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 as we head toward the Easter weekend, we're taking a positive planning approach and have five small but nifty ways you can bank a few calories over the next three days to earn your Easter Sunday treats!

We call it 'offsetting' – if you know you'll want a more relaxed approach to your diet, then cut a few calories here and there, or burn a few more in preparation. Do each of these for the next three days to save around 200 calories a day, giving you a 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
• Make several trips up and downstairs to carry washing or other stuff, rather than trying to take everything in one go - it all 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

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 adds 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 – saves 25 kcals
• Rice – reduce from 60g dried weight to 54g – saves 21 kcals
• Noodles – reduce from 50g dried weight to 45g – saves 19 kcals
• Potato – reduce from 250g raw weight to 225g – saves 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...

...approximately 650 calories banked! That's enough for a whole children's sized Easter egg! Enjoy in the knowledge you earned it!

Final tip! Remember to use your Week View. This feature is designed to help you balance your calories over the week. If you go over one day, you can get back on track over the next few days.

In the app: open the app and tap the green menu button to the right of the search bar > Week View

On the website: sign in and click on the 'Week View' link above your diary.