Can Vaping Have Calories: Does A Vape Actually Have A Calorie Count? 

Your calorie intake may be a primary focus if you are trying to manage your weight and any ambiguity concerning whether you need to include any calories from simply vaping may play on your mind, as it isn't always that clear whether it will contribute to your daily calorie intake. 

A calorie is simply a measurement of energy which comes from something as simple as a banana or a slice of pizza but can even extend to various liquids too. This calorie value indicates how much energy your body receives when you consume it, although the fact that liquids can be included has brought into question whether your vape juice may also contain calories when you are vaping. As your vape generates plumes of delicious vapour with distinctive flavours derived from real ingredients, it raises the question of whether your vape juice contains calories as well. 

Whilst vape juices contain a blend of propylene glycol, vegetable glycerine, flavouring and usually nicotine, how the proportion of these ingredients are blended is where things get interesting; 

Both propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine are primary components in vape juice and both contain around four calories per gram, although this is where their proportions are important. Propylene glycol is simply a synthetic food additive that is used in very small quantities, but vegetable glycerine makes up the majority of your vape juice and is the source behind any calories contained in your vape. 

Whilst it is your vape juice that contains these ingredients, their impact is crucially different depending on how your body absorbs substances. In standard food and beverages, calories are ingested, digested and metabolised, but with vaping, these ingredients are heated. This means you inhale rather than swallow them and this changes the absorption method. This can make a huge impact on how calories contribute to your daily calorie intake.

The flavourings and nicotine used within vape juice can help provide effect or sensation but lack meaningful caloric value on their own due to their low proportion contained within your vape juice. It is the vegetable glycerine that does contain some calories, although in such a small quantity it can be difficult to measure since it contains negligible calories in each puff when used with your vape device.

Taking into consideration the proportions of propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG) content in most vape juices, you can make a rough estimate of around 0.2g of PG and 0.8g of VG, which collectively works out as approximately four calories per gram.

With most vape juice bottles being 10ml, this means you're looking at about 40 calories in the entire bottle of vape juice.

This can really put things into perspective, as the entire bottle is far lower in terms of calorie content than any snack or beverage, especially when you consider how you absorb calories from vaping since they are not being consumed in the same way as food. 

For a little added context, if you are a heavy vaper and managed to vape an entire 10ml bottle in a single day, the number of calories would barely touch the 40-50 mark. This is comparable to eating a chocolate biscuit or consuming a soft drink, especially since this is solely your vape juice as your vape kit does not contain any calories at all. Calories have to be consumed in order to add to your calorie count and vaping does not contribute a meaningful amount, even if you are vaping a lot. Gaining weight simply from vaping is highly unlikely unless it coincides with other lifestyle changes or snacking habits.

Just because there are calories in your vape does not actually mean they can even make it into your system, as your body does not absorb these trace calories through the lungs as you would if you consumed them orally. The process of inhaling when you vape is not the same as when you eat and as a result, the majority of any calories in your vape juice won't even make it into your bloodstream at all! While vaping, you technically introduce a tiny number of calories, but there aren't enough to noticeably affect the scale, especially since your body is not exposed to them in a way that allows for effective absorption. 

Once you know your vape cannot really contribute to your daily calorie intake, you may logically assume that it has no impact at all on your weight. Although when you factor in how smoking can affect your body, you cannot help but speculate if just the act of vaping can affect your weight as well.

Traditionally, smoking cigarettes has long been associated with lower body weight since nicotine acts as an appetite suppressant. This usually means you tend to reduce your calorie intake inadvertently as the nicotine diminishes your urge to snack. Since vaping isn't quite the same and you may often find yourself using sweet or food-flavoured vape juices, you cannot help but speculate whether you're ingesting hidden calories, although you will find vaping acts in a very similar way. If you are using vape juice that contains nicotine, you will find it has a similar effect to smoking in the sense that you can lose weight from vaping due to the same nicotine suppressing your appetite rather than directly make you lose weight.

While vaping contains only trace calories, a lingering concern for many weight-conscious vapers is whether vaping makes you gain weight in less direct ways, especially if you decide to cut back on your vaping routine. 

