History Main / CastFromCalories

** It's later revealed this is a trait shared by Saiyans in general. Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, and even Nappa are prone to eating the same enormous amounts. A famous scene during the Buu Arc, has Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan at the World Tournament diner pouring food down and piling bowls up. Krillin even makes a remark on wondering what Saiyan stomachs were made of.

Typically, FunctionalMagic is assumed to rely on some universal, pervasive force, like a BackgroundMagicField as its source of {{mana}}. Alternately, it might be drawn from the collective LifeEnergy of the local environment. In a pinch, it could come from some quasi-benevolent gods. But if these aren't available, it might just be possible for a supernatural being to utilize the stored caloric energy of one's own body as a fantastic power source. This isn't nearly as bountiful as the other options, so it's often used as a desperation tactic.

* Literally the case in ''Anime/{{Slayers}}''. WordOfGod is that the bodies of those with high magical capacity fuel that capacity directly from the calories in the food they eat, which is why even waifish and petite girls like Amelia and Lina (both powerful spell-casters) eat thousands of calories at each meal and remain thin.

* Dreams of Alice, the {{Reality Warp|er}}ing children in ''Manga/AliceAndZoroku'', burn calories to use their powers. In the first episode, the man in charge of the research facility Sana's escaping from notes they kept her calorie intake low precisely so they could limit her ability to use her powers to get away. Sana ultimately makes her getaway when a third party enters the fray and gives her juice to drink, giving her just enough energy to teleport out of there. Soon after meeting Zoroku, he treats her to food, and the other customers in the restaurant wonder if she's in some kind of eating competition.
* This is the downside to Georgette Lemare's [[HealingHands healing magic]] in ''Manga/StrikeWitches''. Using it gives her a literal HyperactiveMetabolism, so she needs to [[BigEater eat noticeably more]] than the other girls in the 502nd.
* Momo Yaoyorozu of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is technically a case of Cast From Fatty Acids; her creation quirk transmutes the lipids in her body to form any object she can think of. The effect is pretty much the same since eating is the easiest way she can replenish them.
** The Pro Hero known as Fat Gum possesses a quirk called "Fat Absorption," allowing him to both absorb damage from attacks and trap enemies with his fat. He can also use the energy his fat has absorbed to unleash a devastating blow, though it requires him to burn off all of his fat and renders him unable to use his quirk again until he's put the weight back on.
* Shuto Kisaragi, the protagonist of ''Manga/{{Ratman}}'', soon discovers that he's developed an enormous appetite after becoming the eponymous Ratman, as the transformation requires him to burn an insane amount of calories to maintain it.

* In ''ComicBook/TotallyAwesomeHulk'', Amadeus Cho needs to consume lots of calories to maintain the mass and energy needed to HulkOut.
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} once explained that he has to eat a lot to allow his HealingFactor to work.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, [[PowersAsPrograms whose healing factor is what Wade's is derived from]], is occasionally depicted as needing to do the same with high protein meals. He gives advice to X-23 to follow suit.
* When using her shapeshifting to heal the new Comicbook/{{Ms Marvel|2014}}, Kamala Khan, becomes extraordinarily hungry and needs to eat to recharge her powers.
* ''ComicBook/DungeonTheEarlyYears'': Horus and Alcibiade once escaped a trap by casting an anticipative necromancy spell on themselves, starving to death, returning as zombies, and devouring an entire herd of cows to return to living state.
* Comicbook/IronMan foe Ezekiel Stane bioengineered his own body to be able to fire repulsor blasts like Iron Man, but doing so burns a lot of energy. He compensates by consuming a ''very'' high-calorie goo.

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'''s second book, ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'', Lift is a Surgebinder -- a person with magical abilities which are powered by [[{{Mana}} Stormlight]]. However, unlike most Surgebinders who must get Stormlight from an external source, Lift can generate her own from the food she eats. While this ability is pretty convenient, it also means that she can not use her magic unless she has the calories to do so. Consequently, she is always hungry.

