Another Diet Forum > General Discussions > General Discussions > quick questions about calorie and calorie maintenance level
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kenny1999
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Joined: 22 Mar 2012
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 i've read a passage and figured out that my daily calorie maintenance level is 23XX something. But it doesn't have a unit.

I think it's "cal" right?

If that's the case, I'm confused.

I've got a carton of ordinary milk and a small pack of potato chips bought from a grocery store.

Please read their nutrition label

Calorie per serving is 160. It's for 1 serving.


Calorie per 100ml is 66kcal. 66,000 cal?????? It's a 1 Litre standard box set, the most common one.


I think 1 Litre of milk could only serve one guy a day. If my daily energy consumed is just around 23XX calorie something and I take only a half box of milk a day (say 500ml only), which means 66000/2 = 33000, is that I am already very much exceeding the 23XX ?

How come a pack of potato chip would only have 160 calorie in total? (very much shocking) I don't think it's that small pack really, It's a common size here,

Have I confused something?

Another question is - Does the "Energy" states on the label mean "ALL" energy? or does it only mean energy coming from certain nutritious material? I mean is the "Energy" already sufficient to mean the TOTAL energy provided by the serving? or do I also have to calculate the energy provided by the components like proteins, fats, sodium etc stated on the label?

Thank you !!@!!
Nancy_in_GA
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Joined: 8 Jan 2009
Location: NE, Georgia USA
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 In the US the labels usually use just the word "calories" (as a short cut notation for kcals). Your 23XX maintenance is kilo-calories. So you could eat about 14.5 bags of those chips per day and maintain your weight, if you ate nothing else.

I have never seen the word "energy" on a label before.  But one cup (= 237ml) of whole (4% butterfat) milk has about 160 calories.  That computes to approx 66 calories per 100 ml.  So I think energy is just calories (kcal).   So you could drink about 3500 ml of milk per day and maintain, if you ate nothing else.

Last edited on 7 Jul 2014 07:23 pm by Nancy_in_GA
kenny1999
Senior Member


Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Location:  
Posts: 64
 Nancy_in_GA wrote:
In the US the labels usually use just the word "calories" (as a short cut notation for kcals). Your 23XX maintenance is kilo-calories. So you could eat about 14.5 bags of those chips per day and maintain your weight, if you ate nothing else.

I have never seen the word "energy" on a label before.  But one cup (= 237ml) of whole (4% butterfat) milk has about 160 calories.  That computes to approx 66 calories per 100 ml.  So I think energy is just calories (kcal).   So you could drink about 3500 ml of milk per day and maintain, if you ate nothing else.


hi,

doesn't kcal mean kilo-calorie?

is it 1 kilo-calorie = 1000 calorie?

i think 1k=1,000 right?

isn't 66kcal per 100ml mean 66,000 calorie?

I am really confused..
Nir
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Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Location: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 11761
 the appropriate unit would be Calories (sometimes called kilocalories) and can be abreviated 'kcal' or 'cal'

the source of the confusion is that there is a smaller unit which is 1/1000 of the size which is a "calorie" (small c), but all relevant information about food is in "kilocalories" and people are just too lazy to say "kilo".

Calorie per 100ml is 66kcal

so 100ml would be "66 Calories"

1 litre = 1000ml = 660 Calories

Half a litre = 500ml = 330 Calories

Energy refers to the TOTAL energy (includes energy coming from protein, fat, carb, fibre and alcohol)

So just to clarify, your maintenace requirements are in fact 23XX kilo-calories, and in the original use of the word "calorie" (a very small unit of energy), your maintenance requirements are "2,3XX,000 calories". But then using those units, your packet of potato chips is "160,000 calories".

Hopefully that clarifies it, we all use the "kilocalorie" unit, but we are lazy so we just call it a "Calorie". and sometimes we forget to spell it with a capital letter.

(and thanks Nancy for your calculations)
kenny1999
Senior Member


Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Location:  
Posts: 64
 Nir wrote:
the appropriate unit would be Calories (sometimes called kilocalories) and can be abreviated 'kcal' or 'cal'

the source of the confusion is that there is a smaller unit which is 1/1000 of the size which is a "calorie" (small c), but all relevant information about food is in "kilocalories" and people are just too lazy to say "kilo".

Calorie per 100ml is 66kcal

so 100ml would be "66 Calories"

1 litre = 1000ml = 660 Calories

Half a litre = 500ml = 330 Calories

Energy refers to the TOTAL energy (includes energy coming from protein, fat, carb, fibre and alcohol)

So just to clarify, your maintenace requirements are in fact 23XX kilo-calories, and in the original use of the word "calorie" (a very small unit of energy), your maintenance requirements are "2,3XX,000 calories". But then using those units, your packet of potato chips is "160,000 calories".

Hopefully that clarifies it, we all use the "kilocalorie" unit, but we are lazy so we just call it a "Calorie". and sometimes we forget to spell it with a capital letter.

(and thanks Nancy for your calculations)

OK

so my maintenance is 23XX kcal
and per 100ml of my milk is 66 kcal
chips are 160 kcal

right?

I have another bag of noodles, it doesn't have cal or kcal as unit, but kJ instead.

How many kcal for 1 kJ ?

another questions, I've just checked, it looks like most of the food bought in supermarket are processed food, even rice or vegetables. I think I can't avoid processed food even if I cooked at home. Is it the worst thing about processed food is the sodium content?
Nir
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Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Location: Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 11761
 so my maintenance is 23XX kcal
and per 100ml of my milk is 66 kcal
chips are 160 kcal
right?
yes

to convert KJ to kcal you need to divide by 4.2 (approximately).
For example 1000 kJ = 1000/4.2 = 238 kcal


> Is it the worst thing about processed food is the sodium content?

yes sodium is the thing that is most obviously wrong with processed food,
but as you open your eyes you realise that processed foods tend to have fewer good things (minerals, vitamins, fibre) and more calories. Grains, in particular refined grains, have higher glycemix index. Oil is a processed food (for example refined from the original sunflower seed) so all useful nutrition in the original food is gone. This is an advanced topic - books have been written about the subject, I can't easily cover it in a paragraph.
kenny1999
Senior Member


Joined: 22 Mar 2012
Location:  
Posts: 64
 Nir wrote:
so my maintenance is 23XX kcal
and per 100ml of my milk is 66 kcal
chips are 160 kcal
right?
yes

to convert KJ to kcal you need to divide by 4.2 (approximately).
For example 1000 kJ = 1000/4.2 = 238 kcal


> Is it the worst thing about processed food is the sodium content?

yes sodium is the thing that is most obviously wrong with processed food,
but as you open your eyes you realise that processed foods tend to have fewer good things (minerals, vitamins, fibre) and more calories. Grains, in particular refined grains, have higher glycemix index. Oil is a processed food (for example refined from the original sunflower seed) so all useful nutrition in the original food is gone. This is an advanced topic - books have been written about the subject, I can't easily cover it in a paragraph.

OK thanks. Problems solved.