CHICKEN?!

vha2

MAN I had no idea how many calories are in chicken!! 1 cup of roast chicken meat - no skin - 266cal! Add a bit of potato and veg and one meal is nearly half of my daily allowance.. imagine those restaurants that serve up a massive chicken breast wrapped in bacon and filled with cream cheese - never again!!! :O

ASKyle

How is that half of your daily allowance??

Boneless skinless chicken breast provides some of the BEST bang for the calories in terms of nutrition, namely protein. Keep eating it!

Alatariel75

Do NOT measure your chicken in cups. Or any solids, for that matter. Invest in a food scale and go by weight.

Chicken breast is amazing bang for your buck! And how low is your daily allowance that that would be half of it??

AJ_G

AsaThorsWoman

MAN I had no idea how many calories are in chicken!! 1 cup of roast chicken meat - no skin - 266cal! Add a bit of potato and veg and one meal is nearly half of my daily allowance.. imagine those restaurants that serve up a massive chicken breast wrapped in bacon and filled with cream cheese - never again!!! :O

Different cuts are leaner. The breast only is leaner. A cup is also a lot more than it sounds like.

Get a scale.

Stop being silly.

Chicken and pork are some of the leanest meats out there.

If you think that's bad look up beef.

It really is calorie dense.

RodaRose

Yes. You got it. Eat small for your other meals.

BruceHedtke

I couldn't exist without chicken. If you think it's too many calories, then half your portion and fill up on green vegetables. But, the protein you get from chicken is, to me, worth the calories.

vha2

How is that half of your daily allowance??

Boneless skinless chicken breast provides some of the BEST bang for the calories in terms of nutrition, namely protein. Keep eating it!

vha2

How is that half of your daily allowance??

Boneless skinless chicken breast provides some of the BEST bang for the calories in terms of nutrition, namely protein. Keep eating it!

I said a cup of roast chicken meat plus potato and veg and the entire meal is nearly half of my daily allowance.. my daily is 1200, that meal is 500 so yeah that's nearly half..?

vha2

MAN I had no idea how many calories are in chicken!! 1 cup of roast chicken meat - no skin - 266cal! Add a bit of potato and veg and one meal is nearly half of my daily allowance.. imagine those restaurants that serve up a massive chicken breast wrapped in bacon and filled with cream cheese - never again!!! :O

Different cuts are leaner. The breast only is leaner. A cup is also a lot more than it sounds like.

Surely you've seen the size of some of the chicken breasts restaurants dish up - they'd be at least a cup's worth. And I swear the most common chicken breast meal I see on menus is stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. Just saying, previously I would have eaten that and thought, 'ooh I'm being a bit naughty'. Now if I ordered it I'd think, 'I can't eat for a week!'

SnuggleSmacks

If the chicken is taking up too much of your calorie allotment, switch to seafood. Light fish like hake or mahi mahi or talapia come out to around 90-110 cals for a 4 oz. serving with around 20 g of protein. You can broil it with some lemon juice and spices without adding a bunch of calories.

vha2

If the chicken is taking up too much of your calorie allotment, switch to seafood. Light fish like hake or mahi mahi or talapia come out to around 90-110 cals for a 4 oz. serving with around 20 g of protein. You can broil it with some lemon juice and spices without adding a bunch of calories.

Good idea, thanks for suggesting an alternative - might have to up the fish intake a bit

cwolfman13

How do you go about measuring a cup of chicken? 4 oz of chicken breast comes out to around 120 calories...your standard chicken breast is generally going to be between 8 and 10 ounces usually.

Really, this is where weight and using a food scale is important and beneficial...I could fit a **** ton of chicken in a cup if I cut it up small enough. In general this is where learning proper portions comes into play...

I'd also suggest maybe doing some exercise so you could eat a bit more than 1200 calories...1200 calories is nothing and it is when MfP defaults to when you put "sedentary" and 2 Lbs per week. You can eat more and still lose weight...if you want to stick with 1200 that is fine, but realize that is for sedentary and exercise increases your calories so you can eat more and still accomplish the same thing and not use up half your daily allotment on one meal that was really a pretty darned reasonable meal.

ASKyle

How is that half of your daily allowance??

Boneless skinless chicken breast provides some of the BEST bang for the calories in terms of nutrition, namely protein. Keep eating it!

I said a cup of roast chicken meat plus potato and veg and the entire meal is nearly half of my daily allowance.. my daily is 1200, that meal is 500 so yeah that's nearly half..?

'

A serving of chicken is 4oz, so if you're eating the massive 10oz breast that's 350 calories and 65 grams of protein! You don't need to eat that much for one meal.

I would suggest dropping the potato.

ihad

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/eat-mor-chikin-672374

vha2

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/eat-mor-chikin-672374

Mmmmmm that looks delicious!! Funnily enough I have taken chicken out for dinner tonight but am going to a boxing class so we're even steven.

Also I don't talk in ounces so I'm getting brain hurty from so many calculations! Good to get used to it though since I'm holidaying in the US for the first time in a couple weeks :happy:

RodaRose

If the chicken is taking up too much of your calorie allotment, switch to seafood. Light fish like hake or mahi mahi or talapia come out to around 90-110 cals for a 4 oz. serving with around 20 g of protein. You can broil it with some lemon juice and spices without adding a bunch of calories.

Good idea, thanks for suggesting an alternative - might have to up the fish intake a bit

Also this:

Shrimp has slightly fewer calories than chicken.

6 oz of chicken breast (boneless, skinless, cooked) = 276
6 oz of shrimp (baked or broiled) = 260

knra_grl

75 grams of chicken = 124 cals and made a nice sandwich yesterday with two slices of bread and mayo for a total of 309 cals

consider what you are eating with your chicken and maybe cut back a bit on your serving size?

vha2

I feel like I'm a little misunderstood here - I'm not saying 'chicken is bad, don't eat it'. I'm saying it is higher in calories than I thought it would be; my pre-MFP chicken serving size would be a whole lot bigger than my post-MFP chicken serving size. It's making me think more about how much of it I have and what I eat with it. Is no one else the same?

That is all.

RodaRose

I know what you are saying and you are going to be fine.
Some us have been doing this off and on forever (when I was a kid my mom counted calories so I can tell you the calories of anything). Some of us are new to the calorie thing.
People in this thread are trying to be helpful and once a person starts a thread they have no idea in what direction it will go.

j4nash

i'm eating 600 calories worth of chicken tonight. nom nom.

salgalruns

Chicken is a staple of my diet - seriously, I alternate between that and ground turkey for lunch every single day and most nights. However, ROAST chicken may be different depending on any oil or butter that might be used.

I bake mine with seasoning (no salt), so it's really lean, and still manages to stay juicy just fine. Be aware that when you eat out, there is always oil that's added as well. I've gotten used to life without the oils and now my stomach cramps when I do get it.

If you're worried about calories, stick with green veggies and ditch the potato, and by all means, use a scale. 1 cup is a very big portion for me - I generally have 3.5 oz for lunch on top of a huge salad, and maybe 4-5 oz for dinner depending on how much protein I've already had.

Good luck!