About how much more food might someone training for track and field events need to consume when compared to a sedentary person?

• A. About ten times as much food.
• B. About twice as much food.
• C. About five times as much food.
• D. About the same amount of food.

Answer: (C)

Training for track and field raises daily energy needs because the body requires more fuel not only for the workouts themselves but also for recovery and adapting to the training stress. The total calories burned in a day with serious training can be far higher than what a sedentary person uses, so intake has to rise dramatically to maintain performance and support repair. In many teaching-context guidelines, this jump is summarized as about five times as much food as a sedentary person would need. So, if a sedentary person needs roughly 2,000 calories daily, a highly active track athlete might aim for a much larger amount to cover the energy spent and the recovery work, with the exact number depending on body size, training volume, and goals. The key idea is that the workload requires substantially more energy intake to sustain performance, recovery, and growth.