The game lasts four hours, but what you eat will stick with you way longer than that. By some (admittedly unscientific) estimates, Americans who snack on typical Super Bowl fare, like pizza, beer, soda, chips, dips, hot wings and nachos, could take in as many as 2,400 calories and 121 grams of fat just during the game. That’s more than most people should eat in a single day. In fact, you’d have to run an entire marathon to burn it off, says Sara Bleich, PhD, associate professor in health policy and management at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. That’s assuming you’re 175 pounds and running a 15-minute mile, Bleich tells us.
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Add on a few miles if you happen to root for the team that loses. A 2013 study in the journal Psychological Science found that on the Monday after a big football game, people who had cheered for the team that lost ate 16% more saturated fat than they usually did. (Fans of the winning team got a win for their waistlines; they ate 9% less saturated fat than usual.)
Here’s how much these Super Bowl food bombs will cost you, according to the USDA’s national nutrient database:
3 slices of pepperoni pizza: 939 calories
5 cans of regular beer: 732 calories
3 cans of cola: 455 calories
6 chicken wings: 710 calories
2 servings of cheese nachos: 549 calories
3 servings of barbecue potato chips: 412 calories
Half a cup of salsa con queso: 179 calories
And the lowest scorer in the Super Bowl calorie game? Half a dozen celery sticks with a tablespoon of ranch: 67 calories. Feel free to load up on those.
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