I kept reading horror stories about the effects of over-eating at Christmas. You know the kind of thing: the average person puts on 5lb over Christmas, the average person eats 4,000 to 6,000 calories of food on Christmas Day alone (that's almost twice and thrice the recommended daily calorie intake for an average woman) and how you would have to walk 13 miles, rather than waddle around the block, just to burn off the calories from Christmas lunch.

Not me, I thought smugly. Admittedly, my jeans feel a little tighter than usual. But it was moderation for me. I don't like Christmas Pudding and Brandy Butter, or Bread Sauce or Egg nog. And my family either ate or hid all the crisps and peanuts, which would have been my dietary downfall. So, when I calculated my festive feast footprint, I was pretty confident that my feet would have left a dainty sized shoe print. NOT so! It seems I will be painting the house for eternity to make amends. AND I couldn't even be honest about the number of glasses of red wine I had drunk, because the scale didn't go high enough.

To offset the 3105 calories you've added to your diet this Christmas you will need to complete the following 13 tasks.
1 Go for a 25 minute run
2 Dance for 60 minutes one night next week
3 Swim for 25 minutes
4 Spend 80 minutes cooking
5 Swap your next Danish pastry for 2 pieces of fruit
6 Next time you are having a roast dinner avoid the Yorkshire pud and have extra veg instead
7 Top your pie with mashed potato instead of pastry
8 Making a chicken casserole? Take the skin off and add in more chopped vegetables like carrots and parsnips
9 Go for a 40 minute bike ride
10 Next time you fancy pasta, have tomato and vegetable sauce instead of creamy carbonara
11 Spend 100 minutes painting the house
12 Swap your lamb korma for a vegetable biryani
13 Play 35 minutes of football in the park

A game of footie, anyone?