Baffled by chicken

Pete1964AK
Pete1964AK Posts: 85 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Tonight, I grilled myself a chicken breast.
It was quite a big breast, and weighed in at 13 ounces. I duly logged my raw, boneless, skinless chicken breast and paid the 403 calorie price for it.
Once grilled, (no sauce or seasonings), I weighed it ( and usually I never do that) and it was just under 9 ounces. I enjoyed my dinner but started looking at the calorie count of grilled chicken breasts.

So it seems that roughly (because the numbers were a bit wild) that most people seem to count a piece of grilled chicken at around 30 to 40 calories an ounce.
Now a lesser person might be tempted to change my entry - from 403 cals for my raw breast, to 270 for my grilled one. :ohwell:

Where did those 133 calories go?

Replies

  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
    The chicken loses water from cooking. You weight it after you cook it.
  • goneundone
    goneundone Posts: 38 Member
    I find this works for bread too! I weigh my bread after it's toasted, after the moisture has evaporated.
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
    I find this works for bread too! I weigh my bread after it's toasted, after the moisture has evaporated.

    Cookies too. Just microwave them and they become 0 calories.
  • leahraskie
    leahraskie Posts: 260 Member
    If it's water weight then you don't need to count it, just measure afterwards. Chicken is not that high in calories, especially if it's skinless and boneless.

    A piece of fried chicken at KFC has like the same amount of calories that the pre-cooked calorie calculated chicken had, so it definitely doesn't have 400 calories. Eat your chickie, it's one of the better meats.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Always weigh meat raw and use the raw weight unless otherwise specified. The reason for this is the raw weight is a constant, but the cooked weight is dependent on how well the meat is cooked and how long you cook it. For instance if you have a pound of raw chicken, the cooked weight can range from anywhere from 8-13 ounces based on how long it is cooked and how much water is cooked off. Uncertainty is not your friend.
  • RaggedyPond
    RaggedyPond Posts: 1,487 Member
    Looks like I've been eating too much chicken!
  • Pete1964AK
    Pete1964AK Posts: 85 Member
    that makes sense AJ, thanks.

    I always use the raw weight, and often the chicken is cooked with a sauce or in a casserole, so it would be tricky pulling all the pieces out to weigh them cooked.

    Still tempted by that extra 133 calories tonight tho' :)
  • GreatDepression
    GreatDepression Posts: 347 Member
    If you think chicken is high in calories, wait until you weigh lean beef and pork. I was shocked at how cal that was even with the leanest cuts of meat.
  • Pete1964AK
    Pete1964AK Posts: 85 Member
    yeah, we eat pork a fair bit, given it's reputation as the other white meat............. but damn, even a small, boneless rindless top loin chop is crazy high in calories.

    Pass the lettuce leaf.
  • Mistraal1981
    Mistraal1981 Posts: 453 Member
    Came looking for answers to why that damn bird crossed the road... Its the only way I thought people could be confused by a chicken.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Always weigh meat raw and use the raw weight unless otherwise specified. The reason for this is the raw weight is a constant, but the cooked weight is dependent on how well the meat is cooked and how long you cook it. For instance if you have a pound of raw chicken, the cooked weight can range from anywhere from 8-13 ounces based on how long it is cooked and how much water is cooked off. Uncertainty is not your friend.

    Yes, but arguably, your overcooked 8 ounce cooked chicken will have lost some calories from juice and fat that will have been cooked away too.

    Some sausages I buy have two different values, one for cooked and one for raw. And it's supposedly 30 less calories for the cooked version of the same sausage (like, anyone would eat it raw anyway :laugh: ).

    It's even worse for beef as I'm sure it doesn't have the same calories whether it's rare or medium as well... So yeah. Total mystery as far as I'm concerned. I weigh raw when I can (the brand of chicken I use the most only gives cooked nutrition info, by the way), cooked when I can't, and use the appropriate entries... Other than that, it's all an approximation anyway.

Categories