème egg as an example which is 880 calories).
880 Calories = (based on person weighing 155lbs or 11 stone)
1 hour treadmill running at 7.5mph (8minute miles)
1 hour of very vigorous cycling on an stationary exercise bike or 2 hours of moderate cycling on a stationary exercise bike
1 1/2 hours of moderate intensity cross training
So, good luck this Easter. Remember, everything in moderation will help you enjoy the Easter holidays without going cold turkey or feeling guilty.
