How much energy is in that food?
A food Calorie is a kilocalorie — 4 184 joules. Once you convert, food starts looking like the fuel it is.
93% of Big Mac
500 kcal is more than 5 of the 8 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| a AA battery | 2.39 kcal | 209× | For comparison — 2.4 kcal |
| apple | 94.9 kcal | 5.27× | 95 kcal |
| banana | 105 kcal | 4.77× | |
| pint of beer | 210 kcal | 2.38× | |
| slice of pizza | 280 kcal | 1.79× | |
| Big Mac | 540 kcal | 0.926× | |
| a day of eating | 2,000 kcal | 0.25× | 2 000 kcal |
| running a marathon | 2,796 kcal | 0.179× | About 2 800 kcal |
Worth knowing
- A AA battery holds about 2.4 food Calories. A Big Mac holds 226 times more energy than the battery in your remote.
- Running a marathon burns roughly 2 800 kcal — about one day of eating, which is why the post-race meal is so satisfying and so ineffective as weight loss.
Frequently asked
Is a Calorie the same as a calorie?
No. The food Calorie, capital C, is a kilocalorie: 1 000 small calories, or 4 184 joules. Nutrition labels almost always mean the big one.
How many calories do you burn doing nothing?
About 1 400–1 800 a day for an adult — the basal metabolic rate, roughly 70% of most people’s total. Exercise is a smaller share than intuition suggests.