* In the third book of John Maddox Roberts's ''Stormlands'' series, [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Fyana]] plows through a fairly respectable spread as if she hasn't eaten in days after performing a major healing ritual.
* In the ''Literature/TowerAndTheHive'' series, it is explained that this is true of people with PsychicPowers. The energy to move things around with one's mind has to come from ''somewhere'', and Talents are mentioned as requiring a much greater calorie intake than ordinary people. Even then, the majority of telekinetics bolster themselves by siphoning power from electric generators to do heavy lifting.
* {{Discussed}} in ''Literature/{{Everworld}}:'' when the group wonders why [[GodOfEvil Loki]] isn't coming after them, April suggests that he might be tired from his battle with Myth/{{Merlin}} that morning. Jalil, the [[AgentScully resident skeptic]] who is [[FlatEarthAtheist constantly annoyed to find himself]] [[TrappedInAnotherWorld in a fantasy world]], sarcastically wonders if magic burn calories.
* ''In Literature/PrincessHolyAura'', doing magic or supernatural fighting burns a lot of energy, some of which must come from the magic user. This puts a severe hamper on Silvertail's magic usage.
--> The worst trial school currently presented was that they couldn't eat as much as they wanted to without making spectacles of themselves. [[spoiler:Seika]] had discovered that the day after her first transformation. She didn't quite keep up with Holly in the eating department, but she was now eating more than anyone else in her house, easily.
* In Mark A. Garland's ''The Demon Blade'' series, wizards cast from their body's energy reserves, so before trying any serious feat of magic they have to fatten themselves up.

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', after first gaining his SuperSpeed Barry would often succumb to passing out during the day. It's explained that for Barry to run at such high speeds he consumes a staggering amount of energy, and hence he needs to eat that same amount each day. For convenience, Cisco makes Barry some high-calorie energy bars. Barry also would have a habit of going to Big Belly Burger and eating about 20 or so burgers in one sitting. During the crossover with ''Series/Supergirl2015'', Barry himself says he eats about 10000 calories a day.

* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', Vampires can spend Blood Points on vampiric abilities; they must then recharge their Blood Pool by snacking on some mortal.
* Tachyon of ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'', like the Flash, is a speedster and is almost constantly eating -- there's a few pieces of official art that have her scarfing down burgers, and in the single promotional comic, she takes a slight detour through the villain's evil lair to hit its cafeteria.
* In ''TabletopGame/RedMarkets'' '''every''' skill check involving strength or speed requires the character to expend a charge of rations. Edible food doesn't keep well in [[ScavengerWorld the Loss]].

* The ''VideoGame/BioShock'' [[ZigzaggingTrope zig-zags it]] - most food in the first game [[HyperactiveMetabolism just heals your health]], not affecting your EVE bar, aside from the pep bars (which apparently are advertised as "Now with a burst of EVE!". Alcoholic drinks drain your EVE while restoring your health, presumed to be because they are depressants, while (probably caffeinated) coffee restores EVE. Cigarettes/pipe tobacco, which are stimulants, restore EVE while also taking some of your health in return. The second game confuses the matter while adding a soft drink along with the coffee to the EVE-restoring drinks as just plain fresh water, and the painkiller aspirin restoring EVE. The fresh water and aspirin consumables are absent in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', and throw in a single exception with the alcoholic drinks salts-to-health (salts being the new name for the EVE-equivalent resource in ''Infinite'') trading concept - flasks of unknown booze that will halve your salts, but fully heal you.

* Sin Kiske from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear Xrd'' has this as a core mechanic for his gameplay: performing a special move has his Calorie Meter drop 1000 points (he has around 15,000 in total) and requires him to refuel with a specific move if he doesn't have many calories left to "burn" or starves.
* Crest sorcery in the ''VideoGame/WildArms'' series seems to have this effect. Both Cecilia from 1 and Lilka from 2 are noted for their [[BigEater large appetites]] and both have their [[TrademarkFavouriteFood Trademark Favourite Food]]. (Hamburgers or chow mein for Cecilia, jelly rolls for Lilka.)

* In ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'', [[spoiler:Frans Rayner]] comes back from the dead as a {{Cyborg}} with a single laser eye. But this laser eye is powered by his organic body -- and it uses so much energy that a single shot leaves him too tired to stand, so he only uses it in one-on-one fights when he's sure it will kill his opponent.

