I have always happily ignored my caloric intake on a holiday. I really consider holidays to be free days and take the opportunity to enjoy eating and drinking whatever I want. However, recently I’ve been logging my food intake on MyFitnessPal. It has been an eye-opening, at times startling, dose of reality. With Easter around the corner, I began to dread the evening when I would have to enter every, single indulgence of the day. It hasn’t even happened and already I am feeling guilty.
Then, I had an idea. Why not enter everything I will most likely consume before I consume it? Why not figure out exactly how much damage could really be done on a holiday. Well, what I discovered…a whole lot.
Below you’ll see my projected intake. I’d like to say I’m exaggerating but, honestly, this is how it would have gone. Brace yourself.
Handful of gumdrops from kids’ Easter Basket—66 calories
2 mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, also swiped from the baskets—100 calories
3 mimosas—600 calories (probably the saddest bit of knowledge I learned…goodbye mimosas)
4 glasses of chardonnay—480 calories
2 oz of cheese and 3 crackers–280
4 shrimp with cocktail sauce—30 calories (some good news, although this is the one thing I would probably have passed on)
Small salad with ranch—156 calories
1 roll, no butter—100 calories
6 oz of ham—260 calories
1 cup mashed potatoes–237
4 oz of ham gravy, low estimate, I love this gravy and would drink it if I could—432 calories (I’m weeping.)
¾ cup cheesy broccoli and rice casserole, I would be showing restraint only eating this much—426 calories
4 oz slice Costco cake—520 calories
2 chocolate covered strawberries—100 calories
The grand total…3798 calories. This, of course, doesn’t even factor in breakfast or an evening snack. Almost 4000 calories for one festive afternoon.
As terrifying as this is, the good news is, it hasn’t actually happened yet. Now that I know, I can attempt to rewrite the food log. So instead of adding these items with guilt and horror Sunday night, I plan to be deleting or downsizing several by making better choices. As much as I’ll miss the OJ in the mimosas (I can save 80 calories/glass by avoiding it) and as much as I enjoy that ham gravy, I cannot afford to gain a pound in a single day. So, alas, calories on holidays apparently do add up. But if all goes well for me, I’ll be subtracting…at least a few. Happy Easter!
Leave a Reply