What to do if you blew your diet at brunch

American-style brunch by Annie Mole.

It's Mother's Day so, first of all, give yourself a break. According to the Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource, after a splurge, don't punish yourself by avoiding your favorite food or skipping meals. Putting foods into good/bad categories is more likely to fuel your cravings and trigger a binge-eating episode.

So what now?

No matter what you've read about trendy celebrity diets and expensive weight-loss programs, there is only one secret to keeping weight off: You simply need to use more calories than you consume.

How to Burn off Brunch

Using the list of common breakfast foods below, tally up the total calories you consumed, then check the list of physical activities to see what you would need to do for one hour to burn them off (based on your body weight). For example, if you weigh about 150 pounds and ate a cheese omelet, sausage patties, hash browns and a bagel with cream cheese (1,074 total calories), you would need to run 9 miles, race your bike almost 20 miles, or do 1-1/2 hours of martial arts to break even.

So if you indulge occasionally, don't beat yourself up. Just move on and keep moving!

  BREAKFAST FOODS                            CALORIES

                            ACTIVITY (1 hour)                                 CALORIES BURNED
                                                                                               (130/155/190 lbs.)            

For a complete list of activities and calories burned during exercise, go to NutriStrategy.