Ripping my hair out because of chicken oz tracking

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drkim86
drkim86 Posts: 17
in Food and Nutrition
I recently started buying chicken breasts, cutting them to size and cooking them ahead of time for easy eating. Both times I got around 2 lbs a package (2 breasts) and cut up each breast into fours so that each piece will be roughly 4 oz each. I've been logging each piece as 130 calories after looking up a few different counts and averaging. Fine and dandy, right? BUT. I just noticed while cooking up the frozen Perdue chicken tenders that 3 of those equal 180 calories. They're the same size as my precut chicken breasts and also breaded! Have I been completely off on my calculating? Have I been undereating this whole time? I've thought the pieces were pretty small for a serving but the math adds up. I'm. So. Confused.

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  • katorihanzo
    katorihanzo Posts: 234 Member
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    16 oz chicken breasts? That is a HUGE chicken breast. Is it some sort of mutant chicken? My chicken breasts are, on average, 4-8 oz and 8 is a very large one.

    Simple answer: get a food scale. Don't rely on eyeing and comparing sizes and then using packaged calorie counts. They're often inaccurate and it's just not gonna work. If you weigh your chicken, you'll know how many calories you're eating, simple as that! My scale cost $5.
  • Miamiuu
    Miamiuu Posts: 262 Member
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    Id say from my experience a breast from the store is probably around the 250 calorie range.
  • SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222
    SoreTodayStrongTomorrow222 Posts: 252 Member
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    Dont over think it - just eat the chicken and be content that it doesn't have as many calories as pizza.

    Also, no matter what the package says - the calorie count is probably going to be off - I think the regulations require that its accuracy is within 100 calories of the REAL caloric content... could be wrong though.

    Helpful hint* don't buy the frozen stuff - simply because they like to charge you an extra few dollars for the flash freezing and fancy packaging. Buy the chicken, then freeze it yourself if need be.
  • katorihanzo
    katorihanzo Posts: 234 Member
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    Dont over think it - just eat the chicken and be content that it doesn't have as many calories as pizza.

    I have to disagree with this part of your advice, though the rest is great. Some people (myself included) have to eat at a pretty high deficit in order to lose (when you only have 10 or so pounds left to lose). I net 1320 calories a day and if I was under eating it could be dangerous! I have to make sure I eat every calorie. Accurately counting is important for a lot of people.
  • drkim86
    drkim86 Posts: 17
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    They're often inaccurate and it's just not gonna work. If you weigh your chicken, you'll know how many calories you're eating

    ^^ I actually did get a scale today! And when I weighed a few of my cooked chicken piece earlier today they averaged around 2 oz. I'm not sure how much weight they lose after they've been cooked so I'm confused there as well. How many calories would you say is in a 4 oz chicken, both raw and cooked?
  • AwesomeGuy37
    AwesomeGuy37 Posts: 436 Member
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    They're often inaccurate and it's just not gonna work. If you weigh your chicken, you'll know how many calories you're eating

    ^^ I actually did get a scale today! And when I weighed a few of my cooked chicken piece earlier today they averaged around 2 oz. I'm not sure how much weight they lose after they've been cooked so I'm confused there as well. How many calories would you say is in a 4 oz chicken, both raw and cooked?

    Not an exact science to it since chicken can be enhanced (plumped up with saltwater solution) of different percentages and just water weight in general. 4oz raw boneless skinless chicken breast ranges are 124-138 calories in 4 oz. according to the USDA. Different means of cooking produces vast amount of weight differences in the same chicken, so it isn't good to use cooked chicken to determine calories.
  • katorihanzo
    katorihanzo Posts: 234 Member
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    I'm definitely going to say that since your chicken breasts are so darn huge, they've been plumped up with injected salt water. They're probably losing a lot of water through cooking. I don't buy those ones 'cause it seems weird and unhealthy and if they're making me pay by weight, I wanna pay for meat and not for water. But I don't actually know if it's unhealthy I just kind of assume so.

    I log about 50 calories per oz of chicken. I generally eat 3-4 ounces with a meal. Obviously you know that any fat or skin changes that - right now I have chicken drumsticks and they're like 100 calories each 'cause of the dark meat and skin and fat. Tasty though!
  • katorihanzo
    katorihanzo Posts: 234 Member
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    Yes, I wanted to add as well that I log my chicken as its cooked oz weight BUT I add any calories that would come from frying or baking or whatever. I usually bake my chicken with a teaspoon or so of olive oil and of course I add those calories.

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