How many calories are in yoghurt?
A 150 g pot of plain whole-milk yoghurt is about 90 kcal. The same pot flavoured, or sold “with fruit”, is usually 140 to 190. Nothing about the yoghurt changed between those two numbers. Sugar did.
Per portion
| Portion | Calories | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 g plain whole-milk yoghurt | ~60 | 3.5 g | 4.7 g | 3.3 g |
| 100 g plain low-fat yoghurt | ~50 | 4.5 g | 6 g | 1 g |
| 150 g pot, plain whole milk | ~90 | 5 g | 7 g | 5 g |
| 150 g pot, flavoured or fruit, low-fat | ~140–190 | 5 g | 22–30 g | 2–4 g |
| 170 g pot, 0% fat Greek | ~100 | 17 g | 6 g | 0.5 g |
| 170 g pot, 5% fat Greek | ~170 | 15 g | 6 g | 8 g |
| 150 g split pot with granola or chocolate balls | ~200–260 | 5 g | 25–35 g | 6–10 g |
| 100 ml sweetened yoghurt drink | ~70–90 | 2.5 g | 13 g | 1.5 g |
| 100 g frozen yoghurt, before toppings | ~130–160 | 4 g | 22 g | 3 g |
What changes the number
Added sugar, first and by a distance. A flavoured pot typically carries 10–18 g of sugar beyond the milk’s own lactose: 40–70 kcal on top of a 90 kcal food. “With real fruit” usually means a few per cent of sweetened fruit purée, so the fruit supplies the flavour and the sugar supplies the energy.
Straining. Greek yoghurt has whey drained off, which removes water and lactose and leaves protein behind. Protein per 100 g roughly doubles, to around 9–10 g, and the carbohydrate figure drops to about 4 g.
Fat percentage, which is printed on the lid. 0%, 2%, 5% and 10% versions of the same strained yoghurt run roughly 55, 75, 100 and 135 kcal per 100 g. On plain unstrained yoghurt the swing is smaller, from about 50 to 60.
What goes on top. 30 g of granola is 120–140 kcal, a tablespoon of honey about 60, a handful of nuts around 175. Yoghurt plus three additions is routinely a 400 kcal breakfast.
Where it fits in a deficit
Plain 0% Greek yoghurt is one of the best protein-per-calorie foods in an ordinary supermarket: about 17 g of protein per 100 kcal, which is chicken-breast territory. That makes it useful twice over when you are eating less than you burn, because it is filling and it is the easiest way to keep protein up as calories come down.
The practical move is to buy it plain and sweeten it yourself: a teaspoon of jam or honey is 20–60 kcal and you watch it go in, where a flavoured pot’s sugar is already decided. Set yoghurt eaten as curd is the same food in a different container, and the figures are interchangeable.
Yoghurt drinks are the exception. They are sweetened, drunk in seconds, and sit closer to a thin lassi than to the pot.
What the pot actually tells you
Three habits cover most of it, all of them on the back of the pack.
Check whether the figures are per 100 g or per pot. A 150 g pot at “115 kcal per 100 g” is 170 kcal, and the number on the front is often the smaller one.
Treat “Greek-style” as a different product from Greek. Greek-style is generally not strained; it is thickened with milk solids, cream or starch to imitate the texture. Protein per 100 g is the tell: strained yoghurt shows 9–10 g, Greek-style often 4–5 g for similar or higher calories.
Ignore “fat-free”, “live” and “probiotic” here. None of them says anything about energy, and fat-free pots are among the most heavily sweetened. “No added sugar” is a real claim, and usually means sweeteners instead.
Figures are typical values and vary by variety, size and preparation. General information, not medical advice.