Help me log this meal

Blitzia

I have a wedding rehersal dinner tomorrow at a fancy-schmancy restaurant and I'm having some trouble estimating how many calories the meal will be. How many calories would you estimate are in this meal?

"Southern Fried Chicken - french green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, white peppercorn gravy"

I plan to log everything separately, but I was hoping some more experienced loggers could help me ballpark how many calories it might be. I might be able to snap a picture and post it tomorrow, but if not, how many calories would you estimate from the description alone?

(And I know one day of bad logging won't be the end of the world, but the wedding is Friday and I plan to splurge on cake, so I'd still like to try to have some confidence that I'm within my goal on Thursday.)

Thanks!

DietPrada

No way to guess calorie content based on a description. You MIGHT be able to try and log it once you can see it and guess at the weights of the individual items. But then you have no way of knowing what's in the gravy, how much butter or oil in the cooking etc. Log it as close as you can, and accept that it's not going to be accurate. Have the cake if you want to, and log that too. If you don't lose weight this week because you had a special occasion and ate a bit more than you normally would, no biggie.

usmcmp

I would guess a Southern Fried Chicken breast piece to be somewhere between 600 and 1200 calories depending on the frying method and the portion size. Fried foods tend to be very calorie dense.

Green beans may be 60ish calories, but if they add butter you are looking at closer to 200.

Garlic mashed potatoes are about 100 calories for half a cup.

The gravy would be somewhere between 30 and 200 calories for half a cup.

ccsernica

From what I've been able to find, you can ballpark the chicken at 250 calories/100g. 100g is about 3.5 oz, or a little under a quarter pound, in American weights. (For comparison, I had a small roast chicken dark meat quarter for lunch today, and it came out to 140g of meat after subtracting out the weight of the leftover bones.) Yes, fried foods can be calorie dense, but not a lot of oil actually gets into the chicken. What might add a little to the calories is that southern fried chicken is often marinated in buttermilk, and some of that will be on the chicken when it's cooked. But not a lot. Buttermilk is about 150 cal/cup, and only a small fraction of a cup will possibly come to your plate with the chicken.

Green beans are 31 cal/100g, but that also depends on the recipe. Sometimes they'll be done with butter. If you can taste butter, add 20-50 calories depending on how much seems to be in it. (Butter is about 100 calories/1 tbsp and recall that 1 tbsp is 1/8 of a stick.)

Garlic mashed potatoes also vary quite a lot by recipe. 150 cal/serving would be a decent ballpark guesstimate.

I'd guess about 100 cal for the gravy too.

dfwesq

The kind of restaurant that serves southern fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy very likely adds butter or some other fat, like oil or bacon fat, to the green beans. The texture and appearance might be a better guide than the taste. Fresh green beans with no fat have a rougher texture and may seem slightly dry unless they're served with some of the cooking liquid.

Theo166

Without measurements or knowing how it's all cooked, it's impossible to be accurate. In such situations I settle for a swag and try to aim high.

I'll search for a comparable chain restaurant meal that's already in the database and not try estimate each of the individual components.

I would also eat light for my other meals on such days, even if it's mostly mental compensation.

Blitzia

Thank you guys! I estimated as best I could and tried to avoid the skin/battered part so hopefully that saved my some calories. I splurged on a piece of cheesecake that came with the meal, so I was probably over my goal, but hopefully two off days won't set me back too far.

ccsernica

I'm sure two off days won't set you back significantly at all. You're supposed to have fun at these things!

dfwesq

This is a marathon, not a sprint. A couple of days won't derail you. Making good choices over time will get you to your goal.