kcals and calories - Weight Loss Message Board

ALonelyOctober · 05-13-2004, 02:28 PM

I was working out, and I decided a fun way to do it would be to play Dance dance revolution. Anyway they have a workout mode which tells you how many calories you lost while playing the game. But it measures it in "kcal" and I was wondering if you lose 100 "kcal" how many calories are you losing?

DonutsNCoffee · 05-13-2004, 02:40 PM

This goes back to high school chemistry. A calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise 1 liter of water 1 degree celsius. Food calories are actually kilocalories. So if you see 100 kcal, that just means 100 calories. After all, kilo means 1000 and there's no way you could burn 100,000 calories.

zip2play · 05-14-2004, 07:03 AM

D&C,

Nope,
That's a GRAM (mL.) of water a degree centigrade for a calorie
and a Liter (more precisely a kilogram) of water a degree centigrade for a kcal.

But you are correct in that all food numbers are incorrectly called calories when actually what is meant is kilocalories.

05-14-2004, 07:31 AM

Hey that's how I exercise too! wow lol.. I lost 6 lbs and kept them off so far on my "DDR diet". Yeah 100 kcal just means 100 calories!
Cool!

DonutsNCoffee · 05-14-2004, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zip2play

D&C,

Nope,
That's a GRAM (mL.) of water a degree centigrade for a calorie
and a Liter (more precisely a kilogram) of water a degree centigrade for a kcal.

But you are correct in that all food numbers are incorrectly called calories when actually what is meant is kilocalories.

You're right. I haven't seen a chemistry book in over 10 years. I was just going on memory.