CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- Black Friday is synonymous with early Christmas shopping bargains.

However, Friday many folks who overindulged during dinner on Thanksgiving skipped the mall in favor of the gym.

Ryan Haupt came in for the holiday weekend from Tennessee to visit his family in Charleston. He spent Thursday feasting on Cajun fried turkey, green bean casserole, and sausage stuffing, among other morsels.

Friday he worked some of that off at the Charleston YMCA.

"I definitely need it,” Haupt said. “I wouldn't be happy with myself if I didn't come and at least try to set right what I ate."

After devouring double helpings of turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing and all the other staples, many folks headed out to the gym to try to burn off some of those extra calories they piled into their bellies.

"I definitely feel a lot more justified,” Benjamin Huffaker said, “like I'm doing my body a favor actually trying to get this stuff off me."

Health experts say the average American eats about 45 hundred calories on Thanksgiving, more than double what they should eat.

They say a 160-pound person would have to walk 45 miles to burn off that many calories.