Woman claims she consumed 1,000 calories from sealing envelopes

A woman has sent TikTok into a whirlwind with claims that envelopes had calories.

In a viral clip that's racked up 1.2 million views, Chloe Williams (@chloewilliams3663) is seen packaging up a bunch of letters.

"I just found out I consumed over 1,000 calories in one sitting by licking envelopes," Chloe penned as the text overlay.

She went on to suggest that she tried using a sponge with water instead but noted that they didn't seal effectively.

The clip was soon flooded with hundreds of comments from fellow users in disbelief, with one writing: "I feel like for some things we can pretend that calories don’t exist for it like ain’t no way envelopes count."

Another humoured: "Just imagine entering envelopes into your calorie tracker app."

Meanwhile, a third suggested: "Pls get little double-sided tape dispensers from Amazon."

So, does sealing envelopes seriously contain calories?

Chloe clarified that she got mixed up with British stamps, which are said to contain between 5.9 to 14.5 calories.

"The gum on British stamps is composed of polyvinyl alcohol and dextrin," Jane Ormrod, Philatelic Marketing Manager, Royal Mail, explained. "The dextrin is derived from starch (e.g. potato) and the vinyl alcohol is a synthetic derived from petroleum. The gum used on ready-stamped stationery items is a blend of polyvinyl acetate and dextrin with the exception of aerogrammes, where the gum is a blend of polyvinyl acetate and polyvinyl alcohol."

She added: "Slimmers may be interested to know that a single standard postage stamp contains 5.9 calories and Special or Commemorative stamps 14.5 calories. To avoid offending any religious groups or vegetarians, no animal products are involved."

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.