KCal versus Cal

rhogro

I have a really nice elliptical trainer in my home. It's virtually the same quality as any health club machine except for the fact that I can't figure out how many calories I've burned in my workout sessions. It shows distance, mph, time spent on a session but when it comes to calories burned it displays KCal. How does this translate into calories? Are they the same?

Does anyone know if this is a preference that can be changed on most machines? Is there a calculator that I can input the KCal amount and have it automatically convert it to calories.

I keep track of this stuff in the online exercise diary and it only has a field for calories.

Teksavvy

1 KCal = 1000 Cal
For example
0.6 KCal = 600 Cal (calories)
1.2 KCal = 1200 Cal (calories)

butlersoft

almost .....

kCal is the abbreviation for calories ..... so ... if you do 100kcal on the treadmill / cross trainer ... you've burned 100 calories.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie

"The gram calorie, however, is a very small unit for use in nutritional contexts. Instead, the kilocalorie (symbol: kcal) or large calorie is used. In this context calorie and kilocalorie are equivalent."

TropicalKitty

1 KCal = 1000 Cal
For example
0.6 KCal = 600 Cal (calories)
1.2 KCal = 1200 Cal (calories)

No.

1 kcal = 1 Cal.

Silly thing, it's the capital letter C that people don't understand. Some physicists got together and decided to annoy people who haven't taken physics.

1kcal = 1 Cal = 1000 calories. (note one is capital c the other is lower case c)



So, if your machine says 300 kcal, then you burned 300 Calories (which is what's set in the database.) We don't use calories in measuring our food and workouts.

Mama_CAEI

Actually, they are the same.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie

Mama_CAEI

Silly thing, it's the capital letter C that people don't understand. Some physicists got together and decided to annoy people who haven't taken physics.

^^^ Bahahahahahaha!

SARgirl

1 KCal = 1000 Cal
For example
0.6 KCal = 600 Cal (calories)
1.2 KCal = 1200 Cal (calories)

No.

1 kcal = 1 Cal.

Silly thing, it's the capital letter C that people don't understand. Some physicists got together and decided to annoy people who haven't taken physics.

1kcal = 1 Cal = 1000 calories. (note one is capital c the other is lower case c)



So, if your machine says 300 kcal, then you burned 300 Calories (which is what's set in the database.) We don't use calories in measuring our food and workouts.

I was going to say... Wow I burn over 3000 calories then in my spin class!

smflagmeier

There are two classes of calories (small/large). Large is the one we use when referring to food; therefore, KCal and Cal are the same thing.

rhogro

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Think I'm going to like these Message Boards.

Mama_CAEI

There are two classes of calories (small/large). Large is the one we use when referring to food; therefore, KCal and Cal are the same thing.

I definitely ate too many large calories...that's why I had to sign up on MFP.

stylistchik

an actual calorie is 1/1000 of a "food" calorie so the kilocalories (kcal) you burn are the same measurement as the "calories" you're taking in

TropicalKitty

There are two classes of calories (small/large). Large is the one we use when referring to food; therefore, KCal and Cal are the same thing.

I definitely ate too many large calories...that's why I had to sign up on MFP.

Amen to that! hahaha

ChemChefJack

This is an old topic board, but thank God for TropicalKitty!!! I was pulling my hair out reading some of the responses. One person didn't sleep all the time in their Sci classes.