Warm, sweet and crispy: Roasted almonds belong to every Christmas market visit, and two or three of them are not a problem. But if you eat a whole 100 gram, it’s about the same calorie consumption as an entire meal. A bag of those almonds, caramelized with lots of sugar, adds up to around 500 calories. Whoever wants to nibble on warm nuts while walking around the market should rather go for the hot chestnuts. 100 grams of those are about 210 calories.

At around 150 calories for a 0.2 liter cup of hot mulled wine, it’s really not too bad. But much of the time, sugar is mixed in and that adds around 50 calories to each portion. Add a shot of something to that and there you go - more calories. Apple wine has fewer calories, with 200 milliliters coming in at around 100 calories.

They are swimming in pure oil - and belong to the biggest calorie bombs at the Christmas market: “Reibekuchen”, in English - potato pancakes. Because those shredded potatoes soak up lots of oil, a serving of three pieces plus apple mousse amounts to a hefty 700 calories. The bright side: a little Vitamin C and potassium.

Bratwurst is also part of the Christmas market experience for many visitors - and it turns out to be a rather fat-laden affair as well. 100 grams of the sausage made from ground pork contains about 30 grams of fat and is around 300 calories - and that doesn’t include the fat that is used for frying. When a bratwurst is something you can’t do without, ask for the veal sausage, it will save you at least 30 calories.

While Bratwurst is already a bit problematic when it comes to calories, curry wurst weighs even a little heavier on the hips. Add that special sauce and you’ve got a curry wurst with about 500 calories.

French fries taste good with or without bratwurst, even at Christmas time. And this is probably something everyone already knows. The fried potatoes are big on calories, coming in at 300 for a portion - add ketchup or mayonnaise and it’s even more.

Many Christmas market visitors also like to eat pizza while they stroll along. Especially with melted cheese, salami and ham. But be careful with that - a whole pizza adds up to around 1000 calories if you eat it alone! Flammkuchen as an alternative has fewer calories - with tomato, goat’s cheese and rucola it’s “only” half the calories of pizza.

Not only the British enjoy Fish and Chips - Germans enjoy their deep-fried “Backfisch”. The fish you find at the Christmas market that is breaded and deep-fried is also a bit high, coming in at around 330 calories for 100 grams.

Visitors who long for something sweet after having completed the savory round - might head for the crepes at the Christmas market. Nutella crepes are especially popular, with the melted chocolate flavor tasting especially good at Christmas. Less popular is probably the reading on the scale afterwards as these tasty nougat nut creme delights come in at around 400 calories. If you want to cut down a little, the cinnamon sugar variation might be the way to go.

For most Germans, Stollen is simply a part of Christmas tradition. With a good dose of butter, raisins, and powder sugar, a piece of this will put your consumption at around 330 calories. It might be a good idea to contemplate whether a second piece is worth it in that regard. Or one could just throw caution to the wind - there’s always next year for the weight loss program.