Demystifying kCal – Calories – calorie

As a part of my recent Cardio routine at the gym, I noticed a lot of difference in the units used in a lot of the machines. Being an instrumentation engineer by the degree I hold, it disturbed me a lot and I wanted to know actually what the units used indicate.

The treadmill read the unit in kCal (kilo calorie). The cycle read the unit in Cal (Calorie).

A unit of energy is calorie. This is what is used in physics and sciences. In nutrition, food and exercises, it is quite different. The unit of enery is measured in kCal or Calorie.

1 kCal = 1 Calorie = 1000 calorie.

So the next time you notice Cal in the gym, remember this!