* Magic in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' is usually cast through {{Mana}}, but [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=760 it's stated]] that magicians can burn calories instead if they want-Nanase even exploits this to eat whatever she wants and still stay trim.
* ''Webcomic/RayFox'': Metas require large amounts of calories to use their powers. Ray finds this out when he passes out after being a few days away from home cooking.

* In ''Literature/ShadowUnit'', merely ''having'' a paranormal ability doubles a person's daily caloric intake; the team considers an increase in caloric uptake a sign of TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening. Actively using the power can starve you to death in hours (or even faster). Chaz considers himself to be middle-aged - burning all those calories is medically proven InUniverse to be wearing out various organs - and nearly starved to death as a child on numerous occasions; his foster families treated it as an eating disorder, so he had to resort to scamming his fellow students for extra lunch money and stealing sticks of butter out of people's fridges just to swallow them whole. When [[spoiler:Chaz is held captive by his uncle/father, he's reduced to a third-world refugee skeleton in a matter of days]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Franchise/TheFlash is frequently seen eating high-calorie food whenever he's not actively performing deeds of superheroics. He is, on at least one occasion, seen devouring an armful of hot dogs, which he comments is for keeping up his caloric intake which, as a speedster, is understandably high. His calorie needs also surprise a police officer who asks him if he wants coffee and Flash responds that he takes his with cream and thirty-seven sugars.
* The heroes in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' don't have to eat a lot themselves, but they have to regularly feed the kwamis who enable their transformations. After invoking their special abilities, the transformation will soon drop and extra food is in order.
* Kid Flash in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' keeps a small supply of food in a hidden compartment in his right glove, due to his accelerated metabolism.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' has the entire team sans Black Widow end up infected with a virus that makes them hulk out. At one point Hawkeye is seen raging about a lack of food and how hungry he is, with Hulk explaining that he has to eat a lot because now he's a living gamma reactor. Technically this means you won't like Hulk when he's hangry, and unfortunately, [[{{Film/TheAvengers2012}} he's always hangry]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BumpInTheNight'' Christmas special "'Twas the Night Before Bumpy", Mr. Bumpy and Squishington encounter a British hummingbird named Doris D. Bird, who has to eat constantly in order to maintain the energy needed to constantly flap her wings.

* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': GC-161 gives Alex a very fast metabolism, and using her powers further increases her need for food. After [[spoiler: she rides a nuclear missile across the world and disassembles it in midair, following a hard fight to stop any other launches]], she's so hungry that she's getting dizzy and loopy.

* When using her shapeshifting to heal the new Ms Marvel, Kamala Khan, becomes extraordinarily hungry and needs to eat to recharge her powers.

* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': [[Series/LukeCage2016 Luke]] is incredulous at how [[Series/IronFist2017 Danny Rand]] is able to eat so much and still be thin.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'' is probably the TropeCodifier for manga and has definitely influenced other works, especially in Japan. All fighters need calories for KiManipulation, and are {{Big Eater}}s as a result.

** It's later revealed this is a trait shared by Saiyans in general. Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks and even Nappa are prone to eating the same enormous amounts. A famous scene during the Buu Arc, has Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan at the World Tournament diner pouring food down and piling bowls up. Krillin even makes a remark on wondering what Saiyan stomachs were made of.
* In the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', the magical energy mages use to cast their spells is generated by their bodies, so they have to replenish their calories at every opportunity. This is particularly true of frontline combat mages, like Subaru Nakajima, who is the series' resident BigEater (due to also having to continuously expend her mana to [[spoiler:power up all the cyber-enhancements built into her cyborg body]]). It's also implied that different styles of magic are more energy intensive than others with Belkan and Neo-Belkan mages being the most calorie intensive. Hence Subaru and Erio being much [[BigEater bigger eaters]] than Fate, the most close-combat focused user of Mid-Childan style magic in the series.

