Help with chicken wings!!?

ovi212
ovi212 Posts: 145 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So we are having wings tonight. They are just frozen, plain wings form the grocery store. They will be cooked on the bbq and then basted with Frank's red hot buffalo sauce. I don't know how to log it though. Is a wing the 2 pieces (mini drum and rectangular piece that are attached together and anatomically make up a wing- I will be cutting them) or is a wing each little piece. I could really use some help logging wings!

Replies

  • theserpah
    theserpah Posts: 109 Member
    The wing is the entire thing. It is made up of a drum and a flat.

    Now that said, to be safe, I would log each part as a wing. Worst case, I'm logging 2x as many calories as I take in. I prefer over reporting to under reporting.
  • mgnilson
    mgnilson Posts: 1 Member
    I would say each little piece is a wing. I eat them when I'm in a restaurant, grilled no sauce. The restaurant is a chain and thier nutritional information says 8 pieces has a particular calorie amount. Seems the same for most chains. Enjoy your BBQ!
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,341 Member
    Weigh it. The only way to be accurate is to weigh, don't use the entries that say '1 wing' as a serve. Don't count the bits you don't eat like bones.

    I would put a plate on the scale, dish out my serving, note the weight, then weigh my plate with the discards after the meal before throwing them out. the difference is what you consumed, and what you should track.

    If you don't have a food scale, get one!!! This is just one of many many examples where you can't hope to be even close to accurate without one.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Weighing and re-weighing seems a little OCD to me, but it probably is the best way to know the weight of what you ate. Who knows if the any of the many database entries have the weight entered that way or not. If the database entry included the bone weight but not the bone calories, then entering your weight without the bone would give you a lower calorie count than what you actually ate.

    If it were me, I'd just look up a generic entry for chicken wings and enter the number of wings. I would look for an entry without sauce, since most restaurant sauces are loaded with butter and Frank's is fat free.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,341 Member
    Weighing and re-weighing seems a little OCD to me, but it probably is the best way to know the weight of what you ate. Who knows if the any of the many database entries have the weight entered that way or not. If the database entry included the bone weight but not the bone calories, then entering your weight without the bone would give you a lower calorie count than what you actually ate.

    If it were me, I'd just look up a generic entry for chicken wings and enter the number of wings. I would look for an entry without sauce, since most restaurant sauces are loaded with butter and Frank's is fat free.

    but you only consume the calories that you took in? If you throw half the weight away, as you do with wings, then you should only count the calories that you actually consume... If you ordered a 800 calorie sandwich, then threw away a quarter of it because you were full, wouldn't you count it as 600 calories?
  • ovi212
    ovi212 Posts: 145 Member
    So weighing them is out I think..family cooking, weighing causes friction.
    Would 324 cal for 2 whole wings or 4 pieces seem accurate?
  • homemadehippy
    homemadehippy Posts: 44 Member
    Good morning. I'm Buffalo born and bred and if there is one thing we know around here its wings! When we do wings on the grill (blasphemy around here, by the way - lol!) I usually throw a boneless skinless chicken breast on the grill for myself and just baste that with Frank's hot sauce. You can add a little butter too if you want (that is how the pizzeria I worked at made their med wing sauce - butter and Franks). That makes it easier to count the calories. IMHO, if you are not deep frying the wings, the skin is a little flubbery and gross anyway. And you can have WAY more food when you are not eating the skin.
  • homemadehippy
    homemadehippy Posts: 44 Member
    The wing is the entire thing. It is made up of a drum and a flat.

    Now that said, to be safe, I would log each part as a wing. Worst case, I'm logging 2x as many calories as I take in. I prefer over reporting to under reporting.

    In Buffalo, where wings originated, we could the flats and drums separately. If you order 12 wings, you get 6 of each.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    search chicken wing meat...the first 10 entries are usda entries that have meat and/or skin, how it was cooked and if sauce was used.

    You only use the meat of course and if you weigh out 100 grams of wings (bone included) and eat the meat weigh the refuse to get an accurate weight.

    Seems a bit OCD but really the bones are not being consumed and you will not only be over reporting calories but you will be over reporting your Protien.

    being accurate with logging is important...and being under or over doesn't help.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Weighing and re-weighing seems a little OCD to me, but it probably is the best way to know the weight of what you ate. Who knows if the any of the many database entries have the weight entered that way or not. If the database entry included the bone weight but not the bone calories, then entering your weight without the bone would give you a lower calorie count than what you actually ate.

    If it were me, I'd just look up a generic entry for chicken wings and enter the number of wings. I would look for an entry without sauce, since most restaurant sauces are loaded with butter and Frank's is fat free.

    but you only consume the calories that you took in? If you throw half the weight away, as you do with wings, then you should only count the calories that you actually consume... If you ordered a 800 calorie sandwich, then threw away a quarter of it because you were full, wouldn't you count it as 600 calories?

    If the database entry says 200 calories for one wing, but that does not include any calories for the bone because the bone is not expected to be eaten, then if you discard the bone and subtract calories for what you threw away, you will get an incorrect (lower) calorie count that you actually ate. A sandwich would be different, as 100% of most sandwiches are expected to be eaten.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    So weighing them is out I think..family cooking, weighing causes friction.
    Would 324 cal for 2 whole wings or 4 pieces seem accurate?

    Without sauce, that doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
    Weighing and re-weighing seems a little OCD to me, but it probably is the best way to know the weight of what you ate. Who knows if the any of the many database entries have the weight entered that way or not. If the database entry included the bone weight but not the bone calories, then entering your weight without the bone would give you a lower calorie count than what you actually ate.

    If it were me, I'd just look up a generic entry for chicken wings and enter the number of wings. I would look for an entry without sauce, since most restaurant sauces are loaded with butter and Frank's is fat free.

    There are just some foods that need this done, wings and ribs. I just did it the other night. I found an entry in MFP for grilled wings minus the bone. Before I started eating them I measured out 5 wings in grams and weighed the bones afterwords. Not really a big deal when you truly want to know what is going into your body.
  • theserpah
    theserpah Posts: 109 Member
    The wing is the entire thing. It is made up of a drum and a flat.

    Now that said, to be safe, I would log each part as a wing. Worst case, I'm logging 2x as many calories as I take in. I prefer over reporting to under reporting.

    In Buffalo, where wings originated, we could the flats and drums separately. If you order 12 wings, you get 6 of each.

    Thanks for confirming what I said.
  • hj1119
    hj1119 Posts: 173 Member
    So weighing them is out I think..family cooking, weighing causes friction.
    Would 324 cal for 2 whole wings or 4 pieces seem accurate?

    Why would weighing your food cause friction amongst the family? Who cares if you take 10 seconds to put your food on the scale? Your desire to be accurate with your food and healthy personally offends those who love you?
  • ovi212
    ovi212 Posts: 145 Member
    The whole bag of wings is 1.218 kg, but that includes the tip of the wing that you cut off.
    I'd probably have a 5th of this.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    The whole bag of wings is 1.218 kg, but that includes the tip of the wing that you cut off.
    I'd probably have a 5th of this.

    I'd just log 1/5 of the calories then, if it were me. Nothing you log is going to be 100% accurate, just log the best you can and enjoy the day.

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