# How long do I have to chew a gumball to hit negative calories?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-i-have-to-chew-a-gumball-to-hit-negative-calories/316448>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 10, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-i-have-to-chew-a-gumball-to-hit-negative-calories/316448 "2005-08-10T15:16:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-i-have-to-chew-a-gumball-to-hit-negative-calories/316448/1 "2005-08-10T15:16:05Z")

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I was chewing on a big, stiff gumball yesterday until my jaw got sore. It occurs to me that I might have actually burned more calories chewing on the damned thing than I got from all the sugar in it. I got to wondering what the break even point is. How long do I have to chew gum before I start running a calorie deficit?

I realize there are a lot variables here as there is no “standard” gumball.

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**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-i-have-to-chew-a-gumball-to-hit-negative-calories/316448/2 "2005-08-10T16:23:27Z")

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Surprisingly little variables. According to [this chart](http://www.annecollins.com/calories/calories-chewing-gum.htm), most sugar containing bubble gums have around 25 calories per piece. According to [this site,](http://www.eatingwell.com/articles_recipes/nutrition/nut_sense_metab_jj05.html) chewing gum burns 11 calories per hour. So you’d have to chew for roughly 2.5 hours to hit “zero” and over that you’re negative.