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Choji has a SuperMode that uses calories and is triggered by FoodPills. It's considered a DangerousForbiddenTechnique because it consumes so many nutrients that the user dies; however, Choji is so enormously fat that he has barely enough energy to survive, and becomes comically skinny in an instant. Parodied, when Naruto and Sasuke seem to be doing this, gouging down food and asking for more... only to hurl the food they had just eaten back up.
* In ''Anime/NegimaSecondSeason'', the Pactio system is reworked to draw on the partner's calorie count instead of the mage's magic reserves like in the manga. Thus, while Negi was testing Nodoka's Cosplay card, her stomach growled after changing back and he bought her a hamburger to make up for it. This plot-point becomes an issue whenever the students are trapped in a separate dimension without any access to food.

* ''Manga/{{Toriko}}'' is a story ''literally'' about food and eating. It makes a frequent point that those endowed with Gourmet Cells gain superhuman powers but pay for this with ''extreme'' appetites. They need to keep eating vast amounts of food everyday to stay alive. One character, Kosairou, weaponize this with his [[PaperTalisman Calorie Eater]], which forces whoever's touched by his talismans to exhaust huge amounts of calories for nothing.
* Dreams of Alice, the {{Reality Warp|er}}ing children in ''Manga/AliceAndZoroku'', burn calories to use their powers. In the first episode, the man in charge of the research facility Sana's escaping from notes they kept her calorie intake low precisely so they could limit her ability use her powers to get away. Sana ultimately makes her getaway when a third party enters the fray and gives her juice to drink, giving her just enough energy to teleport out of there. Soon after meeting Zoroku, he treats her to food, and the other customers in the restaurant wonder if she's in some kind of eating competition.

* Momo Yaoyorozu of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' is technically a case of Cast From Fatty Acids; her creation quirk transmutes the lipids in her body to form any object she can think of. The effect is pretty much the same, since eating is the easiest way she can replenish them.

* In ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan'', after his powers started developing, Peter also showed a huge gain in appetite. When he gets home he grabs '''all''' of the food from the fridge, including Aunt May's meat loaf, which according to Uncle Ben ''nobody'' liked.

* This is the case for wizards in the ''Literature/LiadenUniverse'' novels. For minor everyday workings it doesn't have any obvious effect, but a working of any significant size will leave a wizard ravenously hungry, and there are at least two examples of a wizard visibly losing weight after a major working. (One is in ''Conflict of Honors'', and is followed by Priscilla looking in the mirror and reflecting that she looks like she's the survivor of a famine.)

* In ''Series/TheFlash2014'', after first gaining his SuperSpeed Barry would often succumb to passing out during the day. It's explained that for Barry to run at such high speeds he consumes a staggering amount of energy, and hence he needs to eat that same amount each day. For convenience, Cisco makes Barry some high calorie energy bars. Barry also would have a habit of going to Big Belly Burger and eating about 20 or so burgers in one sitting. During the crossover with ''Series/Supergirl2015'', Barry himself says he eats about 10000 calories a day.

* The heroine of the [[InteractiveComic MSPA Fan Adventure]] ''Roleplay/{{Alanna}}'' is struck by hunger when she unconsciously manifests powerful ice magic, or survives underwater longer than she naturally should. Turns out [[spoiler:she's partially [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the DestroyerDeity, who gains power from devouring stuff, and used lots of such power saving her. Before facing the BigBad, the god insists she only do so]] well-rested and well-fed.

* The ''VideoGame/BioShock'' [[ZigzaggingTrope zig-zags it]] - most food in the first game [[HyperactiveMetabolism just heals your health]], not affecting your EVE bar, aside from the pep bars (which apparently are advertised as "Now with a burst of EVE!". Alcoholic drinks drain your EVE while restoring your health, presumed to be because they are depressants, while (probably caffinated) coffee restores EVE. Cigarettes/pipe tobacco, which are stimulants, restore EVE while also taking some of your health in return. The second game confuses the matter while adding a soft drink along with the coffee to the EVE-restoring drinks as just plain fresh water, and the painkiller aspirin restoring EVE. The fresh water and aspirin consumables are absent in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', and throw in a single exception with the alcoholic drinks salts-to-health (salts being the new name for the EVE-equivalent resource in ''Infinite'') trading concept - flasks of unknown booze that will halve your salts, but fully heal you.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'': The Fear makes use of a prototype [[InvisibilityCloak stealth camo]] during his fight with Snake. However, it's powered by his bioelectricity and drains his stamina very quickly. To compensate, he has to eat near constantly when using his stealth camo. It even makes him so hungry that he will happily scarf down food without checking to see if its rotten or poisoned first.

