How To Burn Off Those Guilty Treats

If you’ve ever counted calories, you’ve probably tried to work out how much exercise it would take to burn off a treat you’ve enjoyed. While this is far from the healthiest way to approach regular exercise, it can be a good idea to know roughly how long you’ll have to be on the treadmill to burn off Friday night’s pizza – especially as it could be a great deterrent.

The Royal Society of Public Health has released new information that shows just how much you’ll need to exercise to work off some of the UK’s favourite treats. Far from being a guide, it shows just how a moment on the lips can equate to several hours at the gym!

All of those small snacks, quick treats and easy dinners soon add up to you needing to be a lot more active in order to cancel out the calories, especially if you’re watching your weight. Even the item on the society’s list with the fewest number of calories – a small bottle of fizzy drink at 138 calories – will require either 13 minutes of running or 26 minutes of walking to burn off.

The information reveals that your morning medium mocha on the way into work (229 calories) could mean that you need to walk for 42 minutes or pop your running shoes on and head out for 22 minutes. Even having this occasionally could, therefore, have an impact on your waistline if you don’t balance it out with exercise.

An afternoon snack of a bag of crisps (171 calories) will need you to run for 16 minutes or walk for 31 minutes to burn off, while a chocolate bar (229 calories) will have you walking for 42 minutes or running for 22 minutes.

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Those who can’t resist a slice or two of pizza could be in for the biggest shock as just two slices of pizza equates to 449 calories and requires you to run for 43 minutes or walk for 83 minutes! This is likely to increase as you add more calorific toppings, meaning that you could end up needing to walk for hours to burn off a whole pepperoni pizza!

While you might think that burning off one of these treats doesn’t seem too bad, if you have more than one during the day, you could find yourself struggling to make up for them all with activity. This is why it can be a good idea to find healthier alternatives to your favourite treats so you can enjoy them without feeling guilty – and without having to sweat so much afterwards.