Calorie Calculator

Calories are a unit of measurement used to indicate the amount of energy that food or drink provides when consumed by the body. The formal definition of a calorie is the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. In the context of nutrition, however, the term "calorie" generally refers to the kilocalorie (kcal), which is equivalent to 1,000 calories. When we eat food, our bodies break down the nutrients in that food and convert them into energy. The amount of energy provided by food is measured in calories, and the total number of calories we consume in a day is often used as a rough measure of how much energy our bodies are taking in. The number of calories needed by an individual varies depending on factors such as age, gender, weight, height, and activity level.