Good News! Chances Are Your Workouts Earn You More Food Than You Thought

A small study posted in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that participants struggled to estimate how many calories they burned in a workout and how much they could eat to replenish those calories burned. 50 adults and 49 children were asked to choose the size of chocolate and how much of a sports drink they believed their one-hour workout would allow them to consume. The majority of participants selected a piece of chocolate and sports drink that was half the size of what their workout would allow them to eat or drink. The study's findings show that not only do people not understand how many calories their workout will burn, they also don't understand the number of calories in food or beverages simply by looking at the product. Senior author Craig Williams pointed out that in many cases, participants underestimated the number of calories in the chocolate and sports drink because they believed it was the correct answer, but they also would eat more than what they had indicated in the study.