* In ''VideoGame/ScarletNexus'', Arashi Spring's psionic power is [[SuperSpeed Hypervelocity]], which causes her to burn ''massive'' amounts of calories when used. This is why she's a BigEater that NeverGetsFat from the cola and OSF rations that she regularly takes, and contributes to her lazy attitude and her frequent, long naps, because she avoids any activity she believes to be "wasted energy".

* Sin Kiske from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear Xrd'' has this as a core mechanic for his gameplay: performing a special move has his Calorie Meter drop 1000 points (he has around 15,000 in total) and requires him to refuel with a specific move if he doesn't have much calories left to "burn" or starves.

* Magic in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' is usually cast through {{Mana}}, but [[http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=760 it's stated]] that magicians can burn calories instead if they want-Nanase even explots this to eat whatever she wants and still stay trim.

* This is referred to as the "Joel Duscher Bird Theory" in ''Podcast/PlumbingTheDeathStar''; Joel Duscher answers "Why Isn't [[ComicBook/XMen Nightcrawler]] Fat?" by positing that using mutant powers like Nightcrawler's teleportation would expend energy like flight does for birds. Problem is, other mutants like Cyclops and "the one with the bees" can't turn their powers off, so under this theory those characters should be constantly exhausted and starved.

* In the same continuity as above, ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash'' shows that the entire team of hulked out heroes needs to eat ''a lot''. They have belly buster specials at their favorite diner, of which each of them [[IllTakeTwoBeersToo order multiple for themselves]].

** Luffy's Gear Fourth form, Tankman, works in the same way, only even more powerful and more voracious in its energy consumption. He was only able to safely use it when up against an enemy whose power was creating unlimited amounts of food, with Luffy running around eating that food for 18 hours straight. When he ''did'' use it though, he utterly [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] the guy in a few seconds.

* ''Webcomic/Rayfox'': Metas require large amounts of calories to use their powers. Ray finds this out when he passes out after being a few days away from home cooking.

* Webcomic/Rayfox: Metas require large amounts of calories to use their powers. Rayfind this out when he passes out after being a few days away from home cooking.

-->-- '''[[Franchise/TheFlash Barry Allen]]''', ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''

* In ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'', Barry Allen mentions that he's become "a black hole of snacks" since getting his SuperSpeed.

-->-- '''ComicBook/TheFlash Barry Allen''', ''Film/JusticeLeague2017''

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': Wally West had to take in high levels of nutrition to recharge himself. He overcame this weakness later but since he was a BigEater at heart, he didn't stop eating inhuman levels of food.

* The heroine of the [[InteractiveComic MSPA Fan Adventure]] ''Roleplay/{{Alanna}}'' is struck by hunger when she unconsciously manifests powerful ice magic, or survives underwater longer than she naturally should. Turns out [[spoiler:she's partially [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by the DestroyerDeity, who gains power from devouring stuff, and used lots of such power saving her. Before facing the BigBad, the god insists she only do so]] well-rested and well-fed.

* ''Roleplay/{{Glowfic}}'': Eclipsed need to eat a lot to do magic and they get hungry when they use a lot of magic and the scale of things one can do with it is influenced by metabolic efficiency.

* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'' using spells makes you hungry. If you're a wizard, having a high {{Intelligence}} stat reduces how hungry it makes you, and having a high enough intelligence can even negate the effect.

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', Franchise/TheFlash is frequently seen eating high-calorie food whenever he's not actively performing deeds of superheroics. He is, on at least one occasion, seen devouring an armful of hot dogs, which he comments is for keeping up his caloric intake which, as a speedster, is understandably high.

* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'' using spells makes you hungry. If you're a wizard, having a high {{Intelligence}} stat reduces how hungry it makes you, and having a high enough intelligence can even negate the effect.

* Spellcasting in ''VideoGame/GoldenKroneHotel'' causes [[WizardNeedsFoodBadly your hunger to increase a bit]]. Increasing your intelligence lessens the effect, and the Scholar, the game's main magic user, starts with honey and curry noodle soup potions to combat this.