Calories and Kilocalories

This topic contains 4 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by  MEat74 7 years, 8 months ago.

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  • I’m confused, people talk about calories but most calories are listed as kcal. Is a kcal 1000 calories? Also my garmin says I use about 550 calories per 10 miles ridden on my bike. Does that relate to food calories and do they really mean kcal?

    This is the USDA definition of the difference between Calories and Kcal.

    The “calorie” we refer to in food is actually kilocalorie. One 1 kilocalorie is the same as one 1 Calorie. A kilocalorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water one degree Celsius.

    In the UK we tend to use calories when talking about food and exercise although we actually mean kcal so I’m not surprised if you are confused.

    Your garmin refers to 550 calories in the same way that the Fast Diet says men can eat 600 calories and women can eat 500 calories on their fast days.

    Last week I did 34 miles on my bike before breakfast after fasting. According to my Garmin I used 1874 calories. What I am asking can I really eat 1874 calories and be equal. I can’t really believe that.

    If you really used 1874 cals then you should have been 201 grams lighter after your ride. 1874(grams) divide 9.3(cals per gram) = 201 grams. Weigh yourself and your drink bottle before the ride. Then weigh yourself and whats left in the drink bottle after the ride. This is based on the assumption that your using mostly fat as your energy source because you have been fasting. If its glucose the weight loss should be even higher.

    Thanks for the reply. The problem is I don’t have scales that will weigh me to the accuracy required.
    After a party on Saturday I fasted Monday then did 44 miles cycling before breaking my fast at 12.30 pm Tuesday. 2080 calories on the Garmin. I did 23 miles yesterday evening. 1000 plus calories. Then had three beers.
    Weight increased by 1 lb from last week!

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