5 Easy Ways to Earn Your Easter Egg

Here at Nutracheck we're all about balance and don't believe in depriving yourself of your favourite foods. So rather than an exclusion approach to Easter, we're taking a positive forward planning approach and have got 5 small but nifty ways you can save a few calories over the next 3 days to earn your Easter Sunday treats in advance!

If you do each of these for the next 3 days you'll save 200 calories a day, giving you a grand total of 600 calories to spend on your Easter treat!

1 Do 1,000 extra steps a day

This will burn approximately 35 more calories each day! Easy ways to add an extra 1,000 steps include:

• 10 minutes walking
• Carry each item of your washing to the washing machine separately – several trips up and down the stairs soon adds up
• Run on the spot for 1 minute, 7 times throughout the day
• Get on and off the bus a stop earlier
• Use the toilet furthest away from you (or on another floor) all day
• Park in the space furthest away from the shops, office or gym

Calories earned over 3 days = 105

2 Switch from semi-skimmed to skimmed milk in your tea/coffee

It's a small saving but if you have lots of hot drinks it can all add up. You'll save 5 calories per mug, and if you have say 5 mugs a day – it's a saving worth making!

Calories saved over 3 days = 75

3 Skip the spread on your sandwich

Even if you use reduced fat spread and thinly spread it on two slices of bread, it adds 36 calories to your day. So skipping this for a few days makes a difference.

Calories saved over 3 days = 108

4 Cut 10% off your carb portion at dinner

If you have potatoes, pasta, rice or noodles with your dinner, reduce your carb portion by 10% and save a few calories.

• Pasta – reduce from 70g dried weight to 63g – save 25 kcals
• Rice – reduce from 60g dried weight to 54g – save 21 kcals
• Noodles – reduce from 50g dried weight to 45g – save 19 kcals
• Potato – reduce from 250g raw weight to 225g – save 17 kcals

Calories saved over 3 days = approximately 60

5 Do some extra activity

Challenge yourself to one of the three tasks below to earn yourselves an extra 100 calories per day:

1. 20 minutes brisk walking.
2. 12 minute HIIT workout: 1 minute each of – jogging on the spot / squats / burpees / press ups – 3 times, with a 1 minute rest in-between circuits.
3. 3,000 extra steps.

Calories earned over 3 days = approximately 300

And the grand total is...

If you do each of these for the next 3 days, you'll have banked approximately 650 calories! That's enough for an entire kid's sized Easter egg, so you can enjoy safe in the knowledge that you earned it!