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How to read the calorie line on a food label

How to read the calorie line on a food label

The calorie number on a pack looks simple, but it hides behind three tricks: per-100g vs per-serving, kJ vs kcal, and a serving size that is often smaller than you eat. Learn to read it right so the number you log is the number you actually ate.

13 Jul 2026 · Burnie Academy
food-label calories serving-size fssr

You flip a pack of noodles or biscuits to read the back. There it is, the calorie line. But the number you see is not always the number you eat. Packs play three quiet tricks. They show calories per 100g, or per serving, or for the whole pack. They show energy in kJ, in kcal, or both. And the serving size is often much smaller than what you actually eat. Read the line wrong, and you log a number that is half of what you really ate. That is the gap that quietly breaks a calorie deficit.

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