Thanksgiving is the start of many people's holiday weight-gain woes. After that huge meal, which according to the Today show results in an average intake of 5,000 calories, there are heaps of leftovers that might stretch all the way to the next big feast of the season at Christmas. Some serious exercise is needed to burn up all that food, but thankfully Thanksgiving-time lends itself well to a handful of strenuous outdoor activities. All the calorie-burning figures for this article are for a man weighing 185 pounds.
Snow Sports
Thanksgiving weekend is also opening weekend for ski resorts and ski areas across the United States. Many of the snow sports that can be pursued on mountain slopes use a lot of energy. Nordic skiing is the big turkey-and-stuffing burner, since an easy trail will consume 590 calories per hour and a hard one will consume 750. A hard day of Nordic skiing can burn off the entire Thanksgiving Day feast. Snowshoeing sits nicely at 670 calories per hour. Alpine skiing is the least rewarding of the snow sports, consuming 500 calories per hour on an easy trail and 670 on a hard one, but it's still good exercise.
Hiking and Biking
In many parts of the United States, the autumn colors are still present in late November. In some areas, such as the Southeast, they might be reaching their peak at that time. This makes hiking and mountain biking an attractive way to start working off the big meal from Thanksgiving. Mountain biking can be a hard bit of work, especially on rugged dirt trails. Under tough conditions, it consumes 715 calories per hour. Hiking off-trail is almost as demanding, at 700 calories per hour. Either of these pursuits can consume an entire Thanksgiving feast in one daylong outing. Hiking on trail is usually not as strenuous, but still consumes a solid 500 calories per hour.
Football
One of the time-honored traditions of Thanksgiving is to play a little football before the meal. Usually this is a casual experience, but a serious game is a good calorie burner. A serious touch or flag football game will consume 670 calories per hour. Add tackling into the mix and that figure jumps up to 750. An alternative is field hockey, which consumes the same 670 calories an hour as flag or touch football.
About The Author
Richard Thomas has been writing since earning his M.A. in international affairs in 1997. A former cheap travel blogger for eHow and senior travel editor for Associated Content, he has traveled from Argentina to Vietnam. Thomas usually writes about boxing, hiking and scuba diving, as well as on the food and wine of his current home of Portugal.
