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Cal vs. kCAL

6209817
over 1 year ago

Why is Garmin operating with Calories (Cal) and not kCal which is the correct term to use considering the values presented, i.e 2000 kCal is the average male daily burn. According to Garmin the value is 2000 Cal per day as given in the app... (equivalent to 2kCal per day... one tousand times out) 

  • 0 over 1 year ago

    It believe it is a GUI error. All labels, captions and titles got a capital letter for each word. That messes up the meaning of the word since it is also a unit and there is a difference between Calories and calories. In the descriptions I only see the word "calories" unless it is the first word in a sentence.

    I can't find any references to kCal or kcal in Garmin Connect. I found one place where the unit "Cal" is used incorrectly and that is in the lap table.

  • 0 over 1 year ago
    6209817 said:
    Why is Garmin operating with Calories (Cal) and not kCal

    Because 2000 Calories is the same as 2 kCal. It is as if you asked why athletes run 1500 meters and not 1.5 km. Same case. Besides that people often confuse kcal and kCal, hence using consistently always Calories makes it easier for everyone to understand.

    There is a "small calorie" (energy needed to heat 1 gram of water by 1°K) and the "large calorie" or "food  calorie" (energy needed to heat 1 kilogram of water by 1°K)  with the recommended spelling of "Calorie".

    Hence 1 Calorie (Cal) = 1000 calories (cal) = 1 kcal, which means 1 kCal would be 1,000 Calories = 1,000,000 calories (= 1,000 kcal or 1 Mcal). 

    All of this (calories, Calories, kcal, kCal) are obsolete non-SI units, and should be avoided. It is the joule (J) or kilojoule (kJ) that should be used instead. 1 Calorie (= 1 kcal) = 4.184 kJ. However, in the world of fitness and dietetics, the Calories are so common, that it would be hard to get rid of them.

    See more details at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calorie