Many people today track every calorie they eat and drink. So, when you pick up your vape, you might wonder: does vaping have calories? This question comes up more often than you’d think. After all, vape juice tastes sweet, and sweet things usually have calories, right?
The simple answer is yes, vape juice does have calories. However, the amount is so tiny that it won’t affect your weight or diet plans. Whether you’re enjoying sweet Raz Vape flavors or any other brand, the calorie content remains minimal. Let’s break down everything you need to know about vaping and calories.
What Makes Vape Juice Have Calories?
To understand how many calories are in a vape, we need to look at what’s inside vape juice. Most e-liquids contain four main ingredients:
Vegetable Glycerin (VG) makes up about 50-80% of most vape juices. This thick, sweet liquid comes from plants and contains about 4.3 calories per gram. VG creates those big, fluffy clouds when you vape.
Propylene Glycol (PG) is the other main ingredient. This thin liquid carries flavors well and gives you that throat hit feeling. PG has about 4 calories per gram, just like VG.
Flavorings add taste to your vape juice. These food-grade additives have almost no calories. Whether you choose strawberry or coffee flavor, the calorie count stays nearly the same.
Nicotine is the fourth ingredient in many vape juices. Interestingly, nicotine itself has zero calories. However, it does affect your appetite and metabolism in other ways.
The Real Numbers: Calories in Your Vape
Now, let’s get to the specific numbers. Most experts agree that 1ml of vape juice contains about 5 calories. This means:
- A small 10ml bottle has roughly 50 calories
- A standard 30ml bottle contains about 150 calories
- A disposable vape (usually 2ml) has around 10 calories
To put this in perspective, a single cookie has about 50 calories. A can of soda contains 150 calories. Therefore, even a full bottle of vape juice has fewer calories than most snacks.
But here’s the key point: you don’t vape an entire bottle in one day. Most people use 1-3ml of vape juice daily. This means you’re only getting 5-15 calories from vaping each day.
Calories Per Puff
Want to know exactly how many calories are in a vape puff? Here’s the math: if 1ml of vape juice gives you about 100 puffs, then each puff contains roughly 0.05 calories. That’s less than one-twentieth of a calorie per puff!
Whether you’re using a popular disposable like a Raz Vape or refillable device, the calorie count per puff remains the same. The brand doesn’t change the basic math.
Can Your Body Actually Use These Calories?
This is where things get interesting. While vape juice does contain calories, scientists aren’t sure if your body can actually use them. Here’s why:
Your body normally gets calories through your stomach and intestines. When you eat food, your digestive system breaks it down and absorbs the nutrients. However, when you vape, the vapor goes into your lungs, not your stomach.
Currently, there’s no solid proof that your lungs can absorb calories from vapor. Most experts believe these calories simply don’t count toward your daily intake. In other words, even though the calories exist in the vape juice, your body probably can’t use them.
Does Vaping Make You Gain Weight?
Since your body likely can’t absorb calories from vaping, does vaping have calories that matter for weight gain? The answer is no. Vaping itself won’t make you gain weight.
In fact, many people find the opposite happens. Nicotine is a natural appetite suppressant. This means it can make you feel less hungry. Many people who switch from smoking to vaping actually maintain their weight better than those who quit nicotine completely.
Vaping vs. Smoking for Weight Control
Many smokers worry about gaining weight when they quit. This happens because nicotine suppresses appetite and slightly increases metabolism. When people stop using nicotine completely, they often eat more and burn fewer calories.
Vaping can help with this problem. Since vape juice can contain nicotine, you can maintain the appetite-suppressing effects while avoiding the harmful chemicals in cigarettes. Plus, the hand-to-mouth action of vaping can satisfy oral habits that might otherwise lead to snacking.
Research shows that people who switch to vaping are less likely to gain weight compared to those who quit nicotine cold turkey. This makes vaping a useful tool for weight management during smoking cessation.
Special Situations: Fasting and Dieting
Intermittent Fasting
If you practice intermittent fasting, you might wonder if vaping breaks your fast. Since your body probably can’t absorb the calories in vape juice, most experts say vaping won’t break a fast from a metabolic standpoint.
Keto and Low-Carb Diets
People following keto diets often worry about hidden carbs. The good news is that vape juice contains virtually no carbohydrates. The small amount of calories comes from glycerin and propylene glycol, not sugars or starches.
What About Sweet Flavors?
Many people assume that dessert-flavored vapes must have more calories than tobacco or menthol flavors. This isn’t true. The flavorings used in vape juice contain almost no calories, regardless of how sweet they taste.
Whether you choose vanilla custard, strawberry cheesecake, or plain tobacco flavor, the calorie count remains nearly identical. Popular Raz Vape flavors like Blue Razz Ice or Strawberry Kiwi taste incredibly sweet, but they don’t contain actual sugar. The sweetness comes from artificial flavors, not calories.
Health Considerations Beyond Calories
While calories from vaping aren’t a concern, there are other health factors to consider:
Blood Sugar: Nicotine can affect blood sugar levels. If you have diabetes, talk to your doctor about how vaping might impact your condition. The issue isn’t calories – it’s nicotine’s effect on insulin sensitivity.
Appetite Changes: Since nicotine suppresses appetite, make sure you’re still eating enough nutritious food. Don’t use vaping as a way to skip meals or replace proper nutrition.
Overall Health: While vaping is considered safer than smoking, it’s not risk-free. If you don’t currently use nicotine, most health experts don’t recommend starting to vape.
The Bottom Line
So, does vaping have calories? Yes, but not in a way that matters for your diet or weight. How many calories are in a vape? About 5 calories per ml of juice, but your body probably can’t use them anyway.
The tiny amount of calories in vape juice is nothing compared to the food and drinks you consume daily. Instead of worrying about vape calories, focus on maintaining a healthy diet and active lifestyle.
If you’re using vaping to quit smoking or manage nicotine cravings, the potential benefits far outweigh any concerns about the minimal calories in vape juice. Whether you’re shopping at Vape4USA or other retailers, focus on finding quality products that meet your needs. Just remember that vaping works best as a tool for harm reduction, not as a weight loss method.
