According to Visa, each UK citizen anticipates gaining an average of 4lb in weight over the festive season, equivalent to 160 million lbs amongst the UK adult population - or 9,696 African elephants (each weighing 16,500 lbs).

In the process, each person will spend £213 on food and drink, a total of over £8.5 billion in the UK. In total each will spend £777 on Christmas gifts, food and drink, entertainment, travel and other incidentals, equivalent to over £31 billion. About one fifth of this gets added to credit cards, hence Visa's unnatural interest in the minutae of Britain's seasonal habits.

Inevitably many expect to over indulge on food and drink. Curiously, Visa's research shows UK citizens anticipate eating 3 Christmas dinners, 12 mince pies and having 3 hangovers over Christmas.

Consumers plan to spend £358 on Christmas presents, although it will take men 20 hours to do their Christmas shopping, compared to women who'll spend 24 hours.

Marc O'Brien, vice president of Visa UK comments: "More than half of the people in our research think that when Christmas and New Year are over, they will have spent more than they did last year. Nearly half of people will have made an allowance for this as 46% say they save up through the year to pay for Christmas. A fifth (21%) will rely on their credit card to cope with the extra spend although they will pay it back after Christmas. Just over one in ten of us (11%) will cut down on other things in the run up to Christmas to help anticipate the December spree."

Consumers will spend £50 on transport and travel 190 miles by rail, air or sea over the Christmas period. They will spend £28 on Christmas cards, postage and wrapping paper and display an average 63 cards in our home.

For those of you with an appetite for seasonal trivia, a closer look at those Visa statistics:
* People in the East Midlands are the biggest fans of mince pies and plan to scoff 22 this Christmas, while the Scots are content with only 8.
* Glaswegians are likely to stay in shape over the holidays putting on a mere 3 lbs, while people in Southampton are expecting to pig out and pile on 6 lbs.
* People in the south west are the most extravagant at Christmas, and estimate that they will spend £899. They plan to spend over £50 more than the national average on presents, and also spend more on food, drink and Christmas decorations.
* Those living in Gateshead are planning to spend the most this Christmas on entertainment and drink. The average person is likely to spend £210, while in Birmingham only £147 will be spent.
* Glaswegians are planning to spend the most time on their Christmas shopping, doing a total of 30 hours, while people in Southampton will spend a mere 12 hours in the shops.
* Scots are expecting to travel 270 miles visiting friends and family, while those from the south west only intend to go 90 miles.
* People living in Southampton are most likely to use their credit cards this Christmas, with 30% using this method of payment, while those in Gateshead and Birmingham are least likely - only 19% plan to pay by credit card.