One of the most common experiences concerning weight gain is for anyone who quit smoking, whether they have simply cut back or quit entirely. Opting to use nicotine alternatives such as vaping, nicotine pouches, nicotine strips or even nicotine toothpicks, in some cases you may gain weight. Since vaping is the most popular alternative to smoking, it is easy to assume you are gaining weight from vaping, although the small number of calories in your vape liquid proves that isn't the case. Vape products themselves do not actually lead to weight gain, since the vape juice used in vapes primarily contains minimal ingredients with flavourings and nicotine. You do not inhale calories and have them add to your calorie count as the nicotine itself in the liquid is what is providing the appetite suppression, but if you either reducing your vaping or quite entirely, you will find you may have similar weight gain side effects as you would with cutting down on smoking. Without the appetite suppressant provided by nicotine in cigarettes (or within vape juice), you may find you end up eating more and adding to your calorie count for the day as a result. 

Although vape juice contains small amounts of calories per ml, the amount absorbed as you inhale while vaping is negligible even if you start vaping large amounts of vape juice. 

Vaping directly helps manage oral fixation for many, potentially reducing calorie intake from snacking as you are less inclined to eat with the added nicotine in your system too, so vaping can actually support weight management efforts.

Although it should be noted this is not by burning calories, but by keeping your hands and mouth busy with the added benefit of hunger supression from the nicotine. 

It's important to remember that how you absorb calories is very important, since in most cases you will consume food in order to get energy from the calories it contains, but that isn't how you are exposed to the calories in vapes. Vaping has been questioned for being behind some of the weight gain vapers may experience, although vaping is proven to only transmit any calories via inhalation. Any calories from vaping pass into the bloodstream when inhaled, but because the lungs are built for gas exchange, not caloric absorption, you will only encounter trace calories. Because these trace amounts of calories are so small, they will have no impact whatsoever on your daily calorie count. 

Vaping's effect on appetite can be indirect, thanks mostly to nicotine, as it is well known for its mild suppressive effect on appetite. You can confirm that you don't get calories from vaping, but what about your eating habits? Ultimately, you will usually find that if you are often vaping, you will likely be snacking far less. (Although it should be noted that if you opt for zero-nicotine vape juice, you will likely see less of an appetite shift.) Eating in itself can become a habit to occupy yourself if you were previously a smoker and rather than quitting cold turkey, you can find switching to vaping or using other alternatives like nicotine pouches can help prevent habitual snacking which can be a side effect of quitting rapidly.

Vaping While Counting Calories

If calorie counting is central to your routine, know that vaping doesn't meaningfully affect the daily tally. Fewer calories pass through vaping than from chewing gum, let alone any actual snack or beverage. Even if you're new to vaping, or concerned about transitioning to vaping from smoking you can rest easy as vape liquids only contain a very small amount of calories per ml. If you are keen on managing your weight through calorie counting, your focus should be placed more on other lifestyle choices when thinking about overall calorie intake and weight management.  The real impact for most is psychological, as the ritual of holding and inhaling a vape replaces smoking or constant snacking, which can help some avoid extra food and maintain steady weight.

1 - Vaping does have calories at extraordinarily low levels.

Due to the content of propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin in vape juices, there are tiny amounts of calories contained in your vape liquid. 

2- Vape calories are only absorbed in trace amounts

Since calories are best absorbed orally as opposed to inhaled, nearly all the calories in your vape juice aren’t even absorbed by the lungs, making actual calories gained from vaping negligible.

3- There’s no evidence vapes cause weight gain.

The number of calories in your vape device, or more specifically the vape juice, are so small they do not have any impact on your weight and it is more likely a reduction to your nicotine intake is having a greater impact from suppressing your appetite less. 

4 - Nicotine can suppress appetite with a vape in the same way smoking can. 

Vaping isn’t linked to weight gain from caloric intake, but providing you use nicotine-infused vape juice, it will have a similar appetite-suppressing effect as cigarettes do. 

5 - Calories from vaping are too low to include in a count

Whilst there are calories in your vape juice, even if you managed to use an entire bottle of vape juice in a single day you would find less of a calorie total than if you were to consume a small snack like a single cookie or soft drink. 

At the end of the day, whilst vape juice does contain ingredients with miniscule quantities of calories, absorption through the lungs is highly ineffective, barely permitting minimal calories to enter your bloodstream as a result. Vape juices do contain calories but not in the same sense that food does, with most calories being lost in the vapour you exhale. The shift to vaping from cigarettes presents its own effects on lifestyle and appetite, but it’s not about calories per gram of vape juice. If you’re tracking calories as part of a health or weight goal, vapes can be kept off the list of things to be concerned about, as vaping does not directly cause or prevent weight loss.

Vaping causes the same appetite suppression you can expect from smoking, provided you use vape juice with nicotine, but that does not make it the ideal aid for weight management. So, keep an eye on that biscuit tin, enjoy your preferred vape flavour, and allow worries about calories from vaping to drift away on the next cloud.