A medium apple (182g) has 95 calories, 25g of carbs, and 4.4g of fiber, according to USDA FoodData Central. Almost no fat, half a gram of protein, 86% water.
But "95 calories" assumes a 3-inch apple, and USDA has published the numbers three ways: by size, by variety, and by processed form. The short version: size moves the count far more than variety does, and the processed forms change the food entirely. Here is the full breakdown.
Apple Calories by Size
| Size | Diameter | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extra small | 2½" | 101g | 53 |
| Small | 2¾" | 149g | 77 |
| Medium | 3" | 182g | 95 |
| Large | 3¼" | 223g | 116 |
| 1 cup, sliced | - | 109g | 57 |
Source: USDA FoodData Central, Apples, raw, with skin (FDC ID 171688), 52 calories per 100g.
USDA's "medium" is 3 inches across - roughly a baseball. The difference between the smallest and largest size class is 63 calories, and nobody weighs an apple. If you eat one a day and it is actually a large, that is 21 calories daily logged as zero - the same quiet mismatch as weighing cooked food and logging it as raw, just wearing a fruit costume. Weigh one apple from your usual bag once, find your row, and log that going forward.
Gala vs Granny Smith: Does Variety Matter?
Far less than people think. USDA analyzed the major US varieties separately:
| Variety (raw, with skin) | Calories per 100g |
|---|---|
| Gala | 57 |
| Golden Delicious | 57 |
| Granny Smith | 58 |
| Red Delicious | 59 |
| Fuji | 63 |
Source: USDA FoodData Central (FDC IDs 168204, 168202, 168203, 168201, 167793). The generic "apples, raw, with skin" entry used elsewhere in this article is 52 per 100g.
The entire spread from Gala to Fuji is 6 calories per 100g. The spread from a small apple to a large one is 39. A green apple is not a lower-calorie apple - Granny Smith (58) and Red Delicious (59) are one calorie apart; tartness is acidity, not a nutrition fact. Pick the variety you enjoy and pay attention to the size instead.
Juice, Dried, and Applesauce: Where the Calories Hide
| Form | Portion | Calories | Fiber |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole apple, medium | 1 fruit (182g) | 95 | 4.4g |
| Applesauce, unsweetened | 1 cup (244g) | 102 | 2.7g |
| Apple juice, unsweetened | 1 cup (248g) | 114 | 0.5g |
| Dried apple rings | 1 cup (86g) | 209 | 7.5g |
Source: USDA FoodData Central (FDC IDs 171688, 171695, 173933, 171691).
Two different things happen in that table. Juice strips the fiber: a cup of unsweetened apple juice has 114 calories and 0.5g of fiber, goes down in seconds, and does almost nothing for fullness. Drying keeps the fiber but strips the water: dried apples run 243 calories per 100g versus 52 fresh - 4.7 times the density - so one cup of rings carries more calories than two whole medium apples, without the water volume that would have stopped you at one. Neither is a food to fear. Both are simply easy to eat a lot of without noticing, which is the entire difference.
The Apple-Before-Lunch Study
This one checks out, and it is worth knowing. In a Penn State study (Flood-Obbagy and Rolls, 2009), adults who ate a whole apple 15 minutes before lunch ate 15% less at the meal - about 187 fewer calories - than when they had no preload. The interesting part: applesauce and apple juice with the same calories did not produce the same effect. The whole fruit's water, intact fiber, and chewing time did the work.
That makes a whole apple a practical tool, not a superfood story: about 95 calories spent to reliably shave more than that off a meal. If you want one thing to try this week, eat an apple before your biggest meal and watch what happens to the portion. It pairs well with the rest of the high-volume, low-calorie food list.
The Bottom Line
An apple has 53 to 116 calories depending on size; variety changes almost nothing (USDA). Whole apples are among the most filling snacks per calorie you can buy - a medium banana runs 105 for comparison, and our under-200-calorie snack list leans on both. Get your daily number from the daily calorie calculator, log apples by the size you actually buy, and if you drink your apples, log the cup, not "1 apple". For the logging habit itself, start with our calorie counting guide.
